Rating: 
Summary: The best thing I've read before a neurophysiology exam!
Review: I am a vet student and as such have very little life, even after I've made the conscious decision to never aim for more than 50% like my obsessive and even more boring friends (except for one who manages to score 90%++, have an exotic life AND smoke a joint every day...). I live upstairs above a vet clinic doing to after hours service, and spend a lot of time in a grimy, run down old flat. Two nights before my exam I found PAD and was transformed - here was decorating that spoke to me. I had visions for my room. Since then I've rearranged it and on the basis of PAD have decided that if its extreme, if its bold and out there and if the room absolutely forces you to react (in a positive or negative way), then it works.I loved the people in this book - how could you not love someone with a porn toilet seat cover or a psychodelic living room? Its the only decorating book thats left me not only with inspiration and ideas but also a love for humanity, a feeling of relief that there is personality out there, and a body shaking with laughter! The vet flat will never be the same again!
Rating: 
Summary: I found a better book
Review: I wrote a review of this before. What PAD lacks is a grounding in good design. I found a much better book that gives the same freeing message but with more sound and sophisticated results. It's called Flea Market Decorating. The same idea of scrounging for cool stuff and using it in fresh news ways is in Flea Market Decorating. But Flea Market Decorating shows rooms you might actually want to live in.
Rating:
Summary: Yuk. A mess.
Review: I agree with the point of the book, which seems to be that decorating should be fun and free and creative. But there are so many magazines and books around that do the job so much better than this one. If you want to end up with a tacky mishmash of a home, then this is the book for you. If you want the same "be yourself" message with some great ideas and solid design guidance along the way, you'd better look elsewhere. The rooms in this book look like ticky-tacky crammed stores more than homes. It would drive me crazy to spend much time in such cluttered rooms. Like many today, I am looking for peace and harmony at home versus a mess. I can't even think of anyone to give this book to, so it goes in the trash.
Rating:
Summary: Unliveable interiors, unless you are Blind.
Review: This book is slick, colorful garbage and doesn't ring true. I've been in numerous such interiors and they are almost always tedious exercises in "Look at me -- I'm hip!" when in fact the effect given is that of a rank amateur creating utter chaos. Some ideas in this book are "doable" and instructions for projects are commendable. But there are few in this book that are worth pursuing. If this were merely a book about re-cycling everyday goods into marvellously functional and attractive furnishings, and IF it cited good examples and aesthetically chic interiors I might have given it more than one star. Those interested in actually re-cycling stuff into magnificent works of art or even just functional and pleasant additions to their lairs are better advised to read "Re-Cycled, Reseen," a catalogue from a touring exhibition of incredibly ingenious home furnishings made from discarded matter (i.e., in a cheap vernacular: "garbage"); you'll be much more inspired to create great things. "Pad" is one of those glitzy, trashy bits of fluff that we see churned up to enthrall the truly mediocre of our society; the artsy-craftsy types; the hipster wannabes. "Pad" is neither novel nor innovative. In fact, anyone glancing through it may feel that it is already quite "dated". The book is an overpriced and overproduced flashy "flash in the pan." And in "Pad"s case, its one ugly pan indeed.
Rating: 
Summary: I can dig it...
Review: If you look at this book as instructional, you're going to be wildly disappointed. But I don't think that's the point -- in looking at extreme homes, you find many clever ideas that you can pick out, individually, for your own happy medium. The message I got is to look at everyday objects and common household junk with new eyes, be clever, be bold, and be yourself. What's wrong with that? Nothing at all, daddy-o!
Rating:
Summary: A book for inspiration, not imitation
Review: Looking at this book is like watching a high-fashion runway show. The things you see will be way over the top but, ideally, will challenge your ideas of what goes with what and encourage you to make bolder choices than you might otherwise. This book is very inspirational in that I found projects I could do easily and cheaply and I simply adapted them to suit my own style. For instance, I have no intention of creating a Turkish opium den in my living room but that section of the book did inspire me to make richly colored and textured curtains to hide an eyesore of a fireplace. Likewise, a coat of paint and some fun fabric saved a cheap white cabinet from the trash. The book offers easy to follow, step-by step instructions for many projects and encourages you to find low cost and imaginative ways to spruce up a dreary place. The purpose of this book is to fire your imagination and, on that note, it succeeds admirably.
Rating:
Summary: A disservice to consumers
Review: I am a designer, and what my customers need is not a book that encourages decorating anarchy. Being free from rigid rules and old-fashioned design ideas is great, but it is amazing how many times I see rooms that look like those in this book when I am called in on a job. People want help in pulling it all together,but this book simply shows how to throw it all around. It's a mess. Yuk. I can't even think of anyone to give my copy to.
Rating:
Summary: What a hoot
Review: I admit I did not buy the book after I picked it up and looked through it at the book store, but I did think it was very funny. What a hoot. It's tasteless, tacky, and funny. Kind of like Halloween costumes for rooms. But the author can't be serious.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I love flea markets, foraging for cool stuff, and mixing the unexpected, so I thought I'd love this book. I don't. Mixing is one thing, but being tasteless is another. If you want to simply create a jumble of you-know-what, which is what this book shows, then you don't need this book at all. If want to be inspired to invest more taste and personality than money in your rooms and are a creative spirit, chances are you will prefer Flea Market Decorating, Flea Market Style, or American Junk. Personally, the new book, Flea Market Decorating, is my favorite -- fun, sophisticated, inspiring.
Rating:
Summary: The premise is nothing new
Review: First,as a lover of design in all its forms, I disagree with the book's premise that current decorating TV shows and magazines don't talk to me. My favorites talk to me all the time. So, that claim simply isn't true. Second, I did like looking through the book, but there wasn't anything new in it about decorating in my own, albeit eccentric way. Again, that message (about doing my own, often quirky thing) comes through again and again in all the decorating TV shows, magazines,and books that I already enjoy. The thing about this book is that it doesn't speak to me all that well. In part,it's because the rooms aren't very well-designed. Some are downright tacky. I think a lot of readers will find these settings hard to relate to. I'm giving my copy of this book away, because it doesn't have any lasting value for me.
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