Four books for the little and big questions on life
Lazing at home has come to an end. Students piled onto trains on Sunday afternoon, children headed back to school, and we are mostly all back into our normal life routines – whether work, caring for others, or other life choices.
We have hopefully all had time to think about life and home and how one informs the other.
The great and generous stretch of twelve months of newness beckons - and with it comes options. Options are hopeful. Options help us project what this holiday in the sun will do for us. And we ponder what training for a 10km run will do for us too – both the physical and the mental gains. We of course think about our homes – lying on the sofa gives us the time to stare at our kitchen cabinets or the colour of our walls. If you are unlucky, others horizontal on your sofa also had time to share their thoughts.
I believe that knowledge is everything. Seeking it and then sharing it so that we understand the why before we chose the what. Maybe you think you want/need a new kitchen. Before you rush to the showrooms, perhaps a few questions about why it is on your radar. Who is sharing the space, do you like cooking, or perhaps a dining room that happens to be somewhere you prepare food is more your thing. Or maybe you’re thinking about it because you think you should rather than any actual need. Perhaps a lick of paint is enough. Perhaps a new piece of art hanging over the kitchen table would bring you more joy. Perhaps you actually want to move to the other side of the world, and these kitchen questions are a good distraction from your greater unspoken needs. These thoughts can be applied to kitchens, gardens, locations, jobs and living room colours.
So to start the year, I thought four books that I have read and re-read over the last year, might be a good starting point to the little and the big questions. Foundation is our colour of the week. I think this is the very best colour we can start our year with.
Colour of the week
Foundation — our beautiful simple white. Easy and completely balanced. It works with every colour and is the perfect starting point for building a story of home.
Foundation works beautifully as a map of colour with some or all of these colours:
Floof, Morning, Beginnings, Lark, Wayfinder, Garden Party Green, At The Bay and Ice Cream.
What I’m reading
Four books that have made me think and I hope could be helpful
One of many great books from the School of Life – who I recommend as a resource to untangle knotty thoughts. One I have had since I bought my first precious flat in glorious Tooting – oh how I long for the Habitat of old. One newly read and somewhat heart breaking, but I hope makes us understand how lucky we are. And finally a book that was a gift from a friend. Modern philosophy can teach us much – especially in the knotty realms of social media. There are links on all the books but you can choose where you order or borrow from.
The modern world can be a complicated, frenzied and noisy place, filled with too many options, products, ideas and opinions. That explains why what many of us long for is simplicity: a life that can be more pared down, peaceful and focused on the essentials.
It is a guide to the simpler lives we crave and deserve. It considers how we might achieve simplicity across a range of areas: our relationships, social lives, work routines and our approaches to possessions and media. Learning about Zen Buddhism, modernist architecture, monasteries, psychoanalysis, and why we probably don’t need more than three good friends or a few treasured belongings.
The comprehensive and one of the original books on home design. From the 1970’s on Terence Conran and his team brought us books of both great beauty and practicality. You learn about how to read your home, how to plan your best layouts, what to think about and how to make the most out of where you live. Also, many beautiful photographs. It is the book I used to work out the best layout of my first bathroom (tiny) and I still reference it today. You can find second hand copies and later versions almost everywhere.
Drawing on his own history of housing insecurity and his professional career as a planning barrister, Hashi Mohamed examines the myriad aspects of housing - from Right-to-Buy to Grenfell, slums and evictions to the Bank of Mum and Dad. It is a deeply personal study of home - and an exploration in how we can remove barriers, improve equality and create cities where more people have a place to call their own.
Emanuele Coccia writes that the buildings we inhabit are of immense psychological and cultural significance. They play a decisive role in human flourishing and their walls and walkways, windows and doorways have guided our relationships with others and with ourselves. They reflect and reinforce social inequalities; they allow us to celebrate and cherish those we love. They are the places of return that allow us to venture out into the world.