Inspiration Amid the Mess

At the time I’m writing this, I still work in the news. My job requires me to be especially read-in on what is happening in the United States, and very specifically, to look at images of it all. Throughout my career that has meant searching for or commissioning photos that are both beautiful and told the truth. The accuracy of portrayal is absolutely critical to my work. When I started my career, selecting for beauty was what required deliberation and time. Ten years later, finding beauty is second-nature. Increasingly, the time consuming part is ensuring that images are telling the truth. My brain and my eyes both feel so tired all the time.

And yet, to relax, I look at pictures of art. Hundreds of images of carefully and thoughtfully designed objects, interiors, gardens, hotels and restaurants pass through my eyes in my off-time. No matter how chaotic the news is, people are still making art and visiting new places and discovering beauty where they go. Like in my day job, I make note of things I like. I share them here with you. But increasingly, I am finding some of those things to be fake.

You’ve probably had this experience, too. Scrolling Pinterest or Instagram you see a room that catches your eye, or a video that makes you teary, only to look a little closer and find it’s AI generated. At work, this sends a chill down my spine. At home, I just find it exhausting.

I’ve written before about the internet making interior design feel all too similar, which I still think is true, although some backlash is stirring. But what do you do when you want to just relax your brain and look for inspiration you know to be real art, created by humans, where humans actually live or work or play? You go to the books.

As a bonus, you can actually sink in and lose yourself in a good design book without constant pings or interruptions. Your brain can rest and work at the same time, and I think that’s a feeling that, nowadays, a lot of us miss without even knowing it.

So here are four interior design books I go back to over and over again. Always managing to find something new and always closing the cover feeling better and more inspired.

By Susanna Salk, Photographs by Stacey Bewkes

It’s possible this is my favorite interiors book of all time. It features several different country homes and has great photography that seamlessly includes the dogs who live there. Conceptually a perfect book and the interiors are also all wonderful and unique.