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Myquillyn Smith
Myquillyn Smith, known as "The Nester," is the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Welcome Home, Cozy Minimalist Home, and The Nesting Place. A writer, homebody, and self-described "contentment evangelist," she has spent over 15 years encouraging women to embrace their spaces — imperfections and all. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and three sons.
On LuvemBooks, we've reviewed 2 of Myquillyn Smith's books, including The Nesting Place and Cozy Minimalist Home.
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Books ReviewedMyquillyn Smith books in order
2 books; 2 reviewed on LuvemBooks. Dates and covers from Amazon.
2014Our review →
2018Our review →
The Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful
4.6/5
reader rating · 1,791 ratingsMyquillyn Smith's The Nesting Place is a four-color home-decorating book built on a single liberating premise: a home doesn't need to be perfect to be beautiful, and real life — kids, pets, mess, and all — is not an obstacle to a welcoming space but the very thing worth designing around.
Reviewed Mar 27, 2026
Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff
4.5/5
reader rating · 1,955 ratingsMyquillyn Smith's Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff is a home-design guide written for the hands-on woman who wants a beautiful, comfortable space without accumulating more than she needs — a practical, spiritually inflected answer to "clutter anxiety" that works room by room, one purposeful decision at a time.
Reviewed Apr 23, 2026
Ask LuvemBooks about Myquillyn Smith
Myquillyn Smith, known as "The Nester," has two books reviewed on LuvemBooks, both in the Home & Garden space. In The Nesting Place, she builds her central argument around a counterintuitive premise: that imperfection is not an obstacle to a beautiful home but the very condition that makes it livable and personal. Across both reviewed titles, she consistently pairs practical decorating guidance with a philosophy of contentment, making her work as much about mindset as it is about interiors.
- Where should I start?
- If you are new to Myquillyn Smith, The Nesting Place is the natural entry point. It introduces her foundational philosophy — that a home does not need to be finished or flawless to be beautiful — and it is the book where her personal voice comes through most strongly, grounded in her own story of renting, moving, and learning to let go of perfectionism. It carries a reader rating of 4.6/5 from nearly 1,800 Amazon ratings, which suggests it has resonated widely with her core audience.
- What's their writing style?
- Smith writes in a conversational, first-person voice that reads more like advice from a candid friend than a design manual. She regularly uses her own home, mistakes, and evolving taste as the primary material, which gives her prescriptive content a confessional quality that feels earned rather than aspirational. Her prose is light and accessible, with short chapters that suit browsing as much as cover-to-cover reading, and she consistently frames decorating decisions as expressions of values — particularly the value of contentment over comparison.
- Books we've reviewed
- LuvemBooks has reviewed two of Myquillyn Smith's books. The Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful (reader rating 4.6/5 from 1,791 Amazon ratings) is her foundational title, making the case that imperfection is the starting point for a home you actually love. Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff (reader rating 4.5/5 from 1,955 Amazon ratings) is her more method-focused follow-up, offering a framework for decorating with fewer but better-chosen pieces.
- How do her books compare?
- The Nesting Place and Cozy Minimalist Home share the same underlying philosophy but serve different reader needs. The Nesting Place is the more personal and narrative-driven of the two — it is as much memoir as it is decorating advice, and its power comes from Smith working through the emotional side of home-making. Cozy Minimalist Home is more structured and immediately practical, organised around the idea that most people have too much in their spaces and would benefit from a deliberate, step-by-step editing process. Readers who respond to story and permission-giving tend to love The Nesting Place first; those who want a clear method often find Cozy Minimalist Home the more useful reference.
- What genre do they write?
- Myquillyn Smith writes in the Home & Garden genre, specifically at the intersection of interior decorating and lifestyle philosophy. Her books are not design manuals in the technical sense — they are closer to narrative self-help applied to the domestic space, arguing that how you relate to your home is as important as how it looks. Readers drawn to authors like Emily Ley or Alexandra Stoddard, or to the broader "slow living" and intentional home movement, tend to find her work a natural fit.
- What should I read after her books?
- If you have read both of Smith's reviewed titles and want to stay in similar territory, authors worth exploring include Sherry Nolan for approachable DIY home styling, Emily Ley for the overlap of home organisation and intentional living, and Marie Kondo for a more rigorous minimalist framework that shares Smith's conviction that your environment shapes your wellbeing. For readers who responded most strongly to the philosophical and contentment-focused side of Smith's work, Alexandra Stoddard's writing on everyday beauty is a natural companion.
Who is Myquillyn Smith?
Where should I start?
What's their writing style?
Books we've reviewed
How do her books compare?
What genre do they write?
What should I read after her books?
Who is Myquillyn Smith?
Myquillyn Smith, known online and in print as "The Nester," is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author based in North Carolina. She has spent over 15 years writing and blogging about home decorating with a philosophy rooted in contentment — encouraging people to work with what they have rather than waiting for a perfect space or budget. Her books blend practical interior advice with a warm, personal voice shaped by her own experience moving through nearly 13 homes in her marriage.
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Authors Like Myquillyn Smith
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Melissa Michaels
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Self-Help & Personal Development
Melissa Michaels shares an encouraging, imperfect-home philosophy in The Inspired Room, offering practical, budget-friendly ideas for readers who want to embrace and decorate their spaces without intimidation.
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Joanna Gaines
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In Homebody, Joanna Gaines shares Smith's conviction that a home should feel like you rather than a showroom, layering in style-specific guidance with the same warm approach.
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Liz Marie Galvan
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Liz Marie Galvan's Cozy White Cottage shares Myquillyn Smith's cozy-home philosophy, offering house and garden photography and DIY inspiration with a visual, rustic farmhouse lens.
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Joshua Becker
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Joshua Becker's The Minimalist Home shares the same room-by-room structure and less-is-more conviction for decluttering your living spaces.
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Emily Henderson
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Emily Henderson's Styled complements Smith's philosophy with concrete, visual rules and ten actionable steps for arranging surfaces and rooms.
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Whitney Leigh Morris
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Whitney Leigh Morris is an author, small space expert, and sustainable interior designer passionate about "rightsized" home design, multigenerational living, and co-stewardship. She is the founder of The Tiny Canal Cottage, a 1920s bungalow in Venice Beach, California, which she chronicles through her blog and Instagram. Her debut book, *Small Space Style*, shares ideas for making tiny spaces efficient and stylish.
1 book reviewed