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17 Essential Interior Design Books Every Stylish Home Should Have

By Ariel Okin and Elise Taylor

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In the era of Pinterest and Instagram, it’s easy to find interior inspiration with a flick of the index finger—sometimes too easy. The endless scroll is just that, serving up an onslaught of random photos that often lack originality. What to do instead of agonizing over the algorithm? Consider a curated coffee table book instead that showcases the best decor, and design minds, of our generation.

Mark D. Sikes—whom Jill Biden asked to decorate her White House office—is the authoritative voice on classic Americana style in his book More Beautiful. Meanwhile, the London-based designer Rose Uniacke’s monograph is fast becoming a cult classic (get it while a few copies remain on the shelves). For a touch more variety, look no further than Inside: At Home with Great Designers, which showcases the homes of everyone from Faye Toogood to Miles Redd. Speaking of Redd: his Assouline book, The Big Book of Chic, remains an indispensable bible of good taste.

Below, 17 essential interior design coffee-table books that every decor enthusiast should own.

Ralph Lauren: A Way of Living

Ralph Lauren

More so than any other American brand, Ralph Lauren sells not just clothes, but a lifestyle: “I never liked fashion,” Lauren himself told the New York Times in 2021 . “I like things that get better with age.” Denim and dresses weren’t just denim or dresses—they were part of an aesthetic that extended to your cars, to your home, to the very restaurant you dined at.

A new book by Rizzoli, Ralph Lauren: A Way of Living , shows just how true that is. Chronicling the many houses of Ralph Lauren and his wife Ricky—from a New York City apartment to a Bedford Country estate, from a Colorado ranch to a Jamaican villa—it not only offers an unprecedented look inside the family’s impeccable homes, but how, in turn, they’ve influenced the evolution of his clothing designs.

Architectural Digest at 100: A Century of Style

To mark the 100th anniversary of Architectural Digest, its editors compiled the most notable homes shot within a centuries-worth of their pages. Some are significant due to their inhabitants, such as Diana Vreeland, Barack and Michelle Obama, and Truman Capote. Others are because of their famous architects like Frank Gehry, Frank Lloyd Wright, and India Mahdavi. What they all have in common, however? Their interiors are utterly inspiring.

The Space That Keeps You

Between 2010 and 2020, Jeremiah Brent and his husband, Nate Berkus, moved 10 times in 10 years. The thing is—Brent couldn’t tell you why. “Nate and I looked at each other and we’re like, ‘What is happening? We’re broken,’” Brent told Vogue in February. So the acclaimed interior decorator decided to write a book, The Space That Keeps You , about the people who have happily lived in their homes for several decades, despite the financial means to move if they wished. It’s as emotional as it is beautiful.

Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Houses

MODA OPERANDI

“Karl Lagerfeld,” writes Patrick Mauriès in the introduction to Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Houses , “changed his decor even more often than his image.” Indeed, the 13 homes belonging to the late Chanel creative director that are featured in the new book (published this week by Thames & Hudson) are remarkable in their aesthetic range—whether his Art Deco Paris apartment from the 1970s, his 1980s Memphis-design Monte Carlo pied-à-terre, or his spare yet luxurious weekend retreat in Biarritz. As Mauriès summarizes: “Lagerfeld collected interiors in the same way that Don Juan notched up conquests.”

Redefining Comfort

Jake Arnold—whose clients include Katy Perry and Chrissy Teigen—has fast become one of the most in-demand interior designers in the world thanks to his dynamic style that infuses traditional English style with contemporary California one. “Timelessness can feel both contemporary and fresh,” he says. His first book, Redefining Comfort , examines nine of his most spectacular projects from Topanga Canyon to Idaho.

Mario Buatta: Anatomy of a Decorator

To this day, Mario Buatta is considered one of the most influential figures in interior design—the “Prince of Chintz” more or less defined two decades of decoration with an Americanized take on English country house style. After cleaning out his archives following his 2013 death, his former protegé Emily Evans Eerdman examines the central tenets of his style—and his legacy—in Mario Buatta: Anatomy of a Decorator.

Arranging Things

ANTHROPOLOGIE

Colin King, who styles spaces for major names like Roman and Williams Guild, is a master at artfully placing furniture and objects. His Rizzoli book, Arranging Things , written with Architectural Digest ’s Sam Cochran, delves deep inside his process of composing everything from coffee tables and bookshelves to windowsills. It may also inspire readers to visually craft their own rooms.

Inside: At Home with Great Designers

It’s the job of interior designers to interpret the fantasies of their clients through their own creative lens. But, left completely to their own devices—more specifically, within their own homes—how do they decorate? Inside: At Home with Great Designers chronicles the personal spaces belonging to the world’s greatest decorating minds, including Faye Toogood , Miles Redd, and Vincent van Duysen, providing a fascinating insight into their unencumbered creative ethos.

Ken Fulk: The Movie in My Mind

There’s no one who infuses an interior with more distinctive personality than Ken Fulk, the AD100 designer known as the decorator of choice for Silicon Valley’s elite. (Just look at his Lake Tahoe home for Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom and his wife, Nicole.) His coffee table book, with photography by Douglas Friedman, revisits over 30 years of Fulk’s vivid, extravagant, and even bacchanalian worlds, from a Napa Valley farmhouse to a Manhattan clubhouse.

Woman Made : Great Women Designers

Woman Made: Great Women Designers

Woman Made : Great Women Designers shines a spotlight on the pioneering—and oft-overlooked—female makers of the 20th and early 21st centuries, from the Bauhaus movement to Memphis design to post-modernism. The book pairs a short biography of the maker with one of their works, making it both a visual ode and an educational tool.

Rose Uniacke At Home

Rose Uniacke is known for her light yet luxurious interiors that effortlessly combine modern touches and antique ones—the Jo Malone headquarters in London, for example, pairs warm creams with a statement black chandelier. In Rose Uniacke At Home, a monograph published by Rizzoli, she explores the defining characteristics of her style through her own 19th-century dwelling.

Japanese Interiors

Japanese Interiors explores 28 different private residences in Japan, from brutalist buildings in Tokyo to concrete seaside escapes in Kantō. In the process, it gives a rich visual history of the minimalist decor tradition of the country, which has inspired countless aesthetics not only within the country’s borders but around the world, too.

Carrier and Company: Positively Chic Interiors

With a foreword from Vogue ’s very own Anna Wintour, interior design duo Jesse Carrier and Mara Miller of Carrier and Company present a portfolio of elegant and textured rooms, curated with the client’s personality in mind. From a vacation home in Florida to a cozy country retreat or a Manhattan loft, Carrier and Company brings their unique brand of eclecticism to a wide range of stunning projects.

More Beautiful: All-American Decoration

Heralded the king of traditional home design with a twist—chinoiserie and sisal rugs abound—Mark D. Sikes’s More Beautiful, and its earlier iteration, Beautiful , really are just that. Organizing the book by color scheme (this, after all, is the man behind the hashtag #blueandwhiteforever), Sikes even handwrites some of his personal tips in the margins of this gorgeous tome, making it feel like you’ve stumbled upon a personal diary or field guide. An instant classic.

Decorating the Way I See It

Very few know how to work tiger-print Scalamandré fabric or a robin’s egg blue wall into the mix without overpowering a space, but Markham Roberts is one such person. Roberts made a name for himself at Mark Hampton’s legendary firm before striking out on his own in 1997, rising to the top of that era’s class of designers. A step-by-step guide to approaching design, this book is a must-have for any aspiring aesthete.

Vogue Living: Houses, Gardens, People

Filled with 36 uniquely gorgeous homes and gardens, many of which belong to the fashion and art world’s glitterati (including the late, great Oscar de la Renta’s perennially awe-inspiring home in the Dominican Republic), Vogue Living is a behind-the-scenes peek at the world’s most unique living quarters. Magnetic writing from the likes of Hamish Bowles and Marina Rust and iconic photography from Bruce Weber, Annie Leibovitz, Mario Testino, and Horst P. Horst combine into a legacy of inimitable Vogue storytelling.

The Big Book of Chic

assouline.com

Miles Redd is credited with many a fashion editor’s home, past and present. Mixing Diana Vreeland’s love for color and irreverence with a lot of tailored sophistication, a Redd interior has its own distinct signature. After beginning his interior design career with names like Bunny Williams, Redd opened his own design firm in New York City in 1998—and people took notice. For a decade, Redd had been the creative director of Oscar de la Renta Home. If you’re looking for elegant whimsy, start here.

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8 Essential Design Books Every Interiors Lover Should Read

By Heather Corcoran

Whether you’re looking to brush up on the basic principles of good design or seeking some eye-candy inspiration, it’s always a good idea to stock up on design books. These classic tomes offer an aesthetic foundation for any interior designer’s toolkit, and are the perfect introductory education for anyone even just dabbling in the field.

Home: The Foundations of Enduring Spac es

By Ellen S. Fisher

The New York School of Interior Design wrote the book, quite literally, when it comes to the basics of decoration. Keep a copy of Home: The Foundations of Enduring Spaces (Clarkson Potter), written by NYSID dean Ellen Fisher, Ph.D., close by for whenever it’s time for a refresher on the fundamental concepts behind such grounding principles as the process of design.

The House in Good Taste: Design Advice From America’s First Interior Decorator

By Elsie de Wolfe

Since 1913, The House in Good Taste: Design Advice From America’s First Interior Decorator (Dover Publications) has guided designers looking to cultivate their sense of taste with advice from none other than Elsie de Wolfe , the “first lady” of American interior design.

The Decoration of Houses

By Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman Jr.

Long before Edith Wharton published her tales of life in New York’s upper crust, she collaborated with the architect of her own Newport, Rhode Island, renovation, Ogden Codman Jr., on what would become her first published book: 1897’s The Decoration of Houses (Dover Publications). More than 100 years later, her advice still resonates: Keep it simple, don’t worry about trends, and feel free to take cues from the best examples you can find.

