At Home

Tolstoy wrote, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." This is the statement that inspired bestselling author Gretchen Rubin to wonder whether she could foster an even greater happiness in her home. During The Happiness Project, the same questions kept tugging at her. How can I raise happy children? How can I maintain a tender, romantic relationship with my spouse--after fifteen years of marriage? How do I keep my Blackberry from taking over my private life? How can I foster a well-ordered, light-hearted atmosphere in my house, when no one else will lift a finger to cooperate? This book is Gretchen's account of her second journey in pursuit of happiness. Prescriptive, easy-to-follow, and anecdotal, Happier at Home offers readers a way of thinking and being that is positive and life-affirming. With specific examples following the calendar year, an intimate voice, and drawing from science and pop culture, this book will resonate with anyone looking to strengthen the bonds of family.

Style icon Aerin Lauder reveals what it means to live beautifully Extravagant and fun to be around, Estée Lauder, Aerin's grandmother, loved jewelry and chocolate-covered marshmallows. She adored flowers and rooms full of exuberant patterns. When Aerin was a child, weekend visits with Estée meant ice-cream-and-late-night-TV adventures and spending time together at her grandmother's dressing-room table with its intriguing lipsticks and creams. From an early age, Aerin understood that Estée's passion for family was equal to her love of beauty. Now, Aerin has made this legacy her own. For the first time, she shares memories of the family celebrations and world travel that formed her sense of style. Aerin opens the doors to her New York apartment, where on any given night she might host a relaxed dinner with firends under a vintage French chandelier or, just as often, an impromptu get-together for her sons. Aerin also reveals how she preserved Estée's heritage in her former Hamptons home while adding her own twists. The traditions Aerin has created in her own family--from pool parties with her sons to walks along the beach collecting sea glass to breezy summer lunches--blend elegance and fun in equal measure. Throughout this book, evocative photographs by Simon Upton show Aerin's world in inspiring detail and enhance Aerin's insights into surrounding oneself with beauty and family in every aspect of life.

At Home with Books is a visual delight, a helpful resource, and an inspiration for every bibliophile with a growing home library. Includes professional advice on editing and categorizing your library; caring for your books; preserving, restoring, and storing rare books; finding out-of-print books; and choosing furniture, lighting, and shelving. Full-color photographs.

"Hilton Carter's love for plants is infectious... His lush and exuberant displays are inspiring reminders that plants can be so much more than neat little containers on a window sill."Grace Bonney, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Design*Sponge Take a tour through Hilton's own apartment and other lush spaces, filled with a huge array of thriving plants, and learn all you need to know to create your own urban jungle. As the owner of over 200 plants, Hilton feels strongly about the role of plants in one's home – not just for the beauty they add, but for health benefits as well: 'having plants in your home not only adds life, but changes the airflow throughout. It's also a key design element when styling your place. For me, it wasn't about just having greenery, but having the right variety of greenery. I like to see the different textures of foliage all grouped together. You take a fiddle leaf fig and sandwich it between a birds of paradise and a monstera and.... yes!' You will be armed with the know-how you need to care for your plants, where to place them, how to propagate, how to find the right pot, and much more, and most importantly, how to arrange them so that they look their best. Combine sizes and leaf shapes to stunning effect, grow your own succulents from leaf cuttings, create your own air plant display, and more.

Winner of the 2014 John Collier Jr. Award Winner of the Jo Anne Stolaroff Cotsen Prize Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century cross-cuts the ranks of important books on social history, consumerism, contemporary culture, the meaning of material culture, domestic architecture, and household ethnoarchaeology. It is a distant cousin of Material World and Hungry Planet in content and style, but represents a blend of rigorous science and photography that these books can claim. Using archaeological approaches to human material culture, this volume offers unprecedented access to the middle-class American home through the kaleidoscopic lens of no-limits photography and many kinds of never-before acquired data about how people actually live their lives at home. Based on a rigorous, nine-year project at UCLA, this book has appeal not only to scientists but also to all people who share intense curiosity about what goes on at home in their neighborhoods. Many who read the book will see their own lives mirrored in these pages and can reflect on how other people cope with their mountains of possessions and other daily challenges. Readers abroad will be equally fascinated by the contrasts between their own kinds of materialism and the typical American experience. The book will interest a range of designers, builders, and architects as well as scholars and students who research various facets of U.S. and global consumerism, cultural history, and economic history.

