Scattered throughout the book, which is broken down by property, are Calderone’s takeaways and highlights. Culled from interviews with homeowners, the texts go beyond a decorator’s tricks of the trade. Rather, Calderone spotlights those quotidian, mundane details that transform a house into a home. For Nate Berkus, she describes how he “loves to see ring marks on his marble countertops because it shows life, it’s like a remembrance of his daughter sitting with her orange juice at the counter.” Lyons echoes his sentiment with the floors of her SoHo loft, which were left unfinished and unstained to show “the pitter-patter of her son running about and the path that he takes every day.”

It all harks back to Calderone’s dedication to design that doesn’t take itself too seriously. “I can’t even tell you how many Instagram DMs I get with people asking me about my marble kitchen. Is that actual marble? Is that a fake material? Do you care about staining?” Her much-given response is to simply just embrace it. “Hopefully, people can start to find beauty in the imperfection.”

It all harks back to Calderone’s dedication to design that doesn’t take itself too seriously. “I can’t even tell you how many Instagram DMs I get with people asking me about my marble kitchen. Is that actual marble? Is that a fake material? Do you care about staining?” Her much-given response is to simply just embrace it. “Hopefully, people can start to find beauty in the imperfection.”