I have a newfound thrifting love. I’m currently obsessed with the beautiful Reader’s Digest books from the 1970s and 80s. The more of them I see, the more I appreciate the vibrant colors and the gorgeous retro-modern patterns used in their designs!
Don’t know what I’m talking about? You may remember me mentioning this one I found for $1 a few weeks ago.
Ever since I found this little number, I’ve been seeing the cover pattern pop up all over the design world. One of the most popular items I’ve seen with similar designs? Modern-day wallpaper.
Here are a couple of examples. Tone-on-tone:
Colorful accent paper:
Amy Butler’s beautiful design:
It’s amazing how these patterns are truly making a comeback. Patterns on book bindings are still popular as well. Take the new Penguin Classics everyone in blogland was lusting after when they made their debut.
One of the biggest draws to these books has to be their colorful covers, not to mention the writing they contain! I must have had these in the back of my mind when I found my little RD version a few weeks ago, because now I’ve taken to looking for these little treasures everywhere I go.
Ever on the lookout, last weekend I hit the jackpot! One store we went into had probably 40 of these babies on clearance, so I picked my favorite 8 and rang them up. =)
Here are 3 of them, chillin’ in the nook of our china cabinet with some azalea clippings from the backyard.
And here are the other 5. Still had the tags on them when I took these pictures, I was so excited to show them off!
The best part about these books was the price. I know they’re marked $1 each, but these were actually on the Bargain Shelf for 75% off – that’s $0.25 each! So, for 2 bucks, I came home with 8 super-fly vintage books, perfect for adding some color and pattern to many a neglected corner.
Lesson learned? Take a minute next time you find yourself digging through “dated junk.” You may just be surprised to find a fun, colorful diamond in the rough!
