Wow. Personally, I don't think I can be a minimalist like the author but I do like the concept and admire the people who follow such a lifestyle.

Beautiful beyond words! "Simplicity at Home" captures a wholistic view of how to live well within your environment with a level of consciousness that is rare within the United States. No topic is beyond the scope of what Yumiko Sekine has set out with this delight of a book. Whether you are interested in seeing how a capsule wardrobe can be curated, learning to whittle, or even regrow foods from scrap any reader is bound to find a section that speaks to them. Living thoughtfully is becoming more en vogue and Sekine's book is a wonderful example why. Happy reading!

Follow Yumiko on a path towards understanding and following the Japanese lifestyle. It's a simple and yet wonderful book that guides you towards creating a mindful home specifically curated to help you love your home and live a happier life,

Visually incredible but so personal and stylized it was like taking a home tour or a looking at a magazine shoot.

It was breath taking and inspiring but at the same time not helpful in encouraging individual tastes or customization. But I can hardly critique it in any other way. Absolutely wonderful to look through and if nothing else would make an exceptional conversation starter displayed on a coffee table or bookshelf.

Truly incredible pictures and although I can’t find a way to replicate it for my lifestyle. I could read it a dozen times just to llookat what has been created.

It's hard to review a book like this. Was it lovely to page through? Absolutely. Would I want to own it? Not necessarily. Feels a bit like browsing through the instagram account of someone whose aesthetic I love; visually there's a lot to ooh and aah over, but that's the main draw. There's a handful of recipes I don't see myself making. There's another handful of projects, a few of which I'd like to try (kintsugi, spoon carving). Generally it has the feel of a small-format coffee table book. Do minimalists buy coffee table books?

I want to thank Netgalley and the author's for gifting me the ebook. Loved this book! I have suggested it to my friends and family. Will be re-reading this book over again.

A lovely, calming and gentle read about living the simple life whether in Japan or across the world. The images throughout are so clean and minimalist and make you feel calm just looking at them. Yumiko's stories about her life and her past are so interesting and it's interspersed with recipes and easy ways to fix things around your home and how to live a simple, beautiful life.

Yumiko Sekine is the founder of Fog Linen Work, a Japanese lifestyle brand similar in its aesthetics, use of materials and colours to the likes of The White Company, Muji, and say Zara Home. Simplicity at Home is a book where she shares her taste, rituals and tips on how to make your home and life simpler yet better.

The content is very airy-light. This would fit right in somewhere between bestsellers on Hygge and Wabi-Sabi, with a touch of Marie Kondo. There’s quite a bit of self-promotion too: after reading the book, I feel like I have a good grasp of about 90% of Yumiko’s merchandise, its quality, and competitive advantages over market alternatives. This information was sneaked in not just a few times too many - I’d say if was the main narrative tying the book together.

However, the pictures are great. If I could weed out promo bits, keep recipes and instructions and all the foreign terms, maybe cut the unnecessary parts of the narrative in half, it would make a beautiful coffee table book. Which really is where it belongs - for people to flip through at leisure, get some ideas and leave back on the table as a piece of decoration. Simples.

Oh, how I wanted to like this book and how perfect I thought it would be for me - the cover is absolutely gorgeous, simplicity and slow living are principles I adore, yet... yet this book just did not do it for me.

It feels a little bit too linen focused (I get it, the author has a linen brand, but there's enough paragraphs about linen that I can take, sorry). Although it follows the seasons as a structure of the book, it still felt unorganized and all over the place - and why is she talking about the closet in three different chapters instead of having one chapter with all the info and that's it?

The rituals are simple, kinda uninspiring, things I already knew... And the writing style just didn't spark anything in me. It works better as a blog, but not a book for everyone.

Lovely coffee table book with advice for creating peace in your home. Particular attention to decor, textiles, and seasonal refresh.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Awesome book! wouldn't mind owning a hard copy of this book!

There is no lack of books that give you tips on how to live simply or how to follow the lifestyle of another country to make your life richer. Denmark gives us the coziness of hygge, the Dutch offer up the concept of Niksen (doing nothing to help combat burnout), and there is Swedish death cleaning. Now, author and businesswoman Yumiko Sekine brings us a book of her Japanese traditions to help us find more beauty and purpose in life through simplicity.

