Establishing Home

What is your unique path to a more beautiful and fulfilling life? Walk alongside award-winning designer Jean Stoffer as she chronicles her own surprising, unhurried journey and be encouraged that there’s plenty of time to discover yours. When Jean Stoffer’s husband announced he was quitting his extremely stressful job to look for another career, she suddenly needed to bring in a lot more of the family income. The problem was, while she had a degree in business, her part-time job paid very little and she had few obvious options for earning more anytime soon. In Establishing Home, Jean tells how necessity sparked her journey from part-time receptionist to founder of an award-winning home design company and star of the Magnolia Network’s show, The Established Home. Along the way, she shares what’s she learned about design, business, parenting, and relationships. In Establishing Home Jean will: Inspire you to discover a dream you didn’t know you had Reassure you that whether you’re building a career, raising a family, or redoing your home, it’s okay to slow down and enjoy the journey Teach you practical ideas for combining work and family—and how to work in harmony with adult children Reveal her pro tips for making your home a beautiful place to be Provide gorgeous 4-color photos of her classic, elegant designs for your own inspiration Any home—and life—can become even more beautiful with a little bit of heart.

Find peace and calm amid the busyness of your life with this mindfulness meditation book by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Designed to be both inspiration and guidebook for those new to mindfulness practice, Making Space offers easy-to-follow instructions for setting up a breathing room, listening to a bell, sitting, breathing, and walking meditations, and cooking and eating a meal in mindfulness. Whether you live alone or with a family, this beautifully illustrated book can help you create a sense of retreat and sanctuary at home.

Building Home is an innovative biography that weaves together three engrossing stories. It is one part corporate and industrial history, using the evolution of mortgage finance as a way to understand larger dynamics in the nation‘s political economy. It is another part urban history, since the extraordinary success of the savings and loan business in Los Angeles reflects much of the cultural and economic history of Southern California. Finally, it is a personal story, a biography of one of the nation‘s most successful entrepreneurs of the managed economy —Howard Fieldstad Ahmanson. Eric John Abrahamson deftly connects these three strands as he chronicles Ahmanson’s rise against the background of the postwar housing boom and the growth of L.A. during the same period. As a sun-tanned yachtsman and a cigar-smoking financier, the Omaha-born Ahmanson was both unique and representative of many of the business leaders of his era. He did not control a vast infrastructure like a railroad or an electrical utility. Nor did he build his wealth by pulling the financial levers that made possible these great corporate endeavors. Instead, he made a fortune by enabling the middle-class American dream. With his great wealth, he contributed substantially to the expansion of the cultural institutions in L.A. As we struggle to understand the current mortgage-led financial crisis, Ahmanson’s life offers powerful insights into an era when the widespread hope of homeownership was just beginning to take shape.

“A peek inside the homes of tastemakers . . . A masterclass in how to infuse the ideas and finds you scoop up on the road into your digs back home.” —Chairish A road map for bringing far-flung design ideas back home, Travel Home shows us how to curate interiors that reflect our favorite places and experiences in ways that are beautiful and authentic. Touring the homes of leaders in global design who share a deep affection for travel, the book explores interiors with influences as widespread as Marrakesh, Paris, Cuba, Tokyo, Portugal, and beyond. Vivid photography is supplemented with insightful essays, interviews, and hardworking tips for cultivating your own global home. For globetrotters and armchair travelers alike, Travel Home showcases the interplay between travel and design, revealing how we can take inspiration from the beauty we experience in the world and bring it into our everyday lives. “The book is a study of how travel informs our taste—and a beautiful illustration of the creative potential a mother-daughter partnership can yield.” —goop “Upon finishing Travel Home I felt inspired in the same way that I feel inspired after a big trip. It’s a book you’re going to want to take notes in, take pictures of, and share with your friends. It will be a book very well loved.” —Justina Blakeney, designer and New York Times-bestselling author of Jungalow “There are so many books about interiors, but this book is a genuine opportunity to get to know the people and the mentality behind their spaces.” —Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent, authors and television stars on Nate & Jeremiah by Design

This book shows you how to assemble an efficient working home lab inexpensively and how to make it pay for itself through years of growth and use. Includes many projects for creating your own instruments, including a multichannel oscilloscope switch and a 100-minute timer/stopwatch.