Design the Home You Love: Practical Styling Advice to Make the Most of Your Space [An Interior Design Book]

by Lee Mayer, Emily Motayed

The founders of Havenly help you find your own style in this fresh and accessible guidebook to the complicated world of interior design.

The traditional interior design world is intimidatingly expensive for most home and apartment dwellers, and most of us never even attempt to take on the interior design of our own homes as a result. Sisters Emily and Lee saw this need. To fill the gap, they started Havenly, a one-stop shop for affordable interior design precisely suited to your own home and your own specific tastes--and, most important, your own real-life budget. They have come up with an understandable way to break down the ambiguous world of home design, and now they've distilled it into a book that will both inspire and instruct.

In Design the Home You Love, you learn how to first identify your own style (whether you're a fan of the traditional classic style, Parisian elegance, or California modern) and then you'll learn how to incorporate furniture that matches your style and fits your budget. Design the Home You Love takes us step by step and room by room through each part of the home to help us fulfill our home's potential. Whether you're looking to give your home a complete makeover, or merely spruce up your rental apartment's living room and take it from blah to fab, Emily and Lee bring fresh ideas, advice, and inspiration to the table.

Illustrated with photography from Havenly's personal collections and new photography shot at clients' homes and their own Denver-based studio space, this is the interior design book that finally makes it possible for us all to achieve our design goals.

Genres: Nonfiction, Interior Design, Design, Reference, Coffee Table Books, Home Improvement, Adult

272 pages, Hardcover

First published May 4, 2021

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wavering between 3 and 4 stars. (And BTW I got the hardback from the library, not the Kindle edition. With this kind of book I think you really need to be able to hold it in your hands) Every few months I borrow a stack of interiors / design / organizing books out of the library. I don't count them *all* as books on my read list, but I pick one to be a representative for the collection.

This book reminds me of a little sister to Domino's The Book of Decorating - which is still-amazing-and-perfect but alas, ten years old so the look is slightly dated.... design trends do change in a decade! Anyway, there is some excellent information here. It's written by two sisters who are founders of Havenly, an online company that provides very affordable interior decoration advice + recommendations for buying stuff. They are clearly smart, accomplished and talented, with great eyes for design. They are businesswomen, not designers themselves, but as in the Domino book before it, the authors make a major effort to make interior design accessible. And they succeed.
Two drawbacks:
1) Because this book is an offshoot of Havenly, parts of it even feel like a catalog. Their company, and the businesses with whom they partner, are mentioned A LOT. That in itself didn't bother me too much but....2) it's hard to also push the importance of sustainability and indoor air quality (....ahem, all that cheap foam and MDF furniture is not so good for us) when it's your job to sell stuff. They do an OK job of mentioning that it's sustainable and smart (and more affordable) to buy used/vintage etc, but I wish there was a lot more of that.
That all said, it may not be quite as glorious and all-encompassing as Domino, and it's a big promo for their business, but it is filled with useful advice. 3.5 stars.

[Tegan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel so indifferent about this, I don’t even know how to review it.

[Leona · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some good practical advice, particularly about proportion and avoiding ‘matchy matchy'. The encouragement to be bold and to be brave is really vital in design, to choose things that work for you in your home. Unfortunately the ebook format didn’t really line up the photos with the text, and I wasn’t particularly interested after awhile to see the photos referenced. I do think this book would be useful for someone starting out or someone lacking confidence.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would be more useful if I owned a house

[Jordan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yawn

[Nicole Shepard · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s some good information in here. The style generally isn’t my favorite. But that’s obviously a me thing.

[Rachelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Design the Home You Love... practical yet simple budget-minded tips to adultify your space. Elegant photography of multi-styled spaces provide a glimpse of the suggestions offered in the text. Gentle guidance to help new homeowners or apartment dwellers choose types of furniture, considering proportion, color and material, weighing in their lifestyle. Basic advice, but good knowledge for men and women uncertain of the next step to take in a room's transformation.

[Liza Shoenfeld · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dumb book of outdated style advice conceived entirely in the service of over consumption and conformity

[Sanford Chee · Rating 2 out of 5]

9 Home renovation mistakes
https://qanvast.com/sg/articles/9-avo...

Skills Futures/Udemy Courses on interior design
https://www.udemy.com/course/learn-ho...
https://www.myskillsfuture.gov.sg/con...

https://www.myskillsfuture.gov.sg/con...

