Click here for an introduction to this 10 Days of Reading series, as well as links to past days.
This category is beloved in my heart. I believe our homes are a tool for taking care of ourselves and the people we love, and as such, we should fill them with things that are beautiful, loved and useful. Clearly, it’s a category I love to read up on. Here are seven of my favorite home-related books, from interior design to decluttering to organization.
The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well
by Deborah Needleman
Could this be my favorite interior design book of all time? I think it just might be. Beautifully illustrated and dense with common-sense wisdom about how to fill, arrange and edit your home for the loveliest experience of living. I particularly enjoy her acceptance of imperfection as a balance to the traditional (unrealistic and unattainable) perfect ideals of a home.
Domino: The book of decorating: A Room-by-Room Guide to Creating a Home that Makes You Happy
by Deborah Needleman and Sara Ruffin Costello
Raise your hand if you remember the original Domino magazine! It was such a dream. If I’d have known how short-lived it would be, I would have kept every issue. But alas, I have this book instead, and it’s full of top-notch interior design ideas for everyday people, not just rich ones.
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
and Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up
by Marie Kondo
These books changed my home and my approach to clutter, forever and in a most wonderful way. If you are craving a home with less clutter, these two books are my very highest recommendation. Beautifully written, wonderful ideas, super easy to digest and follow.
House Thinking: A Room-by-Room Look at How We Live
by Winifred Gallagher
This is a fascinating read—a psychological tour through each room of your house, based on behavioral science, cultural history and interviews with leading architects and designers about how we live and how we can optimize our experience by making adjustments.
Better Basics for the Home: Simple Solutions for Less Toxic Living
by Annie Berthold-Bond
We all know I love DIY household products, right? You can find them peppered all over my blog. Packaging sucks, unnecessary chemicals suck, watered down and inefficient products suck. Here’s a great collection of DIY basics if you’re just getting started on this lifestyle.
Real Simple: The Organized Home
by the editors of Real Simple Magazine
I picked up this book in the bargain section of a Barnes and Noble once, and I just loved it. It’s nothing brand new, I suppose—a room-by-room guide to which objects each room should have, and how to arrange things in the most organized way—but the book itself is so orderly and lovely to read that I didn’t mind one bit.