On Decorating

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By Mark Hampton

An aesthetic guide from one of the most famous interior designers of all time, On Decorating (Potter Style) offers a dissertation on interiors penned by Mark Hampton , the tastemaker who left his mark everywhere from the White House to the American Embassy in Paris. Since it was first published in 1989, On Decorating has inspired countless design professionals and enthusiasts to take risks when making spaces, with Hampton-approved strategies for approaching color, comfort, and, of course, elegance.

The World of Ornament

By David Batterham

Expand your visual vocabulary with The World of Ornament (Taschen), a primer to decorative patterns throughout history. Curated by antiquarian bookseller David Batterham, the book combines two 19th-century French collections of pattern and decoration into one richly illustrated sourcebook that breaks down the aesthetic principles behind everything from textiles to tiles to illustrated texts, with examples drawn from cultures ranging from ancient Egypt to the European Middle Ages and beyond.

Interiors: The Greatest Rooms of the Century

By Phaidon Editors

When it comes to inspirational imagery, there’s little need to look further than Interiors: The Greatest Rooms of the Century (Phaidon) . Covering 400 spaces from around the world and representing the work of some 300 creatives, the collection highlights legendary designers past and present, from Billy Baldwin to Karim Rashid, while also offering a look at the private domestic spaces of such iconic stylemakers as Bill Blass and Peggy Guggenheim.

Interaction of Color: 50th Anniversary E dition

By Josef Albers

Few people are as closely associated with color theory as Josef Albers, the artist and educator known for his series of hue-on-hue square compositions. Albers was teaching graphic design at Yale when he published his influential guide to the principles of color theory in 1963. Featuring some 150 plates showcasing color relationships, Albers’s treatise on combining colors has been in print for more than half a century, most recently as Interaction of Color: 50th Anniversary Edition (Yale University Press).

1000 Chairs

By Charlotte & Peter Fiell

If a designer is only as good as her sources, 1000 Chairs (Taschen) is all you need for a one-stop crash course in the history of seating . From the craftsmanship of Charles Rennie MacKintosh to the Eameses’ early fiberglass experiments and the faceted creations of Konstantin Grcic, this field guide to famous chairs is more than just a designers’ dream sourcebook—it offers a world of inspiration for rethinking even the most everyday of objects around us.

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12 Of The Best Interior Design Books, According To Vogue

By Ariel Okin and Elise Taylor

In the era of Pinterest and Instagram, it’s easy to find interiors inspiration with a flick of the index finger – sometimes too easy. The endless scroll is just that, serving up an onslaught of random photos that often lack originality. A better option? Browsing one of the best interior design books, as chosen by Vogue .

By Chloe Schama , Taylor Antrim , Marley Marius , Lisa Wong Macabasco , Chloe Malle and Daniel Rodgers

The best interior design books, according to Vogue :

Very few know how to work tiger-print Scalamandré fabric or a robin’s egg blue wall into the mix without overpowering a space, but Markham Roberts is one such person. Roberts made a name for himself at Mark Hampton’s legendary firm before striking out on his own in 1997, rising to the top of that era’s class of designers. A step-by-step guide to approaching design, this book is a must-have for any aspiring aesthete.

“Karl Lagerfeld,” writes Patrick Mauriès in the introduction to Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Houses , “changed his decor even more often than his image.” Indeed, the 13 homes belonging to the late Chanel creative director that are featured here are remarkable in their aesthetic range – whether his art-deco Paris apartment from the 1970s, his 1980s Memphis-design Monte Carlo pied-à-terre, or his spare yet luxurious weekend retreat in Biarritz. As Mauriès summarises: “Lagerfeld collected interiors in the same way that Don Juan notched up conquests.”

To this day, Mario Buatta is considered one of the most influential figures in interior design – the “Prince of Chintz” more or less defined two decades of decoration with an Americanised take on English country house style. After cleaning out his archives following his 2013 death, his former protegé Emily Evans Eerdman examines the central tenets of his style – and his legacy – in Mario Buatta: Anatomy of a Decorator.

It’s the job of interior designers to interpret the fantasies of their clients through their own creative lens. But, left completely to their own devices – more specifically, within their own homes – how do they decorate? Inside: At Home with Great Designers chronicles the personal spaces belonging to the world’s greatest decorating minds, including Faye Toogood, Miles Redd, and Vincent van Duysen, providing a fascinating insight into their unencumbered creative ethos.

Rose Uniacke is known for her light yet luxurious interiors that effortlessly combine modern touches and antique ones. In Rose Uniacke At Home, a monograph published by Rizzoli, she explores the defining characteristics of her style through her own 19th-century dwelling.

Woman Made : Great Women Designers shines a spotlight on the pioneering – and oft-overlooked – female makers of the 20th and early 21st centuries, from the Bauhaus movement to Memphis design to post-modernism. The book pairs a short biography of the maker with one of their works, making it both a visual ode and an educational tool.

Japanese Interiors explores 28 different private residences in Japan, from brutalist buildings in Tokyo to concrete seaside escapes in Kantō. In the process, it gives a rich visual history of the minimalist decor tradition of the country, which has inspired countless aesthetics, not only within the country’s borders, but around the world, too.

More so than any other American brand, Ralph Lauren sells not just clothes, but a lifestyle: “I never liked fashion,” Lauren told the New York Times in 2021 . “I like things that get better with age.” Chronicling the many houses of Ralph Lauren and his wife Ricky – from a New York City apartment to a Bedford Country estate, a Colorado ranch to a Jamaican villa – Ralph Lauren: A Way of Living offers an unprecedented look inside the family’s impeccable homes.

Photographer Miguel Flores-Vianna roamed from Tangiers to Antwerp, Ibiza to Montauk, to capture the eclectic homes featured in Haute Bohemians . Included in their number: artist Alessandro Twombly’s paintbrush-strewn studio north of Rome, the one-time bolthole of his father, Cy; Castello Gardena in the Dolomites, owned by the Franchetti family since the early 20th century and famed for its tiled stoves and Tyrolean panelling; and World of Interiors founder Min Hogg’s bougainvillaea-draped bolthole in the Canary Islands. See, too, Flores-Vianna’s follow-up, Haute Bohemians: Greece .

Published to coincide with 10 years of her practice, Sophie Ashby’s first monograph, Home, Art, Soul , includes photographs of both her own houses and those of her clients, from a Victorian bathhouse in Brighton to a 17th-century bolthole on the Left Bank. Yes, flipping through its pages is a welcome escape into a Pierre Frey-printed world, but there are worthwhile time-saving lessons to be gleaned from its pages, too, from how to create a bijou “moodtray” that encapsulates the aesthetic of a room to budget-friendly solutions to common decorating problems (say, taking apart a coffee table book and framing its pages if you’ve got blank walls to fill).

Released in 2013, Francois Halard’s debut, A Photographic Life , offered a glimpse into the homes of fashion greats ranging from Schiaparelli to Richard Avedon to Yves Saint Laurent. (One of Halard’s first assignments as a 23-year-old photographer was, in fact, to capture Saint Laurent’s home at 55 Rue de Babylone.) His sophomore effort, 2019’s A Visual Diary , homes in on artists as well as designers: Dries Van Noten’s Ringenhof , set in 55 acres of parkland near the mediaeval town of Lier; Eileen Gray’s E-1027 in the Alpes-Maritimes; The Menil House in Houston, Texas, designed by Philip Johnson and decorated by Charles James… Even more intimate? Last year’s Francois Halard: New Vision , the final volume in this triptych, which is worth ordering for the shots of Michelangelo Antonioni and Monica Vitti’s La Cupola in Sardinia alone.

Beata Heuman launched her own practice in 2013 after years spent under the tutelage of Nicky Haslam, and her raison d’etre in the decade since has been infusing homes everywhere from Nantucket to North London with personality, colour and warmth. Every Room Should Sing uses the Swedish designer’s projects to illustrate key design principles (the importance of contrasts, the value of cosiness). Take, for example, the tiny mews apartment that Heuman reimagined in Paddington, inspired by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice – a masterclass in making the most of limited space – or the 17th-century Sussex cottage where she has “layered” different design movements (a Charleston-inspired library, a 1930s funkis-filled kitchen) to glorious effect.

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17 Interior Design Books to Help You Create the Home of Your Dreams

All the decorating inspiration you need to revamp just about any room.

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“Live Beautiful” by Athena Calderone

In Live Beautiful , Athena Calderone, the creative force behind the lifestyle site Eyeswoon , offers a glimpse into the homes of accomplished creatives ranging from decorators like Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent to fashion tastemakers like Jenna Lyons. They share the inspiration behind their well-decorated homes and how the average homeowner can recreate the look. 

Rizzoli S Is for Style: The Schumacher Book of Decoration

If you're obsessed with patterns like stripes and florals, this is for you. In this coffee table book, Schumacher—the iconic fabric and wallpaper company—celebrates the creative ways designers have used their most beloved prints over the years. 

The Home Edit

Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin of The Home Edit have organized spaces for everyone from Reese Witherspoon to Gwyneth Paltrow. If you haven't had a chance to steal tips from their Netflix show, Get Organized , now's the time to sit down with their book, which is full of advice on making just about any room look more polished.

Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave: Target Exclusive Edition

If you consider yourself a fan of HGTV's Fixer Upper , where Chip and Joanna Gaines transformed old homes into Instagram-worthy properties, add her book to your collection. In it, you'll find ideas for decorating with antiques, experimenting with industrial decor, and more.

Kelly Wearstler: Evocative Style

When it comes to leading interior designers, it doesn't get any better than Kelly Wearstler. Evocative Style shows off Wearstler's mastery of fashioning spaces that tell a story, whether it's through mixing vintage and contemporary pieces or experimenting with unique textures and organic shapes.

The New Southern Style

Look no further than interiors photographer and stylist Alyssa Rosenheck to uncover the truth about Southern style, thanks to glimpses of her stunning home as well as those of design influencers, like Leanne Ford. This refreshing look at Southern culture, including its emerging design trends, will tempt you to bring more charm into your own abode.

