The Home Bird: Creating joyful interiors where old meets new by Elle Hervin

Elle Hervin’s The Home Bird is a refreshingly practical guide to making your house feel like yours - no degree in interior design required! It’s part handbook, pep talk and armchair house tour, all tied together by her modern vintage aesthetic.

“Old meets new is an approach to interior design that has been at the heart of my own decorating style and embodies the very essence of The Home Bird: Creating Joyful Interiors Where Old Meets New,” says Elle.

Part One lays the foundation with a clear 7-step formula for creating an authentic aesthetic, showing how a controlled colour palette and recurring themes can turn everyday rooms into spaces with personality. There’s the dopamine decor effect, the power of nostalgia and the joy of colour to be explored too. I especially liked the idea that a beautiful home comes from a simple toolkit, rather than expensive one-time makeovers. Elle’s useful tips are genuinely actionable!

In Part Two, Elle tackles every room: kitchen, dining, living, bedroom, bathroom and hallway, balancing mood with function. Storage, durability and everyday living sit alongside styling advice, so your home feels lived-in rather than carefully staged. The colour guidance is particularly helpful too.

Part Three is pure inspiration, featuring nine diverse homes, including a rustic cottage, a mid-century farmhouse, a bell tower, and a converted barn. By using these case studies, Elle shows how the same principles work across different homes and people’s lives.

“Searching for secondhand and vintage homewares became a therapy of sorts and allowed me to see how curating an individual home could be both healing and hugely enjoyable; I discovered a cathartic kind of beauty in repurposing a neglected, unloved piece of furniture from a flea market or car boot sale (swap meet),” says Elle who nearly lost her life following the birth of her third son.

Elle Hervin is a writer and content creator who has turned her love of interior design into a full-time job following the success of her social media presence. Follow Elle online. 

Reviewer: Andrea Molloy

Hachette