Romantic Prairie Style


Fifi O'Neill - 2011
    It's a style that says 'home' wherever you may be because, more than anything else, it's a mindset: gentle but strong, welcoming and lasting, durable yet sophisticated and, above all, real. Over the centuries, the humble dwellings built by European immigrants to the US in the 1880s have evolved into sturdier, more comfortable homes, which, depending on their geographic location, took on a variety of designs, be it a ranch, cabin, farmhouse, cottage or adobe. Each of these styles plays a role in prairie style and its enduring aura of romance and nostalgia. Here interiors bear the influence of European settlers and the poetry of the heart-warming authenticity of simple, natural textures, hand-hewn beams, bleached wood, weathered planks, woven blankets, cow-hide and Navajo rugs. It's a style inspired by the honesty of homespun materials of the past wedded to a flair for the present. It's flower-sprigged brocade, tawny leather, crisp eyelet and soft linen, corduroy with crochet trims, woolen plaids, cosy flannel and wispy organza. It's history retold and all about the enduring connection between people and places and the nostalgia we feel for a rural country life, a yearning for a simpler life, as embodied in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie.

Design*Sponge at Home


Grace Bonney - 2011
    They don't have to be matchy-matchy or rigidly modern. They can just be comfy and unique and reflect who you are, no matter how small your budget or space.That reader is one of the 75,000 unique daily visitors to Design*Sponge, who make it the most popular design site on the web. The site receives 250,000 pageviews every day and has 150,000 RSS subscribers and 280,000 followers on Twitter. Design*Sponge fans have been yearning for the ultimate design manual from their guru, Grace, and she has finally delivered with this definitive guide, which includes:Home tours of 70 real-life interiors featuring artists and designersFifty DIY projects, with detailed instructions for personalizing your spaceStep-by-step tutorials on everything from stripping and painting furniture to hanging wallpaper and doing your own upholsteryFifty Before & After makeovers submitted by readers of Design*Sponge real people with limited time and realistic budgetsEssential tips on modern flower arranging, with 20 arrangementsWith over 700 color photos and illustrations and projects that are customizable, relatable, and affordable, this is the democratizing design book everyone has been waiting for and all for only $35.00!

Country Living The Little Book of Big Decorating Ideas: 287 Clever Tips, Tricks, and Solutions


Katy McColl - 2013
    These are smart concepts you'll grasp in a single glance and brief caption: shortcuts and quick pick-me-ups, artful displays, visual tricks that create a sense of space, “sneaky” storage to clear the clutter, and simple DIY projects (like crafting a bed canopy with ready-made curtains). All the suggestions are practical, pretty, and easy to implement.

Elements of Style: Designing a Home a Life


Erin Gates - 2014
    Drawing on her ten years of experience in the interior design industry, Erin combines honest design advice and gorgeous professional photographs and illustrations with personal essays about the lessons she has learned while designing her own home and her own life—the first being: none of our homes or lives is perfect. Like a funny best friend, she reveals the disasters she confronted in her own kitchen renovation, her struggles with anorexia, her epic fight with her husband over a Lucite table, and her secrets for starting a successful blog.Organized by rooms in the house, Elements of Style invites readers into Erin’s own home as well as homes she has designed for clients. Fresh, modern, and colorful, it is brimming glamour and style as well as advice on practical matters from choosing kitchen counter materials to dressing a bed with pillows, picking a sofa, and decorating a nursery without cartoon characters. You’ll also find a charming foreword by Erin’s husband, Andrew, and an extensive Resource and Shopping Guide that provides an indispensable a roadmap for anyone embarking on their first serious home decorating adventure. With Erin’s help, you can finally make your house your home.

New Cottage Style: Decorating Ideas for Casual, Comfortable Living


Better Homes and Gardens - 2005
    Decorating ideas to achieve a cottage look that’s clean, simple, and light.New and remodeled homes that incorporate cottage style via architectural features and easy decorating choices.Secrets to creating harmony and simplicity with paint, furniture, fabrics, and accessories.Examples of projects in the country, the woods, suburbia, and oceanfront locations.Practical ideas and decorating techniques to create a comfortable getaway look.Effective color schemes that achieve a serene palette.

