Once every year or so, I treat myself to a beautiful design book. This year’s treat was Get it Together! An Interior Designer’s Guide to Creating Your Best Life, by Orlando Soria. I’ve been following him on Instagram for a while now and appreciated his use of triangles in  design, his sharp humor, and his fearless vulnerability.

Orlando Soria has a unique brand. He knows his audience and his strengths and uses them well in promoting his work.

A while back, he announced his new book was coming out and that there were a limited number of signed copies.  In a weak moment I clicked purchase, and then didn’t open the book for months. I brought it to Tobago and didn’t read it. You know how when you have a special treat, you have to be ready to enjoy it? Then one day in May, I cracked it open.

This page alone paid for the book. It made my day.

I don’t just look at the photos in my design books, I read them. And amidst photos of beautiful interiors, Orlando shreds every design book ever written with his wit.

I don’t know how to describe this book other than therapy + design.

The only chapter I didn’t like was the one about kids – People who don’t have them tend to write about them in a way that lacks a certain understanding you get from living with them. His chapter on babies later in the book was better.

The chapters on hosting and the section on hanging light fixtures had me laughing.

There is cursing in the book, but Soria does it so artfully and humorously, that most of the time I didn’t mind. Sometimes he walked a little on the far side of what I was willing to laugh about, but overall the book was spot on.I don’t usually like to read my design books at night because my Himalayan salt lamp is great for relaxing, but the worst for looking at illustrations. But this book made great bedtime reading, so I’d often end the day with a few pages.

While being funny and sarcastic, Soria still manages to deliver solid design advice and some decent life advice as well. He never takes himself too seriously and willingly throws design convention under the bus when it gets too prim about how things “should” be done.

This was a fun, relaxing read, and I enjoyed it from the introduction at the beginning to the acknowledgements page at the very end.