Elements of Family Style

March 4, 2019
Interior designer Gates offers a helpful guide to creating living spaces for families that balance child management with elegance. Her concept of home family design incorporates special spaces for kids as well as kid-free zones for exhausted parents. She opens on a personal note, by describing her struggles with infertility and the pain she felt at the possibility of going through life without children. When at last she gave birth to a baby boy, she recalls, a whole new landscape of design ideas opened up for her, the results of which are captured in this beautifully produced volume. It’s divided into “zones”—Family Spaces, Kid Spaces, and Parent Retreats—which are then broken up further into specific rooms: from the nursery to the mudroom; from the master suite to the den. For Family Space, for example, Gates adds highly functional elements such as durable upholstery and high-traffic rugs, while the Parent Retreat space includes tips for choosing “statement art,” arranging a “butler’s pantry/bar area,” and creating an elegant dining table. Her in-depth manual to planning for every corner of the home—which admittedly does assume a healthy budget—integrates utility, functionality, and style, while addressing the day-to-day needs of families. Agent: Brettne Bloom, the Book Group.

Starred review from March 1, 2019
This, quite simply, is a keeper. With tons of great captioned color photographs, Gates (Elements of Style, 2014) goes room by room in search of the best home-decorating solutions for families. In a very personal narrative, Gates delves into her own life and explains how, exactly, "chic" and Lego storage can coexist. Plus, sidebars impart way more information than can be found in an average coffee-table decorating book (which this is definitely not). Some examples: What are the best white paints (in color and durability)? What are the best pieces to splurge on, versus save on? (One example: splurge on the coffee table; save on accent tables.) How about the 20 best neutral paint colors? And, how to mix and match bed frames, nightstands, and dressers in the master suite? Designer colleagues answer questions like, What outdated advice do you wish people would stop listening to? One answer: stop telling people to get inexpensive furniture that the kids can mess up, and then get nicer furniture when they are old enough. Yes, a great practical reference for all, not just families. Includes a design-resource guide.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)