I love a good coffee table book, especially if it’s centered around garden, home design or beautiful architecture! A coffee table book should be beautiful, informative and most of all inspiring. Today, I’m sharing some of the best coffee table books I’ve found and I think you’ll love them too!
Finding Inspiration
I get so much inspiration out of the coffee tables books I’ve collected over the years. I love kicking my feet up at the end of the day and picking up a huge beautiful book (that I know is going to inspire me and bring me joy) and just flipping through the pages!
I know I’m not the only one who likes to wind down this way. Every time I have friends over and we’re chatting over coffee or a hot cup of tea, they inevitably reach for a coffee table book and start flip through the pages. I LOVE it when that happens! It tells me they’re relaxed and they feel at home!
As a blogger/photographer/content creator, I can imagine just how much effort goes into creating these incredible books. It takes a great deal of creativity, planning, creating, staging, sourcing, photography, writing, editing and so so much more! I have a lot of appreciation for them and just I love reading each one and studying the photos. Some of these books hold decades of research, creativity and knowledge and they’re something I’m happy to invest in!
A great deal of my collection I found second hand and of course many of them were gifts. I always have a wish list in my notes, you know, just in case my kiddos need a mothers day gift idea or something! Hint hint!
My 6 Favorite Categories of Coffee Table Books
A coffee table book can be a very beautiful piece of home decor and also serves many other purposes. Beautiful coffee table books give your visitors incite into your interests and can help spark conversation around those interests.
It really gives them an idea of what you value and what you’re interested in learning more about. They reflect your personal style while bring a textural/design element to your space.
My favorite categories are interiors/home design books, architectural design books, places we’ve traveled to, gardening books, hosting and cookbooks!
My Favorite Home Design & Architecture Coffee Table Books
My parents hand build my childhood home when I was 10 years old. I watched my mom sketch out her designs and the blueprints with a pencil and graph paper over and over until she had it right. I remember being so intrigued with the process and just amazed at her creativity.
I started collecting Home Design and Architectural books when I was young. As a child, I was obsessed with rearranging my bedroom. I was always looking for ways to make things more beautiful and more functional. I found pre-loved books and checked-out home design books from our library and only grew more and more interested in design and architecture. Not only were the books stunning to look at but they held a wealth of knowledge.
Everyone that knows me now, knows that I love everything “home” and home design! Here are a few of my current favorite home design and architecture design coffee table books.
- The Nature of Home – Creating Timeless Houses by Jeffery Dungan
- Creating New Old Houses by Russell Versaci
- Wooden Houses by Judith Miller
Beautiful Garden Coffee Table Books
Garden and Landscape books are probably the most beautiful category of coffee table book you could have. Our summers here in Northern Michigan are short! We gardeners wait for months and months for winter to pass and spring to finally show it’s face! When Jan/Feb rolls around, I bring out my favorite gardening coffee table books and start dreaming and planning our next season’s garden!
These beautiful garden books remind us that winter won’t last forever. It also gives us something wonderful to look forward to and to plan for.
I start planning what veggies and annuals I want to grow and I get things ordered. I plan for starting seeds in the greenhouse and make a list of what I need to can for the year.
Having gorgeous garden coffee table books sitting out is a must! It’s also a huge conversation starter…I think my siblings and I could talk for days about gardening without getting board!
I’ve listed a few of my favorite flower garden coffee table books below.
- Veranda -The Art Of Outdoor Living by Lisa Newsom
- Floret Farm’s Discovering Dahlias by Erin Benzakein
- A Sweet Floral Life by Natasja Sadi
Cookbooks That Make Wonderful Coffee Table Books
Everyone loves good food and if it’s beautiful food, it’s even better! I love using cookbooks as coffee table books and I swap them out seasonally! They’re great conversation starters for anyone visiting. Setting out a book with beautiful dinner recipes or dessert cookbook especially at the holidays is great when you’re hosting more.
We’re all looking for meal or dessert ideas and sometimes Pinterest can be overwhelming (and who wants to look at their phone more than they already do).
Cook books have recipe’s that are tried and true, not to mention that cookbooks can be absolutely gorgeous. Gone are the days of only print. The cookbooks of today are works of art!
