5 + 1 books for home lovers
It’s summer, the perfect time to catch up on missed readings, turn back to old favorites, and discover new books. From an easy read on the beach to something heavier on the porch late at night, we've prepared a list of some of our favorite titles to open your eyes to new ideas for homes. Even if you are not a reading lover, you will probably want to look at the amazing images.
THE MONOCLE GUIDE TO COSY HOMES
This highbrow hardcover, edited in 2015, is already a classic and looks at a multitude of different types of homes. It tells us how to turn a house into a home, presenting the interiors, furniture, and locations you need to know about along with portraits of the people who can make it happen.
Most architecture and interior books show houses polished to perfection, manicured to the extent that it is hard to imagine anybody actually lives there: they seem to miss the point that homes are meant to be inhabited.
This is a book that should be referred to again and again. It is a book about the quality of life.
You can find it on Monocle's website.
HOME: THE WAY WE LIVE NOW
Launched last year by The New York Times, it shows striking photographs and compelling stories from its vast home-design archive.
In this book, the editors of the New York Times’s Home section offer a look at how contemporary homeowners make the most of their living spaces—whether small or stately, rural or urban, historic or cutting-edge—and do it with style.
Reflecting the latest and most inventive ideas in home design, the projects express the optimism, resourcefulness, and experimentation of today’s architects, designers, and homeowners.
You will find ideas and inspirations from innovative houses that show creativity, ingenuity and design savvy.
Available on the New York Times store.
ROCK THE BOAT
If you love alternative living solutions like floating homes, the recently published Rock the Boat and its content will give you ideas aplenty for houseboats and pierside shacks.
This illustrated book can inspire the adventurous to make daring choices, or allow the mildest to travel with their imagination, plunging in its wonderful photographs.
Available on Gestalten website.
HIDEOUTS: GRAND VACATIONS IN TINY GATEWAYS
From the same publisher, this book will guide you to experience the most awe-inspiring locales around the world with a fusion of glamour and camping.
Hideouts is a guide to vacations cast far away from civilization. The way we travel has changed. We no longer want a generic, one-size-fits-all vacation: we want to explore on our own terms and immerse ourselves in a local culture. Simply witnessing nature is no longer enough we want to live in it.
You will find incredible destinations, from a yurt on a mountaintop, a treehouse in the forest canopy in, to an eco-lodge with incredible panoramic views.
Available on Gestalten website.
Exceptional Homes: The Classical Style of Ralf Schmitz
Published at the beginning of the year by TeNeues, this is what usually is called a coffee table book. It shows the Architectural mastery with handcrafted details, enhanced with all of today s modern conveniences, is on full display in the elegant residences of Ralf Schmitz, a high-end German family firm that has been constructing luxury villas and condominiums since 1864.
The firm takes pride in emulating the regional architecture of the country’s various cities, from Berlin to Düsseldorf, Hamburg, and Kampen, west of Düsseldorf, where the company was founded.
"Only value endures" is the guiding principle of the Schmitz family. If you share this principle, this is certainly a book you will love. It is chock-full of riveting ideas and is anything but show house in feel.
Available on Teneus website.
If you don't have time or patience for Summer readings, maybe you want to look up for Winter and pre-order Joanna Gaines’s upcoming book, Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave.
It only comes out on November 6th, but it's already the 12th bestselling book on Amazon right now.
This book is a comprehensive guide written to "help you assess your priorities and your instincts, as well as your likes and dislikes, with practical steps for navigating and embracing your authentic design style." Including a foldout design guidebook and practical takeaways, Homebody will give you Jo-level confidence so you can create your dream home.