Clean Mama's Guide to a Peaceful Home: Effortless Systems and Joyful Rituals for a Calm, Cozy Home


Becky Rapinchuk - 2020
    But too often the mess and disorder only add stress.For years, Becky Rapinchuk has taught people how to simplify and improve cleaning routines, and now she reveals a game-changing method to help us find joy and make our chores effortless. By pairing up systems—how we get things done so that they become automatic—with rituals—tasks that bring calm and happiness—we can feel more at peace in our homes.Walking readers through each room of the house, Rapinchuk shows how to put new systems and rituals in place that will make the whole home operate more efficiently. Featuring decision trees, checklists, and space to reflect and record progress, Clean Mama’s Guide to a Peaceful Home makes homekeeping a breeze, allowing us to slow down and focus on the things that really matter.

Laundry: The Home Comforts Book of Caring for Clothes and Linens


Cheryl Mendelson - 2005
    It's full of physical pleasures -- the look of favorite clothes restored to freshness and beauty, the tactile satisfaction of crisp linens in beautifully folded stacks. Good laundering preserves things you love and protects your pocket book. It doesn't take much time or effort. What it takes is knowledge, and Laundry is the comprehensive, entertaining, and inspiring new book on the art of laundering.Culled from the bestselling Home Comforts, with revised and updated information and a new introduction, Laundry is an indispensable guide to caring for all the cloth in one's home: from kitchen rags to bedding, hand-washables, and baby clothes to vintage linens. Mendelson offers detailed guidance on when to disregard labels, removing stains, making environmentally informed choices, sewing, and storing clothing and fabrics. A much-needed antidote to the standard-issue how-to manual, Laundry celebrates the satisfactions of ironing, folding, and caring for clothes and linens. Both pragmatic and eloquent, Mendelson provides beginning and veteran homemakers with a seamless combination of reliable instruction, time-tested advice, and fascinating personal narrative.As a farm girl in Pennsylvania, Mendelson -- who is a philosopher, lawyer, and professor, as well as a homemaker, wife, and mother -- received a classic domestic education from her grandmothers, aunts, and mother. Laundry combines the best of the traditional lore they taught her with the latest in technical and scientific information. Writing with infectious love and respect for her subject, Mendelson is sure to instill in readers a newfound affection and appreciation for the art of laundering.

The Useful Book: 201 Life Skills They Used to Teach in Home Ec and Shop


David Bowers - 2016
    In other words, everything you would have learned from your shop and home ec teachers, if you'd had them.The Useful Book features 138 practical projects and how-tos, with step-by-step instructions and illustrations, relevant charts, sidebars, lists, and handy toolboxes. There’s a kitchen crash course, including the must-haves for a well-stocked pantry; how to boil an egg (and peel it frustration-free); how to grill, steam, sauté, and roast vegetables. There’s Sewing 101, plus how to fold a fitted sheet, tie a tie, mop a floor, make a bed, and set the table for a formal dinner.Next up: a 21st-century shop class. The tools that everyone should have, and dozens of cool projects that teach fundamental techniques. Practice measuring, cutting, and nailing by building a birdhouse. Make a bookshelf or a riveted metal picture frame. Plus: do-it-yourself plumbing; car repair basics; and home maintenance, from priming and painting to refinishing wood floors.

But Where Do I Put the Couch?: And Answers to 100 Other Home Decorating Questions


Melissa Michaels - 2019
    Perhaps you've wondered about things like this:"How do I style my bed so it looks special?""What's the best way to make a small room with low ceilings look larger and taller?""If you're decorating on a budget, what should you not skimp on?"Filled with helpful photos and practical solutions, this convenient guide will be your go-to resource for home decorating queries.

Remodelista: A Manual for the Considered Home


Julie Carlson - 2013
    The antithesis to sites that cater to all tastes, Remodelista has a singular and clearly defined aesthetic: classic pieces trump designs that are trendy and transient, and well-edited spaces take precedence over cluttered environments. High and low mix seamlessly here, and getting the look need not be expensive (think Design Within Reach meets Ikea). Remodelista decodes the secrets to achieving this aesthetic, with in-depth tours and lessons from 12 enviable homes; a recipe-like breakdown of the hardest-working kitchens and baths; dozens of do-it-yourself projects; The Remodelista 100, a guide to the best everyday household objects; and an in-depth look at the ins and outs of the remodeling process. In a world of design confusion, Remodelista takes the guesswork out of the process.