Setting them out on your coffee table may activate your sweet tooth or your hunger pains though so don’t say I didn’t warn you! đŸ˜‰
- Daily Sourdough- Healthy Recipes for Every Meal by Lisa Bass
- Sunday Suppers: Recipes + Gatherings by Karen Mordechai
- The Ranch Table: Recipes from a Year of Harvests, Celebrations, and Family Dinners on a Historic California Ranch by Elizabeth Poett
Interior Decorating Coffee Table Books
I love studying Interior Design books. Every single design style has elements about it that fascinates me. I definitely have my favorite interior design styles, but I appreciate them all.
My collection ranges from Early American, Colonial, Modern, Farmhouse, French, Natural/Rustic, and English Manor homes! It’s a wide range, but I enjoy them all and have learned so much from having a diverse collection of Interior Design books.
Here are some of the many beautiful Interior Design coffee table books I really enjoy.
- The Beauty of Home- Redefining Traditional Interiors by Marie Flanigan
- Soul of the Home- Designing With Antiques by Tara Shaw
- Made For Living by Amber Lewis
Hosting/ Creating Memories/Traditions Coffee Table Books
A side of our lives I don’t share often online is how important hospitality is to my husband and I. We LOVE hosting and I always have!
I am second oldest of 12 children so I grew up with large amounts of people at our dinner table all the time. My parents are the most generous and gracious hosts I’ve ever met and their example has had a huge impact on me.
Creating time and space for entertaining and hosting large gatherings or simply having small intimate dinners with family or friends is a huge priority for us.
I adore Coffee Table books that inspire hospitality and give ideas for making your guests welcome. I love learning new ways to create a welcoming environment in our homes for our family and guests alike. Here are a few books that defiantly help inspire hospitality.
- French Country Cottage- Inspired Gatherings by Courtney Allison
- Entertaining 101 by Beth Le Manach’s
- Gracious Gatherings: The Art of Hosting with Heart by MECHO by Design
Travel Coffee Table Books
This idea is something I started years ago when we started traveling to new places more and more. Instead of getting some silly souvenir to commemorate our trip, I started picking up coffee table books about the town or city we visited.
I love this Savannah Square by Square book from our recent trip south. We walked so many of the streets and toured so many estates that it could get a bit confusing to keep track of without this book.
The photos are always lovely and full of beautiful manicured parks, historic buildings and homes with beautiful architecture. I love that the books include information about the place we visited, so I have no need to try and remember it all.
Pretty City Paris: Discovering Paris’s Beautiful Places to commemorates our travels to Paris France last year.
My Most Recent Coffee Table Book Purchase
I found my most recent addition to my coffee table book collection this week while at a little antique shop… for only $6. Its called The English House by James Chambers. It’s full of English homes ranging from some of the country’s grandest countryside homes to the humblest of little farm cottages and everything in between!
I guess this book caught my eye because I have England on my mind ever since Aaron gifted me a 10 day trip to England and Scotland (we’ll be there for our anniversary)! I’ve wanted to see the English countryside my entire life! It’s hard to believe our trip is only a month away!
England contains a greater variety of domestic architecture than any other country in the world. The pages hold photographs, renderings and illustrations of all styles of homes that date back as far as the 1500’s. I am enthralled with this book and It’s getting me even more excited for our upcoming trip! If you’ve been to England (particularly the Lake District area) I would love to know any travel tips you may have for us!
Coffee Table Books on my Wish List –Hungry for Home by Ruth McKeaney
As I mentioned before, I love hosting and hospitality is such a wonderful and life-giving part of our every day lifestyle.
I recently came across content by Ruth McKeaney which lead to me watching a few of her videos and finding more of her content on her website “hungry4home“.
Ruth is down to earth and very multi talented. She’s a gardener, a cook, a speaker, a blogger, loves the Lord, mother of five, renovates homes with her husband and lives on a historic farm that they restored! I really admire the family values she has and what she stands for. Ruth’s content is wholesome and that’s so refreshing. I can’t wait to get my hands on her book! It’s on my wish list for Mothers Day!
I hope you enjoyed going through my list of some my favorite unique coffee table books! Check out this recent post for more home decor and decorating ideas for your home.
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