At Home: Make your home romantic — within limits, says new book

”There is no energy unless there is a tension of opposites.” — psychiatrist Carl Jung

I like spare interiors, and I like beautifully adorned rooms. I like crystal chandeliers and rustic tables. I like carved gilded mirrors and industrial light fixtures. I like modern furniture alongside antiques.

And I like it all at the same time.

Which is why I was so happy to get an advance copy of a new book that speaks my mind in pictures and words. “The Romantic Minimalist — Simple Homes with Soul,” by married design duo Atlanta Bartlett and Dave Coote, comes out Oct. 22 and is an ideal companion for those who like their interiors humble and luxurious, but aren’t sure how to pull that off.

So I could get a handle on this, asking for a friend, of course, I hopped on a Zoom call with Bartlett and Coote, who spoke to me from their romantically minimal home across the pond on the South Coast of England, near Dungeness. I asked them what I always ask authors of new design books: Why another one?

“We wrote this book because we found that many people don’t want to give up their pretty fabrics and pretty china,” Bartlett said. “Yet they wonder whether they can have a pared-back simple interior and still have vintage cushions and granny’s dishes.”

“We’ve been through the more is more era, and through the really pared-back era with concrete floors and no curtains,” Coote added about the sixth design book he and Bartlett have co-written. “This book addresses how to find the synergy between the two.”

“My question exactly,” I said. “I understand minimalism, and I understand romanticism. But how do you marry them in one look?”

“First, understand that all furnishings look better when they have a foil, something that opposes or contrasts with them,” Bartlett said. “We are all a mad mass of contradictions. Our homes should reflect that, shiny and matte, rough with smooth.”

“Amen,” I said, feeling instant relief. “Like one minute we crave sweet, and the next we want salty.”

“We wanted to go beyond the lonely sofa in the monastic empty room to achieve a softer, comfortable look that is still calm and a little Zen,” Coote said.

That’s the sweet spot all right. And the 244-page hardcover shows us how. The resulting look, which their richly photographed book beautifully illustrates, lands at the four-way intersection of simplicity, authenticity, glamour and comfort, while offering more tips and instructive advice than many books in its genre. The book has chapters on light, color and bringing in nature along with 10 case studies featuring homes applying their romantic-minimalist concepts.

“The emphasis lies in appreciating the imperfect, encouraging self-expression and never compromising on comfort,” the authors write in the introduction. Beyond that, Bartlett and Coote offer the following hallmarks of romantic minimalism:

• Honest materials. Romantic minimalism celebrates the use of raw materials like hand-troweled plaster, natural wood, nubby linen, worn leather and any honest material that is not trying to pretend it’s something else.

• Negative space. Featured objects gain importance when they have lots of space around them, Bartlett said. “What lies in between objects, namely space, is as important as the objects themselves. That is the crux of serenity in design.”

• Natural light. “We use natural daylight as a decorative element and view it as essential for mental and physical health,” she said. “It’s especially important to those of us who live in Northern regions that have long spells of darkness.” Indeed, most of the interiors featured in their book have white-washed wood floors and white wood paneling because the white reflects light so well.

• Leggy furniture. Furniture with legs on white wood floors automatically makes a room feel more spacious and airier than rooms with heavier solid upholstered furniture and covered legs on carpeting.

• Contradictions. Part of the authors’ signature is the mixing of opposites, such as masculine and feminine. Coote, for instance, is all about the wood, his wife said. “I pull him back, as he pulls me from making a room too pretty. A room that’s too pretty can become overly sentimental and sickly sweet. So, we end up mixing industrial with cozy, soft with hard, old with new.”

• Appreciation for what you have. The book urges readers to shun materialism in favor of sustainability. “We need to stop thinking we always need to buy new, and instead reinvent rather than replace what we have,” Bartlett said. “Somebody might look at an item they’ve had for some time and say they need to replace it, when really they could reinvent it and reuse it for a different purpose in another room. Perhaps an old bedroom dresser can go in the entryway.”

Marni Jameson is the author of seven home improvement books. Reach her at marnijameson.com.