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Spring into style: chic ideas for updating your home
REVIEWS BY ABBY PLESSER At last! Winter's dreary skies and chilly temperatures are on their way out and spring's vivid colors and warmer days are quickly approaching. With such amazing natural changes happening outside your windows, why not spend some time inside, making your home even more spectacular? Whether you're looking to brighten up a room with new colors and accessories or start a project from scratch, these books have it all for this spring's home improvements. Set the mood
By Debbie Travis Clarkson Potter, $19.95 160 pages, ISBN 140008153X
By Douglas Wilson Clarkson Potter, $19.95 196 pages, ISBN 1400050154
A modern twist
By Todd Oldham ReganBooks, $19.95 224 pages, ISBN 0060591250
Ms. Fix-it
By Barbara Kavovit Rodale, $24.95 304 pages, ISBN 1594861331
Abby Plesser studies English at Vanderbilt University.
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Admit it: if you're like most homeowners and renters, the thought of splashing color on your walls petrifies you. Why risk ruining a perfectly good off-white room with a green gone bad or a too-intense red? Well, Debbie Travis, the host of HGTV's "The Painted House" and "Facelift," is here with some great ideas to beat the lack-of-color blues. In her new book, Debbie Travis' Facelift: Solutions to Revitalize Your Home, Travis breaks down design ideas according to mood. With detailed instructions, she helps you choose the right mood and then redecorate a room or a series of rooms accordingly. Whether you're hoping to develop a calm, cheerful, nostalgic or dramatic mood for your home, Travis has the color palettes, fabrics, furnishings and most of all, the encouragement you need to make drastic changes.
If the task of redecorating seems incredibly daunting, start simple—that's the advice Douglas Wilson of TLC's immensely popular "Trading Spaces" provides in his first book, Doug's Rooms: Transforming Your Space One Room at a Time. Wilson teaches readers how to arrange furniture, adjust lighting, manage clutter and, most importantly, how to use their own ideas to update their homes. Using his "kick start" method, Wilson shows you how to build a room around one thing you love—whether it's a favorite photo, a piece of fabric or a sculpture. And with 10 unique sample rooms on display, Wilson demonstrates how he used simple concepts to create sophisticated rooms. So whether you're looking to accent a particular room or start from the ground up, Doug's Rooms is an accessible, inventive resource.
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TV personality and designer guru Todd Oldham shares his expertise and flair for refurbishing in Handmade Modern: Mid-Century Inspired Projects for Your Home. Oldham's book is a celebration of "nesting" and encourages homeowners to update their living spaces in the modernist tradition. Complete with information on major modernist architects and designers of the 20th century, Handmade Modern is as much a reference book as it is a how-to manual. Oldham includes a helpful list of "tool box basics" and provides step-by-step instructions for each project. With beautiful photographs of each room, Oldham gives do-it-yourselfers the opportunity to update individual pieces or revitalize an entire home.
Learning how to redecorate a room is one thing, but what if your home needs basic improvements and additions? In Room for Improvement: Change Your Home!
Enhance Your Life! With Tools, Tips, and Inspiration from Barbara K, New York businesswoman and entrepreneur Barbara Kavovit shows you how to make home repair (and home maintenance) simple. Geared specifically toward women, Room for Improvement teaches readers how to take control of repair projects. With easy-to-follow instructions on how to fix a scratched hardwood floor or replace a broken windowpane, and fun, simple projects like installing a mantelshelf and hanging a ceiling pot rack, Barbara K shows you how to make the most of your home. Brimming with useful information, Room for Improvement proves that home repair should be empowering, not intimidating.