Home & Garden

I was captivated by this beautiful and seminal work in which poet and scholar Camille Dungy speaks of her experience as a Black woman in the American West cultivating her Colorado prairie garden, and about the perils of a homogenized society. Dungy writes gracefully about the natural world—from flowers to bunnies to birds—while weaving in motherhood, intersectionality, history, and more. This is nature writing at its most welcoming, challenging, and powerful. I won’t soon forget this book.  —S.B.

Prefabulous for Everyone is a Pinterest daydream come true. It perfectly marries the tiny home movement with modern sustainability. Whether you’re a millennial yearning to own a home or a curious retiree looking to add an ADU, this book is for you. Author Sheri Koones seamlessly blends education with architecture, and the book’s photos are beautiful, captions informative, and typography exquisite. It is perfect for anyone who is interested in the small home initiative. 

—Lindsay

If you, like me, are tired of buying bunches of fresh herbs from the market only to have most of them go to waste in your fridge, look to The Herb Gardening Handbook. It is a delight for those looking to start an herb garden, with excellent information on growing each plant plus step-by-step instructions for cute and easy projects. Concerned about space? Andrew Perry has great ideas for spaces without a yard. It’s thyme to up your herb game! 

—Jax

Whether you’re late to the houseplant party or are a full-fledged plant-ophile, Hilton Carter can take your indoor greenery to the next level. In Living Wild, Carter combines his love of interior design with his passion for plants (he has 250 of them!), and shows how to style your home with greenery as the star. As it is in his appearances on the Magnolia network, Carter’s expertise is evident and his enthusiasm is bountiful. If you yearn to make your home lush and vibrant, don’t miss this book!  —S.B.

I was not prepared for this book and what a sacred experience it would be. I was not expecting to think about it and talk about it and want to keep it within reach. Within the pages of Sacred Spaces, author and photographer Carley Summers introduces us to 16 remarkable people from around the globe and, in an interview style, facilitates a beautiful conversation about beauty, trials, and victories and how they can be core to what a true home can offer.  —J.L.

Identifying and foraging for plants can feel overwhelming, especially when one is first starting out. How do you know where to look? How much of the plant should you collect? The Flowerpot Forager can help alleviate some of those problems by encouraging you to grow wild edible plants in your backyard! The pages come alive with vivid photos and recipes as well as easy-to-follow growing guides. The perfect gift for the budding forager. 

—Kristina

Mark Ellison works in luxury construction and has been called the best carpenter in New York, but he started off very humbly, working paycheck-to-paycheck and learning skills—and life lessons—along the way. Over the past 40 years, he has worked on iconic spaces and executed projects whose calculations were mathematically impossible. Building, his peek behind the industry curtain, is packed with stories of high–stakes projects and a demanding clientele, leading many to call it the Kitchen Confidential of architecture; but what I found most exciting was the insight into an artist and problem solver who is drawn to projects for their potential for magic.  —S.B.

This beautiful book is a celebration of the many ways that gardens provide people with a connection to the natural world, no matter whether their hands ever work the soil. Whether as a gathering space, a place to observe plants and wildlife, or a spot to sit and reflect, each garden has the potential to deepen our relationship with nature. A Garden’s Purpose showcases gardens from around the world and highlights the many elements that contribute to their design and our enjoyment.  —S.B.

Home gardeners will find so much to love in this beautiful new book, which profiles 20 gardens (and the people who designed them) across America. From those on vast amounts of land to those in small spaces, each modern home garden in the book is thoughtfully designed and tended to, whether filled with flowers, vegetables, potted plants, or any number of combinations. I found so many ideas and much inspiration (especially from the profile of Keith Robinson’s garden), but also just truly enjoyed reading about people who love gardening as much as I do. 
—S.B.

Power couple Chris Mitchell and Pilar Guzman make home design look effortless and inviting by mixing modern design with timeworn materials, while keeping practicality a nonnegotiable. Not only are the ideas contained in Patina Modern beautiful and inspiring; the book itself is a design lover’s dream, with incredible photography and clean white space that draws your eye to read on. A directory in the back lists the pair’s favorite designers and their iconic pieces, spanning decades and continents. Truly a cover-to-cover experience in modern design. 
—JENNY