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This is Home: The Art of Simple Living
This is Home is a back-to-basics guide on how to create authentic wholehearted interiors. It's about living simply – finding the essence of what makes you happy at home and creating spaces that reflect your needs and style. Filled with clever ideas and creative spaces it shows that you don't need a huge budget to create a beautiful home. This is Home provides examples and case studies of places with a global and timeless feel that haven't always been renovated in the traditional sense but are true homes.
Featuring eight case studies from Australia, the US and Europe, and nearly 200 color photographs, This is Home will inspire you with beautiful, authentic places you want to be – today.
Chapters include:
The big picture: how to determine your decorating personality, and what's authentic for you.
Starting over: let go of the past and create a home for the person you are today, with a focus on decision-making and the art of editing.
Living for now: Work out a budget for your time and money using your values as a guide. Where you can spend and save when it comes to creating lasting interiors.
The Art of ingenuity: Think creatively, not expensively, when it comes to making changes at home. Going beyond the usual suspects can help you to create a home that's distinctively yours.
The poetry of space: Successful spaces are all about addition and subtraction, positive and negative. How to create balance within a room while reflecting your decorating style.
The feel of a home: Create interiors that make you feel, and have an emotional connection. How to introduce decorative elements that make for authentic interiors.
Surrounding spaces: Key ideas to consider when creating your place in relation to its environment - from the surrounding landscape to local community.
Maintaining the focus: Ways to evolve what's important for you and keep focussed on your aesthetic and lifestyle.
Happy renewal: How to keep your home fresh without exhausting or expensive overhauls.
Rest and revive: How our homes can function as a place to rest our bodies, rejoice in our relationships and restore our values.
Featuring eight case studies from Australia, the US and Europe, and nearly 200 color photographs, This is Home will inspire you with beautiful, authentic places you want to be – today.
Chapters include:
The big picture: how to determine your decorating personality, and what's authentic for you.
Starting over: let go of the past and create a home for the person you are today, with a focus on decision-making and the art of editing.
Living for now: Work out a budget for your time and money using your values as a guide. Where you can spend and save when it comes to creating lasting interiors.
The Art of ingenuity: Think creatively, not expensively, when it comes to making changes at home. Going beyond the usual suspects can help you to create a home that's distinctively yours.
The poetry of space: Successful spaces are all about addition and subtraction, positive and negative. How to create balance within a room while reflecting your decorating style.
The feel of a home: Create interiors that make you feel, and have an emotional connection. How to introduce decorative elements that make for authentic interiors.
Surrounding spaces: Key ideas to consider when creating your place in relation to its environment - from the surrounding landscape to local community.
Maintaining the focus: Ways to evolve what's important for you and keep focussed on your aesthetic and lifestyle.
Happy renewal: How to keep your home fresh without exhausting or expensive overhauls.
Rest and revive: How our homes can function as a place to rest our bodies, rejoice in our relationships and restore our values.
240 pages, Hardcover
Published April 17, 2018
10 people are currently reading
640 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
July 2, 2019
The secret to living simply is to be able to afford to live in a beautiful old building with lots of character and big windows and natural light so that you don’t need much stuff to make your home beautiful.
I actually appreciated the text- though it was often redundant. I liked the emphasis on buying things that last, being creative with what you have, and living sustainably. The Q & A with the people/families featured were super similar to each other.
Beautiful photographs, but I would have liked to have seen more connection between the text and the photos. Often people mentioned a feature of their home that they loved or were proud of, but there was no photograph of that feature. In general there were too few photographs per household.
I actually appreciated the text- though it was often redundant. I liked the emphasis on buying things that last, being creative with what you have, and living sustainably. The Q & A with the people/families featured were super similar to each other.
Beautiful photographs, but I would have liked to have seen more connection between the text and the photos. Often people mentioned a feature of their home that they loved or were proud of, but there was no photograph of that feature. In general there were too few photographs per household.
July 30, 2023
This book is an exercise in how to say: "Don't copy the stuff you see on Instagram and Pinterest but rather do your own thing because it's the authenticity that makes a home" in a million different ways. That's the single idea being conveyed.
It's also packed with photos of close-up details of different homes from around the world, but mainly from the richest and most privileged countries in the world, the only exception being Morocco, because no hipster coffee table book can be complete without Morocco; but don't worry, the author made sure to visit only rich and privileged people's homes in Morocco, no local people's homes here, just rich and privileged expats explaining how they're oh so over living in the medina. Where was I? Oh yes, close-ups of people's homes from around the (rich and privileged) world which could well have been close-ups from a single home boasting mainly the sad beige aesthetics and lots and lots and loooots of pottery because texture, get it? And of course, I mustn't forget, kids owning zero toys and and wearing only black.
