French Women Don’t Get Fat meets The Little Book of Hygge in this lively, sophisticated, and practical illustrated lifestyle guide that shows how to enjoy la belle vie — to live like the French every day — transforming your house into a home defined by beauty, family, and accessible elegance.
“Written with charm and precision, Home Sweet Maison is both a guide to creating unique and beautiful spaces, as well as an insightful and fascinating exploration of French culture…[it] shows us how to bring French warmth and elegance to our own homes and, in turn, lead richer, more connected lives.”
— Ann Mah, author of Mastering the Art of French Eating
and The Lost Vintage
How do the French create the elusive and alluring sanctuaries they call home? This question long intrigued Danielle Postel-Vinay. Thanks to a chance encounter with a French expat in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and years of immersive research, she embarked on a quest to discover the secrets of the French home aesthetic.
Experiencing first-hand la belle vie—the beautiful life—Postel-Vinay now shows everyone how to create their own French sanctuary, a home sweet maison, no matter where they live. Providing more than just interior decorating and design tips, Postel-Vinay teaches you how to foster the warmth, beauty, and rituals inherent in the French home and create an environment better suited to living a rich, full, connected life. At the center of the book is the idea that your house should be a reflection of you, your hobbies, your family history, your rituals, all the things that make your life unique. A happy home is a home that expresses your rituals and your taste, not one that relies on prefab décor from a mass retailer.
Home Sweet Maison takes a room-by-room approach to show how the French view:
- The Aesthetic: why the objects in your home matter, why minimalism is overrated, and why the French always choose the perfect décor for their salons
- The Practical: how to use mise-en-place, or the French art of organization, in your kitchen, and how to find the right stain-removing potions to create your own French laundry
- The Sensual: the way the French employ scent in their home as a personal signature
- The Philosophical: the idea that every room in a French house has a specific purpose, and that the activity in one room should never bleed into the others
Home Sweet Maison encapsulates the very heart of the French way of seeing the world: set the table formally, adhere to all the conventions of ritual and tradition, then take pleasure in indulgence. It’s about using French concepts and routines to change our homes, our relationships, and our lives for the better.
The Author
Danielle Postel-Vinay is an American writer who has lived extensively in France. She currently lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico with her Parisian husband and thier youngest daughter.
The French Way of Life
Danielle made her first trip to France at the age of sixteen. She fell head over heels in love with France, but noticed that the French had very different ideas about everything from diet to manners to love. She met her first mentor in the art of French living soon after, Jacqueline Manon, an expatriate woman who had brought her French sensibility to her Midwestern home. They became close friends, and for the next decades Danielle became a passionate student of all things French. She became intimately connected to the inner workings of French life when she met her husband, Hadrien, a filmmaker who grew up in Paris and Brittany. It was through the Postel-Vinay family that she was introduced to the private culture of French life, with all its beautiful rituals and unspoken expectations.
The Book
Home Sweet Maison is the result of many years of living in France, observing the rituals of her French in-laws, and distilling the essence of what makes French daily life so alluring. It is not simply a guide to home decor and etiquette, but an exploration of the deep cultural assumptions that inform everything that happens in a French home. Like Jacqueline Manon, who recreated her French sanctuary in a small Midwestern town, you too can experience the warmth, beauty, and elegance of the French in your own home.