- Hardcover: 1 pages
- Publisher: GP Putnam And Sons (Nov 26 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0399144382
- ISBN-13: 978-0399144387
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 19.3 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 703 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (107 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,250,756 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Finally, finally, a practical home-decorating book for the reader who is not a millionaire! Rather than call in a professional design consultant to tell you which walls "must go" and throwing out everything you own in favor of new and expensive designer fabrics, furniture, and fixtures, Ward starts with what you already have and makes dramatic transformations by arrangement, use of color, and a few inexpensive additions of objects or materials. Her idea is to use what you already have and like, and operate on a budget you can afford to make your home more satisfying and aesthetically pleasing to you without being a slave to passing trends, fads, and radical transformations that end up making you feel like a stranger in your own home.
Among the many tips and guidelines, Ward starts with the top 10 decorating mistakes that professionals all know about, but that anyone can recognize and fix. She covers diagnosing problems that jar the eyes, offers suggestions on items to banish and others to borrow from elsewhere in the home to create more visual appeal, talks about how to shop for furniture that will work with what you already own, offers tips for new homeowners and people just starting out to make older furniture work in new spaces, and covers the kinds of dramatic improvements possible through the use of the right artwork, accessories, and lighting. This is a great gift book for newlyweds, new homeowners, or anyone interested in creative, lively home decorating without breaking the bank. --Mark A. Hetts
From Library Journal
Ward, founder of Use What You Have Interiors, shares her ten design considerations, such as making a comfortable conversation area, identifying a room's focal point, and using light correctly, for transforming homes into livable, attractive spaces. She devotes a chapter to each of these principles with before-and-after pictures of clients' homes, identifying what the problems are and how to correct them. In each case, she includes a list of what was eliminated, borrowed from other rooms, or bought. Focusing on living and dining rooms, Ward concludes with a brief discussion of kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms. Never advocating a particular style, except for an uncluttered look, her book will be a practical purchase for public libraries.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Your home says a lot about who you are. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Your home says a lot about who you are. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book! For anyone who wonders why something won't work,
By A Customer
This review is from: Use What You Have Decorating (Paperback)
I am not a decorator by nature.I'm constantly frustrated by decorating magazines, TV shows, and friends with the decorating gene who babble on about breaking "the rules" as if a person like me knew what "the rules" were in the first place. Before you can successfully break rules, you have to know what they are in the first place. All these decorator types had me frustrated and angry. They knew something, but were either unwilling or unable to share their ability to make stuff work. Laughing off a serious question about placement or colour choice with "go with your gut instinct-- it's OK to break the rules" doesn't work if your gut instinct consistently leads you in the wrong direction. I can singlehandedly prove to any designer born, that you CAN'T successfully "break the rules" at all times. I have made more than my share of mistakes that leaves my decorator friends stunned in disbelief that ANYONE could DO that!!!! NOW I'm happy! Lauri Ward's 2 books, this one and her second one TOLD ME THE RULES!!! NOW I KNOW WHY SOME ROOMS WORK AND OTHERS DEFINITELY DON'T. All I needed was someone to explain it. Lauri did. I highly recommend both books. I really don't care if some decorator types don't like people finding out the rules, or feel that someone like me will slavishly produce vanilla bland spaces. This is a book about sharing decorating tools, showing people how it works, then expecting them to go off and make their own stuff look better in their own place. BTW it's not about colour. It's all about placing furniture in a room to make it serene, calm and pleasing. People who know the rules instinctively might not care for this book but for the rest of us who keep saying HUNH??? this book is for you and me. It's going to give us the edge to put a room together and have it look good enough that our decorating friends will back off and quit giving us that pitying look. For colour and life and so forth, I recommend the Pottery Barn books, they are great. I also recommend Dylan Landis's book Elegant and Easy Rooms which I also like for the paint "recipes" for rooms that work.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Have Furniture? You Need This Book!,
By mollie (Winchester, VA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Use What You Have Decorating (Paperback)
This book saves the day for anyone who has been moving their furniture around and has never been able to get it right. It shows common mistakes and how to fix them quickly. No need to buy lots of new things. Even after everything looks great, this book is so handy for reference. When questions crops up about lighting, displaying art or making new purchases, it has all the answers. Your copy will get dog-earred too!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Instant Decorating for Every Budget,
By A Customer
This review is from: Use What You Have Decorating (Paperback)
If there is one book every home decorator needs it is this. Without spending thousands of dollars (okay, I spent nothing!), I gave my home a fabulous makeover. Lauri Ward, the author, recommends reading the entire book and then rereading, which helped me have a better overall idea of what my mistakes were so that I was able to pinpoint them quickly, before I started moving things around.This book will probably make you ask yourself "why didn't I think of that before?" Fortunately, Ms. Ward, the pioneer of the "one day decorating" concept did and she provides the secrets for us novices and pros too who want to learn how they can do it .
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