Minimalism, but 29349484 pointless vases, pots and baskets in every home. Authenticity, but empty picture frames hung on the wall.
Yeah.
This book and I, we did NOT click.
It's also packed with photos of close-up details of different homes from around the world, but mainly from the richest and most privileged countries in the world, the only exception being Morocco, because no hipster coffee table book can be complete without Morocco; but don't worry, the author made sure to visit only rich and privileged people's homes in Morocco, no local people's homes here, just rich and privileged expats explaining how they're oh so over living in the medina. Where was I? Oh yes, close-ups of people's homes from around the (rich and privileged) world which could well have been close-ups from a single home boasting mainly the sad beige aesthetics and lots and lots and loooots of pottery because texture, get it? And of course, I mustn't forget, kids owning zero toys and and wearing only black.
Minimalism, but 29349484 pointless vases, pots and baskets in every home. Authenticity, but empty picture frames hung on the wall.
Yeah.
This book and I, we did NOT click.
December 3, 2018
I had to stop reading the text and just looked through the photos. I found the text fairly repetitive and, the further I flipped through the pages, I thought the interiors looked stylishly dishonest. Where are the hampers, kids' books, paperwork, and normal clutter found throughout a home? One master bedroom showed a hanger with one lonely piece of kid's clothing on it, beside a velvety curtain. Several kitchens were so spare I wasn't certain what the rooms' use was. What about the author's guideline to inject personality into the home? Many locations were in Europe, New Zealand, or Australia, but having traveled there, I can't say that their aesthetic is THAT different from American's that care about interior aesthetic. Beautiful, though I didn't glean any new ideas from it.
September 15, 2018
"Temptation is always in our way though. New products. Old products marketed in new ways. Trends. Theories. The cult of people and places. We need to wade through all of this to stay true to ourselves. However, when we have a clear idea of what we value, trends fall into insignificance. When we see how others have decorated their home, we can appreciate it but we don't feel an urge to replicate it. When we are surrounded by limitless choice and a constant stream of ideas, our values create a roadmap that is uniquely our own."
Beautiful pictures and some interesting advice. Showed me that old, worn things can still be beautiful and useful.
Beautiful pictures and some interesting advice. Showed me that old, worn things can still be beautiful and useful.
January 29, 2023
Here’s the secret to simple living that I took away:
1. Buy an old monastery and paint everything white.
2. Buy colorless decor.
3. Linen covered sofas.
Every home in this book had the same exact decor style- colorless.
It would have been improved with a bigger variety of styles and more photos of the actual home- there were a lot of throwaway photos (close up of a bowl on a table, etc).
1. Buy an old monastery and paint everything white.
2. Buy colorless decor.
3. Linen covered sofas.
Every home in this book had the same exact decor style- colorless.
It would have been improved with a bigger variety of styles and more photos of the actual home- there were a lot of throwaway photos (close up of a bowl on a table, etc).
May 22, 2018
I encourage everyone to have this book. The timeless style and subject matter this book has been created with means these pages will live on through many decor and lifestyle eras. Ive found the undercurrent of organic earthy objects mixed with modern living a brilliant infrastructure for all tastes and styles. This book echoes how I would like to live, talks of beautiful stories of family and bio vignettes, places around the world and the love of collecting meaningful objects.. its a keeper, a long term reference to living simply, beautifully and to enjoy the very specific keepsake collections one gathers through lives journey.
August 14, 2023
This book was well written, thoughtfully put together, and had lovely relaxing pictures. I did not agree with every single piece of philosophy, however, there was much to learn from it and I truly enjoyed it. I could definitely see myself revisiting this book.
1. Style your home for your enjoyment, not other’s.
2. Keep what adds to the quality of your life and home. Declutter what hinders it.
3. Less is more. More takes away from the stuff that you do enjoy.
1. Style your home for your enjoyment, not other’s.
2. Keep what adds to the quality of your life and home. Declutter what hinders it.
3. Less is more. More takes away from the stuff that you do enjoy.
July 22, 2021
I started out loving this book. Maybe because the only color in the book is in the first 1/4?
Do people really live comfortably on a stick couch with thin cushions? Do their children run around in black clothing playing with.. hmm... the collection of white ceramic pots? (There are few toys in evidence)
The philosophy is nice, I did read almost all of the prose. I laughed at the woman who said color mattered most (she of the aforementioned white ceramics). But most of the people seemed sincere and happy with their homes. Lack of fathers/husbands in the pictures, though some are mentioned in the text - golf? business meeting? hate having their picture taken? (I mention this because in my life I have seen that women living without male partners decorate differently.)
