I love the books stacked against the wall, especially since I have too many books for my shelves. Unfortunately, I think you have to be blessed with detailed woodwork, hard wood floors, and maybe even this amazingly distressed wall to pull this look off. I doubt artfully stacking my books on my rented apartment's oatmeal carpet will have the same effect.

Maybe if you have a couple of wide wall-mounted shelves and artfully stack the books between the two... thus avoiding the carpet issue?

great mirror

27bucks to show me how to live like a poor person---boy I just cannot wait for this magazine!

How refreshing! It's so different from the hyper-stylized, unrealistically clean photo shoots we're used to.

I wonder if I can get them to ship it to Massachusetts..

No thanks.....

Why would you get excited over a magazine that showcases below average un-design? What is that in the lower righthand corner of the photo with the shoes? A mousetrap??? I have more of a desire to grab my scrub bucket than to copy this in my home!!!

And that "amazingly distressed wall" is called abject poverty. These run down places make for great photography, but shouldn't be displayed as an "unstyled home" like it's some sort of great new trend. Some of the most amazing homes have fallen into disrepair because the poverty-stricken somehow claimed them from the wealthy that used to own them ...thats not something to covet.

This is not design.

wow! such a stench of classism in the comments.

If there was any classism, it came from cafegal's condescending comments. "Amazingly distressed wall"?
Please.

one needs a taste for wabi-sabi to appreciate art pauvre. I'll probably give the magazine a pass, but it's nice to know that there is a defense to my aversion to painting.

Amiencc, you're right, this isn't design. It's life, real life, and it's beautiful.

These are not necessarily poverty interiors. I'm not poor, and I sort of live like this. I certainly think this is nicer and richer than brand new store-bought interiors (like Lance Armstrong's place, no offense to him or his decorator) that have no soul or personality. I find interiors like his to be what I call "expensive cheap"....zzzzzz I fall asleep looking at them.

I, on the other hand, live in my apartment, don't alway shave the time or the ocd tendencies to put everything away the moment I use it, and it shows. And I think that's ok.

And finally, about the controversial wall, if you live in a city with history like Barcelona, or Montreal and New York (to a lesser degree than the European ones) walls like this are "common".... though usually with better paint jobs, rough, uneven original plaster walls are there and are beautiful.

Ok ok. Two last points, the grain and exposure of the photos make the spaces look grittier than they are. I'm sure they are quite nice spaces that have been deliberately photographed humbly. And the pile of books shot, look at the little vase. That person is not poor. I'm just sayin'