Nest by Tamara's Holiday Design Book Review Series: Part 1, Aerin Lauder's, BEAUTY AT HOME
9 days left until Christmas, you still have time to add these to your list!
I am passionate about books,
and it is a treat to receive a great book as a gift.
Please stop by all week for my daily reviews. Books are some of my most cherished items in my home, and while I am able to dispense with stuff from time to time in order to "clean house" and keep it fresh, I hold on tightly to my books. I still have my college text books, ones my mother gave me growing up, my grandmother's treasured readings, my kid's favorite storybooks, and the many I have picked up in my travels over the years. Gosh, I could tell you about my life according the books I was reading, and I honestly vividly remember the day I read a Tree Grows in Brooklyn, or when my mom gave me Our Bodies Ourselves. In college, I was obsessed with Elements of Style and I carried it with me daily, and Julia Child's, The Way To Cook is one of my most favorite cooking resources since receiving it as a gift just after we were married. Over the years as I became passionately interested in design and architecture, these particular type of books have educated me like no other medium. I have longed for years to write a design and entertaining series infused with my philosophy. In every room of my houses I keep books all around me. You may remember last year I even decorated a Christmas tree for the Bartow Pell Historic Museum here in NYC inspired by one of Mile's favorite children's book, The Velveteen Rabbit. I want to thank each author for these lovely gifts, and I feel fortunate to have had these seven delicious books stacked next to my design desk. This past weekend became all about immersing myself in these pages to bring you the stylish skinny. I highly recommend these for someone on your shopping list who loves design and beauty with thoughtfulness and great advice thrown in for good measure. Stop back daily to see my reviews, and why I love these particular ones as holiday gifts for your favorite design-o-phile friends and family. I will tell you that each of these books at first glance seem quite different from one another, but at closer inspection they all weave a common thread, which is to bring personality, love and passion into a home to create a well-lived in "nest".
My Velveteen Rabbit children's book tree
at the Bartow Pell Museum last Christmas
My Velveteen Rabbit children's book tree
at the Bartow Pell Museum last Christmas
1. Beauty at Home, Aerin Lauder
2. Fifth Avenue Style, Howard Slatkin
3. The Inspired Home, Karen Lehrman Boch
4. Decorating With Color, Farrow & Ball
5. Designers Home: personal reflections on stylish living,
Ronda Carman
6. Kabbalah: In Art & Architecture, Alexander Gorlin
7. The Secret Language of Color,
Joann Eckstut and Arielle Eckstut
8. Alidad: The Timeless Home by Sarah Stewart-Smith
Today on the series, the multi-talented
Aerin Lauder
publishes her first book,
Beauty at Home
about living a wonderfully, stylish life as she looks back at her
famous grandmother who created a family legacy. Estee Lauder is the iconic self-made cosmetic powerhouse many of us grew up admiring. Today, Aerin is the founder and creative visionary behind Aerin, a luxury lifestyle brand that creates cosmetics, fashion accessories and home decor. She followed in her grandmother's footsteps beginning her career at Estee Lauder in 1992 and eventually became the Creative Director. Today she still holds the title of Style and Image Director while juggling her own business and family life. Aerin's touching words about her family's hard work, passions, attention to detail and loyalty to family have obviously influenced her, and she keeps those traditions close to her heart.
2. Fifth Avenue Style, Howard Slatkin
3. The Inspired Home, Karen Lehrman Boch
4. Decorating With Color, Farrow & Ball
5. Designers Home: personal reflections on stylish living,
Ronda Carman
6. Kabbalah: In Art & Architecture, Alexander Gorlin
7. The Secret Language of Color,
Joann Eckstut and Arielle Eckstut
8. Alidad: The Timeless Home by Sarah Stewart-Smith
Today on the series, the multi-talented
Aerin Lauder
publishes her first book,
Beauty at Home
about living a wonderfully, stylish life as she looks back at her
famous grandmother who created a family legacy. Estee Lauder is the iconic self-made cosmetic powerhouse many of us grew up admiring. Today, Aerin is the founder and creative visionary behind Aerin, a luxury lifestyle brand that creates cosmetics, fashion accessories and home decor. She followed in her grandmother's footsteps beginning her career at Estee Lauder in 1992 and eventually became the Creative Director. Today she still holds the title of Style and Image Director while juggling her own business and family life. Aerin's touching words about her family's hard work, passions, attention to detail and loyalty to family have obviously influenced her, and she keeps those traditions close to her heart.
Beauty At Home by Aerin Lauder
aerin.commBEAUTY AT HOME Copyright (c) 2013 by AERIN LAUDER. Published by Potter Style
Aerin also wields useful advice for creating a stylish home. She suggests a well made chandelier is a worthy investment even over a ball gown. An eye catching chandelier will bring you years of joy. She talks about stocking a guest bedroom, her love of blue and white, setting a creative dinner table, keeping your desk filled with quality stationery and needed items, living in the moment, framing her children's art, living stylishly yet comfortably in your home, making a working office pretty, and how to pull all of this off with grace.
Aerin entertains outdoors in the Hamptons with elegance, yet a sense of ease. |
"Estèe's bedroom is basically just as she left it.
I could never take it apart."
Aerin Lauder
Aerin traces her love of blue and white to her grandmother's fascination with the color combination. She keeps Estee's room intact in East Hampton, and her dressing table is one of the prettiest I have seen! Her bond with her grandmother, her mother and her family is obvious in the book, and she cherishes the smallest memories with all of them.
a touching photo of Estee and Aerin enjoying tea
at the Palm Court at the Plaza Hotel
You can pick up a copy of this inspiring chunky book
that would look wonderful on any coffee table
at Amazon.
and, for more book musings,
check out favorite reads on my Book Shelf
Please stop by tomorrow
for a review of Howard Slatkin's new book,
Fifth Avenue Style.
I could never take it apart."
Aerin Lauder
Aerin traces her love of blue and white to her grandmother's fascination with the color combination. She keeps Estee's room intact in East Hampton, and her dressing table is one of the prettiest I have seen! Her bond with her grandmother, her mother and her family is obvious in the book, and she cherishes the smallest memories with all of them.
a touching photo of Estee and Aerin enjoying tea
at the Palm Court at the Plaza Hotel
You can pick up a copy of this inspiring chunky book
that would look wonderful on any coffee table
at Amazon.
and, for more book musings,
check out favorite reads on my Book Shelf
Please stop by tomorrow
for a review of Howard Slatkin's new book,
Fifth Avenue Style.
Happy Holidays
Happy Nesting
XO Tamara