In the era of Pinterest and Instagram, it’s easy to find interior inspiration with a flick of the index finger—sometimes, well, too easy. The endless scroll is just that, serving up an onslaught of random photos that often lack originality. What to do instead of agonizing over the algorithm? Consider a curated design coffee table book instead that showcases the best decor, and design minds, of our generation.
Mark D. Sikes—who Jill Biden asked to decorate her White House office—is the authoritative voice on classic Americana style expressed in his book, More Beautiful. Meanwhile, the London-based designer Rose Uniacke’s monograph is fast becoming a cult classic (get it while a few copies remain on the shelves). For a touch more variety, look no further than Inside: At Home with Great Designers, which showcases the homes of everyone from Faye Toogood to Miles Redd. Speaking of Redd: his Assouline book, The Big Book of Chic, remains an indispensible bible of good taste.
Below, 10 essential interior design coffee-table books that every decor enthusiast should own.
Inside: At Home with Great Designers
It’s the job of interior designers to interpret the fantasies of their clients through their own creative lens. But, when completely left to their own devices—more specifically, within their own homes—how do they decorate? Inside: At Home with Great Designers chronicles the personal spaces belonging to the world’s greatest decorating minds, including Faye Toogood, Miles Redd, and Vincent van Duysen, providing a fascinating insight into their unencumbered creative ethos.
Ken Fulk: The Movie in My Mind
There’s no one who infuses an interior with more distinctive personality then Ken Fulk, the AD100 designer known as the decorator of choice for Silicon Valley’s elite. (Just look at his Lake Tahoe home for Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom and his wife, Nicole.) His coffee table book, with photography by Douglas Friedman, revisits over 30 years of Fulk’s vivid, extravagant, and even bacchanalian worlds, from a Napa Valley farmhouse to a Manhattan clubhouse.
Woman Made: Great Women Designers
Woman Made: Great Women Designers shines a spotlight on the pioneering—and oft-overlooked—female makers of the 20th and early 21st centuries, from the Bauhaus movement, to Memphis design, to post-modernism. The book juxtaposes a short biography of the maker next to one of their work, making it both a visual ode and an educational tool.
Rose Uniacke At Home
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Rose Uniacke is known for her light yet luxurious interiors that effortlessly combine modern touches and antique ones—the Jo Malone headquarters in London, for example, pairs neutral warm creams with a statement black chandelier. In a monograph published by Rizzoli, Rose Uniacke At Home explores the defining characteristics of her style through her own 19th-century dwelling.
Japanese Interiors
Japanese Interiors explores 28 different private residences in Japan, from brutalist buildings in Tokyo to concrete seaside escapes in Kantō. In the process, it gives a rich visual history of the minimalist decor tradition of the country, which has inspired countless designs not only within the country’s borders but the entire world.
Carrier and Company: Positively Chic Interiors
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With a foreword from Vogue’s very own Anna Wintour, interior design duo Jesse Carrier and Mara Miller of Carrier and Company present a portfolio of elegant and textured rooms, curated with the client’s personalities in mind. Spanning varied locations, from a vacation home in Florida to a cozy country retreat or a Manhattan loft, Carrier and Company brings their unique brand of eclecticism to a wide range of stunning projects.
More Beautiful: All-American Decoration
Heralded as the king of traditionally classic home design with a twist—chinoiserie and sisal rugs abound—Mark D. Sikes’s More Beautiful, and its earlier iteration, Beautiful really are just that. Organized by color scheme from the man who heralds the hashtag #blueandwhiteforever, Sikes even handwrites some of his personal tips in the margins of this gorgeous tome, making it feel like you’ve stumbled upon a personal diary or field guide. An instant classic.
Decorating the Way I See It
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Very few know how to work tiger-print Scalamandré fabric or a robin’s-egg blue wall into the mix without causing a space to feel overpowered. Markham Roberts is that man. Roberts made a name for himself at Mark Hampton’s legendary firm before striking out on his own in 1997, rising to the top of that era’s class of designers. A step-by-step to approaching design, this book is a must-have for any aspiring aesthete, designer or not.
Vogue Living: Houses, Gardens, People
Filled with 36 uniquely gorgeous homes and gardens, many of which belong to the fashion and art world’s glitterati (including the late, great Oscar de la Renta’s perennially awe-inspiring home in the Dominican Republic), Vogue Living is a behind-the-scenes peek at the world’s most unique living quarters. Magnetic writing from the likes of Hamish Bowles and Marina Rust and iconic photography from Bruce Weber, Annie Leibovitz, Mario Testino, and Horst P. Horst combine into a legacy of inimitable Vogue storytelling.
The Big Book of Chic
Miles Redd is credited with many a fashion editor’s home, past and present. A mix of Diana Vreeland’s love for color and irreverence, with a lot of tailored sophistication, a Redd interior has its own distinct signature. Beginning his interior design career with names like decorator Bunny Williams, Redd opened his own design firm in New York City in 1998—and people took notice. For a decade, Redd had been the creative director of Oscar de la Renta Home. If you’re looking for elegant whimsy, look here.
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