Yumiko started out buying books for a small shop in Tokyo and kept buying until she could open her own store of linens, housewares, and clothing. Now she’s been running Fog Linen for over 20 years and buys products from all over the world. Her products are hand chosen and individually beautiful, and she has taken this concept and built her home and her life in the same precise way.

Her new book, Simplicity at Home, offers her ideas for minimalist living as well as ideas for crafts, recipes, and tips for living with intention and finding more beauty in life. The book, co-written with Jenny Wapner, is filled with gorgeous photographs by Nao Shimizu. There is a peacefulness in the photos that accentuates the serenity of Yumiko’s lifestyle. Just flipping through the book helped me feel calmer and more centered.

Yumiko takes us through a year in her life, starting with summer. She talks about how carefully she chose what to bring in to her new home and how she cherishes lightweight linens for the warmer weather. She shows us her unique dishes and how she organizes her kitchen, and she offers a recipe for one of her favorite summer treats, Cold Noodles with Tempura Vegetables. And then there are tips for mending broken ceramics by adding some gold powder to highlight the imperfections.

Next is autumn, where Yumiko shows how she uses scraps of linen or older pieces she wants to repurpose into a patchwork that can be used for something completely different. Old shirts or sheets can be made into a curtain or an apron, for example. And she makes plans for her garden, planting herbs and vegetables she can eat fresh or dry to keep her garden richness close throughout the colder months. Yumiko takes us on a trip to her favorite rice shop for fresh rice, and even shows us how to carve our own spoon before ending the day with a relaxing bath with homemade bath salts and soaps made with herbs and citrus.

Winter brings the coziness of heavier fabrics and preparations for the end of the year. Yumiko makes a simple wreath you can hand at home or give as a gift and shows how she organizes her closet and drawers with her winter wardrobe. She saves her seeds and vegetable cuttings to start new plants indoors, and she prepares for the Japanese tradition of deep cleaning everything at the end of the year with her homemade cleaning solutions made with orange and apple peels. For the new year, she and her friends make vegetable sushi, and then she makes a big batch of miso she can use throughout the entire year.

Spring comes, and Yumiko pares down her wardrobe to let go of the things she no longer uses and to make room for some new pieces, like the linen scarves she makes to add more life to her outfits. For old pieces that are stained or yellowed, she dyes them so she can keep wearing them, and they’ll look like new. Yumiko fills her home with fresh flowers in unique dishes and relishes her tea ceremony, not the traditional ceremony like her grandmother taught, but the ceremony that means the most to her, where she can enjoy her tea with some small sweets. But for her, spring is mostly about the cherry blossoms. She revels in her walks where the flowers are canopies overhead, and she even pickles some of the cherry blossoms to eat throughout the year.

Yumiko’s life and style is, in her words, “joyfully minimalistic.” While that makes for truly beautiful photos, it would take a lot of time and energy to maintain it as a lifestyle. That being said, I loved spending time with this book. It was a restorative vacation for me (especially this week, with frigid temperatures nipping at my extremities every time I go out the door) as well as an opportunity to learn more about Japanese traditions and culture. And while I can’t see myself living as minimally as Yumiko chooses to, I still found projects and ideas I can use now to bring some more intention to my life and serenity to my space. Anyone looking to learn more about Japanese minimalism, about simplifying your life to live with more purpose, or about Yumiko and her Fog Linen shop will appreciate this beautiful book.

Egalleys for Simplicity at Home were provided by Chronicle Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

This is just the sort of book I love getting lost in during a relaxing late afternoon. It doesn’t make you think too hard, but it challenges your brain enough into thinking about how to improve little pockets of your home.

**The PDF that I enjoyed was an advanced reader copy granted to me through Netgalley. All opinions are my own and not that of the publisher.**

Yumiko Sekine tries to cultivate 'joyful minimalism' in her home. This lovely book is inspirational with its attractive pictures and suggestions for living with the seasons and decorating. It is really better suited to 'crafty' people, however, because of its chapters on repairs and making things. However, it also has chapters which are suitable for everyone, about cleaning out closets, folding items, decorating shelves and arranging flowers. I especially liked the chapter on looking at flowers, with its beautiful pictures of Japanese cherry blossom trees.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Things to do or make. A lot of photographs which is nice when showing the process (somewhat) of the project. Some decent projects that are seasonal things to do around your home.

