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Best Interior Design Books for a Colorful, Collected Home
15
items A curated library for creating a home that feels colorful, collected, and classic. These are the books I turn to for everything from design fundamentals and color theory to grandmillennial style, maximalist interiors, and the American design traditio...
Sections
4
Design Fundamentals & Inspiration
Grandmillennial
Maximalism
American Heritage & Design
Design Fundamentals & Inspiration
Practical guides to the fundamentals of interior design, from color and layout to proportion, lighting, and the details that bring a room together.
I can find picking paint colors overwhelming, and Farrow & Ball has taught me that more options do not necessarily make the decision easier. I love this book for its practical guidance on creating thoughtful color palettes and using paint and wal...
Farrow & Ball How to Redecorate: Paint & Paper
A great design reference that makes decorating principles easy to understand and actually use. I especially love the sections on the color wheel and the 60/30/10 rule—they’ve become go-to tools for me when thinking through a room’s color palette.
The Interior Design Handbook
One of my favorite references for understanding what makes a room feel timeless and collected. It goes beyond decorating trends to explore furniture, textiles, craftsmanship, and the details worth investing in—and it happens to be a beautiful coffee ...
The Finer Things: Timeless Furniture & Textiles
This one functions almost like a textbook, taking the professional approach you would expect from a school that trains future interior designers. I especially appreciated seeing sample contracts and fee models, which offer an interesting look at the ...
NY School of Interior Design: Home Foundations
I like this one because it bridges decorating and renovation. It goes beyond beautiful rooms to explain the practical decisions behind them—from planning and materials to the details that make a space actually work.
The New Design Rules: Decorate & Renovate
A century of extraordinary interiors from the pages of Architectural Digest. Filled with iconic homes, legendary designers, and beautiful photography, this is both a source of decorating inspiration and a celebration of how great style evolves while ...
Architectural Digest at 100: Collector's Ed
Grandmillennial
A fresh take on traditional decorating, where florals, chintz, antiques, color, and collected details take center stage. These books celebrate the grandmillennial approach to creating homes that feel classic, layered, personal, and lived in.
One of my favorite books for embracing traditional decorating without making a home feel stuffy or stuck in the past. It is full of color, pattern, personality, and beautifully layered rooms—and makes a strong case for creating a home with character ...
Charm School: Schumacher Guide to Decorating
For anyone who loves traditional decorating but wants it to feel fresh rather than formal or fussy. I especially like its embrace of pretty rooms—color, florals, antiques, pattern, and personality all have a place here.
Return to Pretty: New Life to Traditional Style
A fun, focused guide to one of the most timeless patterns in decorating. I love seeing how stripes can work across so many styles and spaces, from subtle and traditional to bold and playful.
Everybody Loves Stripes: Decorating Guide
Schumacher is one of my favorite sources of inspiration for decorating with color and pattern, and this book shows just how many directions traditional design can take. I love flipping through it for ideas on mixing patterns, layering rooms, and maki...
S Is for Style: The Schumacher Book of Decoration
Maximalism
A celebration of decorating without restraint, where color, pattern, art, and collected objects come together in richly layered spaces. These books explore the maximalist approach to creating homes that feel bold, expressive, personal, and full of li...
This book made me pay more attention to the design of hotels, restaurants, and other commercial spaces. Martin Brudnizki’s colorful interiors are a great reminder that there are so many ideas in the spaces we visit that we can bring into our homes.
My Life in Colors
Josh Young uses less color than I do, but I still find this book a great resource when I am thinking through design options for my home. I especially love seeing his DC townhouse and Virginia country house, Sycamore House—there are so many ideas to b...
Artful Home
American Heritage & Design
A celebration of Washington, DC, Colonial America, and the design traditions that shaped American style. These books explore historic architecture, interiors, decorative arts, craftsmanship, and gardens—offering inspiration for creating homes that fe...
I used Benjamin Moore’s Colonial Williamsburg colors in my own home and bought this book to better understand the history and design traditions behind them. I even sent author Tricia Foley a question about the paint colors, and she responded promptly...
Williamsburg: Decorating with Style Hardcover
Living in Washington, I’m surrounded by extraordinary architecture, and the U.S. Capitol is one of the best places to study it. This book takes a closer look at its architecture, art, and decorative details—and is a wonderful reference for anyone int...
The United States Capitol: Architecture & Decoration
In my view, the Library of Congress is one of the best places to visit in Washington—gorgeous and endlessly fascinating. This book lets you linger over the Jefferson Building’s architecture, murals, sculpture, and extraordinary decorative details lon...
Library of Congress: Art & Architecture