Book Club: My Favorite Design Books in 2014

My favorite thing to ask for at Christmas time is art and design books. I love to have them stacked all around the house, but I keep most of them on the base shelf of our library bookshelves. Since browsing Pinterest doesn't always feel that relaxing to me, I like to steal a few minutes of every day to lounge on the daybed and flip through an inspiring design book. Nothing helps me more to get those creative juices flowing! It's fun to catch my kids thumbing through them too.

I've found some great additions this year that I think would make amazing last-minute gift ideas! I snapped some photos of a few inside pages, just to give you a taste of what these are all about.

1) I think one of my favorite interior design book purchases this year was Designers at Home by Ronda Rice Carman.  The title tells it all - page after page after page of amazing rooms in the most famous designers' homes. 

I loved seeing different angles and styling of some familiar rooms, but most of these spaces were new to me. My only teeny tiny complaint is that I wish this book was a bit bigger so I could soak up the details even better.

2) I think Heather Clawson and I share an obsession over creatives' workspaces. Her book shares wide and vignette shots of the coolest artists and designer's offices.

It was fun to see more details of Jenna Lyons' beautiful office.

And find a few new favorite spaces to obsess over.

3) This book is seriously inspiring, even for the fair weather Wes Anderson fan. It's a beautifully designed behind-the-scenes book packed with inspiration images, interviews and sketches. I love it.

4) My friend, Samantha Hahn, is a truly talented artist. You've seen her work in all sorts of cool ad campaigns and in the most beautiful magazine layouts. Her book, called Well-Read Women, is still one of my favorites to flip through.

She pairs her gorgeous portraits of famous women in literature with beautiful lines from their stories. This is a great book for gifting.

5) We all know and love Erin's blog and her new book doesn't disappoint!

Not only are the images beautiful, the text is as informational, hilarious and genuine as the Elements of Style blog. Well done, Erin!

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(PS Recognize the gallery wall here on the right?) :)

6) The Remodelista book is stunning. Many of the images, especially at the front of the book, are pretty modern and sparsely styled, but the foundational design choices are SO good and super inspiring to me. I would be tempted to add a layer or two of color and accessories, but I still really connected with the rooms in this book.

My favorite spreads are toward the back, where some of the editor's homes are featured. Makes me miss New York like crazy.

They also have a section that lists 100 of their favorite housewares. I LOVED this part - it's like getting a peek at your most stylish friend's wedding registry list. 

What books have you bought and loved this year? Here are a few that are on my Christmas list:

Kate Spade Things We Love  //  A Year in the Life of Downton Abbey  //  

The Furniture Bible  //  Sunday Suppers

Our New, Pretty Book Nook

Remember the odd nook we have in our living room? It's a funny little space that I wasn't totally sure what to do with for a while. We already have those big bookshelves in the front room so it seemed redundant to have books stored in here. Plus, it's really not that that big of a space.

When we built the fireplace surround, we piped through an opening for the TV and cable cords, so that the components could live on a shelf behind the nook. The carpenter who helped us with the fireplace threw up a couple of simple, but sturdy shelves that I painted out in the wall color (Ben Moore's Brushed Aluminum). We've mostly just left the space empty (slash shoved stuff back in there when doing the unexpected-company-is-at-the-door mad dash). Not exactly a great use of space.

Then I had a light bulb moment when I realized I was drowning in magazines (I hate to part with my favorites - they're like design books to me). I had been keeping the unread ones on our coffee table and then tucking them into a cupboard after they were read, which worked fine. But when you love and look at magazines as much as I do, and when you have a nook that needs something special, what to do was a no-brainer!

I will share tutorials for the bench and the new shelves soon - they were super quick and easy, and I think they make the space feel so much more purposeful. I went a little more simple and cozy on the styling because I'm dying for it to feel like fall here. (SEASONS: I MISS YOU!)

Target reached out about sharing their seriously great new Threshold line for fall. Think: warm, soft, cozy, comforting, with equal parts organic and modern. It's all beautiful. Like this brass task lamp? It's gorgeous, solidly built and a really decent price point for something that looks like a million bucks!

The little glass terrarium and the green agate tray are both from Target as well. Either one would make a great holiday or house warming gift!

These little benches are fab. The legs are exceptionally gorgeous (maybe the world is finally moving past the standard dark, squared off tapered legs!?) and I love the textile used for the upholstery!

I hung a giant vintage mirror from a local antique store above the DIY console. I loved the light the mirror brought into the room, but suddenly the wall felt a little boring, so I added a series of New York prints from this book in these pretty limed wood frames.

Over in the nook area, I added a few woven baskets on the shelves for tucking away catalogs and unread magazines, and a few little vases and bowls to act as catch-alls and bookends for the slippery magazines! I especially love the concrete vase with the gold stripe.

What could be more cozy and fall-appropriate than chunky sweater pillows and a super soft, tassle-y gold throw?

I used this little side table as a plant stand for one of my favorite snake plants. I'm obsessed with these plants because I can mistreat them for like a year or more and they never die! True love.

It's nice to have a quiet, chill corner in what's normally a pretty bright and busy room. I feel like we all have our own little corners in the house now - Michael loves to retreat to the white settee in the music room to play his guitar, the girls have their own favorite spots in the playroom and now I get a special nook for cozying up with my beloved design magazines. :)

This post is sponsored by Target. Shop Home Décor for modern luxury made easy.

The Playroom Bookshelves

I've always been drawn to shots of bright, clear sky blue in kid's spaces.  Here are a few of my favorite rooms:

Velvet and Linen

Martha Stewart Living

House Beautiful

Cottage Living

We really needed some good bookshelves for the kids books in the playroom (and a great shot of sky blue color!). I found these at a local antique market called Merchant Square on sale for something pretty inexpensive like $100 or $150 for the pair. The barn red color was not working for me, but the shape of the shelves, with the angled corners was seriously calling my name!

I had a left over quart of Farrow and Ball's Blue Ground, which is a great color of bright sky blue. We brushed on a coat or two and added some of these super-cheap acrylic IKEA pulls to the cabinet doors and we were in business!

We color coordinated the books right before the Domino shoot, and I've been surprised that the kids have been pretty diligent since then about replacing the books to their right shelf after reading. I think easy organization (especially a simple system like this one - by color) helps kids want to keep spaces tidy.

And of course I love the sky blue color in the space! It's a pretty close match to the color of the clouds in the Hygge & West wallpaper print on the ceiling.