Junk Style. Melanie Molesworth (Compacts) - Softcover

Review

For those who have always had--and used--junk, the juxtaposition of the words junk and style is an acknowledgement of what they've always known: useful and attractive objects don't always have to come straight from the furniture showroom. Melanie Molesworth enumerates the ruling principles of Junk Style on the back cover:

1. It doesn't have to match.

2. Don't get attached to an object's original function.

3. Use junk as an accent.

4. If you frame it, it's art.

5. White cures all ills.

6. One is an eyesore; five makes a collection!

Though some of the "junk" pictured wouldn't be out of place in an uptown antique shop and the designer practices rule #5 so assiduously that some of the shots call to mind the sterile interior of an idealized World War I-era hospital, practitioners of secondhand chic will still find Junk Style a useful guide. In particular, there's a good range of interiors pictured, from some that look like funky converted garages to the expensively spacious and light-filled. Not too surprisingly, Moleworth's junk looks great in both. --Barrie Trinkle

About the Author

Melanie Molesworth worked at House & Garden before becoming a freelance stylist. Her distinctive creations appear in magazines such as Woman's Journal and Homes & Gardens.