In Intimate Detail: How to Choose, Wear, and Love Lingerie


Cora Harrington - 2018
    How is it supposed to fit? How do you take care of it all? Is lingerie really for me? In this beautiful and empowering guide, lingerie expert Cora Harrington demystifies intimate apparel, making it accessible to all sizes, ages, and budgets. Covering everything from basic bras and panties to special occasion wear, shapewear, hosiery, corsets, and more, this no-nonsense handbook empowers you to confidently buy, wear, and care for the underpinnings of your dreams.

Undecorate: The No-Rules Approach to Interior Design


Christiane Lemieux - 2011
    As the founder and creative director of DwellStudio—which is famous for its brightly colored, graphic textile designs for home furnishings—designer Christiane Lemieux challenges tradition in a quintessentially American way, championing a fresh, unconventional approach to creating a beautiful and comfortable home. Lemieux emboldens readers to push aside stuffy, professionally-designed décor, showing them instead how to infuse their own personality into their home.  Undecorate profiles twenty homes from all over the country, revealing their owners’ love of imperfection and penchant for surprise and unusual juxtapositions while inspiring readers to follow their own whimsy and practicalities in their personal spaces. An anglophile creates an English manor in Hollywood, mixing British flea-market finds with midcentury furniture. A car fanatic turns a vintage Airstream trailer into a master bedroom and situates it in the middle of a vast industrial loft in downtown Chicago. A couple transforms a log house in Nashville, Tennessee, by blending their modern and eclectic styles with the home’s rustic charm. Though the designs differ widely, the spaces all express an open-minded attitude. Some homes embrace their contexts, while others transcend them. All are shaped by instinct and imagination and share innovative ideas that readers can use to organically and elegantly create their home to match their lifestyle and tastes.  Lemieux gets to the essence of the homeowners’ distinctive styles, pinpointing the transformative ideas, thoughtful details, and useful solutions that make each home memorable. With more than 200 full-color photographs, Undecorate will both inspire and guide homeowners to a new outlook on home design.

Homespun Style


Selina Lake - 2012
    Showcasing inspiring homes around the world, the book reflects our growing passion for crafting, stitching and painting. These are homes packed with personality and interest, full of homemade pieces, restored junk-shop finds and one-off treasures. Interiors stylist Selina Lake and writer Joanna Simmons will show you how this homely, crafty look has been given a modern twist with vivid colours, tactile fabrics and bold combinations. The book begins with the Themes, from the basics of modern craft to making colour and pattern work. It also focuses on imaginative ways to recycle and reuse, from transforming furniture with a lick of paint to finding inspired new uses for everyday items. Next, Details looks at textiles, furniture and display, while the third section, Spaces, shows how the style works beautifully in living rooms, kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms, children's rooms, workrooms and even out of doors.

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.

How Your House Works: A Visual Guide to Understanding & Maintaining Your Home


Charlie Wing - 2007
    There's no question that it pays to be an informed consumer. Knowledge of your home's systems helps you control repair and construction costs and make sure the correct elements are being installed or replaced.This book uncovers the mysteries behind just about every major appliance and building element in your house. Clear, "exploded" drawings show you exactly how these things should be put together and how they function - what to check if they don't work, and what you can do that might save you having to call in a professional.The easy-to-understand pictures and explanations on every page get right to the point, helping you understand how things work, what can go wrong, and how to trouble-shoot a problem.FEATURES: Virtually everything in your house is included:Electrical - circuit breakers and grounding, service, outlets, lamps and fixtures. Heating and air conditioning - gas, electrical and oil - ductwork and piping, thermostats, central and window AC units, humidifiers and dehumidifiers, and air filtering systems. Plumbing - kitchen and bath fixtures, piping, water heaters, traps and vents, septic tanks, pumps and water softener systems - even sprinkler systems and swimming pool filters/heaters. Major household appliances - from kitchen to laundry. Foundation, framing, doors and windows - including issues like drainage and radon, types of framing and how it supports the house, and all types of doors and windows.

