Live Beautiful

Product Information

Filled with gorgeous photography by Nicole Franzen, Live Beautiful is both a showpiece of exquisite design and a guide to creating a home that’s thoughtfully put together. In Live Beautiful, the highly anticipated design book by Athena Calderone, the EyeSwoon creator taps into her international network of interior decorators, fashion designers, and tastemakers to reveal how carefully crafted interiors come together.

Jenna Lyons, Stephen Alesch and Robin Standefer (of Roman and Williams), and Vanessa Alexander also opened their doors up to Calderone. In her inherently articulate and swoonworthy way, Athena unpacks the collective beauty of the diverse interiors in this book and distills it through her personal and highly passionate lens to offer the strategic hows and whys of the creative design journey. This is because there is a voyeuristic element to this endeavor, and I guess no peeping Tom really expects to be suddenly introduced to the object of their curiosity. The place Polly and Digory reach by using their stupid uncle’s magical rings, is the gateway to many different worlds.She then breaks down the details of the rooms--like layered textures and patterns, collected pieces, and customized vignettes--and offers helpful tips on how to bring these elevated elements into your own space. I think if you love this particular style, and you would like a coffee table book of homes in this style to flip through – this is your book. We have updated our Privacy Policy, effective June 29, 2020, to clarify how we collect and process your personal data. If you’re looking to become deeply inspired and fall in love with design all over again, this is the book. This book is so full of inspiration it almost feels like cheating when you realize she has given you the clues to replicate each stunning project.

The title Live Beautiful is a little misleading in the sense that it suggests the book will introduce a collection of everyday homes in which all ordinary people can be inspired to “live beautifully” in. The place the Griffins live in, Quahog is inspired by the place the creator MacFarlane lived in, earlier in life. I'm sure the houses are as comfortable and practical as they are beautiful for them, because every detail has been fussed over. You are a lover of fiction and truly understand that citylights are nothing but monotony unless interspersed between appearances by Superman.The true talent of a designer is to not just create a beautiful and functional space, but recognize something special and individual, based on those who will be living there.

If you prefer video, you can watch a different publishing professional answer your questions via our Reedsy Live events, which we present every two weeks. The latter comes together like a symphony of oatmeal and putty colors—a property more Montauk moderne than beach house. Not only are her own spaces beyond divine, she found the same kind of magic in so many others’ homes that we are lucky enough to peek into. For Nate Berkus, she describes how he “loves to see ring marks on his marble countertops because it shows life, it's like a remembrance of his daughter sitting with her orange juice at the counter.

At first I was a bit taken aback by the amount of disclosure about the homeowners, as we get to see the families and we get to know their names, their kids names, their lifestyles and their jobs (mainly creative types). It can be a bit breathy and effusive, with a very slight tendency to wander into self-aggrandizement.

A sample “Something about Copenhagen lights an incandescent fuse in me; the intersectionality of food, design, and lifestyle profoundly resonates, and I suppose it’s not surprising that several of my dearest friends hail from this sophisticated Nordic city.Live Beautiful is a voyeuristic adventure that I honestly devoured at the same pace as some of my favorite novels!