Gibbs Smith Modern Americana

Leave it to interior designer Max Humphrey to reveal what it takes to pull off a modern Americana aesthetic. Think pointers on decorating with gingham, old maps, flea market treasures, and custom furnishings—all with a focus on crafting an interior that feels layered and lived-in. 

Rebecca Atwood: Living With Pattern Coffee Table Book

There's an art to layering patterns in an interior and Brooklyn-based textile designer Rebecca Atwood shows exactly how it's done in this book. A healthy mix of design inspiration and practical how-to's makes this title a must-have for any decor lover. 

Elements of Family Style: Elegant Spaces for Everyday Life

It's no secret that lifestyle blogger and decorator  Erin Gates  knows all about designing a beautiful room. Steal a dose of her style with this book that has all the tips you could ever need to make your home stylish, comfortable, and most importantly, functional for a busy family. 

Made for Living: Collected Interiors for All Sorts of Styles

Sometimes all it takes is browsing through a book of picture-perfect rooms to land on a brilliant design idea for your own space. Amber Lewis'  Made for Living has more than 250 photographs that offer pointers on paint colors, throw pillows, lighting, and just about any other design element you've always been curious about.

Everything: A Maximalist Style Guide

More is more is the perfect way to describe Abigail Ahern's Everything . Learn the ins and outs of nailing the maximalist design aesthetic, from going bold with color to mixing furniture styles. 

Beautifully Organized: A Guide to Function and Style in Your Home

An organized space never fails to exude beauty, and Nikki Boyd's Beautifully Organized proves just that. This inspiring book will encourage you to rid your home of clutter once and for all and put the items that hold special meaning to you on full display. 

May I Come In?: Discovering the World in Other People's Houses

New York magazine editor Wendy Goodman has covered some of the most breathtaking homes in the world over the years. In May I Come In? , she opens the doors to more than 75 of her favorites and highlights some of her own memorabilia and photos along the way.

"Travel Home" by Caitlin Flemming

Any travel enthusiast would appreciate this book's engaging look at homes around the world, from Portugal to Marrakesh. Its beautiful photography and tips on arranging a global-inspired room makes it perfect for any design obsessive. 

Home For The Soul

We can all do our part to live a more sustainable life and Home for the Soul offers thoughtful interior design pointers to point you in the right direction.  

"More Beautiful" by Mark D. Sikes

What does it take to make your home more beautiful? That's the premise behind Mark D. Sikes' coffee table book. The top designer, who is known for his love of a blue-and-white color palette, shares some of his top all-American spaces that are equal parts sophisticated and comfortable.

Abrams Jungalow: Decorate Wild

Get inspired to be a bit more daring with your design style, thanks to Justina Blakeney's upcoming book, Jungalow: Decorate Wild . Read it from cover to cover and you'll feel more confident in choosing color schemes, going bold with patterns, and breaking away from traditional design principles.

Monique Valeris is the home design director for Good Housekeeping , where she oversees the brand's home decorating coverage across print and digital. Prior to joining GH in 2020, she was the digital editor at Elle Decor . In her current role, she explores everything from design trends and home tours to lifestyle product recommendations, including writing her monthly column, "What's in My Cart."

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15 Best Interior Design Books

Want to learn more about interior design? Here are some fantastic books to get you started.

Kasia Chojecki

Whether you're a budding designer, a homeowner looking to revamp your space, or simply someone who appreciates the art of creating beautiful and unique spaces, diving into the world of interior design is an exciting journey.

There are many places to find inspiration and keep up with the latest trends. You can even experiment with various interior design software to test your skills. In this post, we share the 15 best books about interior design to inspire and broaden your knowledge.

What interior design is all about

Interior design is more than just aesthetically arranging furniture in a room. It's a profession that includes conceptual development, space planning, site inspections, communicating with stakeholders, construction management, and execution of the design.

Interior designers need creativity, technical knowledge, and a deep understanding of people and their lifestyles to create functional and welcoming spaces. They need to find creative design solutions for interior environments while supporting the health, safety and well-being of occupants and enhancing their life experiences.

15 Best interior design books

From the best interior design books for beginners to books for interior design pros, here is a list of our pics to inspire and learn about decor ideas and interior decorating.

Mario Buatta: Anatomy of a Decorator by Emily Evans Eerdmans

Discover the captivating world of Mario Buatta, a celebrated interior decorator whose impact transcends time. With intimate insight into his life and work, the book draws upon Buatta's extensive archives and showcases his design prowess.

From his iconic projects to the influential figures who shaped his career, this book unravels the magic of Buatta's distinctive design vocabulary and imparts invaluable decorating wisdom. With its vibrant colors, charming details, and abundance of whimsy, you will be transported into the enchanting realm of an American design legend.

The Art of Home by Shea McGee

Shea McGee, the renowned designer behind Studio McGee and Dream Home Makeover, shares her expertise in this new book . With over five million followers, Shea demonstrates how high-end design principles can be applied to any home, making it approachable and impactful.

She takes readers on a journey through every room, providing step-by-step guides and sharing personal stories to transform our lives and living spaces. The Art of Home is not only beautifully designed but also a practical resource that will make a lasting impact on your home.

Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave by Joanna Gaines

Joanna Gaines' book is a comprehensive and practical guide that helps you create a home that reflects your unique style and personal story. With examples from her own farmhouse and other homes, Gaines takes you room by room, showing you how to blend different styles to create spaces that feel distinctly yours.

The book includes a removable design template for planning and sketching out your own design plans. It will give you the confidence and insight to thoughtfully create inviting spaces in your home.

Elements of Style: Designing a Home & a Life by Erin Gates

This vibrant and fully illustrated book is packed with advice, inspiration and personal stories. It will guide you in designing a home that reflects your unique personality and style. This book combines practical advice with beautiful imagery, making it a delightful read for design enthusiasts.

Organized by rooms, this is a fresh and modern decorating guide that combines glamour and practicality. With a handy resource and shopping guide, it's the perfect companion for your home decorating adventure.

Interior Design Master Class: 100 Lessons from America's Finest Designers on the Art of Decoration by Carl Dellatore

This book is an extraordinary collection of insights and expertise from top interior designers. With 100 essays covering a wide range of themes and topics, it showcases the work of established legends and rising stars in the field.

From practical considerations to inspiration and style, each essay is accompanied by stunning visuals to illustrate the design principles discussed. This book is a valuable resource full of practical tips and thought-provoking ideas.

Anatomy of Colour: The Story of Heritage Paints & Pigments by Patrick Baty

Discover the captivating story of paint and color in interior design through three centuries. From the popularity of primary colors in postwar kitchens to the clean lines and pastel shades of the Art Deco era, this comprehensive illustrated history provides answers to intriguing questions about color and paint in our interiors.

Historian and paint expert Patrick Baty traces the evolution of pigments, paint colors, and color systems and explores their impact on the palettes used from the 1650s to the 1960s. With stunning photographs showcasing rare colors and reproductions of interiors from every era, this authoritative book takes you on a visual exploration of distinctive color trends and painting styles of each period.

The Finer Things: Timeless Furniture, Textiles, and Details by Christiane Lemieux

Discover the secrets of recognizing enduring, high-quality home goods and how to use them to create stunning design effects. The book delves into the importance of quality in furniture, objects and room elements that can withstand trends and day-to-day use.

Lemieux shares insights from experts in wallpaper, paint, textiles, accessories and interior design, providing readers with invaluable knowledge on identifying timeless, heirloom-quality pieces. With hundreds of elegant home interiors, both from the past and present, this book showcases the endless possibilities for creating truly luxurious and personalized living spaces.

The Interior Design Handbook by Frida Ramstedt

This book is the ultimate guide to creating a harmonious home. It demystifies the secrets to achieving a beautiful home, offering practical advice on how to think like a designer. Ramstedt, a home styling guru, shares her insights on the principles of interior design and styling.

From understanding design trends to utilizing the golden ratio, this comprehensive handbook offers practical advice and helpful illustrations. No matter your style or location, this book will help you achieve a balanced and beautiful home.

Furniture Design by Jim Postell

Postell's book focuses on the art and practice of designing furniture. It covers the history of furniture design, materials, construction techniques, and the creative process behind designing functional and aesthetically pleasing furniture pieces.

It also includes 25 case studies showcasing a wide range of works, designers and techniques. With its generous illustrations, it offers valuable insights into furniture function, spatial organization, typological orders, structural integrity, accessibility, design process, materials, professional practice and more.

The Color Scheme Bible: Inspirational Palettes for Designing Home Interiors by Anna Starmer

The book is an invaluable resource for decorators and interior designers. With its 200 color scheme ideas and 50 recommended palettes, it offers an easy-to-use and inspiring reference on utilizing color in the home. From creating ambiance to giving the illusion of space, it explores how color interacts and affects a room.

The Interior Design Reference & Specification Book by Chris Grimley and Mimi Love

This handy reference guide covers essential aspects of interior design, materials and specifications. From the fundamentals of interior design to space composition, surface options, and creating specific moods, this book has got you covered.

It even includes interviews with top practitioners in the field. Whether you're a designer, a student, or simply looking for design advice, this book is a step-by-step guide for any interior design project.

Styled: Secrets for Arranging Rooms, from Tabletops to Bookshelves by Emily Henderson

Discover the ultimate guide to becoming a stylist. This book offers 1,000 design ideas and tips for creating beautiful and personalized rooms. Learn the secret to finding your own style confidence and how styling can transform your space.

Follow the 10 easy steps to style any room, from editing and repurposing to creating eye-catching vignettes. With insider tips and over 1,000 unique ideas, you'll soon be styling like a pro.

The Language of Interior Design by Alexa Hampton

In this book , a renowned interior designer Alexa Hampton, shares her journey and expertise. She takes readers on a tour through stunning residences showcasing 18 classic spaces that exemplify cultivated design.

From a 1912 restoration in NYC to a coastal house layered in textures and colors, Hampton demonstrates her ability to tailor each space to clients' needs while maintaining a timeless aesthetic. With valuable insights on fabric schemes and paint choices, Hampton empowers readers to master the language of design.

