Use What You Have Decorating : Transform Your Home in One Hour With Ten Simple Design Principles -- Using the Space You Have, the Things You Like, the Budget You Choose

At last, a decorating book that teaches anyone how to achieve the look they want, using the space they have, the things they like and the budget they can afford. In fact, Lauri Ward demonstrates how to make dramatic changes to any home without spending a penny! In her unique book, Lauri Ward identifies the ten most common decorating mistakes and illustrates how they can be corrected without hiring a professional decorator. Using real before-and-after examples, complete with photographs and drawings, Use What You Have Decorating shows what most people do wrong--and how errors can be remedied in short order, easily and economically. Different from any other interior design book, Use What You Have Decorating provides the principles and techniques necessary not only to create an instant transformation but also to make the right choices and purchases in the future. And unlike most decorating books, this one remains timeless because it doesn't depend on current fads or fashions. It allows anyone to have the most inviting home based on the best taste--their own. Use What You Have Decorating works with any style of furniture, from traditional to contemporary; with any size room or home, from studio to estate; with any budget, at any stage of life and regardless of style or taste of each individual.

Finally, finally, a practical home-decorating book for the reader who is not a millionaire! Rather than call in a professional design consultant to tell you which walls "must go" and throwing out everything you own in favor of new and expensive designer fabrics, furniture, and fixtures, Ward starts with what you already have and makes dramatic transformations by arrangement, use of color, and a few inexpensive additions of objects or materials. Her idea is to use what you already have and like, and operate on a budget you can afford to make your home more satisfying and aesthetically pleasing to you without being a slave to passing trends, fads, and radical transformations that end up making you feel like a stranger in your own home.

Among the many tips and guidelines, Ward starts with the top 10 decorating mistakes that professionals all know about, but that anyone can recognize and fix. She covers diagnosing problems that jar the eyes, offers suggestions on items to banish and others to borrow from elsewhere in the home to create more visual appeal, talks about how to shop for furniture that will work with what you already own, offers tips for new homeowners and people just starting out to make older furniture work in new spaces, and covers the kinds of dramatic improvements possible through the use of the right artwork, accessories, and lighting. This is a great gift book for newlyweds, new homeowners, or anyone interested in creative, lively home decorating without breaking the bank. --Mark A. Hetts