Best Books Home Decor & Garden: Personal Flair

I've been browsing through Amazon.com's list of the best books of 2014 in the Home and Garden category. I noticed how many of those books focus on the home as a place to express your unique personality.  Each book approaches the subject in a different way, so let's take a look at these 'best books of 2014' - they are all quite new as they were all published last fall.

Elements of Style: Designing a Home and a Life

Written by Erin Gates, an interior designer, blogger, and magazine writer, Elements of Style is a practical guide to designing a home that reflects your personality and style. Gates believes that home design and decor is "an outlet of personal expression and an exercise in self-discovery." We'd agree with that! The book looks at rooms in the author's own home as well as in her clients' homes. Gates is a candid and witty writer. India Hicks described the book as, "hugely refreshing" and she commented on "the undecoratorly way this book is written." Sounds great to us!

Heart and Home: Rooms That Tell Stories

I love the title of this book. Every house has a story, doesn't it? Just like the people in it. Bring the stories together and you can create a really wonderful space. (This is what we've tried to do in our 1920s vintage bungalow renovation.) This book looks at the stories inside the homes of people known in the fields of interior design, architecture, fashion, and art. The rooms are decorated with character, originality, and personal meaning, from a New York loft in a 1920s factory building to an "Old Hollywood" estate in Beverly Hills. The author, design writer Linda O’Keeffe, was the creative director of Metropolitan Home magazine.

Cultivating Garden Style

The full title of this tome is: Cultivating Garden Style: Inspired Ideas and Practical Advice to Unleash Your Garden Personality. I know it's early to think about gardening for many of us across the country - some are still deep in snow season. But spring will be here soon! Gardening writer Rochelle Greayer helps everyone develop their inner garden designer with step-by-step projects and tips.

The aim is to create charming, comfortable, and individual outdoor areas. The book features more than 1,500 color photographs to explain the 23 basic gardening styles that you can make your own.

If you've read any of these home decor and garden "best books" of 2014, we'd love to hear what you think of them. Or perhaps you have your own nomination for the title?