When, seven years ago, Grace Bonney  fired up her computer to start tapping out thoughts about her passion for design, the mighty, opinion-forming blog did not exist and people still sought their ideas and inspiration from print media and television. Soon however Bonney, a southern belle of exquisite sensibilities sharpened by a little New York grit, had attracted – Pied Piper like – an avid following eager to take part in a lively dialogue about interiors, craft, DIY, cooking and art. Today Design Sponge is the mother of all design blogs with hundreds of thousands of readers and an influential role to play in the contemporary design scene. With its beribboned construction paper background, it was the pioneer of the appealingly hand crafted looking websites Americans do so well. But it is Bonney’s inimitable and enviable writing style which really sets DS apart. She consistently achieves, apparently effortlessly, a conversational tone that is warm but not over familiar, enthusiastic but not gushing, discerning but down to earth.

Perhaps surprisingly the latest Design Sponge project is a print spin off, a substantial hardback tome with a gorgeous flame coloured cover embossed with a Julia Rothman illustration. Bonney has said that  Design Sponge at Home, which features sneak peeks into fabulous interiors, before and afters, DIY projects and flower workshops, is a ‘tangible guide you can dog ear and bookmark to your heart’s content.’ Jonathan Adler, who provides the book’s foreword, describes Bonney as a revolutionary and this book the revolution’s bible. Bonney, who rails against design rules and regulations, might baulk at the idea of having produced something in any way prescriptive, but you take Adler’s point.

If it is inevitably less dynamic and scintillating than Design Sponge online, the book is undoubtedly lovely and would make the perfect Christmas present for the more design savvy of your acquaintance. It  may also in time serve, as books by Terence Conran and Laura Ashley have done, as an elegant snapshot of the spirit of the age.

Design Sponge at Home is available from amazon.co.uk  for £15