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Living room
Sofa: comfort ,fabric, L-shape eg Willie’s vs Stressless. Neutral colour eg light grey, cream - need to fit overall look & feel w/ white walls. Splurge: Minotti
* Add pillows as decorative element: different shapes & sizes; different textures or colours. Avoid boring sameness
* Add blanket for comfort & coziness

Rug: neutral, doesn’t shed, herringbone, adequate size that fits at least 2 legs of seating outline

Lighting: pin lights on false ceiling w/ flush lights. Layered light options
* Warm soft lights eg soft yellow/warm white

Colour palette: neutral, white => use texture on furniture to accent

Design rules
* Scale & proportion: Golden Ratio/Fibonacci
* Balance symmetry & asymmetry
* Style direction => every piece of furniture fits overall theme; nothing awkward & out of place. Alignment w/ mood, lighting & overall look & feel.
* Touches: greenery/plants, gold/brass accents, wood, marble
* Uncluttered & edited: everything in its place, storage space for items which need not be displayed. Minimalist Marie Kondo - does it spark joy approach. Keep unsightly things hidden
* Other accessories: art (at eye level; not too high), rugs, coffee table books

Bedroom
Bed: Heavenly bed
pillows: 4-6x for layered comfortable look
Bed sheets: Tencel, River Home
* can’t go wrong w/ high end hotel look

Styles Do’s & Don’ts
✔️ Parisian modern: plaster moldings
✔️ Classic: glamour & elegance, serenity, calmness & peace, friendly comfort where every item has a specific place
✔️ California Casual: effortless casual
✔️ costal/beach: evoke life on a beach, breezy, beach, open & light. White w/ shades of blue, driftwood, jute rug

? Luxe & glam: sumptuous material eg velvet

❌ Bohemian
❌ maximalist
❌ country/farm house

[Kelley Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first found out about this book through a tik tok home decor influencer. My curiosity was peaked after recently relocating and renovating a new space. The scale and design was very different than where I lived prior. A complete gutting was done and the task of picking out new design aspects began. Once the bones of the home were set in place I knew styling it might be challenging. This book definitely walked you through every element of creating the home you desire and is uniquely yours. The content is broken done easily going from room to room. It allows you to visualize your space by using photos that beautifully capture certain design elements. I learned some great tips on how to use color, what it means using the term “scale” and also making your home your personal space. There is no right or wrong if you love it. However there are great ideas that can help you in the journey of creating a serene environment that is your home.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's funny, the interior design in the book (well most of it) wasn't really my thing but great general advice.

Splurge: Sofa (sectional), Lighting (Sputnik Chandelier), Bed & Linens, Drapes (Pottery Barn / The Shade Store).
Save: Rug (particularly if you have pets!) and make it anchor the space, Nightstands & Dresser, Dining Room Table & Chairs,

The rule of two-thirds for proportion, sofa scaling (2/3 of wall), chandelier two-thirds width of table (3 ft above),

Styles: Classic (meh), Modern Farmhouse (horrible--your ancestors did everything to get off a farm--don't go back!), California Casual (why not), Parisian Modern (blech), Coastal (yeah), Luxe & Glam (sad), Mid-Century Modern (sure, but another Eames chair--must we??), and Bohemian (aka, how every home for sale in east LA is staged).

More pillows on sofa. Rule of three on coffee table.

[Lisa Houlihan]

“Use storage wisely. Also here is a nonfunctioning fireplace with, not plants or a candelabra, a stack of logs, worse than useless because spiders, that we have arranged PERPENDICULAR to the hearth.”

None of these books makes a lick of sense, but even if it were my first I should have known from the cover photograph: the leather furniture is nearly orange and the prints have an orange background.

[Haylee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The farther I got into the book, the more I liked it. Format and photos (ie. fonts, text to photo ratio, quality of pictures, breakdown of content), and the physical characteristics (ie. size, weight, cover and page textures and thickness) are important to me in interior design/styling books and this one did not disappoint.

[Rachel Miller Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautiful book with some repetition in the photos, but also some pleasant surprises. Some practical, simple advice that is universal despite your style - about rug size, proportion, curtain length. A quick explanation of different styles that are popular in design without enough contrast in the pictures to show the different styles.

[Amandanoel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apparently my home will never be stylish and that’s ok with me. That’s harsh- it was just not a good time to read this and very few of the inspirational images were my taste at all. Could be a great book if you are a no kid lots of disposable income situation

[Megan Healy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this. There was plenty of information without being like a textbook, and plenty of pictures to serve as examples without being like a magazine. I particularly liked the section that helps you identify your personal style ( it turns out I’m “modern casual”) and amp up said style.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some helpful tips.

[Mary Lynn]

For fans of the website and its brand of design- modern, Pinterest ready style. Nothing new here, for those who are decorating their first homes that actually have a decent budget. Lovely photos.

[Youssouf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book about home design...I consider myself the most un-sophisticated when it comes to making a place beautiful, but with this book I realized that there is hope. I enjoyed it a lot!

[Terressa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pictures were beautiful, but I didn't learn anything from this book.

[Kristin P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very accessible tips!

[Kristen Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

not groundbreaking, but helpful and practical as I am new to the craft of design and must start somewhere. I appreciated the illustrations & photos and took away some helpful ideas. 3.5 stars!

[Alex Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

lowkey hated every example picture in here 😭