Crafting a Meaningful Home: 27 DIY Projects to Tell Stories, Hold Memories, and Celebrate Family Heritage


Meg Mateo Ilasco - 2010
    In Crafting a Meaningful Home, Meg Mateo Ilasco shares 27 projects that tell personal stories and celebrate heritage, all easily created on a budget. Learn how to decoupage a plate with photos of a best friend; silkscreen upholstery with folk motifs; artfully display love notes; sew a teepee from a vintage quilt top; or create family silhouettes for a festive banner. Contributed by a hip cast of well known designers from across the country, the projects are, at once, nostalgic, sentimental, and modern. Clear instruc­tions are easy to follow, even for beginning crafters.Praise for Crafting a Meaningful Home:"[Crafting a Meaningful Home] can serve two purposes on your gift giving list. If you have time, make one of the projects from the book. If not, give the book itself. It's beautifully photographed and written, and the projects are incredible." --PopSugar Rush TV

Found, Free, and Flea: Creating Collections from Vintage Treasures


Tereasa Surratt - 2011
    While renovating the decrepit cabins at Camp Wandawega, they kept stumbling upon curious objects, some dating back ninety years or more: a Boy Scout patch, an old sled, a pristine set of Fiesta Ware, dozens of midcentury aprons, an untouched box of board games in their original packaging. Tereasa knew the power that one mundane object has when grouped with its siblings. So rather than discard everything, she set out on a five-year expedition to turn the more than 150 found items into full-fledged collections. Relying on her own thriftiness, she only acquired pieces for free or at a bargain price: items that she found, negotiated for free, or unearthed at a flea market. Found, Free & Flea explores Tereasa’s passion for collecting while encouraging you to tap into your own with ideas on where to look to see collectibles. Throughout the book, she shares her secrets and historical tidbits behind these prized antiques, now used to create innovative displays and for entertaining guests at her renovated lakeside retreat. From vintage wine taster cups turned into a wind chime to cheese boxes reinvented as drawer organizers, to a chicken feeder that houses old tea cups for impromptu coffee bar setups, everything at Camp Wandawega earns its keep. Learn how to navigate flea markets and how to best negotiate, why “localvore” collecting should matter to the thrifty shopper (and what finds to expect on your travels), which vintage collections are easiest to start and the quickest to fill out, and what tips you should employ for turning even the most simple items into stunning displays. The beautiful photography and Tereasa’s clever DIY projects and sharp eye for design will inspire anyone to add charm and personality to interiors with a few well-worn objects. A celebration of Americana and ingenuity, Found, Free & Flea is a must-have for knowing how to spot treasures, complete collections, and display them artfully.

Cozy White Cottage Seasons: 100 Ways to Be Cozy All Year Long


Liz Marie Galvan - 2021
    Following the popularity of Cozy White Cottage, Cozy White Cottage Seasons is a beautiful, full-color photography holiday lifestyle book with easy-to-do, practical tips to make your home a welcome haven—from New Year’s Day to spring, summer, fall, and all the way through Christmas.Cozy White Cottage Seasons equips you to:Create cozy celebrations, traditions, and memories indoors and outRepurpose furniture and decor for every seasonCultivate your flair for vintage, modern, farmhouse, or a unique style all your ownDesign a hot cocoa bar—and make other seasonally cozy recipesStore and manage holiday clutterAnd so much more!In addition, you’ll find fun ideas to celebrate and decorate for: Christmas Thanksgiving Halloween Fourth of July Father’s Day and Mother’s Day Easter Valentine’s Day And any special gatheringsCozy White Cottage Seasons is a great gift for Christmas, birthdays, and Mother’s Day or as a beautiful yet practical housewarming gift.A cozy enthusiast living in an 1800s farmhouse, Liz’s design tips and wisdom have been featured on the TODAY show, Better Homes and Gardens, and Country Living. With decorating tips, fun family traditions, and doable ways to make your home inviting in every season, Liz helps you create a beautiful living space and a grateful heart all year long.Look for Liz's other cozy home décor book full of DIY inspiration, Cozy White Cottage.

The Bee Cottage Story: How I Made a Muddle of Things and Decorated My Way Back to Happiness


Frances Schultz - 2015
    As she figures out each room over a period of years, Frances finds a new path in life, also a continual process. She comes to learn that, like decorating a home, our lives must adapt to who we are and what we need at different points along the way.The Bee Cottage Story is part memoir, part home decorating guide. Frances discusses the kinds of useful, commonsense design issues professionals take for granted and the rest of us just may not think of, prompting the reader to examine and discover her own “truth” in decorating—and in her life.