One shout out - the people who make tile have gorgeous tiles in their home and color! Color!
Do people really live comfortably on a stick couch with thin cushions? Do their children run around in black clothing playing with.. hmm... the collection of white ceramic pots? (There are few toys in evidence)
The philosophy is nice, I did read almost all of the prose. I laughed at the woman who said color mattered most (she of the aforementioned white ceramics). But most of the people seemed sincere and happy with their homes. Lack of fathers/husbands in the pictures, though some are mentioned in the text - golf? business meeting? hate having their picture taken? (I mention this because in my life I have seen that women living without male partners decorate differently.)
One shout out - the people who make tile have gorgeous tiles in their home and color! Color!
January 3, 2020
I bought this book to gain more knowledge from an architectural point of view, on how to make a space feels like home, it did not give me the information I needed, but it gave me a very deep understanding of what is home and the philosophy behind it.
what I did not like about this book is two things, the repetitive concepts, and mostly its structure, its structure is flow is weird, hard to memorize, hard to understand, most of the books I read I memorize from its simple structure and ease in flow, but this one has a structure that I don't get yet.
But I recommend reading it , it will guide you and affect you deeply when designing your home.
what I did not like about this book is two things, the repetitive concepts, and mostly its structure, its structure is flow is weird, hard to memorize, hard to understand, most of the books I read I memorize from its simple structure and ease in flow, but this one has a structure that I don't get yet.
But I recommend reading it , it will guide you and affect you deeply when designing your home.
July 11, 2022
I love that this book includes an opportunity of reflection around what home, and curating a home, means to people, and their values around it. I loved taking a look into the life of a family and learning what was important to them in creating a home. I even purchased the book to have it as a reference, to read again and again to get inspired. However, the aesthetics presented were all SO alike. You could almost put each example together and it looks like the same home. They all listed almost the exact same favorite materials. I would have loved this book even more if there had been a bit of diversity of styles.
August 1, 2021
Left me a little cold. Try The Maverick Soul by Watts - so yummy.
February 9, 2019
The photography is beautiful, as well as the homes shared. The message was simple but a bit redundant and maybe slightly out of touch.
May 5, 2025
This book is extremely repetitive throughout. I was really hoping it would be more about designing a home that is yours. Instead, although she shows homes from around the world, every home is basically the same. And there is barely anything in the home looking at the pictures. So in a kitchen where is the actual kitchen stuff? Homes with children and no toys? Books? No tv anywhere?
The words in the book do not get conveyed to the pictures of the homes being shown so you really get no sense of it at all.
Basically she writes to make a home uniquely yours yet all these homes have the same basic stuff. All the stuff that is being pushed on us in magazines, Pinterest, Instagram. There isn’t character, just rich designers saying their homes are unique
I learned nothing new.
Best books so far on home design…. Ali Heath “Curate & Create”
These coffee table home design books are all basically the same. Same white sofa or beige sofa same vintage pottery pots (all 465 of them) same terracotta planter with some plant same unaffordable unattainable and mostly unattractive spaces and stuff.
I’m tired of the SAME. It’s everywhere and it’s boring
The words in the book do not get conveyed to the pictures of the homes being shown so you really get no sense of it at all.
Basically she writes to make a home uniquely yours yet all these homes have the same basic stuff. All the stuff that is being pushed on us in magazines, Pinterest, Instagram. There isn’t character, just rich designers saying their homes are unique
I learned nothing new.
Best books so far on home design…. Ali Heath “Curate & Create”
These coffee table home design books are all basically the same. Same white sofa or beige sofa same vintage pottery pots (all 465 of them) same terracotta planter with some plant same unaffordable unattainable and mostly unattractive spaces and stuff.
I’m tired of the SAME. It’s everywhere and it’s boring
June 30, 2023
As a lot of reviews said, I found the text pretty redundant. Eventually I just stopped reading and looked at the pictures because most of the interviews said the same or similar things. I also agree that there were not enough photos of each home, one reviewer mentioned that features would be described but, there would no photograph to accompany them and I was let down by that as well.
Overall, beautiful photography, beautiful spaces, beautiful book, though, I think this book does sort of portray “simple living” as an aesthetic that can only be achieved with money to buy a super unique place with tons of character that doesn’t need “decor” to give it life. I can appreciate the message the author tries to get across- use what you have, be creative, think outside the box, take your time creating a home- I am in agreement with the message of the book, just think the spaces chosen are a bit aspirational and not super realistic to most people who practice simple living. Although, if not to be inspired, what are home books for…?
