Rescue from Domestic Perfection: The Not-so-secrets of Balancing Life and Style - Softcover

With slogans such as "Life over Style" and "Real life is gorgeous, makeovers not allowed," Dan Ho plans to save the DIY audience from home-improvement magazines and home makeover shows by emphasizing self-expression and individualism - not a prescripted formula for a showroom perfect dwelling. Ho's philosophy is "gai," translated from the Chamorro language as "is there now" or "be here now." His easy, humorous tone makes the text extremely accessible and fun to read. Every aspect of domestic life is addressed - cooking (with chapters like "Plate it Forward"); entertaining ("Emphasis Entertain"); decorating, cleaning, organizing and maintenance ("Pantries, Plastic, and Storage," "Closets," "Style from the 'Hood," "Keeping Things Pretty"); and of course, simply being ("Image: What They See," "Charisma: How They Feel"). His theory about "The Seven Enslaving Myths," drives home the mission of the book - to liberate readers from the deluge of lifestyle gurus, TV shows, home magazines and innumerable other things that portray an impossible standard of so- called perfection and an absurd obsession with "designer crap," all at the expense of true, expressive style.