This Is Home

Marks believes a home must reflect the way its inhabitants want to live, their unique perspective, how they approach their lives. Trained in England, Marks has long had a deep and profound architectural crush on the British vernacular, which creates a pleasing interplay with his Southern California roots. The homes explored in the book include his 1925 beach cottage in Montecito; a clean Bahamian compound open to the azure seas with design drama, color, and romance at every turn; a working Los Angeles horse farm; and his new family home in Greenwich, Connecticut. Along the way Marks shares key bits of advice for creating the looks. Casual comfort is key-performance fabrics, cotton and natural fiber rugs, blues pulled from the outdoors-as is a sense of theater, accomplished with antiques and dramatic lighting. The results are homes that feel layered and dramatic, but always comfortable and ready to be lived in.