Handmade Modern : Mid-Century Inspired Projects for Your Home

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Handmade Modern : Mid-Century Inspired Projects for Your Home

Author(s):

Todd Oldham

Binding: Paperback
Format(s): Bargain Price
List Price: $19.95

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Love the look of mid-century, modern, retro design, but don't feel like dropping two weeks' pay on an Eames chair? In Handmade Modern, Todd Oldham shares his passion for mid-century modern homes with over 52 do-it-yourself projects for anyone who loves crafts and longs to add character to every corner of his or her home.

Todd Oldham has received accolades during an impressive career bringing couture fashion and elegant design to a more inclusive and broader audience, first in MTV's "House of Style", and today though his line of housewares and school supplies for Target, and his line of home furnishings for La-Z-Boy. In Handmade Modern he offers cutting-edge makeover plans for the office, kitchen, living room, bedroom, and closet, all designed to be both fresh and enormously practical. In this beautifully designed full-color book, Todd tackles each room in the house, starting with a beauty shot of each room, and then breaking the room down into its components, each one a do-it-yourself project. In the living room, for example, he takes you through projects with a difficulty range of 1 through 5:

a space-saving freestanding bookshelf (5) matching end tables (4) reupholstered pillows (2) Lucite picture frames (2)

Each project is charted through step-by-step photos and instructions until the fabulously mod end.

Handmade Modern promises to revolutionize the way the reader looks at his or her own home and capacity to beautify a space. Chic, accessible, and fun, this is the achievable new look of modern home design.

Customer Reviews

Great book of ideas

This is a neat book with some fun projects. The directions lack in detail, but if you have a basic knowledge of sewing/carpentry, you can fill in the blanks yourself for the most part. There are at least 3 sewing projects (ring stitched blanket, hand quilted pillow and patchwork stripe curtain) from the book that I plan to do, so the book was money well spent for me.

Review: Hand Made Modern

Designer Todd Oldham, founder of Todd Oldham Studio in New York and host of the Bravo television series "Top Design," provides more nifty project ideas and DIY help in his 2005 book titled Handmade Modern: Mid-Century Inspired Projects for Your Home. Oldham's book contains more than 72 step-by-step projects inspired by mid-century modern aesthetics. Interspersed along with an array of design plans; Oldham's book contains a number of succinct bios on such prominent designers as Isamu Noguchi, Alexander Girard and Charles and Ray Eames.

Oldham is well known for his contributions to the world of accessible design and has often struck me as a gifted mentor and educator. On first review,Oldham's book fulfills expectations with it's vivid "mod-podge" design and brilliantly conceived projects. Upon closer inspection however, Handmade Modern falls short of its expected accessibility with vague instructions and the absence of a much needed list of tools and materials for each project.

From a design prospective Todd Oldham's book is a bit of a let down. Ultimately, the book exists to inform the reader, so how the book does this should be considered most critically. Aesthetically, the book is pleasing and the form is consistent, but unfortunately it falls short in its function.

Copyright © 2007 Of My Own Design, Josh Crain. All Rights Reserved.

Disappointing...

I'm a huge Todd Oldham fan but, over all, but this book is very disappointing. A lot of the projects seem complicated and/or expensive (also, I think the prices he lists for some of the supplies are too low, making some projects even more expensive than they seem). Given the cost of materials and tools, some things just don't seem worth making. I wish there were more simple, clever ideas for adding Modern design to your home, that don't require a lot of money, skill, tools, or a work space. The instructions and photos are sometimes confusing or incomplete, making them hard to follow. The one thing I like about this book is that Oldham talks about important Modern designers like Isamu Noguchi and Eva Zeisel, but I'm already familiar with their work, so this didn't teach me anything. I love Oldham's design aesthetic, but this is a very weak how-to book. Sorry, Todd!

Innovative Ideas for Hands-On Creative People

If you're a creative person who likes to get into hands on projects, this is a book for you. Each section begins with a photograph of an entire room, and the following pages used cropped images of each item with instructions on how to make them. Most of the projects do require some knowledge about construction & materials, however. Tools needed include a jigsaw, sewing machine, or a large space in which to do some of the projects. There are smaller projects though that do not require these things, and the book definitely promotes you to come up with your own creative ideas. One downside though, if you are interested in easy crafts - this isn't the book for you. Readers definitely need to understand the basics in order to find this book useful.

ok for ideas

This book was inspirational, and I love Todd Oldham but some of the projects are a little complicated for someone w/o any carpentry skills or lack of work space. I would recommend "Readymade" instead.

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