freshvintage

Junk Beautiful Book Review & Alltop Design

It isn't officially released until tomorrow, but I got my hands on a copy of the JUNKMARKET ladies' new book, Junk Beautiful. Their second book has 204 big pages of original ideas on using junk to transform rooms into beautiful and creative spaces. The book has nine chapters of makeovers, each in a different area of the house. The design and instructions are fun and lively, and the photography captures every vintage detail.

The book is filled with great decorating ideas for entire rooms, as well as detailed instructions and photos for each project. After finishing the book, I came away with a list of items that I often see at thrift stores and estate sales, but never would have purchased. Now, I have a reason to buy chicken feeders, casters, antique hand drills, camp toasters and so much more.

My favorite chapter is the "Laundry Lounge", where the junk gals transform a dingy laundry room into a bright & vintage-inspired craft room/laundromat. And that's where you'll find my favorite idea in the whole book: a croquet set used as a broom holder. I used to pass over croquet sets at yard sales because they are missing balls or mallets. Not anymore. Now I'm determined to find out if my Swiffer Wet Jet handle is the same size as a croquet mallet.

Sue & Ki will be demonstrating their junk style on the Today Show on March 27th. Don't forget to watch!

~~~~~~

I have some great news to share. The freshvintage blog was added to a new website called Alltop. The site is a summary of the most recent posts from the top blogs in a wide array of categories, such as sports, parenting, music, movies, education and wine. freshvintage is listed in the Design section, along with many of my favorites: decor8, Design*Sponge, Design Mom and Sk*rt. You can think of Alltop as a dashboard for stories from sites that you love, as well as sites that you've never heard of.

Alltop was created by Guy Kawasaki, an entrepreneur, speaker, eight-time author and all-around super-smart internet guru. Guy also created the site Truemors. His blog is one of the top 100 most-read blogs in the entire universe! Guess what mine is ranked? 62,410!  Maybe being on Alltop will give me some street cred, so that I can at least break into the fifty thousands.

[Have a blog? See where yours ranks on Technorati by typing your blog's web address into the search box.]

Book Review: Garage Sale America

I wouldn't exactly call myself an avid reader. I'd much rather sleep or play Poppit. But imagine my delight when I heard about a new book all about yard sales! I simply had to have it. In Garage Sale America, author Bruce Littlefield chronicles his adventures in yard-saling across the US. His book is divided into two sections. In the first, Bruce shares all of his finds from his visits to the World's Largest Yard Sale (Warrensburg, NY), the World's Longest Yard Sale (along route 127), and various barn sales and tag sales. The pages are peppered with yard-saling tips for buyers and sellers, as well as information about a few collectibles, like marbles, Bakelite, fishing lures, buttons, and Barbies. 

The second part of the book is filled with pictures of Bruce's home (more like a compound) in upstate New York which he furnished with yard sale finds. I'm going to steal his idea of using a roll-up world map (one that probably hung in a classroom) as a window shade. I also love the vintage postcard holder to display favorite postcards.

I like this book because it is almost blog-like in its format. It is conversational and has lots of pictures, stories, fun ideas and tips. I actually bought a copy for my mom and my mother-in-law! I didn't want to lend them my book because I wanted to keep it for myself.

My absolute favorite part of the book is the two-page photo spread of the contents of the Penske truck that he rented when he visited the World's Longest Yard Sale. He lists everything he purchased and how much he paid for each item. Now, that's my idea of a hot centerfold! I know...pretty sad, huh?

Take a look at Bruce's cool website and blog...