Home Base
A bevy of new books are settling the shelter-industry score this season thanks to entertaining reads from architects, master hosts and designers alike
Hailed as a contemporary master of the traditional, architect Eric J. Smith’s Renewing Tradition: The Architecture of Eric J. Smith (Rizzoli, $85) offers inspiration for creating a home that is comfortable, elegant and enduring. Through personal anecdotes, lush photography and artful sketches, Smith’s remarkable projects, which include collaborations with David Easton and Steven Gambrel, come to life.
 In her first book, No Place Like Home (Rizzoli, $55) Hollywood-based Madeline Stuart, an A-list interior designer, invites readers inside her meticulously layered projects, which are informed by history and craftsmanship. Stuart herself writes eloquently about her design process, walking readers through recent projects that successfully combine grace, scale, proportion and balance.
The interplay of hospitality with interior design and architecture is explored in Susan Sully’s Southern Hospitality at Home: The Art of Gracious Living (Rizzoli, $45). From inviting entrances to welcoming guest rooms, and polished silver to starched linens, the Southern style expert reveals how no detail goes unattended below the Mason Dixon line, in homes ranging from the casual to the formal.
Turn the pages of award-winning chef and event designer Alex Hitz’s The Art of the Host: Recipes and Rules for Flawless Entertaining (Rizzoli, $45) to discover more than 100 recipes and 12 menus offering a treasure trove of inspiration from can’t-fail classics to special occasions. A veteran entertainer, Hitz shares common-sense rules for stylish hosts and gracious guests alike.
Interweaving his personal designs and creative process with projects that have inspired him throughout his career, Ashley Hicks’ Rooms With a History: Interiors and Their Inspirations (Rizzoli, $60) details the British architect and designer’s approach to interiors, furniture designs and works of art. Via 335 color photographs, the 256-page tome offers readers insight into the way real-life experiences can be translated into design projects.
Prepare to be transported to the iconic Grand Hotel in Michigan’s Mackinac Island without moving an inch in Carleton Varney’s latest publication, Rooms to Remember (Shannongrove Press, $65). Varney, who in the past 40 years has successfully transformed this Victorian-era property into an unforgettable experience for countless visitors, interweaves history and style through references to well-known historical figures and events in what reads more like a decorative narrative of American style.Â
Dallas-based designer Cathy Kincaid reveals her fresh approach to achieving classically refined yet contemporary design in The Well Adorned Home: Making Luxury Livable (Rizzoli, $50). Through carefully nuanced color palettes, intricate layering of patterns and attention to customized details, Kincaid’s warm and gracious interiors unveil her signature style: comfortable yet sumptuous environments. Sprinkled throughout is the designer’s advice on everything from lighting selections to effortlessly editing one’s home.