12 Books Every Interior Designer Should Read, According to Frances Merrill

For Frances Merrill of L.A.-based Reath Design, literature has helped develop a highly personal, eclectic style—and perhaps unsurprisingly, she believes inspiration can be found beyond typical books for interior designers (read: the coffee table editions that are de rigueur in studios and studies everywhere).

Here, the AD100 designer shares a curated selection of books for interior designers—including ones that have shaped her thinking and career. While some fit squarely in the design-book category, other listings prove that there’s professional wisdom to be found in other corners of the library, too.

The Way We Live

By Stafford Cliff

Prolific design writer Stafford Cliff, the former creative director of Conran Design Group and author of dozens of design books (both as part of The Way We Live series and in other volumes), occupies an important place on Merrill’s shelf. “There are so many fantastic books that cover one style, but The Way We Live has a bit of everything,” she says. “There are over 1,000 photographs [within it]. On just one page you can see images from San Francisco to Mauritius to Scotland to Cairo. All of Stafford Cliff’s books are wonderful. This is the best starter.”

House

By Tracy Kidder

“For those of us who love house projects, this really nails all the interpersonal dynamics that go into them,” Merrill says about the Pulitzer Prize–winning author’s 1985 documentation of a single house’s construction in Amherst, Massachusetts.

The White Album—Specifically Its Essay “Many Mansions”

By Joan Didion

Reading Joan Didion is always a good idea. Merrill finds particular resonance, though, in the author’s 1977 critical analysis of Governor Reagan’s hubristic (and unfinished) residence in Didion’s native Sacramento. In its pages, Didion offers a searing look at how politics and power are encoded in the built environment. “This is required reading for everyone who takes a job with me,” Merrill notes. “It touches on waste and elitism and classism and style—all the interesting struggles inherent in this industry.”

The House the Pecks Built

By Helen and Alf Evers

Insight can come from surprising sources. The House the Pecks Built “was given to my children when they were small and has always been one of our faves,” Merrill explains. The 1940 children’s story centers around a carpenter and his family who wind up building an insanely sprawling home as they become upwardly mobile, making this book an early critique of suburbanization. “Not only are the illustrations charming, [but] it very simply shows the mania that can take over when building a house and how we need so much less than we think we do.”

Andrew Henry’s Meadow

By Doris Burn

“Another children’s book!” Merrill laughs. Published in 1965, this one follows the adventures of a resourceful boy who copes with his middle-child loneliness by establishing a kid-centric village in a meadow. The town becomes filled with bespoke, quirky domiciles of the young inventor’s own design. “As a studio, we are focused on giving our clients homes that are specific to their needs and likes. The houses that Andrew Henry builds for his friends are exactly that.”

Charleston: A Bloomsbury House & Garden

By Quentin Bell and Virginia Nicholson

Located in rural East Sussex, UK, the Charleston Farmhouse was founded during the first World War to function as a vital hub and artisan retreat for the radical Bloomsbury Group. Its coalescence of creative output is a great study in cross-discipline collaboration. “This is a personal favorite. I love any book that shows such specific personal style,” she observes. “At Reath, we always try to capture our clients’ essence and personalities, and this book is a lesson in that.”

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Additional Reading

“Depending on the style of the project, we are always dipping into these,” says Merrill. For even more inspiration, the AD100 designer recommends: