Inspirational houses from around the world: how architects and home owners can achieve harmony between dwellings and nature. Our houses can be seen as living, breathing entities, extensions of ourselves and our families. This carefully considered publication provides the design inspiration to build and live in domestic spaces in a balanced, natural, sustainable way. With the demands of all contemporary dwellings in mind—whether they’re found in the city, suburbs, or country—Dominic Bradbury considers the design basics one must follow in order to coexist with the planet’s resources. Five chapters present successful projects from different parts of the globe, all specially photographed by Richard Powers. • Design and Build: where and how to create a modern natural home • Let There Be Light: manipulating the elements to improve lifestyle and interaction with nature • The Material World: using natural products to establish healthier relationships with the environment • Indoor/Outdoor Living: ideas for encouraging symbiotic relationships with the landscape, whether in the city or the country • Sustainable Footprints: how to naturally reduce domestic energy use The book includes case studies and plans, a directory of architects, and a listing of featured houses, materials, and useful products.

Jenni Kayne, the creator of the laid-back, luxe California lifestyle brand, shows us how to create spaces that encourage living well in comfort and style by featuring beautiful and inspiring interiors along with practical room-by-room tips. A known tastemaker and authority on style, Jenni Kayne spans the worlds of fashion, interiors, and entertaining. Inspired by organic textures, thoughtful simplicity, and natural landscapes, Kayne embodies an earthy and effortless aesthetic—one that is intentional and where beauty and authenticity exist in every detail. In her second book Kayne turns to interior design, sharing her beautifully designed interiors as well as the homes of other creative women who embrace a similar natural design ethos. The book introduces the homes by location, spanning varied landscapes and design characteristics: houses by the ocean, desert-style spaces, mountain homes, and abodes in the city. Lovely photographs illustrate how the women live in these spaces, room by room, and include smaller styling vignettes showcasing collectibles and personal objects. Interviews discuss each woman’s design philosophy and her ideas for living well at home. With a mix of visual inspiration and practical tips and resources, Kayne encourages us to express our individual style through decor, showing us how to create beautiful interiors that help us to live joyfully and mindfully, treating life’s details with creativity and care.

Gathers ideas and advice on building, decorating, furnishing, and living with a toxin-free home built from natural materials.

“With the twinned calamities of climate change and mass extinction weighing heavier and heavier on my nature-besotted soul, here were concrete, affordable actions that I could take, that anyone could take, to help our wild neighbors thrive in the built human environment. And it all starts with nothing more than a seed. Bringing Nature Home is a miracle: a book that summons butterflies." —Margaret Renkl, The Washington Post As development and habitat destruction accelerate, there are increasing pressures on wildlife populations. In his groundbreaking book Bringing Nature Home, Douglas W. Tallamy reveals the unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife—native insects cannot, or will not, eat alien plants. When native plants disappear, the insects disappear, impoverishing the food source for birds and other animals. Luckily, there is an important and simple step we can all take to help reverse this alarming trend: everyone with access to a patch of earth can make a significant contribution toward sustaining biodiversity by simply choosing native plants. By acting on Douglas Tallamy's practical and achievable recommendations, we can all make a difference.

Both practical and inspiring, the first book from Jenni Kayne--the creator of the eponymous lifestyle brand--offers ideas and tips for entertaining and living well throughout the year. Jenni Kayne embodies an effortless aesthetic, where natural beauty is found in every detail. Pacific Natural illustrates Jenni's conscious way of living through personal anecdotes and tips with Jenni's home state of California serving as the backdrop. Organized by season, this entertaining book is your guide to creating special moments with family and friends. Each chapter includes tabletop ideas, simple crafts, tips for keeping a stocked kitchen and pantry, what to plant in your garden, and healthy, delicious recipes. From an apple harvest dinner and at-home herb drying in the fall, cocktail parties and DIY gift ideas in the winter, flower arranging in the spring and a beach picnic in the summer, Jenni shares her philosophy for creating traditions and living mindfully all year long. A thoughtful hands-on approach for stylish and balanced living, Pacific Natural shows us how to make the most of the time we spend together, treating life's details with creativity and care.

