One of my favorite things about blogging is having the opportunity to preview and share my favorite design and lifestyle books with you! There are sooo many good ones this fall, and I have included summaries and highlights below. With the holidays rapidly approaching, any of these books would make an excellent hostess gift, stocking stuffer, or thoughtful present. And of course, you will want copies for yourself as well! 🙂 Summaries are via Amazon…  Happy reading!

Set on a ranch in the stunningly beautiful Southern California wine country, well-known writer and television personality Frances Schultz’s hospitality is no secret in Santa Barbara County and beyond. The cooking of chef and recipe creator Stephanie Valentine is acclaimed by all who’ve sampled it, including Martha Stewart and Julia Child. Frances invites us into her home, her heart, and a place at her beautiful table, and she shows us how she does it.

Whether you’re planning a simple picnic for two or a celebration dinner for twenty, California Cooking and Southern Style is the perfect cookbook and table-scape guide to have at your fingertips always. Using fresh, seasonal ingredients and tested by everyday home cooks, the recipes are tried, true, do-able, and delicious. The same goes for the beautiful and deceptively simple table settings.

A unique, at-a-glance listing of eighteen menus is followed by chapters featuring each menu with recipes, table settings, and entertaining tales and tips. With a hundred-plus recipes and photographs, California Cooking and Southern Style will make your mouth water, your eyes dance, your guests grateful, and your heart happy.

Join us in dreaming of a world of stunning beauty overflowing with heritage, enduring romantic charm, and incomparable grace. From the editors of Victoria magazine, Our Hearts Are in England invites you to travel along scenic byways to visit quaint villages, glorious gardens, and quintessential cottages. Filled with lush photography and enchanting prose, this exquisitely bound hardcover book is one to savor as we voyage together in search of England’s very essence.

Our Hearts Are in England offers an impassioned salute to one of our most cherished destinations. From rolling hills dotted with sheep in the Cotswolds to charming little towns clustered along the country’s rugged shorelines, peaceful villages beckon us to slow down and drink in their pastoral beauty. Wonders abound in history-steeped sites, including the former homes of William Morris, leader of the British Arts and Crafts movement, and literary legends Beatrix Potter in the Lake District and Jane Austen in the sophisticated town of Bath. Become immersed in the Victorian splendor of Highclere Castle, the magnificent backdrop for the television series Downton Abbey and its fictional Crawley family, who came to be adored by millions worldwide. Behind the brick walls and hedges surrounding the David Austin rose gardens in Shropshire, techniques for their care and cultivation from expert garden designer Michael Marriott mingle with the heady redolence of hundreds of exquisite blossoms. And what can compare to the elegant appeal of London, where such notable destinations as The Ritz, Portobello Road, and Kensington Palace await? We also step inside the atelier of Catherine Walker & Co., couture designer to British royalty Diana, Princess of Wales, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

Through Our Hearts Are in England, enjoy the people, homes, and sites that make England truly remarkable. This beautifully designed volume is replete with stories to inspire your own adventures, whether they unfold from your favorite armchair or by plane and train. Timeless traditions, including the custom of afternoon tea, reflect a genteel spirit also displayed through the art of needlework and lovingly tended gardens. Brew a cup of your favorite blend, and settle in a cozy corner with Our Hearts Are in England to explore―and to celebrate―this treasured isle that we love so well.

Alex Hitz, “the very best host in the world” says the Wall Street Journal, shares more than 100 timeless, tried-and-true recipes for classic comfort foods to serve with his inimitable style of gracious entertaining.

Having played host to the A-list and beau monde from Atlanta to Park Avenue to Beverly Hills, Alex Hitz is a consummate entertainer and bon vivant–who can really cook. Elegance, comfort, and wit (and always a little decadence) suffuse every detail of every delightful and delicious occasion. Defying diets and trends, Alex treats guests like family with rich, Southern-inspired food and the generous traditions of Southern hospitality.

Conceived as full menus, each occasion offers recipes and tips for ultimate success, from his always-
perfect-every-time Thanksgiving table and epic Boxing Day buffet to a bright Easter brunch and an intimate Valentine’s Day supper. In addition to twelve expertly curated menus, Hitz provides can’t-fail recipes for his essential dishes, classic recipes every confident cook should have in their back pocket, from perfect vinaigrettes and homemade mayonnaise to Bel-Air Onion Puffs, Risotto alla Milanese, To-Die-For Ale-Braised Brisket, and Caroline’s Tipsy Ambrosia.

