Interior design: Three must-read books to inspire a home revamp 

From practical chic to sustainable style and colour codes, these are the latest page-turners 

Colour palettes in a living room and a bedroom from Colour Homes for the Soul. Pictures: Dan Duchars

Style and practicality

When clean lines and minimal accessories are your thing, Hilary Robertson’s book Inside Stories might not seem like the one for you, but give it a chance if you’re into styling, as she blends style with practicality.

Her approach steers away from objét d’art and the latest accessories to use personal treasures and home wares, although having day-to-day tableware on display might suggest clutter to those she calls “neatniks”, something she says she will never be. “I wish I could be, but my love of collecting precludes me joining that particular decorating tribe," says Hilary. 

A portfolio of pressed flowers has been framed to cover a bedroom wall to suit the rustic decor of this bedroom from Inside Stories. Picture: Anna Williams

"As a stylist, I have developed a certain ruthlessness when it comes to editing my own possessions, but I’m always impressed by the way that a bona fide minimalist is able to sort the wheat from the chaff, especially when they can simultaneously make their spaces feel warm and personal, welcoming, even.”

There’s a charm in how she describes styling that you feel you can’t go wrong. "For me, making a home really was about the layers of things that are acquired over time,” she says. “Things that have stories and remind you of places and people and a feeling of discovery.”

As you’d expect, there’s plenty of photography to inspire, although it’s dark, almost sepia in the main, it’s probably the author’s style, though not necessarily everyone else’s.

• Inside Stories by Hilary Robertson, published by Ryland Peters & Small, €40.96

Eco chic

According to Naturally Sustainable Style by Selina Lake, even though technology has given us so much, we also want the simpler lives of prior generations.

While no one wants to return to scrubbing laundry with carbolic soap and a washing board — even trad wives draw the line here — we certainly long for a greener lifestyle.

Bringing nature indoors and mixing it with vases, art and a lamp creates a textured, eye-catching styled scene, from Natural Living Style. Picture: Rachel Whiting

To achieve it, the author talks up recyclable materials like glass and metal, and natural fibres like cotton, linen and rattan. “When looking for textiles, try to choose those that have the smallest environmental footprint, such as wool, which is renewable, biodegradable, recyclable and can be organically produced,” she says. 

“Cotton and linen share some of these attributes, but traditional methods of cotton production use a huge amount of water, pesticides and chemicals.”

We know being greener takes work. Supermarkets don’t help: Think two courgettes on a plastic tray in a plastic bag and cucumber swathed in skin-tight shrink-wrap.

This kitchen is a work in progress as the owner focuses on making it as green as possible, from Natural Living Style. Picture: Rachel Whiting

It’s enough to make us give up before we start. But the author recommends baby steps, focusing on producing less waste by buying less and making full use of what we already have; developing the habit of borrowing and lending among family, friends and neighbours, and repairing things. It’s easier than we think, with repair cafes popping up in local communities.

• Naturally Sustainable Style by Selina Lake, published by Ryland Peters & Small, €29.26

Colour code

Finally, a book on colour that tells you how to choose between matt, gloss and eggshell, and where they are best used and affected by the fall of natural light.

“Favourite shades are always a go-to when conjuring up a scheme, but there is also a more scientific way to determine which hues will harmonise well together based on colour theory,” say the authors of Colourful Homes for the Soul, Sarah Bird and Dan Duchars.

The science, however, is explained in a relatable way, with plenty of tips and tricks home interiors enthusiasts live for.

A harmonius colour palette in a living room from Colour Homes for the Soul. Picture: Dan Duchars

We’re also lured into 12 homes, not location house hires with a stylist employed to achieve a look, but lived-in spaces.

They offer bright, zingy spaces and colour-drenched caves, and even colour that comes from furniture and material texture interacting between light and shade to appeal to the colour-shy.

A contrasting colour palette gives a strong identity to this bedroom scheme from Colourful Homes for the Soul. Picture: Dan Duchars

These homes are highly individual, taking sustainable decorating choices and affordability seriously while reflecting the people living in them to such an extent that it would have added a lovely layer to their stories to have them quoted about their creative vision rather than the authors describing it.

• Colourful Homes for the Soul by Sara Bird and Dan Duchars of The CONTENTed Nest, published by Ryland Peters & Small, €29.26