Budget Living Home Cheap Home: A Room-By-Room Guide to Great Decorating

by Budget Living

Spend smart, live rich. When it comes to decorating with sophistication and flair, great style doesn't have to come with a big price tag. The editors of Budget Livingmagazine, the leading experts on living large and spending small, give readers the lowdown on design and show how to transform a home into a haven----without breaking the bank. From tiny studios to sprawling houses, this innovative do-it-yourself guide will inspire readers to add color,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399529683
• ISBN13: 9780399529689
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Perigee Books
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.5" x 10.8"

Customer Reviews

Great Eclectic Ideas

I've gotten quite a few design books in the past couple of years, and this is one of my favorites. While I wouldn't replicate some of these designs (suitcase as end table? gothic house? blech!!), I thought that the ideas presented in the book are inventive and align with my thrift store/modern aesthetic. What I like about the book is that presents ideas that use more creativity than money, yet dont't look cheesy/kitschy. And unlike other books that draw from thrift store finds, it doesn't look like some sterile '50s Danish furniture museum. Old stuff is mixed with modern and rustic. It's a look that's attainable and easy to live with. I don't have the time or energy (or money!) to create a period perfect living environment, yet I want to have something that doesn't look too modern and cookie-cutter. This book I believe strikes the correct balance.

Kinda like a nice big jar of eye candy for your coffee table

Don't have a subscription to the magazine, but bet I'd like it! Also, I don't mind when magazines publish "best of" compilations of articles to a specific theme - it saves me having to go hunt down those particular issues, which I may not have saved anyway!! The photos in here are fabulous for examining in detail. Definitely a swell idea book. I found the prices quoted to run the gamut from REALLY low, to what I personally might consider moderately high, but I am more of an "idea gleaner" type girl than an "I want to copy this entire room down to the very tschotkes on the tschelves and not pay a penny more" type girl. And there are so many cool ideas between the pages of Home Cheap Home you'll be inspired and doing the interior design thing yourself as quickly as you can utter the words "Oh yay! Pop Art's still alive"!

Make Your Place Unique

Anyone remember the 1970s magazine, Apartment Living (or was it Apartment Life)? The style and projects in this book remind me of that innovative magazine. I wish the projects had the step-by-step instructions and graphics, but actually they look manageable even without the details. The book starts you thinking of offbeat sources of art to make your space special. Think of kid's art, instead of pricey modern art, or spray paint glass vases silver to mimic expensive mercury glass. Iron applique letters onto throw pillows to get a monogrammed effect. The book gives examples for rearranging what you have for greater impact. Read the list of common decorating mistakes to get started. I liked the fun touches (a window seat full of vintage sock monkeys) and the liberating free-wheeling decorating that they advocate. The projects include turning an ice bucket into a lampshade, painting your own zebra skin rug on vinyl, slipcover your headboard, and making wooden wine crates into storage bins. A particularly striking project turned three hardback books into wall art by folding the pages. This project did include step-by-step instructions. Don't mistake this for Shabby Chic. Yes, many of the rooms feature flea market finds, but this is not the gentle pastels and rich touches of that decorating trend. This features bold rooms with an offbeat look.

Chic AND cheap decorating (with a grain of salt)

This book goes unmatched for style amongst the "cheap decorating" genre. It's main attraction is what it can inspire. I LOVE the featured projects, such as the 99 cent vases that you can make look like expensive mercury glass, framing fabric scraps and covering cheap photo mats with fabric, and a hanging light made of different sized lightbulbs. They are all cheap and easy to do. One of the BEST sections of the book (pp 30-33) is the part that shows how to transform a couple's living room using only the pieces they already have and a list of 10 "Do's and Don'ts." The transformation looks fabulous! Although some of the price tags on the individual pieces can seem quite hefty, the book says right off that one of the keys to great decorating is "knowing when to save and when to spend." Also, why not make over your kitchen without those $2000 marble countertops? The rooms in this book never completely depend on one expensive item, you can take them or leave them. Overall, a fantastic book...you must take it for what it can inspire and what tips it offers for creating a wonderfully cheap room, not as a collection of price tags.

Can't wait to decorate my own apartment in "cheap chic"!

I'm a huge fan of the magazine Budget Living, so I was thrilled to hear about this book. And it did not disappoint -- the book is GORGEOUS, really high-quality production and design, and the ideas are fabulously fun. There is a bit of overlap from the magazine, but the book goes into greater depth than the magazine is able to ... and it offers a lot of great new ideas, too. Spread the gospel of Budget Living!!