Product Description

This is a beautifully illustrated guide to creating an individual and stylish look in your home. Junk style is a modern and unique decorating style that is eclectic but selective. Pieces of furniture and accessories sourced from markets and second-hand shops are chosen for their intrinsic beauty, whether this derives from the quality of workmanship, quirky styling or the colours and textures created by the patina of age. The overall look is neither too contrived nor too precious: things can be mismatched, patched or frayed to create a 'shabby chic' effect that combines elegance and individuality. Melanie Molesworth has a keen eye for junk style and is constantly on the lookout for second-hand objects that can be given new life; her book offers both inspiration and advice on how to achieve it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70249 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

From Amazon.co.uk
Don't say 'junk', say 'brocante'. Never botch something; indulge in a spot of "bricolage" instead.

In Junk Style Melanie Molesworth would have us master, over the course of one exquisitely photographed book, the hundreds-of-years-in-the-making French art of rubbish chic. "A house filled with junk furniture," she confidently predicts, "Will have a wonderfully timeless feel". Still, one is left to wonder--is timelessness so wonderful? Is it really so liberating "to forget how much or how little something costs"? Buy all your clothes at Gap and while you'll earn no points for originality or thrift, at least you won't get laughed off the number 12 bus. Junk Style is the interior's equivalent of Vivienne Westwood extolling the sartorial advantages of bondage rubber and bin-bags; only for the brave.

Then again, this is Junk Style's value: It is a window on a real lifestyle, requiring real skill, a good eye, and resilience enough to admit mistakes. "It's a fine balance between being the first to pick a bargain and being the fool who goes home to live with a dud." This is an unworthy sentiment: Surely the whole point of junk style--championed throughout this book and captured in every one of Tom Leighton's covetable fetishistic photographs--is that any mistakes, being cheap, can be rectified, and one's personal taste--no longer in thrall to designer hype and designer prices--is free to develop and grow.

Feel the fear and raid the boot-sale anyway. --Simon Ings

Amazon.co.uk Review
Don't say 'junk', say 'brocante'. Never botch something; indulge in a spot of "bricolage" instead.

In Junk Style Melanie Molesworth would have us master, over the course of one exquisitely photographed book, the hundreds-of-years-in-the-making French art of rubbish chic. "A house filled with junk furniture," she confidently predicts, "Will have a wonderfully timeless feel". Still, one is left to wonder--is timelessness so wonderful? Is it really so liberating "to forget how much or how little something costs"? Buy all your clothes at Gap and while you'll earn no points for originality or thrift, at least you won't get laughed off the number 12 bus. Junk Style is the interior's equivalent of Vivienne Westwood extolling the sartorial advantages of bondage rubber and bin-bags; only for the brave.

Then again, this is Junk Style's value: It is a window on a real lifestyle, requiring real skill, a good eye, and resilience enough to admit mistakes. "It's a fine balance between being the first to pick a bargain and being the fool who goes home to live with a dud." This is an unworthy sentiment: Surely the whole point of junk style--championed throughout this book and captured in every one of Tom Leighton's covetable fetishistic photographs--is that any mistakes, being cheap, can be rectified, and one's personal taste--no longer in thrall to designer hype and designer prices--is free to develop and grow.

Feel the fear and raid the boot-sale anyway. --Simon Ings

About the Author
Melanie Molesworth worked at House & Garden before becoming a freelance stylist. Her distinctive talent is showcased in magazines such as Woman's Journal and Homes & Gardens. She lives in west London.

Customer Reviews

try it and amaze yourself
Totally inspiring. Full of great ideas on taking one person's junk and turning it into a stunning point of focus in the home. Illustrated with charming photographs throughout. Recommended

Inspiring but...
this book was sectioned into various rooms, trinkets and accessories... I thought it would be more.. Rooms and detailed style guides... but alas it was more the nick nacks around the house.
Unfortunately I couldnt exactly piece them all together... but the tips in this book are good and well worth it.

Junk style
Quite an ordinary book on the usual theme of using junk. I personally did not find it inspiring, could have written it myself.