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Interiors• October 1, 2018

My New Book Cover Reveal!

After three long years of working on my second book, I am beyond excited to finally reveal the cover of Elements of Family Style: Elegant Spaces for Everyday Life , which will be released April 2nd!  It focuses mainly on how to live with kids without losing your own personal sense of style and love for beautiful things- and is full of spaces by not only myself, but a few other designers as well, just to mix things up a bit!  It has the same vibe as the first book and also some personal essays on motherhood, infertility, pregnancy and such.  I’m very proud of this book and even though the pressure of a follow up is immense, I think this book delivers.

Deciding on the design was REALLY hard given the success and visibility of the first book’s easy-to-spot-anywhere striped spine.  I wanted this  book to have the same visibility and notable design, but be very, very different, as I am not only in a very different place in life but also designing in a different way.  And when I thought about this book as a decorative object, as I like to do with books, I thought about what I like to use as accessories in a home and it hit me– I always love to add a piece of blue and white Chinoiserie-style pottery in just about any design.  And so while I considered animal print, greek key and other patterns for the spine,  this felt right for what this book is about and how my look has evolved.

Paired with my first book, I think there is balance in the strength of the design.  I tried a neutral greek key option, which I initially thought would be the winner, but it felt too soft and too easy to miss.

The home featured on the cover, photographed by Michael J. Lee,  is not mine but rather a a room I designed for a client, and this was also a debate seeing how personal my books tend to be.  But in the end, this whole combination felt right.  This is the wider shot of the room, showing the lantern that had to be photoshopped out for the title to be read clearly and some large art on the wall.  You can better see more details like the custom roman shade and mantle refresh (we changed out the surround).  This room speaks to me as an elegant, classy space that looks great but also functions beautifully for this young family with two small boys. It’s open to their kitchen and really acts as a hub of the home.

It may look “fancy” but what I loved about this image, beyond its crisp, classic good looks, is that it spoke to how most of my clients (and readers) live and decorate.  A mash up of high end/custom items and affordable finds as well as re-used furniture from past homes or inherited pieces.  I notated the image below to explain:

It’s a totally accessible design that is also tough enough to withstand kids but pretty enough to entertain in. In short, exactly what this book is about!  Another fun aspect of this room is the HUGE transformation it made… from this dark, stiff, heavily traditional room into a light, bright open space!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I really hope you love how it looks, and will love what is inside too! You can pre-order the book NOW on Amazon as well as Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Indiebound and ebook format!

Thank you for all your support of my first book and excitement surrounding this next one. :) I hope you love it!

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