‘The New Bohemians’ Book; By Justina Blakeney

As someone who is still finishing up her book, I look at other people’s (namely friends) books longingly, like a puppy in a pet store window, staring at happy dog owners strolling by with their happy pups, thinking ‘Will that ever happen to me? Will I, too, someday have an actual hard copy of my book to hold, cuddle and make every single person I know buy?” (Oh, speaking of which, you can pre-order my book here , just sayin’.) It’s such a long arduous process, that when you reach the end you kinda can’t believe it’s done.

Well, my friend Justina’s book is done and out and it’s soo good. Its 300 pages of crazy bohemian interiors that somehow feels fresh and different each page. You can buy it here.

What’s so great about boho style is that a lot of it is attainable without being really expensive. It’s thrifted, DIY’d or repurposed and its full of ideas, rather than just perfect furniture. So it’s not like her tips are – save $8500 for your perfect credenza, its more like – quilt together vintage fabric for a unique throw or use a vintage tablecloth as a bedroom curtain. And if you do it right and use the right tablecloth, you get wildly more personality in your home for no more money.

Click through to see more sneak peeks of the book.

This one, above and below, is one of my favorite apartments/lofts that I’ve ever seen on the internet. I’ve pinned it so many times that my Pinterest has stopped with the polite reminder is instead like ‘LADY, YOU’VE PINNED THIS 37 TIMES ALREADY’. But it’s magical isn’t it?

Brian, Charlie and I could never live like this – I would go absolutely bonkers trying to control that beautiful chaos not to mention keeping those the plants alive, etc, but I love it so much. It’s just so artful.

Then there is this lady who is crazy but I’d like to party with her.

And then Justina contrasts it with these quieter, more pulled back vignettes that are more striking and simple:

Also bohemian people love boobs on their pillows. They crazy.

What I love is how Justina styled it but also let each interior totally do its own thing, as the person who lived there would have wanted. For this shot, below, the magazine stylist in me would have added a lamp or a piece of art – something with height on the nightstand, but I love how quiet it is. I like how all the frames create this horizontal line and then it just stops – it creates weird tension, in a good way.

And then this bathroom makes me wanna scrap all my perfectly laid out bathroom plans and just go crazy. It belongs to Emily Katz and her boyfriend up in Portland (a house that we coincidentally shot for my book, although we shot it totally differently). I can witness myself that its’ awesome.

So nice job, Justina. From one stylist/blogger to another, you done me proud and I think your book will be a wild success.

The New Bohemians written by Justina Blakeney (The Jungalow Blog) and shot by the pretty amazing Dabito. Dabito is awesome by the way – I met him last week at her book launch party and he cracked me up like 4 times. He is an artist that shoots, designs interiors and websites, and blogs about it all. Plus he is a man. With real man parts (I’m assuming), and you all know that in the blog world that is like real rare. You can see his blog here.

I know its hard to pull triggers on books these days when you get so much for free online, but how then will you style your bookshelves, coffee tables and credenzas? One needs books to read but also to place on surfaces to make sure people think you are interested and cultured!!!

Plus if you read her blog you’ll get so much extra information in there (we are only allowed to put 20% of what is in the book on the internet, typically). So it’s no all going to be on Pinterest, we promise.

* First Photo Credit Nicole LaMotte.