For those of you who like to make lists of ways to improve yourself* in the New Year, here is the perfect book.

101 Things I hate about your house, by James Swan, is a delightfully opinionated view of how your home décor is sliding off the rails and all the ways he would fix it. It’s a book that will have you yelling, “YES!” in agreement one minute and screaming, “Are you crazy?” the next.

Here are two things my colleague, Kate Kasinski, loved and hated.

Loved: Swan sneers at a bathroom with a dish full of mucky soap.

“YES!” says Kate who can’t imagine anyone with a family having anything but a soap pump.

Hated: Swan wants you to cover your bedroom floors with the thickest, most luxurious carpet you can find.

“Are you crazy?” asks Kate who knows that bedding produces an excessive amount of dust, hair from pillows and other unmentionables. Whoa, think of the dust mites.

I’m with Kate on both counts and we’re thinking that he probably doesn’t do his own cleaning.

I really enjoyed his riff on open kitchens which I agree are overrated. Some cooking styles benefit from a discreet wall between the grease and clutter and the guests. And some of us can no longer perform simple cooking tasks and carry on a conversation.

You know, like walking and chewing gum.

*I have attained such a level of perfection (AKA common-sense grip of reality) that I would never dream of doing this.