No one can pinpoint the precise moment when flaky '50s morphed into midcentury modern. Probably just before you and your sibs convinced your parents to chuck their dated '60s dining-room suite. Really, really clever. But then again, who knew? Before you boot any more heirlooms off to Big Brothers, grab yourself a compact but packed gem called Modern Retro: Living with Mid-Century Modern Style (Ryland, Peters, Small, $16.95). Author Neil Bingham and gallery owner Andrew Weaving kick-start their educational blast from the past with a decade-by-decade look at design from '20s deco to post-modernism's start in the '70s, then use those years to bracket sections on furniture, lighting, rugs and textiles, glass, ceramics, and accessories, plus how items work in different rooms. With colour photographs throughout, it's a handy reference source to tuck in the glove box if you go yard sale–ing in the burbs. You never know. That could be an Eames chair.
Sleek modernity is the flip side of the rooms photographed for Vintage Fabric Style: Stylish Ideas and Projects Using Quilts and Flea-Market Finds in Your Home (Ryland, Peters, Small, $27.95), which looks exclusively at the tablecloths, curtains, and bits of fabric that can still occasionally surface at thrift stores. More to the point, Lucinda Ganderton and stylist Rose Hammick show you how to use your treasures when you get them home, or, if they have the odd spot or hole, how to salvage the good bits to make retro-pretty gifts and accessories. Be warned that there's some overlap of photos between this book and Creating Vintage Style: Stylish Ideas and Step-by-Step Projects (Ryland, Peters, Small, $23.95), also by Ganderton. Unless you're super-passionate about elderly chintz, flip through both books before you flip open your wallet.
Indoors, schmindoors. If plans are to spend most of the summer out in your back yard anyway, check through Projects for Small Gardens: 56 Projects With Step-by-Step Instructions by Richard Bird and George Carter (Ryland, Peters, Small, $27.95). Fifty-six plans, to be precise. As well as how-tos for picket fences and painted pots, you'll find step-by-step instructions on how to construct those savagely expensive “Versailles” wooden boxes. Roll into Home Depot and get started this weekend.
Being trapped eight hours””who am I kidding, 10 hours””a day in a sterile working environment is soul-draining. My cynical guess is that only the most enlightened company would let you adopt ideas line for line from Cube Chic: Take Your Office Space From Drab to Fab! (Quirk Books, $20.95), but you might be able to sneak in enough visual references””a brass cup for pencils, a screen saver of the Brooklyn Bridge, a Guinness poster and beer-mat “art”””to nourish the illusion that you're working in, respectively, India, New York, or a pub. Twilight Zone meets X-Files? A bamboo-walled Zen cube? An “old money” library setting? Go for it. Fearless fighter of bland, Kelley L. Moore does a stupendous job of stirring dissent among the Dilberts, transforming their cubicles' anonymous grey into 25 distinctive mini-environments.
Viewing your environment on a larger scale, The Healthy Home Workbook: Easy Steps for Eco-Friendly Living (Chronicle Books, $33.95) is dedicated “to those who pursue a thoughtful life”, which, as author Kimberly Rider explains, means everything from the food packaging you choose to the products you clean your bathroom with. Aware that baby steps eventually lead to giant leaps, she suggests a scale of categories. “Instant gratification” equals simple, inexpensive solutions; if you're “more committed”, you might install vents and window screens; and if you're serious about creating “a truly healthy home”, you could consider motorized ventilation and radiant heating.
Midwinter tableware from the '50s holds its allure; and an old teacup sets off a single bloom.
How much you gain from Thrift: How to Have a Stylish Home Without Breaking the Bank (Key Porter Books, $21.95) by Bridget Bodoano rather depends on what's in your bank account. Bodoano's broad hunting ground ranges from antique stores to Dumpsters, with emphasis leaning more to high-end than thrift store. Still, she does include nifty ideas for covering windows and provides clear instructions for making shabby-chic loose covers for too-shabby armchairs, and suggests using denture-cleaning tablets to spruce up old linens. You'll wonder where the yellow went...
Today, space has to function in multiple ways, and putting up guests usually means a pullout couch, a clean towel, and decent reading material on the side table. The appealing décor ideas inside do make Guest Rooms by Hilary Heminway and Alexander Heminway (Gibbs Smith, $33.95) worth a skim. But worth the purchase? I dunno. The text occasionally reduced me to head-shaking wonder. “Blacken the wick of a brand new candle to make it look better.” Huh? People actually do that?
http://www.straight.com/node/43052
