4 Inspiring Home Decor Books

I love to collect bits and pieces of inspiration, and in this age of Pinterest, I'm sure you could say the same! So I thought I'd share with you some of the places where I found inspiration for decorating and taking care of my home.

I suppose, technically, the first place I felt inspired wasn't through a book. It was while stalking the Home Made Lovely series and feasting on all of the beautiful color, light, and coziness. Almost every single one of those tours made me wish I was living in their space instead of mine! If you want inspiration and ideas, that's an amazing place to find them. Watching HGTV doesn't do it for me - their ideas and decor feel so untouchable, expensive, unreasonable and unrealistic. The bloggers in this series are real, imperfect, and mostly handmade - and that's what I love about it!


When I was ready to start doing something about the inspiration I had, these are the books that helped.

The Nesting Placeby Myquillyn Smith
This one is first on my list, because one of the biggest themes in her book is to just get started where you are - whatever the situation may be. Her story is encouraging and inspiring, as she tells about how she made the most of her decor situation despite moving and renting more than the average family. Some of her personal projects were exciting and energizing in a "look how beautiful it can be to think outside of the box" way - my favorite of which was her chalkboard contact paper fireplace with chalk-drawn bricks. Despite not renting or moving around a lot, most of what she says in this book were all things I needed to hear, and I think that no matter what your style - you should give this one a read!

Happy Handmade Homeby Elsie Larson and Emma Chapman
I read the reviews for this book when I was finished with it, and I was surprised to see so many negative ones! One that sticks out went something like, "these are supposed to be projects for a grown woman? I feel like these are crafts for 14 year old girls!"  But, I suspect that this particular reader isn't as much of a handmade soul. If handmade things make you feel good, you want them to surround you! And despite some of the projects in this book feeling a tad redundant, I still really enjoyed them. It had my crafting gears turning, and pushed a few of my planned projects in the right direction.

Bright Bazaarby Will Taylor
This book is just SO delicious to look at! If you are obsessed with color the way I am, you will love this. I showed it to a friend of mine recently and she went and checked it out from the library the next day! Full of drool-worthy color combinations, it shows you how to mix both current and past trend colors together in a room. I wish I had more space in this house so I could put a few more of these into play! I just love looking at the photos in this book. If I had a coffee table? This book would be on it, next to The Nesting Place.

Design Bloggers at Homeby Ellie Tennant
To be honest, I was lead to believe (by the title) that the designs in this book would be a lot more "at home" - easy, attainable, affordable, handmade - and I didn't get that vibe. Instead, it talked of self-taught designers who are respected in the blogging world for having great taste, and though most of the spaces pictured here didn't suit my style, exactly, I think that's kind of awesome. Blogging has created designers, published authors, internet celebrities, artists, event planners, and opened all sorts of doors for people in new ways. I love that idea, and I liked seeing some of the homes of self-made designers.

I still have a few others on my to-be-read list, but so far - these are the ones that have stood out and made a difference for me as I work on my home. Have you read anything inspiring and helpful that I should check out? Let me know!



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