Like the copy of the Joy of Cooking that my gramma gave me when I was younger, there are certain books that are classics, eschewing fads and trends and focusing on timeless tips and wisdom. For the home there are so many wonderful tips on blogs and in magazines but there are some books that have been timeless for me filled with common sense and experience. They remind me to keep my home healthy both physically and, not to get too airy-fairy, spiritually. So as spring cleaning shifts into full gear, check out some classic books about keeping home and jump below to add your favorite home-keeping books to the list:
8 Best Home-Keeping Books
1. Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House
2. Home: A Brief History of an Idea has more to do with the history of the idea of home but is a great way to get a different perspective on what our homes are for.
3. Martha Stewart's Home Keeping Handbook
4. Talking Dirty with the Queen of Clean is full of common sense cleaning techniques using ingredients you find around the house. It's a little like fly lady in its tone.
5. A Year of Mornings is my reminder to take some time each morning to get centered and see the beauty of my morning table, the morning light and the silence that exists before the day begins. I consider it an inspiration for keeping my spiritual home healthy.
6. Clearing Your Clutter With Feng Shui was the first book that broke down for me what makes a home healthy and feeling good and inspired me to pay attention to my living space in a different way than I had before.
7. My home wouldn't be a home without a garden and the Sunset Western Garden Book is my family's garden bible.
8. And of course, it is The Spring Cure which is only possible because Maxwell wrote the 8 Step Home Cure which is what got me hooked on AT to begin with!
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Sorry, can't make the stretch to consider A Year of Mornings as "home-keeping" in my book. The other suggestions are all great, though.
view Malia's profile
Love Martha Stewart's book. It's pretty much all you need.
view Seaside's profile
While the "Home Comfort" book does have some good information in it, she pretty much lost me with her insistence that the only way to properly clean your floors was scrubbing them on hands and knees. Sorry. No Way.
view fjorlief's profile
Are there good "Green" home-keeping books?
view Lizzykewl's profile
Home by Witold Rybczynski is hardly a "home-keeping" book either. Not in the sense that this post seems to imply, anyway.
view travislessness's profile
If you're going with Feng Shui, "Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life" is incredible. I can't think of anyone more cynical than I was before reading this, but it has honestly made my life better. I've literally bought 7 copies because everyone who borrows mine keeps it, or requests a copy as a housewarming present. I don't believe in chi floating around my apt per se, but the tips in here are great and the writing is amusing and easy to read.
http://www.amazon.com/Move-Your-Stuff-Change-Life/dp/B001UE71FW/ref=pd_sim_b_1/190-9210916-9197434
view firecracker's profile
I love homekeeping books. My top favorite for inspiration is Home Comforts, although she seems to think people spend a lot more time cleaning their home than I think they do.
I also like Martha Stewart's book. Not as inspirational, and I don't really care about her big houses that she talks about sometimes, but full of useful tips on how to clean things.
view Taylor at Household Management 101's profile
while i absolutely adore 'a year of mornings', i, too, am puzzled to see it as a homekeeping book.
view abigailbelle's profile
I understand your confusion. I was thinking of it in terms of being an inspiratino for those quiet moments that happen at home. When I look through those images I feel inspired to pay attention to the details at home. So it's less a manual and more a spark to remind me to care for my home because it can house so much.
view laure's profile