10 books that are better than an interior designer
Every book that taught me how to decorate my home and garden. Which also make excellent presents...
I adore a coffee table book. In my younger and more pretentious days I was known to use up half my luggage allowance carting 5 kilos tomes on Picasso and Yves Saint Laurent to read on the beach in Ayia Napa. (I know, I know…) Hell, I was buying coffee table books before I even had a coffee table. That’s how much I love them.
Of course autumn is the perfect time to hunker down with one. Whilst Christmas is the ideal time to bestow those you love with one. Since both of these things are upon us (how?!) I thought this week I would share with you the coffee table books that have changed my life.
I know that feels like a total exaggeration. After all, these books are hardly The Year Of Magical Thinking. But here’s the thing…they are magical. If you get the right ones, that is. Over the years I have taught myself how to garden, how to decorate a room, how to master the art of flower arranging, entertaining and even how to Japanese prune a tree, all thanks to a selection of superb coffee table books.
So this week I’m opening up my home collection with you. Especially as a rather wonderful new coffee table book was sent to me this week that I have to share with you. It’s by Andrew Montgomery and Clare Foster and it’s called The Pastoral Garden. He does the pictures, she does the words. (Thrillingly you can also find
on Substack. I dream that Andrew will join one day.) First off, it’s a complete joy to look at, and currently takes pride of place on my ottoman where I can flick through its glossy pages every morning with my coffee. But it’s also wonderfully instructional. I spent two hours in bed reading it the other day, which is a first for me- that’s how good it is. (Of course the issue now being I want a pastoral garden, which is impossible since I’ve topiared everything to within an inch of its life). Anyway my point is this: it’s a brilliant book/gift for the garden lover in your life since it’s not just a bunch of sumptuous pictures (though it is that too) but also a beautiful manual on how to garden and look after the world around you. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Oh and you can but it here. It will make someone’s Christmas morning, I promise.
Meanwhile here’s the other 10 I could never live without out….
And remember, I don’t make any money from the sale of any of these books. There are no affiliate links. No back handers. No ad payments. This is me simply opening up my black book of what I love, which is why a paid subscription helps me to keep going. Anyway if you want all these books and hundreds of other recommendations that are honest and throughly road-tested by me, then simply click below.