Like but don’t love, that’s my take on this one.
Overall, beautiful photography, beautiful spaces, beautiful book, though, I think this book does sort of portray “simple living” as an aesthetic that can only be achieved with money to buy a super unique place with tons of character that doesn’t need “decor” to give it life. I can appreciate the message the author tries to get across- use what you have, be creative, think outside the box, take your time creating a home- I am in agreement with the message of the book, just think the spaces chosen are a bit aspirational and not super realistic to most people who practice simple living. Although, if not to be inspired, what are home books for…?
Like but don’t love, that’s my take on this one.
December 11, 2018
Beautiful photography and gorgeously styled homes, but I didn’t feel like there was anything groundbreaking here. There were great interviews and advice on what makes a home, what these owners focus on accumulating, and how to create a rejuvenating haven, etc. Basically less is more, and buy/collect stuff you love and that tells your story. (Adding 4 kids to that is the BIG trick! ;) There were families with kids featured, but really? Do all these kids live in just black and white with gorgeous, fluffy duvets and only antique toys? Hmm...)
July 18, 2023
When we focus on the values we want in our home, making decisions about how it will look is far easier. He’s gives a great outline she expands on regarding how to make a home:
“1. Develop a sense of style 2. Focus on story 3. Manage priorities 4. Evaluate function 5. Create beauty 6. Appeal to the senses 7. Connect to surrounding space 8. Stay focused 9. Be adaptable 10. Nurture yourself”
She urges the reader to stop trying to make your house perfect and embrace that it will always be a work in progress that is evolving.
“1. Develop a sense of style 2. Focus on story 3. Manage priorities 4. Evaluate function 5. Create beauty 6. Appeal to the senses 7. Connect to surrounding space 8. Stay focused 9. Be adaptable 10. Nurture yourself”
She urges the reader to stop trying to make your house perfect and embrace that it will always be a work in progress that is evolving.
May 28, 2018
A simply beautiful book, amazing photography, styling and writing. The style was at once intimate and authentic, I felt like I was having a peek not only into the homes but into the lives of the the people who live in those homes. The philosophy of living simply and directed by one's values resonated with me and will resonate with many.
Any one vaguely interested in interiors should read this book!
Any one vaguely interested in interiors should read this book!
September 18, 2020
4.5 stars, Design
This is a wonderful book full of inspiring images. I love the variance of light and airy spaces with the darker moody ones. It really gives the reader an opportunity to study the design principles being used in many different situations. I love the authors insights and her perspective on why we are so drawn to creating beautiful, unique homes of our own.
It’s an easy read but is best when it’s being savored. Recommended!
This is a wonderful book full of inspiring images. I love the variance of light and airy spaces with the darker moody ones. It really gives the reader an opportunity to study the design principles being used in many different situations. I love the authors insights and her perspective on why we are so drawn to creating beautiful, unique homes of our own.
It’s an easy read but is best when it’s being savored. Recommended!
April 18, 2023
I appreciated the perspectives of those the author interviewed. Often we think we need to spend a lot of money to create spaces that reflect our values, passions and ideas. Curating found objects, hanging on to family pieces with a touch of ingenuity creates warm and comfortable living space, even if it is as boring as suburban home.
July 8, 2024
This book surpised me, it is aesthetically beautiful and also somewhat insightful. This book inspired me to see our home as more than a place to sleep, but a sanctuary, that when designed well can even help change the way we live our lives for the better.
July 20, 2025
This is an Ari Aster horror film in which the characters are all white in pristine interiors with their children as props. I'm not sure what the plot would be, but it's incredible that they bothered to feature a woman from MOROCCO and guess what? Lily white.
May 22, 2018
Love this book! Such a beautiful, well-considered collection of images and interviews from around the globe, offering insight into how we live and what makes a home. Highly recommend.
July 5, 2018
gorgeous, minimalist styling that still retains personality. the photography is lovely.
March 9, 2019
Pretty, but not very substantial. Suited only to a very particular aesthetic taste.
March 17, 2019
three words: restful, wise, cosy
March 9, 2020
I loved this book so much! Around the three main themes, Create, Live and Nurture, there were actionable tips to develop/find/curate your style. Woven throughout the book, are beautiful home tours.
July 29, 2021
I would buy this book. The philosophy behind it was more interesting overall than the pictures. I actually read it.
November 6, 2021
Delightful book. Thoughtful and thought-provoking
January 4, 2022
Beautiful designs. Concepts are explored with vagueness, but I loved the styles that she captured.
January 30, 2022
Most of the images were more austere than my personal style but all the essays about the value of home were fascinating.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews