Weekend Decorator (Trade Edition)

Written to appeal to busy homeowners who only have weekends free to "do it themselves", these low-cost home decorating projects are meant to take only two days or less to finish. It offers both basic techniques and stylish projects.

Like most of us, you're busy, busy during the week and when you get home you look at your white walls and boring shades and think, maybe this weekend I'll do some decorating; then, oh, that'll take forever, forget it. Want to unleash your inner Martha Stewart but have only a few hours? You can with The Weekend Decorator. Designed with the time-impaired in mind, The Weekend Decorator clocks most of its 50 projects at two to four hours.

The projects are divided by room: halls, living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, and garden rooms. Each section features several projects to brighten or distinguish an otherwise ordinary space through clever use of paint and fabric. Authors Amy Dawson and Gina Moore suggest painted trompe l'oeil panels to make a plain expanse seem larger. "These elegant, sophisticated panels are created by clever shading and are an excellent way of decorating a room without pictures," say the authors. The book is filled with many painting ideas that will add interest and texture in only a few hours. Try painting faux terra cotta blocks in your entryway or colorwashing your bedroom for a warm, cozy look. Then add a canopy that you make from a length of fabric and drape over two parallel poles hung from the ceiling. How about designing a mosaic splash protector for the bathroom?

While most of the projects should only take an afternoon, they do require prior knowledge of sewing and painting. Instructions on how to get the desired effects are included and the authors say anyone can get the hang of it, but some of us are not that crafty and you need to have some aptitude to effectively do these projects--especially the sewing (you must have a machine). --Dana Van Nest