Book Smarts - Thrifty Chic: Interior Style on a Shoestring

Thrifty Chic: Interior Design on a Shoestring

by: Liz Bauwens and Alexandra Campbell

Thrifty Chic shows you how to reuse, revive, and reclaim in order to create a stylish but still individualized home, without spending a small fortune.  It goes through room by room and explains how to give old furniture a new lease on life, how paint and fabric can drastically transform a space, and includes step-by-step projects showing how to create some of the vintage looks for your own home.

The chapters include:

1.  Elements of Design

2.  Halls and Entrances

3.  Kitchens and Dining Rooms

4.  Living Spaces

5.  Bedrooms and Bathrooms

6.  Gardens and Outdoor Spaces

7.  The Projects

Some of the featured projects include patchwork pillows and covers, a button lampshade, a padded headboard, a fabric doorstop, and how to paint furniture and stair runners.  Following the projects, as in most other decorating books, there is a resource list.  The list only includes United States and United Kingdom locations, however.  Not so great for us Canadian folk!

I liked this book, but I didn't love it.  It did have some really nice photography or "eye candy."  I liked that it featured entrances and hallways since they so often go overlooked.  About half the decor shown in the book was too rustic and old-fashioned for my tastes (those ideas would be great and well-suited for a cottage or older home I found.)  It did feature some good tips such as:

"A set of shelves....have been installed on the wall above the cooktop....This sort of arrangement can pose a fire risk, however, so check the maximum height and reach of any flames before installation."  Safety first after all ;)

"A tip for garage or car-boot sales is to take a pad of paper and pen (it makes you look official) and not to look too interested when asking the price."  Mental note: practice poker face.

Book lovers can still enjoy their passion, just treat the books as art!  Storing them by colour creates a cool effect.  See below.

Source: Thrifty Chic via Shoestring

This was from one of my favourite series of images - a renovated schoolhouse.  Sadly it's the only one I can find online.  Just know that I would live in a renovated schoolhouse anyday!

Source: Thrifty Chic via Cico Books

Here are a few select images.

Source:  All above images courtesy of Thrifty Chic via Honeysuckle

A good book, but not a great-must-read-before-you-die kind of book.  If you have read any of the books I have reviewed in this series so far, I would love to hear your comments and reviews!  One person's junk could be another's treasure!  Do you have a favourite design book that I must read?