HGTV star Erin Napier reveals her decorating pet peeve and shares design insights ahead of her book release, ‘Heirloom Rooms.’ Discover the tip to avoid in this exclusive interview.
Erin Napier Reveals Decorating Pet Peeve
Erin Napier, star of Home Town and author of the upcoming book Heirloom Rooms, shared her strong dislike for bright lights in home décor. In an interview, she expressed her preference for softer lighting, stating that she cannot tolerate the use of intense 100-watt daylight bulbs throughout a house. Her ideal choice is 40-watt soft white bulbs for a more inviting ambiance.
“I cannot stand bright lights in a house. I don’t know why. I mean, there’s a time and place for it. I am a light bulb snob. I cannot handle walking into a house and they’ve got 100-watt daylights everywhere… Save them for hospital use and operating rooms. I’m a 40 watt person. Forty watt, soft white.”
In addition to her lighting preferences and HGTV work, Erin Napier has been busy working on her book, Heirloom Rooms, set to be released in October. The book focuses on the deep connection people form with their homes and how these spaces become integral to their lives. Napier believes that regardless of a house’s appearance, it serves as a backdrop for significant life moments, and she encourages documenting these memories. Each chapter in the book represents a room where she recounts major milestones and challenges in life, showing that it’s not just about the house itself but the life experiences within it.
“[It’s] about the ways we become attached to our houses as if they are part of our family. And it doesn’t matter how beautiful or how normal, how average that house is, it’s this bubble where all these amazing milestones in a lifetime happen. We should be documenting our houses no matter what they look like. I wanted to make every chapter a room where I write down the major milestone memories, and what I found was I wasn’t really writing about a house — I was writing about life and about the challenges in life.”
Erin Napier’s book, Heirloom Rooms, delves into the various chapters of life, each represented by a room in a house. For instance, the “Guest Room” chapter explores the desire for a second child and the uncertainty that comes with it, drawing from her own experience of welcoming their second daughter, Mae, in 2021, following the birth of their first child, Helen, in 2018.
Another chapter centered around the kitchen serves as a metaphor for friendship, highlighting the time spent chatting, eating, and bonding with friends. These chapters are not just about physical rooms but delve into the deeper themes of life. Napier found the process of writing this book to be therapeutic and meaningful.
“While we are excited to have another daughter to love, we are more excited to see the bond she and Helen will have. They’re already so in love with each other!” the pair told PEOPLE at that point.
“They’re all about themes in life more so than just rooms,” Napier adds. “And I loved writing it so, so much. It was like therapy.”