The first book in an enticing new series of home decorating books based on Mary Engelbreit's successful Home Companion magazine, Paint helps readers create the unique Mary Engelbreit look in their own homes.

Filled with sophisticaed, full-color photography and warm, personal text, Paint offers suggestions for decorating everything from walls, doors, and furniture down to the small treasures on an end table. The book includes vibrant examples of many different paint techniques from bordering to trompe l'oeil. Readers will find easy-to-follow instructions on "How It Is Done" for such paint creations as sponging, distressing, and stenciling. There is a color and pattern to meet every taste.

Painting and accessorizing walls are surely the easiest, fastest, and least expensive ways to change the look and mood of a room. And it’s low-risk, too: Hate the look? Paint it over. But no one will hate the looks in The Naked Wall, the book that shows exactly how to dramatically transform rooms instantly. The first section, Dress It, covers tops, techniques and inspiration for choosing color, painting, accenting, and adding faux finishes, trompe l’oeil, murals, wallpaper, plaster, fabric, brick,tile, and wood. In section two, Accessorize It, the experienced and talented authors explain choosing and hanging art, framing art, displaying collections, and dressing the wall with mirrors, screens, textiles, and more. Eleven great how-to fast-and-fabulous projects—great for girfiriends and groups of friends—show exactly how to take walls from buck naked to best dressed.

Kevin McCloud has been acknowledged as one of the most innovative decorators working today. In this exciting book, he breaks new ground on the subject of paint and decorative techniques. From information on essential colors and the use of different paints, to an unequaled step-by-step section on a vast range of decorating techniques, Kevin McCloud's Complete Book of Paint and Decorative Techniques is a definitive guide to the subject, showing how to decorate any home with originality and style.

From the earthy hues of Italian farmhouses to the cool elegance of Scandinavian interiors, color has always played a crucial role in decorative schemes. In the first section of the book a unique cut-out color selector illustrates the eight essential earth colors on the decorator's palette and shows how to create and combine them successfully by clever intermixing of pigments. These essential colors, together with five secondary colors, are then used in the techniques throughout the book, so that all the stunning decorative effects can be easily recreated.

The techniques section that follows contains instructions and step-by-step photographs for more than 35 glorious decorative effects, plus countless variations. They range from more familiar techniques such as colorwashing and antiquing to exciting new effects such as cissing paint, which creates a play of light between a matte and a glossy surface by brushing an emulsion of acrylic paint over a dry coat of gloss. Each technique contains a list of essential ingredients, step-by-step photographs and a close-up of the finished surface or object. All elements of the home are covered, from walls, floors, and woodwork to furnishings and even individual objects such as lamp bases and picture frames. As well as the basic technique, further swatches illustrate a range of alternative colorways. Many of the effects featured in the book can be equally at home in contemporary or historical, sophisticated or informal settings, and to illustrate this versatility further, inspirational photographs show the techniques in different settings.

With more than 400 color photographs, Kevin McCloud's Complete Book of Paint and Decorative Techniques is an unrivaled reference. Whether you want to revamp a dull room, devise a striking color scheme, or restore your home in accurate period detail, this book has the information and inspiration you need.

This step-by-step guide takes readers through the entire process, from inspiration to finished room. Ten simple projects can be mixed and matched to fit any taste and any setting. Do-it-yourself decorators and crafters will learn how to dress up any surface, from soap dispensers and mirrors to napkins and lampshades, with designs including: -Plaid and stripes -Dots and checks -Simple floral -Butterflies -Fall motif -Candy and gingerbread man -Tulips or pansies -Fruit and vegetables

With Gigi Wright-Turpin's easy-to-follow instructions, an elegantly decorated room is only a weekend away.