Beautiful book. I enjoyed the glimse into Yumiko Sekine's well curated and thoughtful life. It makes me want to completely redecorate and declutter without that being an aim of the book. I loved the simple crafts and recipes as well as the easy to understand translation of Japanese terms and culture.

Everything about this magnificent tome is stunning. It is a sparse yet elegant. It is detailed in that you are invited to share an ethic of space and time put to its most valuable use. It offers a way to serenity of space , which in turn clears the mind . I loved every page and envied anyone daring enough to begin fresh.

My interest in Japanese style, food and décor really began when I visited Japan in 2019. There is such a great tradition of attention to detail in Japan that it elevates something ordinary to extraordinary. This is reflected in the book, Simplicity at Home by Yumiko Sekine’s with Jenny Wapner by Chronicle Books.
Yumiko is the founder of Fog, Linen Work, a lifestyle (and online) store in Tokyo that sells home products and linen apparel.

The book is about Yumiko’s Japanese lifestyle and aesthetic which is simple, minimal and a mix of Japanese and Western influences. I find it very much a Japanese lifestyle but also can be a guide for any modern lifestyle now due to its focus on simplicity, minimizing waste, reuse, repair and buying items that last. The lifestyle rituals are naturally categorized into the four seasons and encompasses recipes, décor, dressing tips (paring down to a capsule wardrobe which I especially loved), carving your own spoons (😊), repairing ceramics (interesting for me as I did not think it could be done). It dovetails nicely with her store which I am loving. Note that some ingredients for the recipes may be difficult to obtain, if you are not in Japan.
Recommended for those interested in the Japanese/minimal lifestyle, natural materials, home décor and Japanese way of living.

Thank you to @NetGalley and @Chroniclebooks for the ARC.

#JapaneseInteriorStyling #MinimalLifestyle #InteriorDecorating #Linen #HomeDecor #NaturalMaterials #CoffeeTableBook #YumikoSekine #SimplicityAtHome #JennyWapner #ChronicleBooks #NetGalley

As a person who is interested how others live a simpler way of life, this was a book that caught my interest on Netgalley. Using traditions and the way they want to live their life, this book shows different ideas in various areas of your home. It was interesting to see and read different values and how you are raised influences your decisions in life. This book goes beyond homemade cleaners and getting rid of STUFF. It shows how to mend broken pottery using a gold fusing technique and how to hand carve your own spoons. Although I found this book interesting, it’s not one I see incorporating into my life but others with similar lifestyles may enjoy the peaceful photography and techniques.

Simplicity at Home is a style, decor, and philosophy book by Yumiko Sekine. Due out 9th Feb 2021 from Chronicle Books, it's 224 pages and will be available in hardcover format.

This is a graphically beautiful and restfully appealing book. The abundantly photographed interiors and decor shots are very well curated and simple as well as elegant and minimalist. The linens and table settings especially are very well done. There is a lot of emphasis on natural fibres (mostly linen) and clean lines combined with monochrome (mostly undyed linen with a few touches of blue/indigo).

Photos and interiors are arranged by season - Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring. These are thematic chapters (not really suggestions for decorating by season). The author makes a number of good points about choosing belongings wisely and making conscious choices about what appeals to us, what we keep around us, and what we dispose of (and why). There's quite a lot of Japanese minimalist philosophy and anti-consumerism throughout the book which will be welcome for some and uncomfortably close to a profoundly guilt-inducing truth for many others (me, it's me).

Without going full-on Marie Kondo - nearly all of us are surrounded by too much stuff. Curating our belongings is a good idea. I read these books and agree philosophically - but still wind up surrounded by yarn/studio cabinets so full of yarn and fabrics that they are constantly threatening to explode.

Anyhow, this book is wonderfully illustrated and beautifully curated. I would heartily recommend it to readers who enjoy interior design, organization, home interiors, and the like. Much of the content is slanted to the FogLinenWork brand aesthetic, but there is enough general information included to make it a worthwhile read for lovers of the genre and the eastern minimalist design style.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.