As the founder of DwellStudio and author of Undecorate (one of our all-time favorite design books), Christiane Lemieux is an absolute authority on great design. We heard whisperings that she was working on a new book, and couldn’t wait to get our hands on a copy. When The Finer Things — and its gilded cover — finally landed on our desks, it was obvious that this one will be a must-have for any design-loving library. (And boy, does it look good on a coffee table.)

Curious about more than the pretty gold cover? The pages inside look at the history of a particular craft, with the world’s leading experts weighing in. “From cover to cover, you’ll get a historical time line of everything from wallpaper to upholstery,” Christiane says. “It was incredibly informative to speak to some of the world’s leading experts in their fields and share their knowledge in one place.”

For example, in the paint section, Christiane reached out to David Oliver of Paint Library to explain how to really see the light when it comes to choosing a color. Christiane explains, “Instead of painting a flat swatch he uses a 3-dimensional box – like a show box so that you can understand how the color works – even in the corners. Genius!”

The book will be quite educational for readers, just as it was for Christiane herself. “I went back to my art history roots and traced the modern salon wall from the 17th century to Gertrude Stein’s apartment at Rue De Fleurus through to Brook Astor’s dog-filled grand staircase.” Of course, we can’t forget to mention the beautiful imagery. Christiane continues, “I spent a considerable amount of time researching both photos and content in the Conde Nast Library and was thrilled to include incredible images by Horst P Horst and T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings in the text.  Sometimes the best information is historical and modern at the same time.”

For a closer look at the pages inside, start the slideshow. To snag a copy of your own, click here.