In the Company of Women: Inspiration and Advice from over 100 Makers, Artists, and Entrepreneurs by Grace Bonney

Discover over 100 remarkable women who have embraced their creative spirit, overcome challenges, and ignited a global entrepreneurial movement. From media moguls to ceramicists, hoteliers to tattoo artists, comedians to architects, this book is a captivating portrayal of the power of pursuing our passions and dreams.

The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well by Deborah Needleman

Discover how to create a relaxed, stylish and comfortable home. From classic essentials to unique surprises, Needleman explores the essential elements of style through witty and helpful essays.

Through the vibrant watercolor illustrations, the book showcases inspiring rooms of world-famous tastemakers. With styling tips and simple how-tos, learn techniques to effortlessly bring your vision to life, whether it's a beautifully made bed, an inviting reading nook, or a chic display of pictures.

Other ways to learn about interior design

Books on interior design for beginners and those looking for inspiration are great for getting into the field. You can also further your design knowledge by enrolling in online courses , attending workshops and seminars, or exploring design tradeshows .

Interior design is a fascinating field, full of creativity and constant change. Whether you're a professional or a hobbyist, these books on interior design will help you understand the principles of good design and inspire you to create beautiful, functional spaces. So, grab a book, get cozy, and let your design journey begin!

15 Interior Design Books That Will Inspire an Immediate Home Refresh

Display these on your coffee table and bookshelf, too.

Every item on this page was hand-picked by a House Beautiful editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

For the New Yorker

Walk with me: new york by susan kaufman.

For the Texan

Droese raney x design by droese raney and ian volner.

For the Chef

Magnolia table, volume 3: a collection of recipes for gathering by joanna gaines.

If you’re a bit hesitant to scroll down because you’re assuming that our whole list consists of monographs from interior designers, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. Of course we included a few, but we also threw in architecture and landscaping books into the mix. For the historical interior enthusiasts out there, we even found several reads that break down how specific design eras came about and how they've persisted throughout the decades. So whether you buy a book simply because of its glossy images or want to learn something new about the interiors world, you'll find the perfect read here. Additionally, some of our favorite books are on sale right now, so add to cart ASAP.

"I discovered photographer Susan Kaufman on Instagram. As a New Yorker, I have a soft spot for beautiful images of the city in the rain, snow, and, of course, sunshine," Associate Shopping Editor Jessica Cherner admits. "When I learned that she had assembled her collection of photos into a book, I ordered it immediately. I flip through it all the time, admiring all of the charming nooks I never would have discovered on my own—even in my eight years of living here!" The best part about this book is the fact that it's not terribly big (seven by nine inches), so it tends to always sit on the top of a stack.

When Dallas-based architecture Droese Raney finally published a book, fans of the firm rejoiced. The 360-page tome includes 16 of the most awe-inspiring projects, such as clothing store Billy Reid, Dallas restaurant Mi Cocina, and Forty Five Ten, a four-story Dallas department store appointed entirely in Knoll furniture and textiles. Though each of the firm's projects are vastly different, they all boast Droese Raney's signature sculptural feel.

We couldn't round up the best interior decorating books and not include one of our favorites, Joanna Gaines' third installment of Magnolia Table , which she published in the spring of 2023. Technically, it's a cookbook, just like the previous two iterations, but this one is chock-full of inspiring images of the design enthusiast's gorgeous kitchen. Otherwise, if you're buying it for the recipes, you'll find such delicacies as honey butter layered biscuit bites, bananas foster pancakes, and Brussels sprout Gruyère gratin. This book is as much a feast for the eyes as it is for the stomach.

Down to Earth: Laid-back Interiors for Modern Living by Lauren Liess

Virginia-based interior designer Lauren Liess 's third tome (her fourth is currently available for pre-order ) hit stands back in 2019, but it's still one of our favorites on offer because the content never goes out of fashion—literally. All 256 pages are about creating warm and comfortable interiors whose look knows no time constraints. Throughout the book, Leiss relies on her four must-haves (something old, something new, nature, and simplicity) for designing layered spaces.

House Beautiful: Live Colorfully by Editors of House Beautiful

Of course, we had to include our very own coffee table book, which was written and curated by the editors of House Beautiful . It's less of a how-to book and more of a display of color done right. Each section features a specific color point of view, if you will, that demonstrates the beauty of the way colors can interact. The main takeaway is that no color, shade, or tone is off limits in the home.

Sense of Place by Caitlin Flemming and Julie Goebel

This book is from a mother-daughter design duo who specialize in quiet luxury interiors. As you can tell from the cover, they have a penchant for more muted settings. This book features several elegant landscapes and the interior shots will certainly get your creative, decorative juices flowing.

Mid-Century Modern by Bradley Quinn

What would a roundup of design-centric coffee table books be without at least one midcentury modern -focused pick? The design movement, which was popular from 1945 to 1969, first hit Europe then the U.S., where it's still popular today. After World War II, designers wanted to turn away from ornamental, extravagant furniture of the past and move towards pieces that felt more streamlined and simple. You can find such creations illustrated in this gorgeous book of authentic midcentury design.

Right at Home by Bobby Berk

As avid fans of Bobby Berk (we will be mourning his absence after Queer Eye Season 8 ), we wanted to include his book on our list. If he's taught us anything throughout his tenure on the highly emotional show, it's that the way your home makes you feel matters, so paying special attention to decorating it is paramount. This book shows you how to design your space, no matter what size it may be, so that it has an impact on you.

Life Along the Hudson by Pieter Estersohn

"I have this book and I can't even tell you how many times I look at it, but it's at least several times a month," Cherner says. "It so chock-full of gorgeous historic estates that were erected in the early days of the English colonies, so all of the homes boast that stately, majestic look that you really don't see in new-builds anymore. I have a weakness for renovated old houses , so this book really took me for a ride."

Livable Luxe by Brigette Romanek

On the other hand, if your style leans more contemporary than it does historic, this book by interior designer Brigette Romanek will give you some great visual pointers, starting with the palette. Romanek details how to use color in the most flattering ways for pretty much any room in any home.

Oasis: Modern Desert Homes Around the World by iO Tillett Wright

These types of highly modern homes may not be the warmest in terms of aesthetics, but they sure are unique. If you have an affinity for this kind of look, you will absolutely thumb through this page-turner by author and photographer iO Tillett Wright weekly. The artist has captured some of the most interesting homes in the world.

Arriving Home: A Gracious Southern Welcome by James T. Farmer III

Perhaps the polar opposite of the previous architectural style, these types of undeniably Southern homes, which show up in basically every state below the Mason-Dixon line, are beautiful in their own right. This book features plenty of homes that interior designer James T. Farmer III designed across the country. Though some find themselves up north, all of them boast that classical and traditional appeal that any design lover can appreciate.

Probably This Housewarming: A Guide to Creating a Home You Adore by Beau Ciolino and Matt Armato

An inspiring and witty book by a couple we all know and love, Beau Ciolino and Matt Armato's latest tome is all about creating spaces you actually like coming home to. If you don't know them from their elegant designs, you may be familiar with their menswear blog " Probably This ." This book is all about designing a home you love on the cheap.

McAlpine: Romantic Modernism by Bobby McAlpine

The fourth and most recent book by architect Bobby McAlpine is all about romanticism in design. All of his projects featured in his latest tome offer a glimpse of the various styles out there, but the one element that ties them all together, he says, is poetry. No, there aren't rhyming schemes or lyrical stanzas, but a fluidity that comes with his work. The homes featured in this book range from Elizabethan and Dutch to colonial Caribbean and agrarian American, so no matter what style speaks to you most, you'll find a version of it here.

The deVOL Kitchen by Paul O'Leary, Robin McLellan, and Helen Parker

"I grew up in a house with a deVOL kitchen, so this one hits home," Cherner admits. "When I saw this as a suggested book on my Amazon account, I ordered it without giving it much thought, and once it arrived, I felt like I was back in my childhood home again." Published just over a year ago, the creatives behind the British kitchen design firm included their favorite projects in this elegantly curated book.

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House Grail is reader-supported. When you buy via links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you. Learn more .

8 Best Interior Design Books in 2024: Reviews & Top Picks

• Last updated: Jan 03 2024

Interior design can be a great deal of fun, but it doesn’t come naturally to everyone, and some people can struggle to come up with ideas or learn the skills that they need to implement them. Some people can find someone to help teach them, but others will need to rely on informative books to gain an education. If you are considering getting an interior design book but aren’t sure which one to choose, keep reading for a list of reviews of the most popular ones. There’s also a buyer’s guide with tips on what to look for in a design book.

A Quick Comparison of Our Winners (2024)

The 8 Best Interior Design Books

1. the interior design handbook: furnish, decorate, and style your space — best overall.

“The Interior Design Handbook” is our pick as the best overall interior design book. It focuses on how you decorate and the materials that you use to help you take a balanced approach to your home design. It teaches you several basic rules, so it’s easier to determine how large your coffee table should be and where you should hang your pictures, for example. It includes several easy-to-understand illustrations, and it’s a fast read, but there’s plenty of information that you will keep with you for a lifetime.

The only downside is that it’s expensive.

• Explains several basic rules
• Easy-to-understand illustrations
• Covers everything from painting to placing decorations

2. Beautifully Organized: A Guide to Function and Style in Your Home — Best Value

“Beautifully Organized: A Guide to Function and Style in Your Home” is our pick as the best interior design book for the money. It goes over five important steps that can help you transform any room in your house and focuses on creating a welcoming atmosphere that people can enjoy. It provides plenty of high-quality photographs that can help you understand the points the author is trying to make, and it’s easy to follow along.

“Beautifully Organized” is an excellent choice when looking for help with interior design. The only downside is that the author has a dedicated YouTube channel that covers much of this material, so if you are already an avid follower, you may feel that it’s a waste of money.

