Design Intervention

Last year’s hit design book Hawai‘i: A Sense of Place is still a fixture on your coffee table. But staring at that photo of an oversize pune‘e on a spacious lanai hasn’t sparked any grand ideas for your considerably cozier living area.

That’s why interior design expert Rachel Mallon of Design Savvy Maui created Room in a Book

—to help people who want to personally design their space but don’t know where to begin.

Complete an online questionnaire, provide space dimensions and pictures, and in a month or less (one week for pdf versions) Mallon sends a custom-made book with a floor plan, two to three possible renderings of your room, a material and furniture board, and a suggested shopping list. Included step-by-step instructions on what changes to make, and when, mean it’s that much easier to create your new look.

If you’re still unsure, e-mail her simple decorating questions or read her blog where she posts previous questions and answers, such as how to choose a wall color to complement a sage duvet.

With a few novel ideas, you can move those photographs of other rooms to a shelf and see your own unique space transformed.