As we’re wrapping up the second week of 2021, I feel like digging a small hole, crawling in and crying for my mommy, whom I haven’t seen for over a year now… But the ground is frozen solid so no digging is happening any time soon. Maybe screaming and crying, yes. No digging. Anyway, ahem… I hope you had a nice couple of weeks into the new year. I thought I’d share with you where we’re at in terms of home and garden proclivities.
“What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you.” Anne Lamott
Having had a chance to look back at last year’s bestselling design books, it’s time to turn the page and glance into the future. There are some exciting new titles to be released in 2021 that I think many of you will appreciate and enjoy. To explore these books in more detail, just click on a title you’d like to see more about.
You’ll probably notice by scrolling down through my list that I am slightly biased in my choices, with a slight English Country Style bend, but I hope you won’t mind. Ros Byam Shaw, prolific writer for design magazines across the pond and author of several volumes in the Perfect English series – Perfect English, Perfect English Cottage, Perfect English Farmhouse, Perfect English Townhouse – is having a fifth book in the series published this spring – Perfect English Style– and we couldn’t be happier, could we?
“I have always imaged that Paradise would be some kind of a library.” Jorge Louis Borges
As I sat down to plan my blogging schedule for this week, I realized that as much as I’d like to close the door on 2020 and throw away the key, there have been several highs this past year worth mentioning, despite the overwhelmingly great number of lows. Some of these positives include a greater sense of community and a renewed appreciation for all that’s good in our relationships, but also a heightened interest in making our homes more comfortable, and more appealing. Other highs are maybe less obvious and more personal, but to some of us still important. I’m talking about books and more time to read, and design books in particular. The need to escape in a world that isn’t our own, to be transported and inspired, has never been more present and remains so still, despite there being much hope for the future.
So if you don’t mind, I’d like to look back with you at some of the best-selling design books of last year and ask your opinion on which ones were your favorite, and what gems have you discovered this past year that haven’t necessarily made it to this list. I’ve looked at Amazon’s Top 100 bestsellers in interior design and decoration and was surprised at how few of the titles I loved were actually on that list. Here is the intersection – Amazon’s Top 100 with Café Design’s preferred ones – in no particular order. (Click on the titles to find out more.) Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Happy Friday! Hope your week was a good one so far. Things have been very busy at our house over the last few days, but the good kind of busy. The kind that gets you pumped, off the couch and accomplishing things. We’ve made good progress with our backyard, which I’m super excited about, although I still haven’t gotten around to painting our basement. I don’t know why but every time I want to pick up the paint brush something else comes up :). (The walls are done but I still have to paint half of the stairs and three pairs of bifold closet doors.) Anyway, I guess I have to keep chipping away at it until it’s done.
View PostHappy Monday! Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving break! Thank you all so much for your kind messages after sharing our Thanksgiving table. You made me very happy! We spent the last couple of days relaxing and taking a break from it all and, with the weather on our side, we did some major headway with our backyard makeover. (I’ll share more about it, and our plans, soon.) In the meantime, there is something else I wanted to talk to you about. You may have noticed that lately there have been some changes here on the blog and I am very excited to share with you the launch of Café Design Shop.