• Five simple steps to transform any room
• Focus is on creating a welcoming atmosphere for friends and family
• Plenty of high-quality photographs
• Much of the information is available elsewhere

3. Workstead: Interiors of Beauty and Necessity — Premium Choice

“Workstead: Interiors of Beauty and Necessity” is our premium choice interior design book. It contains a wealth of information covering a special blend of historic renovations with elegant modern designs. You can use this book to help decorate the interior of your private home or a large commercial space. It has a strong focus on early Americana, which involves using wooden floors and furniture, mixed with Scandinavian restraint and local artwork to create something unique. The book walks you through 10 homes and provides plenty of high-quality photographs so you can see the interior design in action.

This book has many interesting ideas, and it’s easy to follow, but it’s quite expensive.

• Well-explained ideas that are easy to follow
• Strong focus on simplicity and Americana

4. The New Design Rules: How to Decorate and Renovate, from Start to Finish: An Interior Design Book

“The New Design Rules: How to Decorate and Renovate, from Start to Finish,” is one of the newest books on this list, with a 2022 publication date. It’s also quite lengthy at more than 300 pages and contains plenty of great information that can help you change the interior of your home for the better. The author walks you through every decision, from picking out paint to placing light fixtures. It helps you look at your design options realistically so you know when it would be better to hire a contractor to finish the job. It also explains how to plan out your materials so you can set up a budget. There are plenty of photographs to see how all the ideas look.

This book can be a great choice for someone who is new to the field and has not yet done any interior design work. However, the book goes into such detail that it can seem too basic or long-winded for those who might find the long descriptions repetitive or distracting.

• Large amount of detailed information
• Provides a complete interior design walkthrough
• Helps you determine when it’s better to hire professional help
• Plenty of fantastic photographs
• Long-winded explanations
• Too basic for some readers

5. Feels Like Home: Relaxed Interiors for a Meaningful Life

“Feels Like Home: Relaxed Interiors for a Meaningful Life” is this author’s third interior design book, so you know that you’re getting your information from a well-researched professional. This book focuses on our emotional connection to our home and helps you look beyond traditional ideas and rules to create something personal and unique. It looks at several types of homes, from a farmhouse to a Spanish colonial, and explores how to create an environment with an overall theme, like comfort, calm, love, or belonging.

This fantastic author’s third installment has plenty of good ideas. The only downside is that the paper seems low quality, and it has a grey tint, making it feel like it isn’t as durable as most other books of this type.

• Focus is on an emotional connection with home
• Shows you how to create an environment based on a theme
• Discusses several types of homes
• Flimsy gray paper

6. Universal Principles of Interior Design

“Universal Principles of Interior Design” provides a comprehensive explanation of nearly every topic involved with interior design. Every discussion includes high-quality illustrations that make it easy to understand. The author presents the topics alphabetically, so they’re easy to find when you need them, and they also list the most common interior design questions and show you where the answers are.

This book is a great choice for someone working in interior design who needs to find solutions and answer questions quickly. It’s also a good book to have on hand for planning future projects. However, its technical nature may prevent you from coming up with new ideas. It also has fewer pages than many other books and is quite costly.

• Comprehensive look at interior design
• Well organized so you can find answers quickly
• Many high-quality illustrations
• Not great for new ideas
• Not that many pages

7. Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave

“Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave” is one of the older books on this list, published in 2018. However, at 352 pages, it’s packed with information to help you create your dream home. It uses several examples from a wide range of homes to help you learn more about your priorities and instincts. This approach enables you to create an enjoyable environment instead of one that follows the rules and modern design trends. It even includes a removable design template that lets you plan and sketch out your design plans ahead of time.

We like this book’s approach and includes plenty of fantastic tips and tricks. However, some people might be concerned with the age of the book not being up to date with the current modern trends , and others might find it more of a picture book or portfolio of the author’s work highlighted with tips and tricks instead of a manual designed to teach.

• Focuses on creating an environment that you enjoy
• A few years older than most other books of this type
• Provides tips and tricks instead of detailed information

8. At Home: Evocative & Art-Forward Interiors

“At Home: Evocative & Art-Forward Interiors” strongly focuses on creating a living extension of yourself. It relies on the motto, “function and comfort first and always,” when exploring different ideas about interior design. It discusses furniture placement and lighting and explains how it affects your environment and comfort level. It also shows you how your memories can impact your design decisions and how to use them to create an interesting interior.

The biggest downside to this book is that it’s rather short at only 160 pages, so you can read it quickly. This leaves you hungry for more and possibly questioning its high cost.

• Strong focus on creating an extension of yourself
• Discusses how furniture placement and lighting can affect your comfort level
• Shows you how to design using your memories

Buyer’s Guide: Selecting the Best Interior Design Books

• Take the time to consider what kind of interior you’re trying to create. Many books will target a specific genre and show you how to create a rustic interior or a glamorous one. Knowing what you want to design will help you purchase only the relevant books.
• We recommend choosing a hard cover over a soft one because they are more durable, and you will likely use one of these books in an environment where you are doing work and might accidentally damage it.
• Look for books with plenty of text and illustrations, not just photographs. Photographs are great for ideas, but they often don’t explain how to complete the work to achieve the look that you want.
• Choosing a recently published book will help ensure that you are working on a modern design and keeping with current trends. Older books may cause your design to look dated, and more importantly, older designs may involve materials that changed dramatically in price or are no longer available.

When choosing your next interior design book, we highly recommend our pick for the best overall. “The Interior Design Handbook: Furnish, Decorate, and Style Your Space” has plenty of great tips and tricks and provides you with guidelines that you will likely use throughout your career. Another great choice is our value pick. “Beautifully Organized: A Guide to Function and Style in Your Home” teaches you general guidelines to help you make better design decisions moving forward. It focuses on creating an environment that people will enjoy visiting.

Featured Image Credit: hayrullah-gozcu, Unsplash

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Interior design inspiration for the modern home

Book Review : The Interior Design Handbook

Advertisement Feature : This book was sent to me for the purposes of this review

The Interior Design Handbook by Frida Ramstedt is one of the most useful interior design books I have ever had the pleasure to read. Full of practical and useful advice, this book is designed to help you create a home that not only looks good but feels good too.

Many people assume that as an award-winning interior design blogger, I am also a qualified interior designer. I mean, it’s a pretty easy assumption to make when someone spends their life writing about interiors and sharing tips and advice.

But I have never studied interior design, at least not in the traditional sense. I haven’t got a degree in interior design. I’ve done a short interior design course , but that is the extent of my formal training. What I know about interiors has come from years of research and interviewing experts for magazines and for this blog.

When it comes to my own home, which is very different to the palatial homes that adorn the pages of glossy interiors magazines, I’ve often wished that there was a book that would show me how to decorate a home like mine, that doesn’t have period features, high ceilings, original floorboards or sash windows.

I could have saved myself a lot of time trying to work out how to create a home that looks good, works for our family and feels good, if such a book existed. I’ve often struggled most with the really simple issues that aren’t addressed in magazines. They are so basic they are often overlooked because those in the know, well, they just know. Things like choosing the right window dressings for your windows and how to hang curtains. Or which way the floorboards should run in a particular room. Simple questions but how would an average Joe like me know?

Well now, luckily for people like me, or rather those who maybe haven’t spent 15 years writing about interiors, this book now exists. Written by interior design consultant Frida Ramstedt, The Interior Design Handbook is a Swedish best-seller which is now available in English. Frida is also a lecturer in trends, social media and entrepreneurship and author of the award-winning interiors blog Trendenser.se .

The move from her character-filled apartment to a sterile white box new build gave her the inspiration to put together this complete interiors bible to help novices to create a cosy, attractive and harmonious home that doesn’t rely on architectural features.

In this 240-page comprehensive how-to, Ramstedt lays out the principles of what interior design can offer in a universal way that can be interpreted by anyone with any sensibility, any style, anywhere. She shares advice for ordinary houses and flats, rules of thumb and tricks of the trade that allow individuals who don’t work in the trade to turn their houses into homes. This book is designed to help us come up with our own solutions rather than copying someone else’s.

Ramsted has attempted to distil the gut feeling that many professionals base their work on into actionable and practical advice that everyone can use. She explains the importance of designing a home that makes us feels good and that doesn’t just look good. She explores the importance of the mathematics of design and how many successful interiors employ the golden ratio, the rule of thirds, three-point thinking and symmetry.

She explores architectural styles, colour choice, using lighting to create visual effect and mood as well as a whole host of design tips such as hiding TVs and designing for children.

The Interior Design Handbook was written for me. It was written for you. Through her years of hard work, of versatility and experience, Frida Ramstedt has connected every thread needed to put together the home of our dreams, in whatever forms our dreams might take.

Surprisingly though, this book features no impressive photos of professionally staged houses that took hours to touch up in post-production in order to demonstrate the principles that Ramstedt shares. Instead, it has been beautifully illustrated with hand-drawn images to guide us towards the desired outcome for our living space.

This book is all information, a guiding touch to encouraging thought, perspective and personality at every step. If you buy one interiors book this year, make it this one.

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4 comments on “ Book Review : The Interior Design Handbook ”

Thanks for sharing such an informative article, indeed a good read.

WOW! I need to invest in this book I think! Seems like there’s a world of information for me to take in on interior design.

Oh wow, this looks incredible! I am totally adding this to my birthday wishlist.

You won’t regret it. So much practical advice in this book. Enjoy!

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The very best new books on interior design

Soaking up new information about much-admired public figures or the nuances of new topics brings a sense of passive productivity to an evening, writes anya-cooklin lofting, article bookmarked.

Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more

T his is the time of year I find myself rereading some of my favourite books filled with cosy fireside scenes, turning leaves and cold, wintry evenings. As the festive period takes hold, this kind of nostalgia-inducing exercise feels like a pleasure no less guilty than an extra mince pie or mug of mulled wine. There are so many new releases on my to-be-read pile, and in my efforts to read outside of my AW setlist, I have turned to works of non-fiction . Soaking up new information about much-admired public figures or the nuances of new topics brings a sense of passive productivity to an evening spent reading non-fiction. As a fiction junkie, this pleasure is new to me. I’m enjoying learning not just about well-drawn characters who occasionally stay with me beyond the final page of a novel, but about the intricacies of lives lived to their fullest or the careers of some of the most prolific creative minds.