Jenni Kayne, the creator of the laid-back, luxe California lifestyle brand, shows us how to create spaces that encourage living well in comfort and style by featuring beautiful and inspiring interiors along with practical room-by-room tips. A known tastemaker and authority on style, Jenni Kayne spans the worlds of fashion, interiors, and entertaining. Inspired by organic textures, thoughtful simplicity, and natural landscapes, Kayne embodies an earthy and effortless aesthetic—one that is intentional and where beauty and authenticity exist in every detail. In her second book Kayne turns to interior design, sharing her beautifully designed interiors as well as the homes of other creative women who embrace a similar natural design ethos. The book introduces the homes by location, spanning varied landscapes and design characteristics: houses by the ocean, desert-style spaces, mountain homes, and abodes in the city. Lovely photographs illustrate how the women live in these spaces, room by room, and include smaller styling vignettes showcasing collectibles and personal objects. Interviews discuss each woman’s design philosophy and her ideas for living well at home. With a mix of visual inspiration and practical tips and resources, Kayne encourages us to express our individual style through decor, showing us how to create beautiful interiors that help us to live joyfully and mindfully, treating life’s details with creativity and care.

Entertaining at Home presents gatherings in the homes of leading tastemakers from the worlds of interior design, architecture, culinary arts, and society--including Lynn Wyatt, Suzanne Kasler, and Julia Reed, among others--who show readers how best to entertain with flair and finesse. Leading party aficionados share their successful strategies for delighting family and friends, offering their personal viewpoints and providing behind-the-scenes details that go into creating memorable occasions. They offer their approaches to arranging flowers, setting the table, selecting menus, stocking the pantry, compiling killer playlists, and purchasing the perfect hostess gift. Included are a variety of easy-to-master delectable recipes, such as bacon-wrapped pretzels, seafood chowder, spicy gazpacho, and refreshing sangrias. From a summer social in New Orleans and a lively luncheon in Texas to a lavish winter smorgasbord holiday dinner in Washington, D.C., the hosts offer a myriad of inspirational ideas. Whether it's an elegant table set with Leontine Linens or Pinot Grigio served in colorful cups and paired with potato chips and caviar, this book is a visual trove of festive get-togethers in beautiful residences. Lavishly photographed, it is the essential new go-to entertaining guide

A trip back to the world of Jane Austen and the homes she lived in with noted historian Lucy Worsley.

A privileged chance to see Rose Uniacke's work in the form of a private tour of her London home-the crucible for all her design ideas-in her first book, produced as a limited edition of 2,500 copies. Airy and light, delicate and robust, grand and intimate, raw and luxurious: these are just some of the qualities and contradictions that resonate within the work and home of Rose Uniacke. This sumptuous volume, the first on the designer, has been conceived with Uniacke to her bespoke specifications. Masterfully photographed by François Halard, the book unfolds gatefold after gatefold as a series of privileged glimpses inside Uniacke's home, with the designer's own words as our guide-an intimate and exclusive portrait of a home rarely gained access to as well as a window onto the workings of one of our leading design minds. Her work is distinguished by warmth, character, and an extraordinary serenity, and mirroring these qualities the book is a luxury object made from some of the same materials featured in Uniacke's home: a unique cotton duck canvas slipcase houses the book itself, which is wrapped in pure new wool. Completing this indispensable book in design history are texts from the architect of Uniacke's home, Vincent Van Duysen, and her landscape architect, Tom Stuart-Smith.

No one wakes up and decides, “I’m planning to ruin my marriage, neglect my kids, and cause mistrust in my family.” Yet our personal pursuits and busyness can lead us there. In this book, marriage and leadership coaches Dr. Josh and Christi Straub show how seven core decisions can help us put what’s most important center stage in our lives. Famous at Home is Josh and Christi’s realistic, grace-filled look at the struggles families face in a culture that competes for their time, attention, and identity. Whether you’ve found yourself putting more effort into becoming famous on stages outside the home, or your stage is the home, Famous at Home offers guidance and inspiration to help you give your family the best version of you instead of your leftovers. Famous at Home will help you and your spouse Be on the same team—fighting for each other and not against each other Stay emotionally connected even if work, distance, or busyness are in the way Deeply invest in the emotional lives of your children You really can be famous at home, showing up in intentional and meaningful ways for your biggest fans. All it takes is realizing that the greatest red carpet you’ll ever walk is through your front door.