Read the room: These three books will transform your home

Three new books offer invaluable interiors ideas that make the most of any living space without breaking the bank

Sun, 25 Sep, 2022 - 10:00

Carol O’Callaghan

Let's get down to business for the season of hunkering, hibernating and cocooning ourselves during dark, blustery days ahead, when wrapping a cosy, comfortable home around us is paramount.

For inspiration on how to achieve it there are three new books coming out in October and November which, unlike many other interiors books, take approaches all about longevity and evolving timeless style. A sort of slow interiors, if you will.

The first of these is The Sensory Home by Pippa Jameson which takes a new approach to dealing with organising, decorating and styling at a time when we’re over-stimulated by technology and electronic connectivity.

As the mother of a child with autism and sensory needs, the author focuses on creating a mindful environment that benefits everyone, not just neurodiverse family members.

The Sensory Home is a guide for making environments to stimulate or calm our senses with particular attention to meeting the needs of neurodiverse people. Picture: Ryland Peters & Small

“While we don’t all have the luxury of using interior designers and buying expensive homeware, we can tune into ourselves and learn how to decorate with items that trigger positive sensory responses," she says. "In my family, coloured lighting, calming scents and music are a massive part of our home life and are fundamental in creating a peaceful and happy environment.”

Chapters covering each room of the house include sensory checklists to help you identify the causes of unconscious stress, whether it’s a cluttered kitchen, a dimly lit home office or an unsupportive sofa.

She also tackles layout, colour, texture, scent and lighting to create a calming or stimulating environment depending on the particular needs of family members whether that’s neurodiversity, anxiety issue or creating calm after a day in a stressful job.

Lizzie McGraw’s Creative Style, Liveable, Loveable Spaces, is a read for the interiors enthusiast who wants to evolve their home interiors over time, creating a space with character and timeless quality, and not a rushed showroom-style, enslaved to trends of the moment. At the basis of it is the acquisition of pre-loved pieces.

Beginning her career with an interiors boutique in California, she stocked it with flea-market finds and counts Julia Roberts as one of her first customers. Now interior designing as an off-shoot, 25 years on she’s giving us a snoop around 12 of her projects including her own 1920s cottage furnished with upcycled vintage pieces.

Her line, “Good design involves showcasing what you love and eliminating what doesn’t serve you,” is a pretty good guiding principle so you’ll continue to love today what you’ve always loved having around you.

Create by Emily Henson, published by Ryland Peters & Small (€28.82).

But what’s surprising about her style is that it’s bright, light and airy — probably an influence from life in sunny California, which is unexpected for those of us looking at vintage on this side of the Atlantic, and what we tend to call "brown furniture.

The Sensory Home by Pippa Jameson, published by Ryland Peters & Small (€25.36).

Create by Emily Henson is the result of her work as a stylist and set designer, showing us how to create homes with dash and personality but with an approach for our times that doesn’t rely on disposable products we’ll be leaving the next generation to deal with.

It’s the antithesis of how we’ve been conditioned to live in recent decades with instant gratification trumping long-term value when it comes to her home purchases, and one we’re slow to move beyond.

To tackle a sense of personal style with longevity in mind, she suggests stopping and thinking twice before getting sucked into the ‘bin and buy’ cycle, explaining how to combine high-street items with customised, repurposed or vintage pieces in what is a case of creativity before consumption.

It’s something the Scandinavians do as normal and they have such timeless and stylish home as a result.

Creative Style by Lizzie McGraw, published by CICO Books (€40.35). Picture: Mark Lohman

“Consuming less and shopping more consciously may be a slower way of decorating,” Emily says, “but it is thrilling when you succeed in achieving the look you love while often spending less in the process. I appreciate that it isn’t always possible to shop in this way, but even small changes add up.”

Far from being evangelical about it, she doesn’t criticise flat-pack superstore furniture, but advises us to "aim to hold onto it long term rather than treating it as a short-term throwaway solution. And always take the time to sell or give away unwanted items instead of throwing them away. We can all be part of the solution at the same time as creating homes that bear our signature style, so happy creating”.