Benable — create shareable lists of things you recommend!
E.g., products you love, local businesses, travel recs - you can add anything to a Benable list!
Beyond the Basics: Coffee Table Books You Don't See Everywhere
25
items I love a beautiful coffee table book as much as anyone, but the well-known ones tend to stay closed on the shelf. These are the books my guests actually pick up — design, art, places, and nature books with real substance behind them, full of stories ...
Sections
5
Interiors with Soul
Art & Photography Worth Lingering Over
Places & Hideaways
Nature, Up Close
The Well-Set Table
Interiors with Soul
I keep coming back to this one for its calm, unhurried rooms — it makes me want to slow down and live with fewer, better things, and it looks just as peaceful open on the table as it does closed on the shelf.
Still: The Slow Home
I love how this one shows real, collected homes instead of perfect showrooms — it gives me permission to mix old and new, and I steal an idea from it almost every time I flip through.
Curate: Inspiration for an Individual Home
This is my reminder that a home doesn't have to be flawless to be beautiful — I love the worn textures and honest, lived-in rooms, and it always sparks a good conversation with guests.
Perfect Imperfect: Beauty of Accident & Age
I adore the desert light in these pages — the way simple, sun-warmed rooms sit right in that wild landscape makes me dream of slow mornings in the high desert.
At Home in Joshua Tree: Desert Living Guide
I fell for the way this farmhouse feels both grand and completely welcoming — the gardens, the patina, the collected details make me want to linger in every room a little longer.
Patina Farm
I love how this one treats collecting as a way of living, not just decorating — every page reminds me to keep the things that mean something and let the rest go.
How to Live with Objects: A Guide to More Meaningful Interiors
This is my go-to reminder that the most welcoming homes are the imperfect ones — I love its gentle, make-do-and-mend spirit, and it always makes me want to set the table and invite people over.
Wabi-Sabi Welcome
I adore the relaxed, unfussy French rooms in here — nothing feels staged, and it always leaves me wanting to mix a little patina and softness into my own home.
French Chic Living
Art & Photography Worth Lingering Over
I love seeing O'Keeffe's desert homes through her own eyes — the adobe walls, the light, the quiet rooms feel like stepping straight into her paintings.
Georgia O'Keeffe and Her Houses: Ghost Ranch
I keep this one close because Frida's Casa Azul is so full of color and life — every page feels personal, like she's inviting you right into her world.
Frida Kahlo at Home
I was completely charmed by these hidden Milan entryways — grand courtyards and staircases you'd walk right past, and now I look at every doorway a little differently.
Entryways of Milan: Ingressi di Milano
I love peeking behind the famous photographs in this one — seeing the frames before and after the perfect shot makes me appreciate the photographer's eye all over again.
Magnum Contact Sheets
Places & Hideaways
I love the warm ochre walls and tiled courtyards in these Marrakech homes — it's the most transportive book on my shelf, and it makes me want to book a flight every time I open it.
Inside Marrakesh: Enchanting Homes and Gardens
I adore these wild little cabins and hideaways — simple, clever shelters tucked into forests and cliffs that prove a small place can hold a very big sense of adventure.
Rock the Shack: Architecture of Cabins & Hide-Outs
I reach for this one when I want ideas that actually work in real life — warm, thoughtful, well-made homes from all over the world, and every page feels cozy without trying too hard.
The Monocle Guide to Cosy Homes
The color-drenched rooms and courtyards in here make me want to paint something mustard and fill a shelf with folk art — it's pure joy, and it keeps my wanderlust warm.
Casa Mexico: At Home in Merida and the Yucatan
I'm a sucker for desert modernism, and this one has it all — sun, shadows, and the most glamorous low-slung houses, and it makes me dream of a long weekend in the desert.
Palm Springs: A Modernist Paradise
Pools might be my favorite subject to flip through — the light, the color, the mid-century dream of it all, and it makes the whole table feel a little sunnier.
Splash: The Art of the Swimming Pool
Nature, Up Close
I love how this one turns a museum of plants into pure art — the illustrations are so detailed and beautiful that I find myself studying a page like a painting.
Botanicum: Welcome to the Museum
I keep this one out because the close-up photography is just stunning — it makes me look at ordinary leaves and flowers with completely fresh eyes.
Flora: Inside the Secret World of Plants
I never thought I'd be so drawn to mushrooms, but the photography here is extraordinary — strange, beautiful, and quietly otherworldly, and guests always stop to look.
The Kingdom of Fungi
This one sits right next to Botanicum on my shelf — the same museum-magic, but with the animal kingdom, and I love poring over the illustrations like a kid again.
Animalium: Welcome to the Museum
The Well-Set Table
I love how this one makes a Venetian table feel like a whole world — simple, seasonal food, beautiful plates, and long lunches that make me want to set the table just a little more lovingly.
A Table in Venice: Recipes from My Home
I adore the sun-soaked recipes and slow island life in this one — it reminds me that a good meal is really about who you're with, and I cook from it whenever I want to slow an evening down.
Ikaria: Lessons on Food, Life & Longevity
I keep this one close whenever I'm planning a gathering — the tables are so warm and layered, and it always gives me one more idea for making a meal feel like an occasion.
The Art of Beautiful Tables