The Homebody // Books for Every Lady on Your List // Holiday Gift Guide // 2014

The Homebody

When you walk into her home, you feel like you've walked into a magazine, or Pinterest. Every time you visit, her furniture is in a completely different configuration. She's the one who is always changing her wall art with the seasons, dreaming of paint colors, and DIYing thrifted furniture. She probably has an affinity for throw pillows, rugs, and lampshades. HGTV is her jam. Her Instagram is made up of snapshots of wreaths on front doors, paint color swatches, holiday decorations, and bookcase designs. - this is definitely my momma!

1) Create the Style You Crave on a Budget You Can Afford: The Sweet Spot Guide to Home Decor

This is the ultimate inspiration guide for a bohemian home decorator. It is filled with quirky interiors, vintage pieces, DIYs, and great planning resources. The focus of the book is on creating 'sweet spots' in your home, so it is also for your friend who wants to have a meaning behind the things in her life. This is a really fun creative home decor resource! Also a good choice for the DIYer or maybe the bohemian Green Queen.

2) Design*Sponge at Home

This book is an all-inclusive guide to decorating your home. By the blog of the same name, the book includes before & afters, basic decorating skill tutorials, home tours, 50 DIYs, inspiration, and ideas for your home. Because this book is such a great compilation of styles, it is a great gift idea for anyone who enjoys home decor.

3) Young House Love: 243 Ways to Paint, Craft, Update & Show Your Home Some Love

Another from the blog of the same name. Young House Love is a treasure trove of home DIYs from now season experts Sherry & John Petersik. Cleverly organized and including cost and work levels as well as time commitment make this book a new home owner's BFF. Though it is just as useful for the apartment dweller! Also a great choice for the DIYer!

4) A Beautiful Mess Happy Handmade Home: Painting, Crafting, and Decorating a Cheerful, More Inspiring Space

A Beautiful Mess's second book is specifically based around decorating and DIY projects for your home. From styling tips and tricks to DIY projects to complete the look, this book is full of inspiring ideas! I own this one... and ABM does not disappoint! While this book would be great for anyone, many of the ideas are achievable in an apartment. :) Also a great choice for the DIYer!

5) Furniture Makeovers: Simple Techniques for Transforming Furniture with Paint, Stains, Paper, Stencils, and More

Dumpster divers & thrifted furniture enthusiasts alike will love this book. Detailed how-to's on various methods of furniture painting, restoring, and decorating. Also including a visual glossary, this book is perfect for beginners and seasoned furniture DIYers alike! Another great choice for the DIYer!

6) The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well

A number one bestseller from the editor at Domino magazine. This book is similar to the Design*Sponge one above, a great resource on everything you need to know about in your home. From choosing quality furniture, to shopping at thriftstores for your home, a whole chapter on lighting and a section on 'Tissues, remotes and other useful things.' I also love the artistic layout of the book, and the pretty water color illustrations. This one is on my wishlist! This book would be great for anyone, but especially the Girly Girl.

7) Domino: The Book of Decorating: A Room-by-Room Guide to Creating a Home That Makes You Happy

This book, also by Deborah Needleman, the editor at Domino, this is a much  more interior design-y approach to decorating your home. It has a similar feel to the Perfectly Imperfect Home, but is laid out in swatches, floor plans, and budget lists. The focus is also on different configurations within the same room. So I suppose you could decide which type of layout and art appeals most to you. Regardless, either book would be a fantastic design resource for someone interested in home decor!

8) The Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful

This book based on the blog The Nester, is about embracing a functional, and imperfect home spaces. This book is geared toward design for 'real people' - people who want to have a beautiful home, but not one that looks overly designed or that lacks utility. After living in 13 different homes Myquillyn Smith has learned a thing or two about purposes of rooms and how to be creative on a budget. Her interiors are beautiful, but lived in, and functional for a mom of three. This might be good for the person who is trying to keep organized, or incorporate storage in her space.

9) Home Style by City: Ideas and Inspiration from Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles, and Copenhagen

Being more of a Wanderluster than a Homebody... I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH! - just a bit excited. This book is basically a physical Pinterest of design in these cities. There are beautiful pages of design inspiration, tips, and projects by location, as well as a list of books, movies, music that will inspire you by city. There is even a section about flea markets in each place! This is much less of a how-to, as it is a book of majorly swoony travel and home photos, but it is very well done. There were pieces from each city that appealed to me, and just as many books I now want to read, movies I now want to watch etc. Beautiful, Beautiful book! Also on the Wanderluster's list!

10) Bright Bazaar: Embracing Color for Make-You-Smile Style

This book is going to be your color-loving-friend;s new favorite inspiration. It goes through steps of how to choose colors, where to use them, and how to be confident in using color. There is then a lovely section of inspirational designs followed by colorful pallettes put together for inspiration and your home use. The author, blogger Will Taylor, again from a blog of the same name, has a brilliant eye and is followed by over 2 million people on Pinterest! -He knows his stuff!

I hope that this list has given you some book ideas for the redecorator in your life!

Interested in more?  Check out this post to view my book recommendations for other 'types'.

Happy Gifting!

Alexandra