A natural history of the wilderness in our homes, from the microbes in our showers to the crickets in our basements Even when the floors are sparkling clean and the house seems silent, our domestic domain is wild beyond imagination. In Never Home Alone, biologist Rob Dunn introduces us to the nearly 200,000 species living with us in our own homes, from the Egyptian meal moths in our cupboards and camel crickets in our basements to the lactobacillus lounging on our kitchen counters. You are not alone. Yet, as we obsess over sterilizing our homes and separating our spaces from nature, we are unwittingly cultivating an entirely new playground for evolution. These changes are reshaping the organisms that live with us -- prompting some to become more dangerous, while undermining those species that benefit our bodies or help us keep more threatening organisms at bay. No one who reads this engrossing, revelatory book will look at their homes in the same way again.

“A groundbreaking work about race and the American landscape, and a deep meditation on nature…wise and beautiful.”—Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk A Foreword Reviews Best Book of the Year and Nautilus Silver Award Winner In me, there is the red of miry clay, the brown of spring floods, the gold of ripening tobacco. All of these hues are me; I am, in the deepest sense, colored. Dating back to slavery, Edgefield County, South Carolina—a place “easy to pass by on the way somewhere else”—has been home to generations of Lanhams. In The Home Place, readers meet these extraordinary people, including Drew himself, who over the course of the 1970s falls in love with the natural world around him. As his passion takes flight, however, he begins to ask what it means to be “the rare bird, the oddity.” By turns angry, funny, elegiac, and heartbreaking, The Home Place is a meditation on nature and belonging by an ornithologist and professor of ecology, at once a deeply moving memoir and riveting exploration of the contradictions of black identity in the rural South—and in America today. “When you’re done with The Home Place, it won’t be done with you. Its wonders will linger like everything luminous.”—Star Tribune “A lyrical story about the power of the wild…synthesizes his own family history, geography, nature, and race into a compelling argument for conservation and resilience.”—National Geographic

Stephanie Kienle Gonzalez has made her name as a designer of furnishings and interiors in warm climates. Her first book showcases far-flung stylish homes, replete with indoor and outdoor spaces that blend artisanal craftmanship with a fresh naturalistic design approach. Through beautifully photographed residences, which have an exquisite layering of classic and modern furnishings, Stephanie Kienle Gonzalez discusses how to bring sustainable elements into your living space. She employs organic forms, stone and wood pieces, and natural weaves with texture, such as seagrass, caning, bamboo, and rattan. For her urban dwelling she adds tropical greenery and flowers to enliven the interiors, and her eco-friendly family lodge, immersed in the bush wilderness, is surrounded by lush plantings. International designers and artists who have inspired her are also profiled—from sustainable architect Elora Hardy to designers India Hicks, Nate Berkus, and Kenneth Cobonpue. Full of design and entertaining ideas, Embracing Natural Design is for those who are interested in achieving an environmentally conscious lifestyle.

Includes natural, safe, and environmentally friendly advice on cleaning, saving energy, baby care, health care, decorating, shopping, recycling, pet care, and working at home.

What would your life be like if you could shoot absolutely amazing portraits? If you could be in any natural lighting situation, indoors or out, and know that you’d be able to create an amazing image every time? If you’ve ever dreamed of making such incredible portraits that your friends and family say, “Wait a minute, this is your photo!? You took this?” then you’re in luck.

Award-winning photography book author Scott Kelby teaches you exactly how to shoot and edit gorgeous natural light portraits. Scott shares all his secrets and time-tested techniques, as he discusses everything from his essential go-to portrait gear to camera settings to the portrait photography techniques you need to create absolutely stunning images. From window light to taming harsh outdoor light, from the tools and accessories you need to capture beautiful portraits in any lighting condition, Scott has got you covered.

Among many other topics, you’ll learn:

• The secrets to getting super-sharp portraits every time without breaking a sweat.

• Exactly which camera settings work best for natural light portraits (and which ones you should avoid).

• How to create separation with a silky smooth, out-of-focus background no matter which lens you have.

• How to tame even the harshest light and turn it to your advantage to create soft, beautiful, wrapping light.

• Which lenses will get you the best results and why.

• What gear you need, which accessories work best, and a ton of killer tips that will help you create better images and make the entire experience that much more fun.

It’s all here, including an entire chapter on post-processing and retouching, and another with detailed portrait recipes, and best of all, it’s just one topic per page, so you’ll get straight to the info you need fast. There’s never been a natural light portrait photography book like it!