Ever the raconteur, Hitz delivers common-sense rules–including for the art of being a guest, and what always or never to do as a thoughtful host–providing readers with the skills and confidence to establish their own signature style.

‘The homes I’ve always been drawn to are portraits of the people who live there…’ Australian Designers at Home invites readers into the homes of 20 of the country’s leading names in interior design. With unfettered access to their most private retreats, we see where the best of the industry express their true, unfiltered selves. Jenny Rose-Innes celebrates the designers who have inspired her, sharing their histories and houses, as well as professional insights and practical tips on decorating. This book provides an invaluable resource for designers, decorators and interiors enthusiasts alike. Richly illustrated throughout with stunning colour photography by Simon Griffiths, Australian Designers at Home takes readers on an intimate journey, revealing how the most influential designers decorate their own houses. Find out what home means from the people who create them for a living.

Entertaining at Home presents gatherings in the homes of leading tastemakers from the worlds of interior design, architecture, culinary arts, and society–including Lynn Wyatt, Suzanne Kasler, Julia Reed, Kimberly Schlegel Whitman, Carla McDonald, and Danielle Rollins, among others–who show readers how best to entertain with flair and finesse.

Leading party aficionados share their successful strategies for delighting family and friends, offering their personal viewpoints and providing behind-the-scenes details that go into creating memorable occasions. They offer their approaches to arranging flowers, setting the table, selecting menus, stocking the pantry, compiling killer playlists, and purchasing the perfect hostess gift. Included are a variety of easy-to-master delectable recipes, such as bacon-wrapped pretzels, seafood chowder, spicy gazpacho, and refreshing sangrias.

From a summer social in New Orleans and a lively luncheon in Texas to a lavish winter smorgasbord holiday dinner in Washington, D.C., the hosts offer a myriad of inspirational ideas. Whether it’s an elegant table set with Leontine Linens or Pinot Grigio served in colorful cups and paired with potato chips and caviar, this book is a visual trove of festive get-togethers in beautiful residences. Beautifully photographed, it is the essential new go-to entertaining guide.

AD100 and Elle Decor A-List designer Timothy Corrigan shares his secrets for creating rooms that are elegant and comfortable, luxurious yet livable.

Throughout his career, Corrigan has established a look that is layered and detailed, while always suitable for the way people live today. His distinctive approach encompasses practicality as well as beauty, merging European refinement with California comfort. Here, Corrigan shares homes in which he has defined a new contemporary elegance, including a John Fowler-inspired London townhouse, a Hollywood Regency-inspired Los Angeles Colonial, an art-filled Chicago apartment in the sky, and Corrigan’s own Paris pied-à-terre.

Corrigan includes advice throughout on how to adapt classic design principles and traditional forms to make them work for busy modern lives. Between each chapter are instructive interludes in which Corrigan outlines the building blocks of successful decoration, with fundamental topics such as scale and proportion, symmetry, architectural details, and working with color.

From Susan Sully comes this book of inspirations for those who are enamored with the ever-enchanting Southern way of living.

The words “Southern hospitality” conjure up a wealth of welcoming images, from breezy porches with white colonnades and the seductive scent of magnolia blossoms cut from the yard to fill heirloom vases to tables laden with fine china on embroidered linens, illuminated by candles. Southern Hospitality at Home showcases the special qualities of graciousness and charm that define the American South’s way of living. Learn from Southern style experts how to make your home an inviting place for sharing with family and friends–from designing welcoming entrance halls and inviting living rooms to comfortable kitchens, pretty guest rooms, and shady garden rooms–and weave your spell of hospitality.

Featured are an array of exceptional houses including an eighteenth-century dwelling in Charleston with a bold, contemporary palette and a rustic plantation where high and low styles mix in perfect harmony. In Savannah, interior designer Chuck Chewning brings modern sophistication to a Greek Revival townhouse. In Georgia, textile artist Susan Hable Smith injects bright color and pattern into an old-fashioned cottage and a collector offers fresh ideas for displaying antiques. With tips for decorating and accessorizing, arranging flowers and setting tables, caring for silver and serving authentic Southern recipes, this beautifully photographed hospitality resource is practical and inspirational, true to tradition, and relevant for today.