Recycled Home {Book of the Week}
After several days of research with my head buried in books I thought today would be a great time for a book review since one in particular comes to mind that I know you'll love. With 250 photographs and 160 pages of inspiration, Recycled Home written by Mark & Sally Bailey and photographed by Debi Treloar is honest and surprisingly fresh given that so many books have been dedicated to recycling in the past that I wasn't sure what to expect. Mark & Sally share their unique eye for the abandoned and unloved, their passion for the simple and well made along with their love of home restoration, architecture, and stripped-back simplicity is evident page after page. This talented couple encourages us to abandon preconceived ideas about the purpose of things and to think of the home as a place to experiment with new ideas. Would you like a glimpse of what you can expect?
Recycled Home features rooms from around Europe including Mark & Sally's restored home in England. Chapters cover storage, walls & floors, display, textiles, lighting, tones & textures and elements and then continue by breaking down sections by room from kitchens to bathrooms, bedrooms and work spaces.
This book is practical in this economy, thinking about what we own already and how we can use it differently is a fun, creative exercise but also very good for the wallet. After reading about their many finds I felt encouraged to return to my roots and spend days at junk shops and outdoor sales searching for an inexpensive treasure that simply needs a little love. I jumped in my car this past weekend and found myself in a delightful little antique store in Concord, MA this weekend digging through gorgeous Victorian wedding cards, vintage illustrations from French children's books, and antique letter holders from England alongside of my husband who found Longfellow's complete poems published in 1877, Poems of Goethe from 1874, translated to English by Edgar Alfred Bowring and Heinrich Heine's complete works, 7 volumes, in German, published in 1898.
Recycled Home is $29.95 at Anthropologie and in your local book store but you can buy it on Amazon for only $19.
(images from holly becker for decor8, all links are affiliate links since I have an Amazon store.)