Judging a book by its cover – and a room by its colour

We’ll spare the blushes of the Irish celeb who featured some time ago in one of those ‘At Home With. . .’ features in a so-called celeb magazine that are supposed to reveal the private life of the public person.

In an effort to show her cerebral side, she was ‘spotted’ enjoying a good read in her plush sitting room – only for the photograph to show that she was engrossed in the instruction manual for her TV.

And she was reading it upside down.

Her embarrassment came to mind recently when an interior designer was subjected to internet odium – because she revealed that she stored her books backwards, with their spines to the wall so that the colour palette of her sitting room remained beigey neutral.,

Lauren Coleman’s home featured in a recent edition of Ideal Home magazine and in fairness, if she had been seeking the ‘neutral’ look for her sitting room, she nailed it in spades.

White shelving on cream walls with eggshell doors; if bland ever screamed at you, this was nothing short of deafening.

But not everyone wants scarlet red or subtle grey – and if you want to go for the neutral look in your own sitting room, that is entirely your prerogative.

To ensure a consistency in her design, Lauren had turned the books so their spines were to the wall, leaving only the pages exposed to the public; thus revealing nothing of what lies between the covers.

Apparently, they’ve given this trend a name; it’s called backward books and it’s a recognised thing in the nebulous world of interior design where image rules over actual content every time.

And you can see what they were thinking; you spend a ridiculous amount of money to hire an interior designer who comes up with a colour scheme for your pristine home – before you go and ruin it all by living there.

One of the biggest downsides of the digital world is that you can no longer get an insight into someone from a quick nosey through their book or music collection.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.