Interior Alchemy: Secrets to Creating Expressive Ambience [Hardcover]

Rebecca Purcell (Author), Kathy Walton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 18, 1998

This book includes chapters on do-it-yoursel f projects for finishing touches, including tassles, ageing fabrics and metals, valances and draperies, picture matting and more. Style setter Rebecca Purcell shows how anyone can create expressive rooms. '

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1st edition (March 18, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688148948
• ISBN-13: 978-0688148942
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,018,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interior Alchemy, December 1, 1999

By 

Thelma E. Davis (Tucson, Az) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Interior Alchemy: Secrets to Creating Expressive Ambience (Hardcover)

If you buy every new interior decorating book on the market, and you open each book with the believer's prayer, which goes something like, let there be one idea worth stealing in this book, then you're in for a faith renewing experiece.

Purcell has managed to come up with new ideas, as well as some new terms, guerilla architecture, Do-It-Yourself Art, and Attention-getting Mechanisms, all of which gave this jaded professional an almost religious experience.

Perhaps because of her background in retail display, Purcell takes an irreverent approach to putting together a room. The photographs and text make you slap yourself on the head and ask, why didn't I think of that?

Decorating books tend to fall into two categories, either how to's or beautiful pictures. Interior Alchemy combines these two styles, providing excellent, revealing pictures and text that tells you how to produce the same results, either by aging, no talent carpentery or as the title suggests by magic.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interior design for the creative person!, July 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Interior Alchemy: Secrets to Creating Expressive Ambience (Hardcover)

Hallelujah! At last there's an interior design book for people who are creative, imaginative, original, and/or artistic! Interior Alchemy is not for the Martha Stewart wannabe or anyone with timid or conventional tastes . Instead the book shows how to take a bold, eclectic approach to creating an interior design that is original and a little off-beat. After reading this book, I completely rearranged four of my rooms, and now I have a home that has translated my deepest fantasies, longings, and dreams into reality. The author, Rebecca Purcell, helped me identify exactly what kind of interior design appeals to me, and then she gave lots of practical tips about how to create that look. I was able to use (mostly) things I already had, but the book showed me how to arrange them to create a dramatic effect. Right now I'm so in love with the look of my new interior design that I don't want to leave the house unless it's important! I never thought I could have a house ! ! decor that I liked so much. While the names Purcell gives the specific designs are sometimes a little strange (for example, "Alienated" refers to a blend of medieval and modern), the looks she achieves will inspire people who want a more creative environment in their homes. This is a beautiful, rich, imaginative, delightful book.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for the faint of heart, April 5, 2004

By 

M. J. Walters "dargelos" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Interior Alchemy: Secrets to Creating Expressive Ambience (Hardcover)

Upfront here: If you're the sort who likes to have your space organized, if you dislike the shabby, the thrift store look, the impression of disrepair, do not bother with this book. Purcell leans heavily on the idea that interior fantasy is built up of layers of eccentric, aged, lived-in objects and artifacts, and the result, while remarkable, is not going to be to everyone's taste.

Purcell's aesthetic is dark, and even a bit threatening. It's eccentric rather than whimsical, and that's not a bad thing. It's just that it can be a bit overwhelming. (If you're looking for a modified version of this, one with a lighter feel, check out Tracy Porter.) It makes heavy use of thrift store finds, but in these days of shabby chic, this look isn't as thrifty as it used to be. One room features a grouping of very large composition dolls. Granted, they're damaged and rather ratty-looking, but all the same, scoring a single large compo doll can be pricey. Half a dozen is likely to set you back quite a bit of money. And that's more or less true of many of the design ideas here. Very nice things (or at least things so odd that you're going to have to go to some lengths to find a good analog) artfully arranged so that they look kind of neglected. Cha-ching! That's gonna cost you.

Over all, I'd have to say that Interior Alchemy, is a great book for those who are not timid about their decorating, who have either some serious spare change or spare time, and who are already more or less on this path of crowded, eccentric spaces. The fantasy level here is enormous, and if it's worth it to you to do the work, then this is a grand resource. To most people, I'd say, start with something a little less ambitious.