Weekend Cooking: Homemakers by Brit Morin

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When I said yes to a review copy of Brit Morin's Homemakers I didn't know who the author was. Perhaps you're hipper than I am (well, not if you use the word hipper) and are already familiar with the colorful Brit + Co. website.

Homemakers only partially fits as a Weekend Cooking post, but because the first two chapters of Morin's book cover the kitchen and dining room, I'm going to invoke the "even vaguely foodie" rule here.

Morin is all about creating and being creative, so Homemakers is not, as she says in the introduction, a traditional homemaking book. Instead it's a guide for living in the modern world: getting comfy and organized with some techie help and a little DIY power. The book takes us through an entire house, from the public spaces (like kitchen and living room) to the private areas (like bedroom and closet).

First, a note on the design: The text is set in easy-to-read chunks and broken by colorful graphics and photos. There is a lot of white space, which makes the book a pleasure to flip through, but I'm not sure if anyone will use the blank pages specifically set aside for notes. I like the feel of the heavy semigloss stock and appreciate the color-coded chapters and useful index.

Next, the content: For this review, I focus on the kitchen and dining room chapters, but the features I mention are found throughout Homemakers. Morin starts with the most basic of basics for each room, such as how to chop an onion and how to set a table. Next is a pretty graphic showing that room's essentials (see the image to the left for some of the kitchen tools). For the dining room, she suggests wine opener, tablecloth, candlesticks, cocktail shaker, and so on.

Morin then turns to gadgets and apps, which make up some of my favorite sections of the book. Although I'm not interested in all of the small appliances Morin features (no SodaStream for me), I liked reading her suggestions. I researched the apps from the kitchen chapter and found Foodily to be worth further investigation but discovered that Ziplist was already defunct (a risk with any app list).

The final sections for each Homemakers chapter are DIY and a look to the future. For the kitchen, DIY equaled simple recipes, but for the other chapters, Morin gives instructions for easy crafts projects, like etching glass, decorating a tablecloth, and using washi tape. The look to the future was intriguing: I'm not sure I'd buy a dining table with built in touch pads. On the other hand, I might stand in line for car that drove itself.

Recommendations: In the end, I found a few crafts projects I might tackle and some apps I might download. At my stage in life, I don't think I'd buy Homemakers for myself. But this book would make a great gift for college students and young professionals. Some of the decorating ideas look easy to duplicate with a minimal investment in time and money. I recommend you check Homemakers out of the library before buying. Or visit the Brit + Co. website to see if Brit Morin's style is right for you.

Photo credits: I scanned the images for use with this review. The images in the book look much better than these do and all rights remain with the original copyright holder: Brit Morin. Click images to see them full size.

Published by HarperCollins / William Morrow, 2015
ISBN-13: 9780062332509
Source: Review (see review policy)
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)

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