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Homes

Creativity lets shabby turn to chic

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published September 9, 2005

A Goodwill pink tulle ball gown transformed into a tablecloth?

Grandma's fringe pompoms hot-glued onto sconce shades?

A weathered old canoe paddle turned stair railing?

Why not?

Or so say the "Salvage Sisters," Kathleen Hackett and Mary Ann Young, real-life sisters, scribes and glam-girl garbage browsers.

They wrote the new design cult-hit, The Salvage Sisters' Guide to Finding Style in the Street and Inspiration in the Attic (Artisan $14.95). The book, which describes 50 projects on how to make something from nothing, could forever change the way Americans think about trash heaps.

Who could have guessed that wooden pallets stacked to create a platform bed and topped by a zebra-striped covered mattress and a pink pillow look so swingingly stylish?

Or that the bowl of an aging backyard bird bath suddenly becomes elegant when filled with a few lemons and placed on a dining room table?

Or that fussy Limoges wedding china turns chic when displayed with hot-pink plastic compotes, plates and cups?

Trust that these enthusiastic blond sisters, who can make a fabulous chandelier from a discarded lampshade and fabric scraps in 10 minutes, know their stuff. They also make quilts from faded blue jeans, door knockers from old cast-iron corn bread molds and cover cabinet glass doors with fuchsia Chinese wrapping paper.

Hackett is a former book editor for Martha Stewart Living and the writer of lifestyle books for the Pottery Barn. Her sister, designer Young is the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Decorating Your Home and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Needlework.

Needless to say, the siblings have long been recycling other's throwaways into elegant decor.

"There's little we overlook on land or at sea, whether it's a castaway chair marooned on the curb or weathered pieces of driftwood washed up at the beach," they write.

In fact, they hang driftwood on the walls, prop it by the back door and fashion it into elegant mirror frames.

They also adore newspapers, though not like reporters. They've been known to swirl Christmas trees with garlands of it, fashion beautiful wreaths from black-and-white newspaper flowers or colorful origami shaped funny pages, even wear it on their heads as scarves (paired with those big, fashionably 1960s sunglasses).

Nothing escapes their fancy. Pine cones top four-poster beds; mussel shells adorn old dressmaker dummies for instant folk art. Garden burlap hangs in cottage windows for super-chic cafe curtains, and a child's painting on butcher paper becomes an instant summer shade.

They learned to find glamour in the garbage from their frugal mother who named all seven of her daughters Mary because she thought the name was beautiful. (Several now use their middle names, instead).

The stylish matriarch may have also been the first to conceive the idea of dragging rusty garden furniture inside for instant elegance, and grouping a bunch of antique mirrors over the fireplace mantel rather than just one big one.

And, the sisters add, they're still admiring mom's thrifty moxy. "We both still covet the burnished camera case with the adjustable strap that she uses as a purse."

The book, published in 2005 and widely available at bookstores, reads with the breathless pace of a good thriller, an all-nighter that will fill you with inspiration and coax a smile, even in hard times.

So, here are the 10 rules for wanna-be Salvage Sisters. Stick to 'em and you might just end up with an elegant decor that costs little and looks like a million bucks.

1. When in doubt, don't throw it out.

2. Rust is a variation of red; red is always an acceptable color.

3. Never be the early bird at a yard sale. The real possibilities are in the rubble.

4. Never sell among yourselves; trade only. (It keeps that sisterly love alive.)

5. Broken? All the better. Imperfect is perfect.

6. Don't look at what it is, but for what it could be.

7. It's about the eureka! moment, not the thing itself.

8. Make the recycling bin your first stop for art supplies.

9. Hunt, find and tell. No secret sources.

10. Never worry about how to get it home; just get it.

[Last modified September 14, 2005, 14:14:23]