A lot of interior design books are basically gigantic photographs of interiors with negligible text. But “Elements of Style: Designing A Home & A Life” is different; in this case, the writing is part of what makes it useful.

“Elements of Style…” is the first book from Erin Gates, the popular American blogger and independent interior designer. Gates’ blog, with the same name, has been dispensing interior-design wisdom since 2007, mixing in details of her life and career.

The 7.4” x 9.1” hardcover—smaller than the regular coffee-table book—published by Simon & Schuster in 2014, has big photos of Gates’ projects with a purposefully natural flow.

“Elements of Style…” moves through the living room, the kitchen, the dining room, family room, bedroom, way into the outdoors. Like a personalized design tour, imagine Gates walking you through the different parts of her creative brain as she offers invaluable tips.

For example, there are 12 couches to choose from and five kinds of bedroom styles. The section about kitchens even includes recipes for balsamic dressing and beef stew.

Bold, fancy style

The sections on bedrooms and home offices are quite fascinating. These layouts all exemplify Gates’ own design sense, of course, and it turns out she has an elaborate, gilded taste, tending toward the bold and the fancy. The fact that the book has leopard-print endpapers should be a clue. If you’re looking for a more minimalist approach, you won’t find it here.

The big difference you get from Gates and her book is the writing. She shares insights on what makes a room work as well as what she really does as an interior designer.

Discussing individuality, she notes: “Designing a home is a very personal venture… It provides a canvas on which we can illustrate who we are; your space should look like you and no one else.”

Later on, she talks about practicality: “It’s all about respecting how you live and not trying to create a space for some person who lives in a magazine.”

Gates’ warm, witty style is unusual for a design book. It’s conversational but also opinionated. Additionally, she talks at length about her calling as a design blogger, discussing the routines of blogging life and even giving aspiring bloggers tips, something you won’t see in a typical coffee-table book.

Portfolio

The book aims to be both a portfolio of Gates’ work, accompanied by the basics to aid designers, as well as a collection of her writing, providing reflections on her craft as well as personal anecdotes about her career.

These are the elements that lift this book above other dry, run-of-the-mill design books which just look good but are neither helpful nor thoughtful.

Put all that together and “Elements of Style” makes for an immersive and detailed introduction to the design universe of Erin Gates, adding something really different for the home.

Available at National Book Store branches