Decorating & Design
Home Library: The Best Interior Design Books To Read Now
Updated on June 4, 2024
If you’re seeking inspiration for your next design project — or simply looking for a new coffee table book — we’ve rounded up some of the best new design books on the market. From Martyn Lawrence Bullard’s Star Style (with a forward by Cher), to Rose Uniacke‘s At Work, dive into pages covering celebrity homes, up-and-coming Black designers and the latest in furniture, textiles and more.
Scroll down for some of the best interior design books to read right now!
Star Style: Interiors of Martyn Lawrence Bullard
A foreword by Cher (whose Malibu home was transformed into a fantastical Moorish palace by Martyn) sets the glitzy tone for the designer’s third book. Martyn is known for customizing spaces to his clients’ unique personas: black and silver disco balls dazzle in RuPaul’s living room, and leather chairs in Kylie Jenner’s dining room match her brand’s lipstick shades. Lavish moves like tented ceilings and rooms filled with architectural remnants from Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar or the souks of Cairo are found in the homes of Elton John, Ellen Pompeo and Tommy Hilfiger, as well as Martyn’s own Los Angeles and Palm Springs abodes.
Iconic Home: Interiors, Advice, and Stories From 50 Amazing Black Designers
While celebrating established design stars such as Justina Blakeney, Adair Curtis, Corey Damen Jenkins and Brigette Romanek, this important book also spotlights up-and-coming Black designers as well as three Canadian talents: Brenda Danso, Michael London and the late Nike Onile. Iconic Home is a source of practical design advice and personal perspectives on what it means to be working as a Black designer today. The book succeeds in amplifying and elevating the work of diverse interior designers and is a beacon of encouragement to people of color considering a career in design.
The Brooklyn Home: Modern Havens in the City
This book unveils 10 Brooklyn homes by builder-designer team Bill Caleo and Lyndsay Caleo Karol, along with artist in residence, Fitzhugh Karol. The trio founded The Brooklyn Home Company in 2007, which specializes in creating the hip, urbane vibe that has elevated Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights brownstones into design beacons. This book shows how these historical buildings were reinvigorated and made into stylish, livable homes. Once stuffy, formal parlours have been reborn as spacious kitchens and dining areas, reflecting the new reality of how families gather and entertain today.
Decorate Like a Decorator: All You Need to Know to Design Like a Pro
Dara Caponigro has an impressive pedigree: the onetime Domino style editor is now Schumacher’s creative director. In this book, she surveys the work of traditional designers such as Rita Konig, Tom Scheerer, Billy Cotton and Veere Grenney. You’ll find more than 100 classic decorating moves, including scenic panels, wallpapered ceilings, decorative plates, skirted tables and bespoke lampshades. Rendered in the hands of these design talents, the results are inspiring and emboldening, and take the guesswork out of common decorating dilemmas.
Pierre Frey: Textiles, Wallpapers, Carpets, and Furniture
Design lovers will be familiar with the house of Pierre Frey, the French furniture, textile and wallpaper brand known for its use of witty patterns and unabashed color. Authored by Patrick Frey, who took over the family business in 1982, the book is a personal recollection of his late father’s company and its iconic prints. Featured interiors demonstrate how these textiles and wallpapers infuse rooms with personality, as well as how a historical 18th-century print can look completely of the moment.
Rose Uniacke at Work
London designer Rose Uniacke is an all-around design “it” girl. She started her career restoring antiques, and now she juggles interior projects with lighting and furniture design. Her second book showcases 11 of her latest projects, including her own circa-1860 home, Warwick Square, originally a portrait painter’s studio. “The patina of age has its own potent beauty,” says Rose of her love for restoration. Her interiors have a painterly quality, grounded by whisper-soft, natural pink plaster walls and enlivened by crimson curtains, saffron stair runners and William Morris wallpaper.
Sean Scherer’s Vignettes
If you love a good shelfie, take a page from styling master Sean Scherer, who owns the curiosity shop Kabinett & Kammer in New York’s Catskills region. Sean breaks down the principles of creating a successful vignette: using symmetry, repetition of form and juxtaposing varying shapes. He shows how a mix of quirky, cherished possessions and flea market finds such as seashell-encrusted mirrors, delftware and mercury glass vases can be as beautiful as a Dutch still life.
Shamshiri: Interiors
You know them as founding partners of the L.A. firm, Commune Design. In 2016, siblings Pamela and Ramin Shamshiri stepped away to launch Studio Shamshiri, and this is their second book. The pair specializes in infusing bohemian style into mid-century masterpieces by architects like Rudolph Schindler and A. Quincy Jones. In a Shamshiri project, sinuous sofas are works of art, and panelled rooms segue into sun-drenched terracotta terraces. The results are high-minded and comfortable, templates for how to respectfully renovate an architectural gem for modern life.
Slim Aarons: The Essential Collection
For 50 years, lanky photographer George Allen “Slim” Aarons catalogued well-heeled society while working for Town & Country and Life (he established a bureau in Rome to capture la dolce vita). This new 432-page book is the most comprehensive collection of his photography ever released and includes 100 never-before-seen images. Although this isn’t a pure design book, it does depict beautiful creatures (think Eva Gabor and Joan Collins) in their natural habitats, including palazzos in Rome, gazebos in Jamaica, drawing rooms in Irish castles and chalets in Gstaad, Switzerland. Slim’s camera lens gives fans a front-row seat to the good life.
The One Day Box: A Life-Changing Love Of Home
British designer Flora Soames was inspired by the concept of a One Day Box (a place where fragments of the past that spark a connection are stored) for her book. Her Norfolk countryside cottage in the Cotswolds is decorated in her trademark maximalist style, full of Flora’s vibrant fabrics and wallpaper designs. This rich pastiche of classic English interior design staples: riotous walls of floral wallpaper, tables groaning with heirloom china, and carefully curated collections, is evocative and highly personal.
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