Tool Box Texts

You've heard it a million times before: knowledge is power. The sharpest tool in the box is always the one that's best read. Whether you're an "Interior Design for Dummies" DIY-er or an evolving expert in the field, these titles are sure to equip you with tips of the trade that'll make your next project a little less intimidating and hopefully bring you a little laughter and inspiration along the way.

01 Styled: Secrets for Arranging Rooms, from Tabletops to Bookshelves

christiane lemieuxEmily Henderson offers a toolbox full of tricks to transform rooms from drab to fab. Emily helps you find your own personal style preferences (a convenient quiz greets you within the first few pages) and then unpacks how to best use your individual style persona to create spaces that work for you and your budget. Emily is resourceful in her method and meticulous in her commitment to detail. She has an eye for repurposing the vintage, and if you’re looking for a way to utilize that funky thrift shop find or antique heirloom, Emily Henderson is your gal and Styled is your guide.

02 The Inspired Room: Simple Ideas to Love the Home You Have

Celebrated blogger, Melissa Michaels, invites readers into her expertly curated home to share her wealth of décor knowledge with the rest of us. Accessible and aesthetically pleasing, her book traces room-by-room through her Seattle Craftsman Home, while offering helpful tips and suggestions. These helpful hints range from full on remodel to subtle shifts with big impact, and they are delivered with all the wit and charm that readers of her blog “The Inspired Room” fell in love with. Michael’s message is clear: love the home you’re in; and she offers plenty of potential pathways to get there.

03 The Kinfolk Home: Interiors for Slow Living

Nathan Williams has scoured the globe to prove that comfort and class do go hand in hand. His design book, The Kinfolk Home, covers a lot of ground by featuring homes all across the world that have perfected the art of easy living, complete with pristine décor. The stunning images are the most compelling aspect of the book, capturing expertly curated homes with a minimalistic aesthetic. Warning: This book will give you severe home envy!

04 The Finer Things: Timeless Furniture, Textiles, and Details

Chistiane Lemieux’s book could have made it on this list based on its cover art alone (this one is likely to make your coffee table stack). Fortunately, its contents cash the cheque its cover writes. Lemeuix emphasizes the importance of having a sturdy foundation for your designs, and discusses why furniture should be considered a crucial aspect of your home’s structure. The Finer Things incorporates international insights from experts on everything from wallpaper to accessories in hopes of educating and empowering readers to create environments that make luxury accessible.

05 Elements of Style: Designing a Home & a Life

Erin Gates lets us learn from her mistakes (even experts make mistakes!) in a helpful edition to the book titled “10 Renovation Lessons”. Gates breaks down the often overwhelming task of redecorating into bite size pieces, demystifying the art of style and helping you find your own along the way. Her book offers a range of ideas, making it easily applicable to everyone from studio apartment renters to home owners. The book is splattered with Erin’s personal insights and anecdotes that help bring the pages down to earth and render their content relatable. All in all, a must-have on your bookshelf!

06 The Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have to be Perfect to be Beautiful

Myquillyn Smith got her start as a blogger of the popular page “The Nester”. For Smith, creating a home is also about creating a lifestyle; she encourages her readers to take a similar approach in their design endeavors, advocating for the acceptance of imperfections and taking risks in order to build a home that is reflective of and functional for its owner(s). Life is messy, and sometimes (okay- often) so are our homes. Learning to let go of the neverceded desire for order in chaos is exhaustive, so Smith instead suggests we simply manufacture a functional chaos that doubles as a stylish backdrop to our busy lives.

07 Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave

You may recognize Joanna Gaines as a TV personality and one half of the design duo/ adorable married couple from the HGTV show “Fixer Upper”. Joanna Gaines’ solo book deal takes all her familiar soul and wit along with her keen eye for style and space to the page, gifting us with an enjoyable and easygoing guide to creating spaces that reflect our personalities and function for our families. For Gaines, the magic lies in the little things—the small details that act as reminders of our stories and conspire to make a house a home—and Gaines gives you all the advice you need to curate a home that is as expressive as it is comfortable.

08 Habitat: The Field Guide to Decorating

Lauren Liess’ signature style is all about collaborating with nature to create inviting interiors, and she articulates this style with energy and passion in her first book, Habitat: The Field Guide to Decorating. Her designs are heavily inspired by the great outdoors, utilizing textures and colors derived from the natural world. She breaks down the often overwhelming task of designing a home to a science; making elements like lighting, color, and furniture easier to manage. But her scientific design methodology is far from artistically lacking— her spaces achieve mood and aesthetic to rival even the most breathtaking of prairie sunsets.