New Interior Book: How The French Live

Heads upwards (or noses in?!), there's a novel interior mass on the shelves! Curator of i of my favourite blogs French By Design (if you lot don't follow her already, it's a must!) Siham Mazouz launched her debut tome How the French Live lastly calendar month - together with it's a beauty! Si moved from the South of French Republic to the USA nine years ago. The mass features 14 French homes each amongst their ain relaxed, yet chic manner together with every chapter closes amongst a identify unit of measurement recipe to prolong the warmth of the hospitality they've shared. I caught upwards amongst Si to abide by out more.

"Modern French families tend to mix together with tally décor elements from unlike eras together with styles to create unique interiors that stand upwards for them."

I know simply how much operate goes into a mass together with was so impressed you lot wrote it, did the styling together with took all the photography - what a feat!!

"I wrote all the content together with shot all the pictures but the styling credits become the homeowners. They did an amazing task preparing their domicile for my visit; I actually wanted this mass to live an authentic window into the French civilization together with these families' lifestyles, so you'll consider electrical cables together with hidden objects of 'real' life, because this is how an interior actually looks." 

"(In France) meals are a agency to connect, to exchange, to create memories. I thence asked each identify unit of measurement to portion their signature recipe".

What would you lot similar people to accept away from your book?

"I’d dear for people to approach their décor inward a simpler, to a greater extent than intuitive together with authentic way; allow become of rules together with pressures to fit decor standards (less house) together with focus on what actually matters (more home). In the end, our domicile is where the magic happens together with where nosotros create memories amongst people who thing to us; Have fun decorating your nest together with allow your domicile say your personal story!"

What are your fondest memories from the project?
"My fondest retentiveness is past times far the human connections I made spell visiting these 14 families. Because I was a one-woman show, I was recording all conversations on a pocket-size recorder spell shooting the infinite together with chatting amongst the homeowner. It led to deeper exchanges together with a whole novel approach to décor: the human even behind the infinite I was photographing. This was amazing."

It must experience so personal to you lot - what was it similar finally getting the mass inward your hands? 

It was a surreal moment; I was an emotional mess, bursting of joy together with trigger-happy upwards amongst emotion at the same time, when I finally held my kickoff physical re-create of How The French live. It was so foreign to consider all my work, edited through months together with months of work, copywriting while listening to hours of vice recordings, caption writing, all gathered inward i book. I felt proud together with really humbled at the same time, I withal produce when I plow the pages of the mass together with I oftentimes receive got a grinning on my confront because I retrieve my run across amongst each of these lovely families.

Thank you lot so much for telling us close your lovely mass Si! I know I'll live dipping inward together with out for inspiration (and the strange recipe similar the grilled fig together with burrata salad!).

If you'd similar to selection upwards a re-create it's available here:

How the French Live: Modern French Style

Have a lovely day!


All Photography (except the comprehend shot together with spreads which I photographed on my kitchen tabular array before today!) are past times Siham Mazouz for How the French Live, reprinted past times permission of Gibbs Smith.