Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

"Home Cheap Home" is published by Budget Living Magazine (which is one of my new, favorite magazines.) I have purchased three issues of Budget Living, and found many of the decorating ideas already published in the magazine, published again in "Home Cheap Home". This is an annoying redundancy I have noticed a lot in books published by magazines -- note to publishers: We do notice!!! That said, "Home Cheap Home" is a pleasant enough, realistic approach to decorating on a "budget". I do think many books and magazines need a reality check on what the average consumer's idea of "cheap" and "budget" are, since recovering a thrift store sofa for $1,200 would leave many of us gasping for air and eating nothing but Snack Ramen for the next three months. "Home Cheap Home" is REALISTIC budgetwise for those of us who are forced to think of Pottery Barn AS the expensive stuff. The book relies heavily on flea market and thrift store looks and finds, and if this isn't your bag, this isn't the book for you. I did enjoy some of the decorating/craft projects, especially the book-folding thing -- very funky! There were not a lot of new source ideas, Budgeteers already know to shop Target, Ikea, eBay, the fleas, and rumage sales. (If you have shopped for secondhand junk lately, you will have noticed a lot of the prices are less than budget friendly, and the day of the fabulous $10.00 Goodwill sofa has gone the way of drive-in movie theaters.) Still, "Home Cheap Home" offers up a fun approach (if not exactly fresh) to decorating within ones means. Like the magazine "Budget Living", one of the most delightful things about "Home Cheap Home" is that it never takes itself to seriously. And,when your end tables are cardboard boxes covered with sheets, this is a welcome attitude.

I am a low-level nonprofit manager, and my husband makes less than I do, so while we are very fortunate in world -- and really even in U.S. -- terms, the cost of an average new piece of furniture is a bit beyond our means, and the ideas offered by most decorating magazines and books are laughable.

So, when I paged through this book, I found it very inspirational. The designs presented are truly inexpensive. Yes, some of the sources (like flea markets) are obvious, but the book also gave me ideas like purchasing decorating items from Oriental Trading Company -- something that never would have occurred to me, aside from holiday items. The book mentions occasional splurge items, but they are limited and reasonable. They won't be affordable for everyone, but the ideas are meant as inspiration, not as a follow-to-the-letter guide for readers.

Finally, I'm not at all crafty, but some of the DIY ideas presented here seemed like projects I could actually tackle.

Since I've never read Budget Living before, everything here was new to me. I highly recommend this for people like me who might not be very creative decorating-wise and who have tight budgets. That said, read the other reviews from Budget Living readers -- if you are a subscriber, it sounds like maybe you should skip this.

The title, something that will grab attention, is misleading. This is not Home cheap home, but should be Home chic home. That would not be misleading. Examples:
p. 15 "... splurges included a $1200 Murano glass chandelier and a cast-iron fireplace." Huh? How is that cheap? The room is made up of cast-offs which is what people buying this book probably are all too familiar with already. Where's the "cheap" inspiration? Gather cast-offs and then spend $1200 on a chandelier.

p. 61 "... with little more than $3,000 ..." If the purchasers had $3,000 for a kitchen re-do they wouldn't be buying a book with the word "cheap" in it. Countertops: $2,000 marble.

p. 66 "... properly restored model [vintage stove] like hers can run anwhere from $4,500 to $5,500." Lesson learned here: get lucky and inherit one like this person did.

p. 69 "... at $560 each [Italian designer dining chairs] they may seem out of character for the frugal French-woman ..." Maybe we can find one of these at our local General Dollar store, where el cheapos are known to frequent.

p. 71 "... A grand total of $1,800 divided by six chairs and a table equals about $200 or so per chair..." $200 per chair? Where's the cheap part? Read on about the fish sculpture that cost almost as much as their dining room set.

p. 73 "... So they called on designer Darren Ransdell ... who transformed their space [tiny kitchen] for less than $3,000. Where's the cheap? Where's the inspiration other than to get out the yellow pages?

And so on. Hold onto your $19.95 for a vintage sock monkey and start a collection as seen on p. 97.

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"!

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.

If you read Budget Living magazine, don't buy this book. All the editors did was scrape together rooms and projects they've already published. This is old stuff, and I'm not happy I bought this book.

I don't know how they can call this "home cheap home". $1750 for an outdoor table & chair set? $450 for an orange lamp? $1400 for a red carpet runner? $1200 for a chandelier? I could go on & on.
Plus most of the projects they talk about were done by professionals-things powder coated, reupholstered, etc. The book kept saying they had things done because it's hard to do yourself. Not what I was looking for.
Over & over again they talked more about splurges-the book should have been called "It's not cheap, but..."

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.

although some of the stuff they talk about in the book is pretty pricey (re-doing a couch from goodwill for $1000 is not cheap to a college kid). some of the ideas are really awsome. this book is really good if you dont subscribe to the magazine (since when ive looked through the magazine at stores i notice alot of the same projects and ideas in there). i thought it was pretty good otherwise.

As a fan of Budget Living, I was super disappointed when I got this. I looked through it and expected new ideas but what I saw were things that have already run in the magazine. I feel cheated and angry. I gave the book to my hairdresser.