WELCOME to Nest by Tamara blog

WELCOME to Nest by Tamara blog
Hi- It's Tamara. I'm happy you've stopped by, and since 2010 I've been sharing my passion for interior design, history, art, entertaining, travel & fashion. I am an interior designer, textile designer and writer living and working in New York City and East Hampton, Long Island. My musings have taken me to international design, art, antique and epicurean events and I have lots to share. I'm grateful to have been listed as the #1 top design blog, blogs to watch, top design blogs and named and awarded Rising Star of Design by the IFDA NY industry organization. Please feel free to reach out to our team for an interior design consultation at NestbyTamara.com -Tamara

Nest by Tamara's Holiday Design Book Review Series: Part 1, Aerin Lauder's, BEAUTY AT HOME


Welcome to my holiday design book review series
9 days left until Christmas, you still have time to add these to your list!
I am passionate about books,
and it is a treat to receive a great book as a gift.
Please stop by all week for my daily reviews.  Books are some of my most cherished items in my home, and while I am able to dispense with stuff from time to time in order to "clean house" and keep it fresh, I hold on tightly to my books.  I still have my college text books, ones my mother gave me growing up, my grandmother's treasured readings, my kid's favorite storybooks, and the many I have picked up in my travels over the years.  Gosh, I could tell you about my life according the books I was reading, and I honestly vividly remember the day I read a Tree Grows in Brooklyn, or when my mom gave me Our Bodies Ourselves.  In college, I was obsessed with Elements of Style and I carried it with me daily,  and Julia Child's, The Way To Cook is one of my most favorite cooking resources since receiving it as a gift just after we were married.  Over the years as I became passionately interested in design and architecture, these particular type of books have educated me like no other medium.  I have longed for years to write a design and entertaining series infused with my philosophy.  In every room of my houses I keep books all around me. You may remember last year I even decorated a Christmas tree for the Bartow Pell Historic Museum here in NYC inspired by one of Mile's favorite children's book, The Velveteen Rabbit.   I want to thank each author for these lovely gifts, and I feel fortunate to have had these seven delicious books stacked next to my design desk.  This past weekend became all about immersing myself in these pages to bring you the stylish skinny.  I highly recommend these for someone on your shopping list who loves design and beauty with thoughtfulness and great advice thrown in for good measure.  Stop back daily to see my reviews, and why I love these particular ones as holiday gifts for your favorite design-o-phile friends and family.  I will tell you that each of these books at first glance seem quite different from one another, but at closer inspection they all weave a common thread, which is to bring personality, love and passion into a home to create a well-lived in "nest". 
My Velveteen Rabbit children's book tree
at the Bartow Pell Museum last Christmas


The books I am recommending this week...  
1. Beauty at Home, Aerin Lauder
2. Fifth Avenue Style, Howard Slatkin
3. The Inspired Home, Karen Lehrman Boch
4. Decorating With Color, Farrow & Ball
5. Designers Home: personal reflections on stylish living,
Ronda Carman
6. Kabbalah:  In Art & Architecture, Alexander Gorlin
7. The Secret Language of Color, 
Joann Eckstut and Arielle Eckstut
8. Alidad: The Timeless Home by Sarah Stewart-Smith

Today on the series, the multi-talented
Aerin Lauder
publishes her first book,
Beauty at Home
about living a wonderfully, stylish life as she looks back at her
famous grandmother who created a family legacy.  Estee Lauder is the iconic self-made cosmetic powerhouse many of us grew up admiring.  Today, Aerin is the founder and creative visionary behind Aerin, a luxury lifestyle brand that creates cosmetics, fashion accessories and home decor.  She followed in her grandmother's footsteps beginning her career at Estee Lauder in 1992 and eventually became the Creative Director.  Today she still  holds the title of Style and Image Director while juggling her own business and family life.  Aerin's touching words about her family's hard work, passions, attention to detail and loyalty to family have obviously influenced her, and she keeps those traditions close to her heart.


Beauty At Home by Aerin Lauder
aerin.commBEAUTY AT HOME Copyright (c) 2013 by AERIN LAUDER. Published by Potter Style
Over the years I have heard some of these stories first-hand from my friend Aerin.  Her love for tradition and her family is prevalent and she walks the walk and talks the talk.  Although it is a book about design and stylish living, it is truly a book about love, family, modern day women and being present in the moment to enjoy the process while making traditions for your family to pass down over the generations. Read about this American family success story and how Aerin keeps these values as an important part of her life.  All told through Aerin's stylish eyes, it is a beautiful story and a beautiful life! 
some of Aerin's insightful tabletop advice in the book:
she uses gold as a neutral, and utilizes only
a couple of colors on her table. 
She is a fabulous hostess, throwing gorgeous and fun-filled parties, 
with her casual elegant approach!
Aerin also wields useful advice for creating a stylish home. She suggests a well made chandelier is a worthy investment even over a ball gown.  An eye catching chandelier will bring you years of joy.  She talks about stocking a guest bedroom, her love of blue and white, setting a creative dinner table, keeping your desk filled with quality stationery and needed items, living in the moment, framing her children's art, living stylishly yet comfortably in your home, making a working office pretty, and how to pull all of this off with grace.  
Aerin's NYC apartment recently designed in collaboration with Jacques Grange In her book, Aerin invites the reader into her chic Manhattan apartment, her home in the Hamptons, and her New York City offices.  The photographs are from Simon Upton and they are stunning, down to the smallest details on her dining table.   Even before reading the words, the images draw us in, but once you dive into Aerin's ideologies on design and living, it truly inspires!
Aerin entertains outdoors in the Hamptons 
with elegance, yet a sense of ease. 
  "Estèe's bedroom is basically just as she left it.  
I could never take it apart."
Aerin Lauder
 Aerin traces her love of blue and white to her grandmother's fascination with the color combination.  She keeps Estee's room intact in East Hampton, and her dressing table is one of the prettiest I have seen! Her bond with her grandmother, her mother and her family is obvious in the book, and she cherishes the smallest memories with all of them.
a touching photo of  Estee and Aerin enjoying tea 
at the Palm Court at the Plaza Hotel
You can pick up a copy of this inspiring chunky book
that would look wonderful on any coffee table
at Amazon.  
and, for more book musings,
check out favorite reads on my Book Shelf    
Please stop by tomorrow
for a review of Howard Slatkin's new book,
Fifth Avenue Style.

Happy Holidays
Happy Nesting
XO Tamara