Restore. Recycle. Repurpose.: Create a Beautiful Home (A Country Living Book) [Hardcover]

Randy Florke (Author), Nancy J. Becker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 2010 | Series: A Country Living Book

Renovation that’s eco-friendly…AND economically smart

From Country Living contributing editor Randy Florke (Your House, Your Home) comes a gorgeous guide to decorating sustainably and inexpensively.  Providing inspiration as well as instruction, Florke shows how everyone can achieve a look that’s both harmonious with the environment and beautiful. 

 Color photographs show examples of rooms, all radiating country charm, created on a budget, and designed with the three “R”s in mind: restore, reuse, and repurpose. Florke clearly explains why going green is so important, how to use what’s already there, find a focus for every space, and determine what makes something environmentally friendly.

Anyone hoping to transform a home from ordinary to extraordinary will find eco-friendly, thrifty, and stylish ideas.   

With its emphasis on simplicity, thrift, and respect for historical integrity, Randy Florke calls his philosophy the "anti-keeping up with the Joneses.”  Comfort, style, and economy are the bellwether elements of his approach to decorating.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The problem with the green movement? All philosophy, few practicalities. Country Living editor Florke (with help from writer Nancy Becker) reverses that by going, room by room, through his homes (and those in his magazine) to point out specific ways to keep true to sustainability. Handwritten notes on color photographs, sidebars like “Grandmother's Tips” and “Did You Know?,” and text in each chapter underscore, subtly, that little steps add up. In fact, the advice resonates. Why not buy a top-quality stove at a restaurant close-out sale? Use vintage bed frames in guest rooms (since king and queen mattresses weren't invented until the 1950s)? Reupholster instead of buying a new sofa or chairs? Reuse tiles as plant drainage (to name just a few ideas)? The almost endless ideas spark even more inspiration, exactly the author's intent. A vocabulary up front sets the stage for green thoughts, while resources at the end provide general where-to-get-more information. --Barbara Jacobs

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Hearst (May 4, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588167690
• ISBN-13: 978-1588167699
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #196,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

228 of 234 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Video Review April 29, 2010

By BeachBrights TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Length: 4:17 Mins

I loved this book for it's styling, creativity, repurposing, recycling, and resource details. I am so sorry for the lengthy video review but this book deserved every second I could give it!

Enjoy-
XOXO

51 of 51 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The 3 R's in Decorating May 31, 2010

By L. M. Keefer TOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

This is a timely design book which is the one of the first of its kind to feature and unite three major trends impacting interior design today. These trends are: 1) intelligent use of financial resources in decorating-- maximizing your design dollars 2) using green design principles and products in your decor plan and 3) cherishing past styles and design elements and reusing them in authentic, personal and eclectic interiors.

The author is passionate and knowledgeable about these and shows you how to restore, recycle and reuse items to create attractive rooms from living rooms and kitchens to bedrooms, baths and the outdoors. It's full of how-to tips--including his grandmother's tips--on how to accomplish this. And you get to see how these look in charming rooms that you'd like to live in. The rooms featured tend to be cottage and country (the author is a contributing editor to Country Living magazine), but the same tips and items could work in modern and retro interiors or an eclectic combination of these. If you like books on vintage decorating, flea market decor, eclectic interiors, apartment therapy interiors, DIY design, makeover rooms, decorating for less, you should enjoy this book.

It should spark your own ideas on how to incorporate something you love innovatively into a room. If you want a home you love, you need to have what you love in the home and this book shows you how to do it originally, economically and with healthy materials and green principles. It's perfect for the first-time decorator, someone moving into a new home or apartment, or if you're wanting to update, renovate and accessorize your home distinctively and like looking for unique and original pieces and combining them in fresh ways. For so long if something was old in a home, we threw it out and started over. Now we're seeing the value of cherishing the past and incorporating it in fresh ways in our contemporary interiors. I think this book is going to be a best-seller as it teaches about the design trends which are becoming increasingly important today which will only accelerate in value to us as designers and curators of our own homes in the future.

164 of 203 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Shame on you! August 2, 2010

By Pat

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was really impressed with the book and the references to buying items from locations closer to home to eliminate transportation waste and then I saw on the brown strip around the book that it was printed in CHINA. Shame on the author and publisher for allowing this to happen. Kind of voids all the phrases in the book that say ".....buy locally and avoid things being shipped in from China or Mexico." There have got to be lots of printers in the USA who would have loved your business and done an excellent job.