Favorite Decorating Books of 2021 | Sarah Elizabeth

Favorite Design Books of 2021

with Sarah Elizabeth of Sarah Elizabeth Design

Intro:                            Welcome to the one and only interior design book podcast, Decorating by the Book, hosted by Suzy Chase from her dining room table in New York City. Join Suzy for conversations about the latest and greatest interior design books with the authors who wrote them.

Sarah Elizabeth:            Hi, my name is Sarah Elizabeth of Sarah Elizabeth Design located in Montclair, New Jersey, and I own a high end residential interior design company.

Suzy Chase:                   Before diving into this book, I'd like to thank my new sponsor, Bloomist. Bloomist creates and curates simple, sustainable products that inspire you to design a calm, natural refuge at home. Visit bloomist.com and use the code decorating 20 to get 20% off your first purchase or click the link in the show notes. Now on with the show.

Suzy Chase:                   So today, Sarah Elizabeth and I are going to chat about some of the best interior design books of 2021 that are featured on her blog. So you say we can never have too many coffee table books on shelves and as accents throughout our home. I totally agree. So let's kick things off with your first book on the best of 2021 list and that's Design Remixed by Corey Damen Jenkins. I've heard him talk a lot about how he likes doing projects that challenge the stereotypical thinking pattern of women like florals and men like stripes, and how fashion influences. He's so super inspiring.

Sarah Elizabeth:            Firstly, I couldn't get past his intro. It was so inspiring, his story of how he became a designer and how the odds were against him. His family didn't see being an interior designer in his future to say the least. He went on and he went to school and kind of followed in his family's footsteps of banking and managerial positions. And then in 2008 he lost his job and he had to start all over like many people did. And I was just ... The only word I can think of is profoundly inspired by his story of starting at the bottom and literally knocking on people's doors. I absolutely love his story and he's just a brilliant mind as well. We were talking about this before, but how he mixes sometimes desperate patterns and colors that you really would not expect. He also is a master of using antiques in more modern ways. It's just so brilliantly done and where most people put artwork or mirrors above a sofa, he chose to put beautiful floating shelves with a vase collection. And I just think his brilliance just goes on and on.

Sarah Elizabeth:            So I was so excited when I heard that he came out with a book. I wrote in the blog that it long awaited and it's just a really exciting book, every page. So that's why I wanted him to be number one.

Suzy Chase:                   Casa Cabana by Martina Mondadori. This is a dreamy book that you could absolutely get lost in. It's mostly visual photos with a few recipes scattered throughout the book. And if you love entertaining, this book is for you.

Sarah Elizabeth:            When their first book came out, I just couldn't think of anything else, but running to get it. It has a beautiful fabric cover likewise, with their second book. And again, like you said, it's all visuals. It's just vivid, bright colored interiors and table scapes and photos of travel and very old interiors, so very patinaed with paint coming off you see in some photos, layers and layers of paint chipped away, and it's all embraced in this book and it shows you that old is just as beautiful as new and that we should really embrace it.

Suzy Chase:                   Island Whimsy by Celerie Kemble. This book opens up with, "A house by the sea should be a house of dreams, where windows and doors are thrown open to the ocean and gusts of cool salty air turn us all into kids again. Buoyant and joyful." I am dying for a house by the sea. Just ask my husband. I bring it up probably every other day. So I just adore this book.

Sarah Elizabeth:            When I opened it, I was like, wait a second. Celerie found this piece of land when they were sailing, and she saw a vision for it and has been working on it ever since. And has created this oasis for her family and friends that's right out of a dream. I chose this book because it's so whimsical. Her designs are just wonderfully put together. Nothing looks new per se. It looks like antiques. Everything has patina and heavy on the wicker, but it works. And wicker is perfect for a home by the sea because sand can wick right off it and it can handle the salt water and salty air. And it's just perfect.

Suzy Chase:                   Now moving on to Bunny Mellon Style by Linda Jane Holden, Thomas Lloyd and Bryan Huffman. Bunny Mellon is one of those women in design history I idolize. The way she lived her life, she marched to the beat of her own drum and created the most, most be full gardens and interiors. This book is a treasure.

Sarah Elizabeth:            I completely agree with you. She was such a huge style icon, also art collector and trailblazer in the field of interior design. She really paved the way for the rest of us. And I've been waiting for a book like this. To be honest, I think it's important to note that she is considered an accidental interior designer, which I just love. I also love that she didn't want to be in the spotlight. She just wanted to be creative and create these spaces for herself, literally decorating every room and every wall and surface for that matter. And that it made her very happy. The book highlights her life, including the rich homes she designed including her own. And that one of her close friends was Jackie Onassis Kennedy. And reading through the book, I just loved the story of Bunny Mellon helping Jackie on many occasions, but just to read about the two women's interactions and their grown friendship and how it developed was just so special to read about.