Happy Home: Everyday Magic for a Colorful Life


Charlotte Hedeman Guéniau - 2013
    Happy Home brims with useful ideas for transforming a ho-hum home with relaxed contemporary style featuring bright colors, cheerful patterns, and varying textures and scale inspired by designer Charlotte Hedeman Gueniau and her home furnishings company Rice, which are well-known among design fans for innovative home furnishings and houseware collections featuring ethically sourced and produced products. The book shows how the basics of everyday life can be enlivened by bringing color and a sense of fun to daily living, whether by using brightly colored accessories or by introducing fabrics with patterns, textures, and hints of humor throughout the home. Included are practical suggestions that add informal charm to any room, as well as do-it-yourself projects ranging from brightly colored throws and cushions, storage ideas to hide clutter, hand-painted furniture, and decorative motifs for walls and other surfaces.

Martha Stewart's Organizing: The Manual for Bringing Order to Your Life, Home & Routines


Martha Stewart - 2020
    Here, she offers her best guidance, methods, and DIY projects for organizing in and around your home. Topics include room-by-room strategies (how to sort office paperwork, when to purge the garage or attic), seasonal advice (when to swap out bedding and clothing, how to put away holiday decorations), and day-by-day or week-by-week plans for projects such as de-cluttering, house cleaning, creating a filing system, overhauling the closet, and more. Martha’s indispensable expertise walks you through goal-setting, principles of organizing, useful supplies, and creating systems for ongoing success. A look into Martha’s own personal calendars offers a template for scheduling essential tasks. Last, plenty of strategies, how-tos, timelines, and checklists will help you stay organized all year long.

A Touch of Farmhouse Charm: Easy DIY Projects to Add a Warm and Rustic Feel to Any Room


Liz Fourez - 2016
    With the turn of each page, Liz Fourez leads you on a tour through her family’s house, restored to its 1940s rustic farm style, and teaches you how to make each handmade decoration yourself. The projects require minimal effort, yet add instant charm to any room. With your blue jeans on and a few of the most basic supplies in hand, you’ll be on your way to your dream home in no time.You’ll learn how to make a custom wood Family Name Sign for your living room, a Wooden Boot Tray on Casters for the entryway, a Ruffled Stool Slipcover for the kitchen and a Rustic Wooden Frame for the bedroom, plus decorations for the office, bathroom, kids’ bedroom and playroom. Farmhouse style is about cultivating a connection among family, home and nature; A Touch of Farmhouse Charm helps you bring the warmth and beauty of simpler times to your modern life naturally.

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.

For the Love of Books: Designing and Curating a Home Library


Thatcher Wine - 2019
    For the Love of Books shares the vision of Juniper Books, a business that embraces the roles that books fulfill in our lives and their staying power. It recounts the history of books and private libraries, and champions the resilience of books in the digital era. Dive into the nuances that define books for reading, books for decoration, and books for inspiration. Instructive chapters provide useful details for creating and curating one's own home library, whether it be a single shelf or multiple rooms each with their own collection. You will never look at your bookshelves the same way again.For the Love of Books is about storytelling beyond the pages of our favorite books. Our books--the ones we choose to keep--tell the story of who we are. They remind us who we once were and who we aspire to be.Thatcher Wine founded Juniper Books in 2001. The company creates custom libraries and has perfected the art of turning books inside out to allow for books to tell stories not just to us, but about us. Working with booklovers, homeowners, and designers, Juniper Books has provided the world with a fresh new approach to the printed book. Thatcher grew up in New York City where his parents owned and operated The Quilted Giraffe, one of the most innovative restaurants in America. Thatcher graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in history and art history and lives in Boulder, Colorado.Elizabeth Lane is the founder of Quarterlane, a quarterly subscription book service which merged with Juniper Books in 2018. She is also the book buyer for her local independent bookstore, Partners Village Store and Kitchen in Westport, Massachusetts. Prior to working in books, Elizabeth worked in contemporary visual art--in galleries, nonprofit initiatives and museums in New York, Austin, and Chicago. Elizabeth graduated from Davidson College with a degree in art history and received her masters degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.