Remake Restyle Reuse: Easy Ways to Transform Everyday Basics into Inspired Design

Transform basic items into boutique-worthy home decor



• Transform just-lying-around things to sit-up-and-take-notice things!


• Transform junk into junque!


• Transform your friends’ skin tones from normal to green with envy!



We’ve all got the furniture and the home accessories we can afford. Our stuff came from Target, or Ikea, or Pottery Barn, or Dan’s Dent-and-Ding Depot. Wherever it came from, it’s pretty vanilla. Wistfully, we look through the windows at tony boutiques, admiring the little hand-painted chest, or the exquisite artisan vase, or the beaded curtains, and we ask, “Why was I blessed with such fabulous taste, only to be constantly depressed because these beautiful things are out of my reach financially?” Good news! With ReMake ReStyle ReUse, anyone can create 40 stunning, sophisticated home items, just like the ones in those high-end shops. Only the most basic craft skills are assumed, and everything is provided, including simple step-by-step directions, designs to trace or photocopy, and glowing photographs for instruction and inspiration.

Designer Lucano offers over 40 projects for adorning glass, ceramics, linens, and small furniture pieces for do-it-yourselfers. The written instructions of such techniques as embroidery and stenciling could be more detailed and would be more helpful if they appeared with the photograph of the finished piece rather than grouped following the photographs. Recommended for large public libraries where there is a continued interest in craft projects.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Parisian designer Lucano gives crafters over 40 options for tasteful, contemporary updates to everyday items in this easy-to-reproduce collection. After a quick overview of basic techniques such as embroidery, dyeing and engraving, Lucano offers a number of projects for each, ranging from engraved wine glasses and vases to embroidered sheets and artwork. Emphasizing a minimalist approach, Lucano adds simple designs and/or phrases to modify existing materials, be it a curtain, carafe, plate or clay pot. All DIYers need to replicate her creations is access to a copier to make life-size reproductions of the patterns and images. The stark black and white style of her collection will not appeal to everyone, but those with an eye for the contemporary will appreciate her style as well as the cohesiveness of the collection.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.