Of course, I have turned to books on design . Not only has my reading list so far been extraordinarily enlightening when it comes to the very hows and whys of decorating the home, but each of the books I’ll touch on today make for excellent conversation starters when positioned just so on the coffee table.

Andrew Martin Interior Design Review, Volume 25

The best-known and most-collected series of design books in publication, the Andrew Martin Interior Design Reviews complement the annual event that awards one designer the “Oscar of the interior design world”, so it was dubbed by The Sunday Times . This year, the 25th edition has been published, featuring as usual the top 100 working designers across the world and celebrating this year’s winner, New York-based Thomas Jayne of Jayne Design Studio. Martin Waller, the founder of global design company Andrew Martin, established the award as one of the community’s greatest accolades in 1996, and past winners include Kelly Hoppen, Kit Kemp, Nicky Haslam, Rose Uniacke, Axel Vervoordt, and Tara Bernard, amongst many others.

The book contains over 1,000 colour photographs across 500 pages of the latest interior styles and trends, and to celebrate the milestone anniversary of the award and corresponding review book, is available with a limited-edition acrylic case.

The 25th Volume of the Andrew Martin Interior Design Review is published by TeNeues, £65 from www.andrewmartin.co.uk

Terence: The Man Who Invented Design by Stephen Bayley and Roger Mavity

Terence: The Man Who Invented Design is a close reading of one of the most influential men in design history by two of his closest allies and collaborators, Stephen Bayley and Roger Mavity. There is a brutal honesty about the way in which they have painted their late colleague and friend, the man who founded the Design Museum, conceptualised the ever-coveted Conran Shop, established Habitat as a London design destination, turned Michelin House into the iconic Bibendum restaurant amongst creating many other restaurants in the capital, and who wrote over 50 books on design, published by Conran Octopus, which was also founded by the Knight Bachelor. However, the pair’s insights are often less than flattering and prove to lay bare the contradictory, complex essence of the designer-writer-restaurateur.

Terence: The Man Who Invented Design is published by Constable, £25 from www.waterstones.com

Rose Uniacke At Home by Rose Uniacke

With photography by the legendary French photographer, François Halard and a thoughtful foreword from British design critic, Alice Rawsthorn, Rose Uniacke at Home is a dedication to the raw elegance of Uniacke’s work as an architectural interior designer, epitomised in her own home. The 19th-century house, which Uniacke has described as “monastery meets Venetian palazzo,” was first inhabited by Scottish portraitist, James Rannie Swinton, acting also as a gallery, and was eventually established as an art school before it suffered damage in the Second World War and decades of deterioration. In 2006, Uniacke and her husband purchased the building in its state of eerie abandonment to restore it to the quiet grandeur of the home you can see in the exquisite pictures in this very tome.

Rose Uniacke At Home is published by Rizzoli to a limited run of 2,500 copies, each £150 from www.roseuniacke.com

Making Living Lovely: Free your home with creative design by Russell Whitehead and Jordan Cluroe

In electric blue and millennial pink, Making Living Lovely is the coffee table essential you’ve been waiting for. From the creators of 2LG Studio, a design firm founded by the creative duo, Russell Whitehead and Jordan Cluroe, the book makes for delightfully (and relievingly) prescriptive reading, equipping readers with the confidence and the mental tools to rediscover the potential of their homes. With a surprising focus on how we, as unique individuals, need our homes to support us in different ways, Whitehead and Cluroe cover everything from working within period architecture, choosing materials, and even cohabiting and design compromises. The overarching message is one that prioritises interior design as a personal, intimate journey over and above the following of fleeting trends.

Making Living Lovely: Free your home with creative design is published by Thames Hudson, £19.95 from www.2lgstudio.com

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15 Best Interior Design Books for Interior Designers and Students in 2023

14 Mins Read

February 3rd, 2024

Brinda Goswami

As a founder of iii studio, Brinda has designed and executed over 100+ projects with a special focus on luxurious residential designing. She is the owner & principal designer at iii studio, Hyderabad.

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Learn » Design Ideas & Inspirations » 15 Best Interior Design Books for Interior Designers and Students in 2023

Interior Design Books

Books are the best sources of information. They contain records of the past and present so you can compare progress through generations. Regardless of whether you’re looking for creative inspiration, interior design ideas, knowledge of design concepts , or simply trying to understand different styles and design rules, books are the holy grail to find everything you need.

From projects by top interior designers who made history to practical tips for the everyday homeowner, you’ll find everything you need in a book!

Interior design books won’t only improve your knowledge but will also inspire your creative side. The more you read, you open your mind to different perspectives. You understand how design affects the way humans feel about their homes, and the impact that design ideas have on the well-being of the inhabitants when they are at home or at the commercial real estate you design.

If you’re on the hunt for something to read next in order to inspire the best home decor ideas, we have prepared a list of the best interior design books and tomes. This collection is the epitome of ideas to prep for your next big design project.

These books discuss everything from choosing the right paint colors for the walls to the artwork that best befit the theme of the rooms.

They share insights from tastemakers at the top of the industry including intricate decor ideas such as chinoiserie art pieces, perfectly placing diy pieces to highlight their special connection to the homeowners, maximalist and minimalist ideas from home stylists, and more.

Some of the new books also discuss bloggers that you need to follow to remain at the top of your game, especially in a competitive market in larger developing markets such as the New York real estate, Orange County, San Francisco, Chicago, etc.

So, let’s get down to discussing the best books on Interior Design

Also, Read: 17 Best Interior Design Magazines and Blogs

Image Credit: decorbooks.co.uk

• Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave
• Playbook For The New Normal – Foyr Neo
• It’s the Little Things: Creating Big Moments in Your Home Through The Stylish Small Stuff
• Edesign Business Blueprint – Foyr Neo
• A House By the Sea by Bunny Williams
• Styled: Secrets for arranging rooms, from tabletops to bookshelves by Emily Henderson
• Evocative Style by Kelly Wearstler
• Everything: A Maximalist Style Guide
• Jungalow: Decorate Wild by Justina Blakeney
• Inspired Design: The 100 Most Important Designers of the Past 100 Years
• Habitat: The Field Guide to Decorating
• Domino: The Book of Decorating
• Rebecca Atwood: Living With Pattern Coffee Table Book
• New York School of Interior Design: Home: The Foundations of Enduring Spaces
• The Kinfolk Home: A Book for Fulfilling, Slow Living

1. Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave

If you’re a fan of HGTV’s Fixer Upper, where Chip and Joanna Gaines transform houses into aesthetically pleasing homes, then this book by Joanna Gaines is something you’d want to add to your to-be-read list.

This book talks about how decorators can personalize the home decor to not only appease the client with aesthetics but also optimize it to the personality of the homeowner.

Available on Amazon

• Kindle – $22.99
• Hardcover – $20.90

Also, Read: 15 Best Home Design Games

Image Credit: newsweek.com

2. Interior Design Playbook In The New Normal From Foyr Neo

You can download the e-book as well as the audio format: The Playbook for Interior Design in the New Normal | Foyr Neo

The idea in this book is to help decorators find a balance between their creative side and blend it with the client’s need for practicality. After all the clients have to start and end their day at home surrounded by the decor that you choose. It has to feel personal on every level.

You can also find practical design tips for implementing a combination of classic and contemporary ideas for an eclectic vibe in farmhouses, townhouses, industrial layouts, and classic pre-war homes. it helps decorators reign in a new era of transforming a real estate property into a home.

3. It's the Little Things: Creating Big Moments in Your Home Through The Stylish Small Stuff by Susanna Salk

This book features beautiful design details and arrangements that fill a home with personality. Design advice from the world’s top designers, such as Bunny Williams, Alessandra Branca, John Derian, and others come directly to you through this incredible set of guidelines for home design.

Salk shares design tips from her own home to add richness and personality to any interior, like adding trims and tassels, an upholstered chair in a corner, or an artistic mirror in an entry hall. To surround ourselves with things we love.

If you love decorating and want to take your home to a whole new level, this is definitely a book you want to read.

• Available on Amazon for $45
• Rizzoli Bookstore for $45.03

Quick Read: 15 Best Free Interior Design Software

Image Credit: amazon.ca

4. E-design Business Blueprint From Foyr Neo

You can download a free e-book: Get Your Free E-design Business Blueprint

This book recognizes the new norm of the world to embrace online designs on cloud-based platforms. It assists in simplifying the remote work process while providing valuable guidelines to amplify your designs using the best software applications at your disposal.

It perfectly outlines the need and implementation of digital services and how to streamline your interior design business with attention to designing, getting approval, sharing ideas, and laying out transparent business plans. It truly is the answer to your prayers as an interior designer.

Suggested Read: How To Create A Successful Interior Design Website?

5. A House By The Sea By Bunny Williams

In this book filled with aesthetic photographs, Bunny Williams takes us on a tour of her island home in the Dominican Republic, amidst tropical gardens, overlooking the Caribbean Sea.

She tells the story about the vision she and her husband shared while designing and decorating the house and gardens surrounding it while reflecting on the beauty and relaxation of island living.

Some parts are coauthored by friends, providing a different perspective of being a guest of Bunny’s and offering further insight into the architecture and decor at La Colina.

What makes this book especially enjoyable is Bunny’s practical advice for every homeowner. She addresses many things in her book, like guest room design, mixing and matching, patios, and garden design.

This book is both entertaining and inspiring. You won’t regret taking the time to flip through this gorgeous tome.

• Kindle – $16.99
• Hardcover – $43.49

Related Read: 10 Most Famous Interior Designers

Image Credit: amazon.in

6. STYLED: Secrets for Arranging Rooms, from Tabletops to Bookshelves

The author Emily Henderson is a famous HGTV and Instagram icon. Her book is a great resource of comprehensive information, especially for those who are new to the design world.

In her book, she focuses on visual elements by arranging furniture around the living room or dining room and arranging items on the bookshelves in intricate patterns that grabs attention and inspires conversation.

She points out a set of tips and rules that you can apply to clients with various tastes and styles. Layering, balancing, and scaling all play into the overall aesthetics of the space and it is the minutia that ties everything together.

