One sentence summary
Joanna Gaines’ book “Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave” is a helpful guide that provides direction and advice on how to create beautiful, cozy, and definitive home spaces or environments.
Book genre
This book is part of the home and garden genre.
Main topic of the book
The main topic of the book is how to create and design beautiful, meaningful, and cozy home environments.
Key ideas
- Design – Gaines dives deep into the design process and provides advice on how to curate a space that reflects your style and personality.
- Balance – Gaines emphasizes the importance of finding the right balance of elements in a space, such as color, texture, pattern, and furniture.
- Connection – This book focuses on the importance of being intentional in a design, and creating meaningful connections that are rooted in your story, values, and lifestyle.
Main parts of the book and a short summary
This book is divided into six parts, beginning with “Discovering Your Design Style”. It introduces the reader to the design process and encourages them to bring out their personalities in their home design. The next part, “Understanding Basics of Design” delves into interior elements such as color, texture, and pattern. Part Three “Utilizing Color, Pattern, and Texture” builds on the basics and gives advice on how to use them to create depth and texture in a space. Meanwhile, Part Four, “Learning the Art of Arrangement”, covers the importance of layout and furniture selection. Part Five, “Developing Curb Appeal”, focuses on outdoor projects, and Part Six offers a helpful closing conclusion.
Key takeaways
- Recognizing and understanding your design style, and how to use it to curate a home environment that reflects it.
- Finding the right balance of elements, such as color, texture, pattern, and furniture, which when combined, create an inviting and beautiful space.
- Think of designing and arranging furniture as an art, and use the tips in the book to create meaningful connections between the elements in a space.
- When it comes to the outdoors, it’s important to look at it all as one holistic environment and get creative with the design elements.
Author’s background and qualifications
The author of “Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave” is Joanna Gaines. She is a renowned interior designer and the co-founder (along with her husband, Chip Gaines) of the lifestyle brand Magnolia. She is also the author of Designing Your Life, and co-host of Emmy-nominated television series, Fixer Upper.
Target audience
The targeted audience for Homebody is those who are looking to curate inviting, beautiful, and cozy home environments that reflect their individual style and personality.
Publisher and first publication date
The publisher of Homebody is Harper Design and it was first published in November 2018.