Around this time of year, we get an urge to update or renovate our living space. Whether it’s inspiration for a space of your own, redecorating, reorganising or repurposing some dated furniture, we’ve picked the most helpful books for Autumn homes…
Geraldine James’s The Creative Home is perfect for anyone who loves looking at other people’s homes and stealing their ideas. The book features a huge range of rooms, from minimalist to eclectic overload, from the palazzo to the pokey pied à terre, and everything from the lavishly renovated to amazing homes furnished with second hand finds and a tiny budget. There are great ideas for every room in the house, plus a brilliant chapter on storage and display. £19.99, out in September.
If you’re stuck with tired outdated furniture, or want to give something a new lease of life, then Hester van Overbeek’s Furniture Hacks is a great starting point. Furniture hacking requires some imagination and basic DIY skills, but you could end up with your own unique pieces for surprisingly little outlay. There are 35 projects here – from simple patchwork rugs to making your own four poster – and they are likely to start you off on many more of your own. £13.58 from Amazon.
We’ve long admired the cool minimalist Scandinavian summer cottage, or the cobbled together Russian dacha, but we never thought we’d feel envious of someone’s shed. However Gill Heriz has persuaded some amazing women to let us have a peek inside their personal sanctuaries in A Woman’s Huts and Hideaways. We’re now pining for a riverside retreat, or our own cabin in the woods, but will have to make do with this beguiling selection of tiny spaces from urban garden studios, to mud-built huts in the wilds of Oregon. £16.58 from Amazon.