• Kindle – $14.99
• Hardcover – $23.73

Suggested Read: Top 20 HGTV Personalities in Interior Design

Image Credits: Amazon.in

7. Evocative Style by Kelly Wearstler

Kelly Wearstler is one of the leading interior designers, known for her bold style and sophisticated blending of rustic with contemporary.

Her book ‘Evocative Style’ shows off Wearstler’s mastery of constructing spaces that tell a story. Each project is a mix of vintage and contemporary pieces. Keeping true to her reputation, she experiments with unique textures, patterns, and organic shapes along with custom and antique pieces of furniture, sometimes even DIY projects that fit the theme of the room.

The book is a testament to her whimsy and elegance in applying bold color palettes and geometric artwork while she pushes boundaries with her creative and rich modern interiors.

This book is a must-read for designers, home stylists, and homeowners alike for the sheer pleasure of discovering an underplayed design pattern that could change the entire outlook of the house.

Available on Amazon for $31.49

Recommended Read: 20 Most Famous Female Interior Designers

Image Credit: Amazon.com

8. Everything: A Maximalist Style Guide

‘More is more’ is the perfect way to describe Abigail Ahern’s book ‘Everything’.

In this book, you’ll learn the ins and outs of nailing the maximalist design aesthetic, from going bold with color to uniquely styling rooms with pieces of furniture.

The Maximalism style embraces vibrant color palettes including jewel tones, luxurious textiles, patterns, ornaments, and everything in between. Mixing and blending a range of interior design elements to create a dazzling space you’d be proud to call home.

If you want to learn to break the rules of interior design , play with different periodic styling in a single room, and have fun owning and displaying more items, this book is for you.

• Hardcover – $43.39

Also, Read: 20 Best Interior Designers Instagram Accounts To Follow

Image Credit: amazon.com

9. Jungalow: Decorate Wild by Justina Blakeney

Justina Blakeney’s book, ‘Jungalow: Decorate Wild,’ is a true inspiration to embrace the client’s wild side with your styling ideas. From choosing prominent color palettes, adding striking patterns , and breaking away from traditional design principles, this book is the ultimate guide to wild, free-spirited, and creative interiors.

This book is one of a kind; she’s sharing a combo of uplifting inspiration mixed with DIY instructions and interior design philosophies with her memoir.

Her goal is to encourage people to find inspiration in the world, introduce vibrancy at home, and empower homeowners to find their style and voice.

Read it cover-to-cover to get your Jungalow fix!

• Hardcover – $20.99

Quick Read: 7 Best Interior Design Communities

Image Credits: amazon.com

10. Inspired Design: The 100 Most Important Designers of the Past 100 Years by Jennifer Boles

If you’re a design student, this book offers a comprehensive guide to the 100 most important designers in history.

Unlike other books that address just one designer, this one features big interior designer names and their best portfolios, lessons to learn from them, and how they changed the industry and contributed to the development in the field of interior design.

Available on Amazon for $75

Related Read: 10 Interior Design Career Paths To Become An Interior Designer

11. Habitat: The Field Guide to Decorating by Lauren Liess

Lauren is a home decor blogger and designer known for her great sense of styling and organizational skills.

In her book, she encourages readers to introduce natural elements indoors by mixing modern eclectic collections and quirky vintage decor.

In this book, she addresses:

• Fundamentals – which incorporates lists of outlines of materials, tips, and methods for creating a space
• Aesthetics  – including styling, mood, authenticity, juxtaposition, comfort, luxury, charm, risk, & confidence
• A step-by-step guide for decorating each room in your home and paying special attention to the living room, bedroom, and dining room where people spend most of their time.

You’ll learn the essential elements of interior design starting with how to create a mood board befitting your client’s psychological preferences for or against certain colors, and how to tackle decor challenges.

The book is great for freshly graduated interior designers, student looking for advice on how to start creating a beautiful space, and even homeowners working on a makeover. It also makes for a beautiful coffee table book in larger real estate and interior design firms.

• Kindle – $17.27
• Hardcover – $22.99

Recommended Read: 10 Passive Income Ideas for Interior Designers

Image Credit: 7btin.net

12. Domino: The Book of Decorating

‘Domino: The Book of Decorating’ was a bestseller upon its release. It takes you room by room, providing valuable tips on how to decorate your own home or that of a client. It provides a quintessential guide to interior design with plenty of photographs of professionally decorated rooms in many different styles.

It shows real-life examples of how creative people inhabit their own spaces that may not be perfect in symmetry but appeal to the psychology of the homeowner.

The samples provide inspiration for mixing styles and subtly explain why each room needs to be treated as an individual entity with a singular character before converging with the theme of the house.

It also enunciates the significance of the pieces of furniture, fixtures, artwork, and paint jobs in adding to the aesthetic value of the property. It’s a quick read with photos in a magazine-like format.

• Kindle – $12.99
• Hardcover – $22.77

Also, Read: 15 Best Interior Design Trade Shows

13. Rebecca Atwood: Living With Pattern

Textile designer Rebecca Atwood wrote this book to showcase the art of blending and layering patterns. She provides inspiration and tips to help any design enthusiast properly work with patterns, get great designs, and transform their home decor from average to extraordinary.

• Hardcover – $20.49

14. New York School of Interior Design: Home: The Foundations of Enduring Spaces by Ellen S. Fisher

This excellent reference for home decor is considered the ultimate Interior Design guide. This book contains detailed content for decorators with a comprehensive focus on home design, color theory, and space-specific modules.

It offers the key elements of design, rendering it the only book you’ll ever need, especially for practising your craft in New York. It was built on the Home Study Course which is the foundation of the New York School’s curriculum.

It’s a helpful reference for student and self-taught designers and decorators when it comes to the technical elements of the job.

• Kindle – $19.99
• Hardcover – $46.99

Quick Read: 9 Best Free Online Interior Design Services

15. The Kinfolk Home: A Book for Fulfilling, Slow Living by Nathan Williams

Kinfolk author Nathan Williams takes readers inside 35 homes worldwide, interviewing people about their home design and styling needs. He showcases how to embrace slow life to get benefits like simplifying your lifestyle and cultivating community— which allows you to create a beautiful and intimate living space from different perspectives around the world.

In this book, the reader explores the stunning interiors of these homes. Some are urban homes with contemporary styling while others honor their history and roots with classic and rustic interior design .

The book features insightful conversations, artistic aesthetics, and vibrant photographs of each home tour, which is guaranteed to inspire any decorator and interior designer.

• Kindle – $18.99
• Hardcover – $25.99

Related Read: 9 Best Interior Design Apps

Image Credit: byflou.com

If you’re a student, a designer, or a homeowner, the books listed above will teach you a thing or two about interior design, color palettes, the process involved with makeovers, and more.

However, if you’re just starting a business as an interior designer , E-design Business Blueprint will provide you with a sound strategy to have more opportunities, expand your clientele, plan the tools you need, and set services and prices for a successful virtual business.

If you’re part of an interior design firm at the moment, The Ultimate Playbook for Interior Design in the New Normal is best suited to help you navigate the design process successfully with a checklist of things to do.

It will provide insights regarding how to adapt your business during the new normal that came into existence since the pandemic. It will help you design homes and offices with enough resilience to keep your business running and navigate successfully in the new world order.

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16 world-class living rooms from the Andrew Martin Interior Designer Review

These extraordinary living rooms from 10 designers, each featured in the much-awaited 2020 edition of the Review, are the inspiration you need for your remodel

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It's the moment all interior design buffs have been awaiting: 2020's  Andrew Martin Interior Designer Review , the bible of interior design, has just been launched.

The Review , which has been dubbed the Oscars of the design world, celebrates the globe’s 100 greatest interior designers. Now, in its 24th year, 2020's edition celebrates the talent of world-class designers on an international stage – and we've been given a preview with an extract of the best living rooms in the book, which we are sharing with you, below. 

Martin Waller, who founded Andrew Martin in 1978, pioneering world-class textile and furniture design, says in the foreword: 'Design theorist Tony Fry explains, "design gives material form and directionality to the ideological embodiment of a particular politics". Architecture and design have always been political. Both Versailles and The White House were concerned with a vision of power, national identity and cultural pre-eminence. The Bauhaus and Modernism were both underpinned by political aspiration.

'China’s re-emergence as a superpower is projected both by the futuristic design of its spectacular high rise skyline and the embrace of its traditional heritage. Feminism, punk, diversity have all shaped design and been shaped by it. This idea that design is a proactive agency means that designers have a particular responsibility.'

Keep scrolling to see our edit of some of the most beautiful living rooms featured in the Review and to find out about the designers featured. For more living room pictures , go to our inspiring gallery.

Andrew Martin Interior Designer Review Vol.24, £45 Volume 24 of the Interior Design Review Book features works from the world's top 100 interior designers of 2020. From clean-line purity to the ultimate maximalist explosion, it delivers the most renowned, innovative, and exceptional interior design of the past year. Richly illustrated with over 1,000 colour photographs and with 500 pages of the latest interior styles and trends, this annual publication-now in its 24th year-continues to be dubbed 'the Bible of interior design'.

1. Kit Kemp

Kit Kemp of Kit Kemp Design Studio (London) is founder and creative director of Firmdale Hotels London & New York. 

Work is residential, retail and hospitality. Current projects include a new build hotel in Tribeca, New York, Warren Street Hotel, a new build office and residential high rise in Soho, London, the creation of textile collections and a lighting collection. 

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Recent projects include the Bergdorf Goodman store in New York and two large residential projects in the UK, the publication of Kit’s third book, Design Thread and the redesign of suites and rooms at Firmdale Hotels in London and New York. 

Design philosophy : the devil is in the detail.

2. The Private House Company

Yvonne O’Brien of The Private House Company (Johannesburg, South Africa) specializes in luxury interior design in South Africa and internationally, including primary and secondary homes, safari lodges and boutique hotels. Current projects include two new residential homes in Johannesburg as well as a refurbishment of a lodge in Zimbabwe. 