Life Unstyled: How to embrace imperfection and create a home you love


Emily Henson - 2016
    These interiors may be stunning, but they aren’t an honest reflection of how we really live and I think they make us feel bad about our own less-than-perfect homes.We are bombarded by perfect interiors, images that aren’t attainable because they have been styled to the point where they bear no resemblance to reality. These interiors may be stunning, but they aren’t an honest reflection of how we really live and I think they make us feel bad about our own less-than-perfect homes. Life Unstyled is about taking inspiration from real homes that are beautiful, creative and inspiring but at the same time a little rough around the edges, with signs of everyday life evident throughout. The first section, ‘Homes Unstyled’, sets out Emilly's manifesto for creating a stylish home that is beautiful but lived in. A Home is Never Done advocates allowing your space to evolve gradually so it is an ever-changing expression of your tastes and interests. Work with What You’ve Got suggests ways to make the most of the home you have rather than yearning for unattainable perfection. Signs of Life offers ideas for wrangling papers, clutter and other stuff. Creative Clutter tackles collections and displays, while Break the Rules rejects style diktats and shows how individuality can bring a home to life. The second section, ‘People Live Here’, visits real-life homes that are definitely not perfect yet display incredible style and creativity and reflect their owners’ needs, tastes and style. And throughout the book, quick fixes, DIY makes and ‘ Every Home Should Have…’ boxes offer creative solutions with unique results.

Styled: Secrets for Arranging Rooms, from Tabletops to Bookshelves


Emily Henderson - 2015
    Even a few little tweaks can transform the way your room feels.      At the heart of Styled are Emily Henderson’s ten easy steps to styling any space. From editing out what you don’t love to repurposing what you can’t live without to arranging the most eye-catching vignettes on any surface, you’ll learn how to make your own style magic. With Emily’s insider tips and more than 1,000 unique ideas from 75 envy-inducing rooms, you’ll soon be styling like you were born to do it.

Decorate: 1,000 Design Ideas for Every Room in Your Home


Holly Becker - 2011
    Written and compiled by Holly Becker, founder of the hugely popular design blog Decor8, and Joanna Copestick, acclaimed lifestyle writer, this intensive home dcor program combines beautiful inspiration with nuts-and-bolts how-to for stunning results. More than 500 gorgeous color photographs provide motivation while line illustrations, checklists, shortcuts, and floor plans make it easy to get started. For those looking to make the most of their home and create stylish interiors, Decorate is the start-to-finish resource to keep on the bookshelf for years to come.

Country Living Salvage Style: Decorate with Vintage Finds


Leslie Linsley - 2017
    By reclaiming honest materials and collectibles, large and small, all imbued with their own history, you can infuse your home with warmth, charm, and individuality. Let the experts at Country Living show you how to find and make the most of discarded treasures, such as old windows, barn doors, metal military desks, mailroom filing cabinets, factory lamps, and hand-forged iron hooks. Plus, the editors share best practices for bargain hunting and obtaining the most desirable cast-offs, such as antique beams and weathered barn wood. Stunning photos of every room, along with imaginative ideas from homeowners, will spark your creativity and give you an eye-opening perspective on the decorative potential of “trash.”

So Close to Amazing: Stories of a DIY Life Gone Wrong . . . and Learning to Find the Beauty in Every Imperfection


KariAnne Wood - 2017
    It's also a book for anyone who has ever mismatched her shoes or trimmed her own bangs when a professional might have been a better choice or added too much soap to the washer and watched it overflow.(Not that KariAnne Wood has ever done any of these things.)A debut memoir from the beloved Thistlewood Farms blogger, So Close to Amazing is a collection of hilarious and heartfelt reflections on getting it almost right--and how, instead of giving up, we can choose to simply embrace our real selves right where we are. It's a story of transparency and honesty and recognizing that perfection is completely overemphasized and overrated. It's about grace and learning from mistakes and rejoicing in every victory, no matter how small. Because when you find joy in the "you" God created you to be, you'll discover the amazing that was there all along.Contains beautiful DIY project ideas anyone can do, whether you're Pinterest perfect or craft challenged! Homemade signs, centerpieces, recipe walls, and more!

The Things That Matter


Nate Berkus - 2012
    From his most cherished flea market finds, to his beloved books and photos, to the many extraordinary mementos he’s collected in his travels, every piece defines who he’s become and what endures in his world.   Berkus invites readers into his own home as well as into twelve others, including a sleek steel-and-glass high-rise that soars above Chicago, a rustic cottage in the Hudson Valley, an ultra-chic atelier that maximizes every inch of space, a Greenwich Village townhouse that holds multiple art collections, and a study in meaningful minimalism in Marfa, Texas. The distinctive interiors beautifully displayed in this book offer revealing portraits of their owners’ lives and the inspiring choices that have made them who they are today. The Things That Matter convincingly lays out Nate Berkus’s philosophy that things do matter. Our homes tell our stories, they reflect the places we’ve been and the people we’ve loved along the way—and there can be no more beautiful design for living than that.NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE SEATTLE TIMES