No matter where you live, chances are there are a few things about your home you'd like to change. As Debbie Travis points out in her introduction, " ...no room is perfect. It's either too big or too small, too new for your taste or too old; the ceilings are too low or too high, the floor's out of date or unfinished. Unless you have had the luxury of planning and building a new home from the ground up (and even then), there will always be things you want to change." Debbie Travis' Decorating Solutions presents ideas and complete instructions for over 65 different paint and plastor finishes, transforming cracked walls, damaged floors, uneven ceilings, boring doors, ugly fireplaces, dreary bathrooms, drab kitchens, and lackluster hallways and staircases into features that bring out the best in any home, all without the cost or fuss of major renovation. And nearly every project is accompanied by full-color step-by-step photography, making all these techniques accessible to beginners as well as more experienced home decorators.

The book begins with a valuable outline of the proper steps for preparing a variety of surfaces, and gives a complete run-down on paints, glazes, plaster, sealants, and materials needed, including helpful descriptions of different tools and basic instructions on stenciling, block painting. and working withplaster. Next, because working with color can be intimidating at first, Travis offers a section on color, and how to choose the right one for your needs. The finishes themselves are divided into ingenious problem-solving categories; for example, "Walls" offers a variety of ideas for camouflaging cracked walls, dividing up long expanses of unbroken wall space, adding interest to a room with a border, panel or dado, or just enlivening plain walls with paint effects; "Kitchens" presents ideas for reviving outdated cabinets, dreary backsplashes, and tired floors. Other categories include bathrooms, ceilings, fireplaces, doors, hallways, and staircases. More than just another painted finishes book, Debbie Travis' Decorating Solutions is an inspiration to homeowners everywhere.