On our coffee tables

These beautiful books make excellent pick-up-and-browse reads for both you and your guests.

Perfect Curtains: Smart Solutions, Fabulous Fabrics and Insiring Designs by Stephanie Hoppen (Clarkson Potter, R495)

Decor guru and London art gallery owner Stephanie Hoppen showcases more than 200 styles and ideas for dressing windows from all over the world.

These include the exquisite work of South African company African Sketchbook, which was recently involved in refashioning the Cape Grace Hotel.

Her decorator’s tips offer expert advice, and ideas are illustrated with masses of photographs. If you get excited about headings, linings, layering, borders and trimmings, then this is the book for you.

Home: New Directions in World Architecture(Briza Publications, R599)

This beautiful coffee-table book insightfully examines our intimate living spaces.

Compiled by Professor ’Ora Joubert, Chris Abel and Michael Webb, it explores the concept of what a home means to different people.

Part 1 looks at homes from different times and cultures, while Part 2 showcases 120 homes completed across the globe in the last decade.

Preserving a house by Jos Baker (R220)

Foodie and journalist Jos Baker and her late husband, David, undertook the restoration of Klein Zoar, the 300-year-old cottage reputedly the former home of folk hero Wolraad Woltemade.

The book recounts the couple’s personal experiences, interlaced with historical facts and Cape recipes. It is being distributed by the National Sea Rescue Institute to raise funds. Contact Meriel Bartlett at merielb@searescue.org.za.