Customer Reviews

The Find: The Housing Works Book of Decorating with Thrift Shop Treasures, Flea Market Objects, and Vintage Details

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is definitely an interesting read and it includes many beautiful and illustrative shots of the interiors discussed. My problem is with the title, which is extremely misleading. If you're planning to completely decorate a stately home using an unlimited budget, this is the book for you. If, however, you want to do what the title suggests - integrate vintage treasures from flea markets and thrift stores into a more interesting look for your home - this is the wrong place to look. There are certainly ideas that can be used as catalysts to introduce clever effects into the "normal" home, but many of the ideas rely on thousands of dollars for each of many pieces required to create the rooms shown, not to mention the storage facilities in which to store your accumulated purchases until you have everything you need to redo the room. This is not reality for most people. I was expecting a book that would give examples of ways to incorporate different types of vintage and antique pieces for an exciting, creative look.

I just received my copy of "the find", and am totally amazed. Mr. Williams sure has a way of making thrift shop items look like a million bucks. I usually am more interested in the photos than text, but the author has a very interesting way of telling the story, way beyond the usual stodgy decorating books. And speaking of photos, the homes here are so beautifully pictured, I'd just love to live in one.

The minute I opened it, The Find made me want to rush out and go antique shopping. Its photographs are clear and beautiful, and the author has design ideas that I have never seen elsewhere (using an old pie safe to store firewood, cobbling a fireplace out of oyster shells, for example). The author also provides invaluable advice about recognizing good-quality furniture and knowing which vintage items are best left in the store. Photographs from the homes of various designers and others with good taste are inspirational.

As the title suggests, this is an interiors sourcebook featuring 'found' second-hand furniture and objects. I bought it after a recommendation on Anne Sage's brilliant blog ([...]), and I definitely agree with her glowing review.

I'm really enjoying scrolling through this book. The images are wonderfully inspiring and the book itself beautifully produced. It would make a good present (in this case, to myself!)

The text is surprisingly engaging for an interior design book - these tend to state the bleeding obvious, but not here. But obviously the pictures take precedence, and most are self-explanatory. There are definitely a few projects I'm keen to try: I am loving the giantess's blackboard on page 219 (blackboard paint and a frame made from salvaged picture rail moulding); the chest of drawers covered in grey linen bookcloth on page 110; and I am very taken with the idea of papering a wall in pages from old ledgers as seen on p134.

A shame that there isn't more how-to detail (as with Martha Stewart), but anyone reasonably handy, with a little bit of common sense and access to Google, could manage most of the ideas featured.

But how frustrating that we don't have Housing Works in the UK! The local flea market or boot sale might be your best bet, alongside county sale-rooms in unsmart parts of the land. If you're in London, Portobello and Columbia Road markets are a possibility, as is the Old Cinema in Chiswick, but none of these are cheap. Personally, I'm eyeing up my parents' garage...

I have taken one star taken off because there's a very distinctive aesthetic at play. It's wider-ranging than, say, the 'Domino' book, but it's still pretty hokey. That's my taste, but if you're into minimalist, modernist, glamorous or impressive interiors, it almost certainly won't be yours.

I read it cover-to-cover. Great decorating ideas will inspire you to think "out of the box." You will develop an appreciation for used furniture and accessories and learn new ways of incorporating "your finds" into your home. Thrift stores and consignment shops are more interesting than shopping at furniture and homegoods stores.

There is nothing more satisfying than finding a piece of furniture for that spot in your home that seems so lonely. First is 'the hunt', then 'THE FIND', then 'the remaking', and then 'the placing' the piece in it's long awaited space.I loved THE FIND. It described me perfectly as my envious friends will tell you. People always ask me how I decorate so well with found furniture ,cast offs, and objects. Now all I have to do to explain is send them to buy THE FIND and they will have more help than I can give them.What a great find THE FIND is......

Greatbook. Great read, fun explainations and great detailed advice. Practical solutions and fun references to stores you can actually visit to get started.

The book The Find is a very elegant version of decorating with "found" objects. It shows many surprising juxtapositions of disparate pieces in a harmonious blend. The photos beautifully illustrate the refined style of the author, confirming that style trumps the challenge of interior decoration on a limited budget.

This is a nice book to flip through when you're bored. For real decorating or thrifting advice, though, turn elsewhere.

While the ideas in this book are fine; there is nothing new or unusual in the approach to reusing items in decorating schemes.

There is a bit too much, for this designer's taste, mid-century modern emphasis, especially in the last part of the book.

Nice photography, good text, but a lack of freshness.