Suzy Chase:                   Now we get to A Year at Clove Brook Farm by Christopher Spitzmiller. I live in Downtown New York City, but my dream life, which is really not in the city, looks something like Christopher's. Tending to my chickens, making cider, talking to Indian Fantails and white doves planting bulbs and garden parties next to an oval pool.

Sarah Elizabeth:            I would say that would be mine too. His home is out of a fairy tale. I honestly can't even believe that it's real. When I see his gardens and the outdoor dinner parties he has, I am like, where did all of this come from? How did he create all of this beauty that he calls his home? I just love living vicariously through him and seeing another part of his home or garden that I hadn't seen before. And so this book is long awaited and it shows what a treasure of a home he's created.

Suzy Chase:                   The last book is The Well-Loved House With Color, Comfort and Drama by Ashley Whittaker. I love that Ashley is all about beautiful homes, but homes that are meant to be lived in and well loved hence the name of the book.

Sarah Elizabeth:            Ashley Whittaker's book is really phenomenal. Another one like Corey Damen Jenkins that is color and pattern rich, and she doesn't take herself too seriously. I feel like there's a lightness about her interiors. And from an onlooker standpoint, it's pure eye candy from page to page. It happens to be number one on the Amazon list. Rightfully so. And it really pushes the limits and breaks rules mixing, for example, the deep greens and turquoise with different shades of green, like chartreuse. I found that to be just brilliant. But I give her a lot of credit for being able to do that so boldly and make the room look so inviting. Like Corey Damen Jenkins uses a lot of chevron, she uses a lot of florals, which I find it just make you feel really happy when you look at them.

Suzy Chase:                   What sort of interior design trends did you see last year that you loved and what trends would you like to see not continue in 2022?

Sarah Elizabeth:            These rich greens that are coming back are just phenomenal. And it's no surprise that there are many articles, I think even in Wall Street Journal that talk about why we're craving greens in our interiors. And when I read it, I said, oh, I already knew that. I felt that for a couple years, definitely since the pandemic started because greens really make you feel happy and calm. Blue does the same. But I believe green even more so since generally, if you live outside the city, it's all around you in nature. And then blue is of course the sky. So that can feel very relaxing, but I just love seeing all of the different tones. Again, everything from chartreuse to olive, to the ever popular forest green. I think forest green has been a little overdone, but it's just really nice to see it. It feels really soothing and great on the eye. I love that wallpaper is still going strong. Wallpaper just won't quit.

Sarah Elizabeth:            And lastly, I'll just say that mauves and pinks also are something that are just not going away. They are very flattering on the skin tone. So I feel like women interior designers have really nailed that they know that we look good in pinks and mauves. And so it's really fun to see that. People using it as a neutral almost where instead of a once white wall or cream, well they're doing a pink wall, but it just makes such difference. It adds this energy and brightness and such a flattering quality to a room. As far as trends that I think we'll see less of. I definitely want to see grays going bye bye.

Suzy Chase:                   Me too. It's enough.

Sarah Elizabeth:            We've really got to move on. And I've thought for the past couple years, and I've told clients that grays are a trend and they are going out. And so I usually recommend a light cream instead. Right now I'm completely obsessed with Soft Chamois by Benjamin Moore. That and Swiss Coffee by Benjamin Moore, you really cannot go wrong with. There's something to be said about bright whites, if you're an art collector, a lot of times a bright white is perfect. The other thing that I wonder if it's going to stick are bathrooms and kitchens with full slabs of stone. I think it's a lot of excess and I feel like some of these kitchens or bathrooms, it feels like a whole quarry of stone was used. So from an eco standpoint, it's not for me. And I don't think that it's going to last. Nothing is completely eco-friendly, but I just think that we're going to see less and less of Florida ceiling slabbed bathrooms with the heavy veined designs going through them.

Suzy Chase:                   Where can we find you on the web and social media?

Sarah Elizabeth:            So you can find me on Instagram at Sarah Elizabeth Design. Our website is sarah-elizabethdesign.com. And then Facebook is also Sarah Elizabeth Design.

Suzy Chase:                   This has been a real treat. Thank you so much Sarah Elizabeth for coming on Decorating by the Book Podcast.

Sarah Elizabeth:            Oh, Suzy, it's my absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for inviting me on.

Outro:                          Follow Decorating by the Book on Instagram. And thanks for listening to the one and only interior design book podcast, Decorating by the book.