Recent work includes refurbishments at Londolozi Game Reserve in South Africa, a private lodge in Limpopo, a new build in the Steyn City Estate in Johannesburg and a secondary seaside home in a luxury estate in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. 

Design philosophy : sophisticated, warm and inspired by the subtleties of nature and natural light.

3. Pippa Paton

Pippa Paton of Pippa Paton Design (Oxfordshire, UK) runs her boutique interior design and architecture studio, specializing in the sympathetic transformation of period Cotswold homes for contemporary living. 

Current projects include a Grade II listed Cotswold manor, several Oxfordshire village houses and a London townhouse. 

Recent work includes a Grade II listed estate and a variety of village houses and barns, all in the Cotswolds. 

Design philosophy : respect the past to create the future.

4. Studio Ashby

Sophie Ashby of Studio Ashby (London, UK) specializes in interior architecture and interior design in the UK and overseas, working predominantly on private homes and luxury residential developments. 

Current projects include a seafront home in Brighton; a sprawling townhouse in Belgravia, a young family home in South Kensington and a pied-a-terre in Regent’s Park, all in London. 

Recent work includes a lateral penthouse in Covent Garden, a private residence in Holland Park and a Grade II star listed Edwardian and Arts & Crafts house in Hyde Park, belonging once to J. M. Barrie and where he wrote Peter Pan . 

Design philosophy : driven by beauty, discovery and the potential for telling stories.

5. Stephen Falcke

Stephen Falcke of Stephen Falcke Interior Designs (Johannesburg, South Africa) specializes in residences, boutique hotels and lodges. 

Current and recent projects include a ski lodge in Whistler, Vancouver, an apartment in Amsterdam, a house in Israel and many projects around South Africa. 

Design philosophy : eclectic, traditional with a modern edge.

6. Liz Caan

Liz Caan of Liz Caan & Co (Newton, MA, USA) offers full service interior design, specializing in creative transformations from ground up renovations to smaller redesigns. 

Current projects include an ocean-front family compound on idyllic Cape Cod, a New Hampshire lakeside estate and the completion of various residences in and around Boston, MA. 

Recent work includes a charming and historic Vermont farmhouse, a luxury pied-a-terre in New York City and a family estate in Cambridge, MA. 

Design philosophy : liveable, curated spaces with ageless energy

Charu Gandhi of Elicyon (London, UK), a Kensington-based design studio, creates interior couture for discerning clients around the world. 

Current projects include a substantial house in Chelsea, a private yacht and a villa in the South of France. 

Recent work includes apartments in One Hyde Park, a large penthouse in Dubai and a heritage property in Knightsbridge. 

Design philosophy : curated, crafted, considered, characterful.

8. Philip Mitchell

Philip Mitchell of Philip Mitchell Design (Canada & USA) specializes in interior architecture, design and decorating across North America, the Caribbean and Europe for both residential and hospitality projects. 

Current projects include a contemporary cottage in Northern Canada, a new condominium in the Caribbean, an apartment on the Upper East Side, New York and the restoration of an important historic Gothic home in Nova Scotia. 

Recent work includes a ski lodge at the Yellowstone Club, Montana, a restored Art Deco apartment in Nice and an Island family compound on the East Coast of Canada. 

Design philosophy : creating comfortable, layered living spaces that reflect the unique personalities and lifestyles of each client.

9. Michael del Piero

Michael Del Piero of Michael Del Piero Good Design (Chicago, USA) offers a full service interior design firm with studios in both Chicago and the Hamptons working nationwide on projects ranging from ground-up construction to historical renovations. 

Current projects include a private seaside residence in Palm Beach, a family compound in Bridgehampton, NY and the renovation of an urban industrial space to serve as a primary residence in Chicago. 

Recent work includes a private residence in Savannah, a lakeside country home in Fond Du Lac, and the completion of a modern barn in Amagansett. 

Design philosophy : rooted in classics, guided by architecture, dynamic in style.

10. Greg Natale

Greg Natale of Greg Natale Design (Sydney, Australia) specializes in luxury architecture, interior design and lifestyle products, working in residential, commercial and hospitality globally. 

Current projects include a verdant rooftop restaurant in Brisbane, a major harborside residence in Sydney as well as the global headquarters and staff campus for the Cotton On fashion group in Melbourne. 

Recent work includes the new Greg Natale flagship store in Sydney, a large family home in Melbourne’s premiere suburb of Toorak as well as new lines of wallpapers, furniture and decorative cushions available worldwide. 

Design philosophy : tailored, layered, liveable luxury.

• You can also buy the book at Amazon

Lucy Searle has written about interiors, property and gardens since 1990, working her way around the interiors departments of women's magazines before switching to interiors-only titles in the mid-nineties. She was Associate Editor on Ideal Home, and Launch Editor of 4Homes magazine, before moving into digital in 2007, launching Channel 4's flagship website, Channel4.com/4homes. In 2018, Lucy took on the role of Global Editor in Chief for Realhomes.com, taking the site from a small magazine add-on to a global success. She was asked to repeat that success at Homes & Gardens, where she also took on the editorship of the magazine. Today, Lucy works as Content Director across Homes & Gardens, Woman & Home, Ideal Home and Real Homes.

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8 essential design books every interiors lover should read

Whether it’s encyclopaedia on the basic principles or an envy-inducing font of eye-candy inspiration, a good design book is something no designer can resist.

One of the things I’ve noticed in chatting to Australian interior designers over the last couple of months, is that they never had the time to actually read those design books… until now.

With a little extra time up their sleeves, some of my favourite designers have blown the dust off all their beautifully displayed tomes and started flipping through the pages.

Here are their top picks for the design books every designer should have in their arsenal.

Hare + Klein: Texture, Colour, Comfort

I recently reviewed Meryl Hare’s latest book, Hare + Klein Interiors , which is a continuation of Hare + Klein: Texture, Colour, Comfort .

Published in 2014, the doyenne of the Sydney design scene’s first book, written together with David Clark, is a glimpse into the design process of her acclaimed Australian practice and the timeless homes she creates.

Achille Salvagni

Rome-based architect Achille Salvagni debuts his first monograph, an eponymous coffee-table tome that chronicles 17 years of work across themed chapters—color, craftsmanship and more—with lush apartment and residential projects from Paris to Palm Beach to Mumbai.

Written by Pilar Viladas, former design editor of  The New York Times Style Magazine , with a foreword by dealer-collector Benoist Drut of Maison Gerard that spotlights Salvagni’s limited-edition furniture, lighting and object designs, this book delivers style and substance in equal parts.

May I Come In?: Discovering the World in Other People’s Houses

Veteran design writer Wendy Goodman takes readers inside the homes of A-list artists (Richard Avedon), fashion icons (Donatella Versace), socialites (Gloria Vanderbilt), and more.

May I Come In?  is profusely illustrated with superb images by leading interior photographers, as well as Goodman’s own snapshots and memorabilia related to her quests. It is an irresistible visual record of the art of living by one of its most penetrating observers.

Australian Designers at Home

Australian Designers at Home  invites readers into the homes of 20 of the country’s leading names in interior design, including Anna Spiro, Blainey North.

With unfettered access to their most private retreats, we see where the best of the industry express their true, unfiltered selves. 

Interior Design Since 1900 

From the nineteenth-century Arts and Crafts movement to the present day―from Art Nouveau, Bauhaus, the Modern Movement, and Art Deco to High-Tech and green design―every style of interior design since 1900 is charted in this wide-ranging survey.

Design in the twentieth century saw many changes in direction, including the emergence of professional “interior decoration” and its evolution into interior design. Interiors, domestic and other, are explored and placed within their social, political, economic, and cultural context in this much beloved book from Anne Massey.

Living With Color

Living With Color is Rebecca Atwood’s sophomore title after her 2016’s  Living With Pattern and focuses on the Brooklyn-based designer and artist’s mind at work. Paint globs, scattered swatches on desks, and ruffled sheets during a working-from-home session are heavily featured across the pages.

Beautifully presented, this book pulls back the curtain on the profession in the best of ways, showing readers how to find beauty in the simple craftsmanship of the ordinary, and how to channel those findings into proper interiors.

Interior Architecture

Paris-based designer Pierre Yovanovitch debuts his first book showcasing his trademark French luxury aesthetic and unique vision of contemporary elegance. Swoon over residential projects in New York, London, Tel Aviv, Provence, the Swiss Alps, and elsewhere, all of which highlight his signature haute couture aesthetic.

It only takes a few page turns to understand exactly why the famed designer is known for his motto: “The best is never enough.”

Absolutely Beautiful Things

How could we resist this vibrant tome from our very own IDEA 2020 judge, Anna Spiro? . A self confessed maximalist, Spiro shares secrets from her life in decorating, gives practical details on how to work with pattern and colour, and provides a room-by-room guide to furniture choice.

There is something so joyful about flicking through this book and seeing colour layered with such skill. It’ll banish any notions of minimalism and have you dreaming of wallpaper in every room.

Lead photo: Hare + Klein: Texture, Colour, Comfort .

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Find the most recent editions of the Andrew Martin Interior Design Review book, much sought after by industry professionals and design enthusiasts alike, as well as Martin's travel-inspired 'Threads of Colour', which will transport you to the work of weavers from around the globe.

Interior Design Review Vol 27

Interior Design Review Vol 26

Interior Design Review Vol 25

Threads of Colour

• Engineering & Transportation
• Engineering

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Andrew Martin Interior Design Review Vol. 27 Hardcover – October 31, 2023

• Print length 520 pages
• Language English
• Publisher teNeues Publishing Company
• Publication date October 31, 2023
• Dimensions 9 x 1.75 x 12.25 inches
• ISBN-10 3961715122
• ISBN-13 978-3961715121
• See all details

Editorial Reviews

About the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ teNeues Publishing Company (October 31, 2023)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 520 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 3961715122
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-3961715121
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.23 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9 x 1.75 x 12.25 inches
• #1 in Architecture Annuals
• #238 in Interior Design
• #346 in Home Decorating (Books)

About the author

Andrew martin.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

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