The Functional Home: A Practical Guide to Planning Intentional Living Spaces

* New York Times Bestseller *
* USA TODAY Bestseller *
* Independent Press Bestseller *

Discover how to design a home that works beautifully for the way your family actually lives with this accessible, practical guide to interior space planning.

The Functional Home delivers expert-level insight made approachable and easy to follow, without the high price tag of hiring a home design specialist. Professional interior designer and social media star Julie Jones (@juliejones_designs) spills all her secrets and hands you the tools to rethink your rooms, plan smart layouts, improve furniture placement, and create a home that is both functional and inviting —no matter its size, shape, or style.

From understanding the “language” of space to mastering the flow of furniture, lighting, and décor, Julie breaks down the fundamentals of interior space planning so you can design your own rooms with confidence. She helps you see your home through a technical lens—how people move, interact, and live within a space— so every square foot works harder and smarter for you and your family.

Whether you’re furnishing a new home, solving an awkward room layout, creating a multipurpose space, or improving an open-concept floor plan, you’ll learn how to make your home work for you !

In this useful and beautiful guide featuring more than 300 illustrations , including floor plans and diagrams, as well as photographs from the author’s residential design projects, you’ll discover:

Simple guidance for planning layouts that improve comfort, accessibility, circulation, and visual balance in every room. Room-by-room design strategies for kitchens, bathrooms, living rooms, bedrooms, home offices, entryways, and more. Expert insight into human scale and flow , with real-world examples that explain why measurements, dimensions, clearances, and furniture placement matter. Detailed kitchen and bath design advice , two of the most challenging and high-impact spaces in any home. Solutions for awkwardly shaped rooms, open-concept layouts, multipurpose spaces , and other real-world design challenges. Tips for new builds and remodels , plus tools for drawing to scale and mapping your own personalized floor plan. Metric equivalents for every measurement , in case you need them.
By the end, you’ll understand how to look at your home the way a designer does —balancing beauty, function, and practicality. The Functional Home empowers you to make smart design decisions that create safe, comfortable, and thoughtfully arranged spaces that truly fit your life using the same human-centered space-planning principles professional designers rely on every day.