BOOKS HOLD THE ANSWERS

If someone approaches me looking for advice or guidance regarding interior styling, or a major interior redesign, the first thing I do is point them to my overflowing bookshelves of interior books.

But there are three books that I love so much, I won’t lend them. The first I purchased years ago – Family Houses By

the Sea. By Jeremy Darblay and Alexandra D’Arnoux, what I love about this book is it covers a lot of territory. Not just geographically, but style. A Canadian lakeside home? A French Riveria house surrounded by ancient wisteria, or a sleek, modern Malibu beach home, they’re all covered – in one glorious book.

But when it comes to originality, one of my new favourites is The Alchemy of Things – Interiors Shaped by Original

Minds by Karen McCartney. It’s a stunning compilation of quirky vignettes of stylish living spaces and is a book worthy of any chic coffee table.

But my all-time, must-have interiors book is penned by friend and decorator to the stars – Miv Watts.

Her book, The Maverick Soul ,is further blessed by the sublime photography by the talented Hugh Stewart. The Maverick Soul is a tome worthy of savouring and supplies an endless source of both awe and inspiration.

Providing a peek into such wondrous homes such as Wendy Whitely’s iconic Lavender Bay home, Martin Sharpe and Barry and Grace Otto’s beautiful, private spaces, and of course, Miv Watts’s sublime house in the South of France, for me, The Maverick Soul is the bohemian’s bible for glorious interiors.