Today, I was flipping through a new House Beautiful title: 1000 Sensational Makeovers. It offers a fairly predictable collection of lovely rooms from the pages of the magazine. If you enjoy the magazine, you will like the book.

It offers a lot of good ideas in a condensed format; they are numbered and organized by six basic design elements. However, if you are expecting to see transformations demonstrated by before/after photos or a description of the process, you will be disappointed.

I am often intrigued by the quirky things I notice and enjoy in new design books. Two ideas that impressed me here involve the clever use of maps. In an attic study, a map of the world was used to paper a canted wall in an alcove. Framed maps on an adjoining wall reinforce the idea. (#445 on p. 439).

Another designer used a framed series of maps – sand-coloured plats of Miami Beach in 1943 – to cover a large wall from baseboard to ceiling. (#480 on p. 470).

These ideas made me think of the map-covered boxes in Design Sponge at Home and sent me out to see what else I could find with a Google search.

A lot, it turns out.

Freelance writer, Kit Pollard, gathered some nifty ideas into a story about decorating with maps and globes.

Nate Berkus offers a video that shows an attractive chest of drawers with a map applied to its surface, while Martha Stewart decorates a fireplace screen and roller blinds with maps.

At home, one of my favourite accessories is a reproduction of an old planning map of Calgary bought at the Glenbow Museum shop many years ago.

Apparently I am not alone in my fondness for maps.

Sometimes you browse a shelter magazine and wonder why they publish it and who’s buying. The rooms might be pretty, but express no more personality than a furniture showroom. There are no clever projects to inspire better ways to live and decorate. The content about design and the arts is thin to the point of anorexic.

One predictably good magazine is The World of Interiors, a British publication that we have at the Central Library. We keep the latest four issues for use in the library, but other back issues can be borrowed.

At a recent staff meeting, I brought the May 2011 issue to talk about how many blogs one good magazine could inspire. There are articles in this issue about Alexander Calder’s legacy, Louis Armstrong’s kitchen and Eileen Gray’s Paris apartment.

The cover story is “Bathtime for Bertie: Where the real ‘King’s Speech’ royal relaxed”. In 1938, the French created fabulous gilded bathrooms for the suite that welcomed GeorgeVI and his wife Elizabeth on a royal visit. These bathrooms are only open to public viewing once a year on Heritage Day.

And, of course, we have books about bathroom renos, books about the Royals as well as The King’s Speech on DVD (and Blu-ray).

Check out Bathrooms: the smart approach to design from Creative Homeowner for sumptuous baths and information on the latest materials, fixtures and technology. Heated floors, ventilation systems, efficient toilets and natural lighting are just some of the topics covered.

And expect me to revisit the stories from this magazine.

Next blog: Alexander Calder's messy studio

Yesterday morning’s front-page newspaper story was news about Steve Jobs’ death. Not news really; the information had been on the internet the day before.

Jobs’ creativity and larger-than-life personality are legendary; he was instrumental in developing the technology that produced a seismic shift in the way we work, play, live at home and relate to each other.

David Sarno and Christopher Goffard for the Los Angeles Times reported that he sat in on classes that interested him after dropping out of Reed College in Oregon. A Calligraphy course “inspired him to offer Macintosh users multiple fonts, a feature that would become a fixture of personal computing”.

The little details of a life add to the fascination and charm of the person.

Our latest book on the topic has a fitting title when you think not just about the magic of calligraphy, but the magic of creativity and the things that inspire it.

Steve Jobs was all about creativity and connectedness. That this blog is here at all and every link in it are tributes to him.

Most of us want the one thing we can never have: forever. Some people are so large they almost achieve it.

My favourite decorating books always include both lively, intriguing rooms and good stories about the people who live inside them. I’ve just added a new one to my list: Undecorate: The No-Rules Approach to Interior Design (Clarkson Potter, 2011) by Christiane Lemieux.

Lemieux is a founder and creative director of a home décor and children’s furniture company who also contributes to design blogs Apartment Therapy and Design*Sponge. She is inspired by the vibrant design of talented amateurs that is burgeoning on the internet.

“The most stylish people these days understand this fundamental of good living: it’s always evolving,” she writes. “Great style isn’t necessarily a finished product so much as an ongoing process.” Just so, good design is not static, but must adapt to changing circumstances.

Rather than gorgeous perfection, Lemieux champions relaxed design that facilitates happy living. All the homes in the book ooze pizzazz and the rumpled comfort of real life within. I love to learn how creative people design their homes to suit quirky tastes and personalities.

“I wanted to work with what we have rather than fight against it,” says Erica Tanov, a fashion designer whose funky Berkeley home is among the 20 places profiled. Here, second-hand furniture mixes with worn rugs, art, books, pets and projects. It’s one of those places that wears imperfection like a badge of honour and is all the more beguiling as a result.

Check it out. Enjoy the rooms and the stories. Embrace the process.

This week I'm taking a look at two new books from popular bloggers. They are getting rave reviews in (other) blogs and shelter magazines.

DECORATE comes from Holly Becker, the founder of the popular Decor8 blog and is co-authored by veteran design writer Joanna Copestick. It reveals what the pros have to offer, namely, a passion for design and some heavy-duty thinking about every little aspect of it.

This is not a book for minimalists. For the most part, what you find here are design professionals like Jonathan Adler who embrace colour and eclecticism with exuberant abandon. Every now and again there is restraint. But when a designer loves white, it is endorsed with poetic enthusiasm.

I like the way the book is structured, moving from the general to the specific, from the philosophy to the practice.

The first section deals with space in general: using space, flexible spaces, linking spaces. This is followed by chapters on style. Next come room-by-room analysis and, finally, all the details.

The focus of the book is the ideas behind the design and the sources of inspiration whether a painting, a piece of vintage furniture or a favourite colour. They demonstrate the use of mood boards – tools that help you to see the links between your favourite ideas and things to develop a coherent approach. You know how you rip a pic from a magazine (please, not a library magazine!) and tuck it in your pocket because you want a paint colour exactly like the one on this purse/ car/ dresser? Mood boards are collages of such sources. Very Martha-Stewart organized.

Throughout the book, floor plans allow you to see how the room views relate to each other and how the room functions.

If you enjoy this book, check out some of the other titles in the collection by Joanna Copestick. In Vital Color:Color themes for Every Room (with an ironically drab cover) you will find fab rooms and - yes - mood boards that develop an idea.

Another older favourite is The Family Home: Relaxed, informal living for all ages. We are down to one, well-travelled copy in the Village Square branch. Though published in 1998, it still has a lot to offer anyone wanting to spruce up an active family home.

Trends are fun and good; so are ideas that endure.

Come back Friday for UNDECORATE.