Customer Reviews

Make It Yours!: Customize and Personalize--the Trading Spaces Way!

5 star:		(5)
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3 star:		(2)
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I don't think the "official" reviewers for this book "get" the show Trading Spaces at all! In fact, I wonder if they've ever even seen the show?! (They should because it hilarious and totally addictive!)

If you watch the show, you know that it's fast and fun and creative and sometimes a bit overwhelming -- but it's also inspirational. The show (and now the book, too) help me think differently about my own home and its decorating. This book is jam-packed with easy decorating ideas and how-to projects. I guess it does jump around different topcs a lot -- but so do I when I'm decorating!

I love Trading Spaces, and I can't get enough of the show or the new books showing rooms from the show. This book is filled with one surprising idea after another just like the show. I can't look at a Trading Spaces room without thinking about all the ways I can use those ideas themselves or use them as jumping off points for my own design plans. I am a fan of decorating books in general (occupational hazard because I am a designer), but the Trading Spaces books are unlike any other decorating books on the market. They have a different energy and vitality. They are fresher. I also find that my design clients who watch the show and buy these books seem more open to new design ideas, which makes my job much easier.

This is a great book if you're looking for ideas on how to decorate your room. It has plenty of rooms and styles to choose from. I re-did our master bedroom, using a look I saw in here, and it looks fantastic!

"Make It Yours" isn't going to give you tips and techniques on how to do each little thing in the room, but it gives you a good foundation of how to achieve the overall look.

I'm addicted to Trading Spaces and love their books. I bought the first book which was about the show behind the scenes, and I loved it. But this is even better because it's all about decorating ideas shown in rooms from the show. It's kind of like a freeze-frame look at the show because I can stop and study the rooms from TV instead of being frustrated when the video cameras pan a room too quickly. I am seeing a lot of ideas that went right by me when I saw the rooms on TV. There is great information in here and pix of all my favorite rooms.

I, too, used to be devoted to the show, but have grown weary of some of the designers with no talent. This book has gorgeous pictures, a myriad of things you can do yourself and does not mercifully feature Paige that much.However, devoting 6 (count them) pages to that hideous bathroom that Hildi covered with artificial flowers was a large dirty trick. I could not believe the ugliness of that bathroom, imagining the steam making those flowers run, and the dust, etc. build up on them.Then, when you tire of that decor, (instantly) the hours it will take to remove the staples and refinish the walls for a new treatment. She does this over and over because she is plain lazy. Just likes to plaster idiotic labels, records and the posies all over walls. I wonder how she would like this treament in her own house. I wouldn't let her near a possession of mine.The book gave Kia, another decorator with no talent, not much space. Considering the hideous rooms she has done, that was not a surprise. Love Vern, Frank, Edward, but the women are off the wall.I still buy the dern books though, can't resist. Not enough range of colors used though, predominantly oranges, rusts, reds, grays and browns. None of which I like or would use. I think I would hire a decorator rather than rely on these people.

These spin off books from the television decorating shows give the viewer more depth than the show allows or can disappoint. Here I had trouble with the book's format. Some pages crowded five photos together making it hard to see the details. For project how-to, the one-page instructions seem skimpy for ambitions projects like slipcovering a chair or applying fabric to the wall. The 14 pages devoted to a chronological guide of the show's episodes seems pretty self-indulgent.
Despite those criticisms, there are good ideas to be found here. I liked the project of tracing words onto semisheer fabric for a pillow cover. I'd recommend borrowing this book from the library, unless you are a hardcore fan of the show.

Loved this book! It gave me so many ideas and inspiration, there are a ton of things I want to do in my house now. If you like the show and want to update your house, take a look here. My only complaint was that it was too brief, I wish they'd do more rooms, make it longer. I need more!! Ok, so I'm a little addicted.