Debbie Travis' Painted House: Quick and Easy Painted Finishes for Walls, Floors, and Furniture Using Water-Based Paints

This book wasn't intended to make everyone happy with Debbie's color choices or furniture selections, it's intended to teach you painting techniques and preparation, which it does, beautifully. Debbie is fearless and very adventurous when it comes to painting and re-decorating, her colors don't have to suit you, but all of us decorating fanatics can definitely glean some helpful hints from her trial and error in technique.

We used the ragging off method in this book to do up a little girl's room. We did it in shades of peach and beige, with a pretty wallpaper border in matching shades from the local building supply store. It didn't cost much and the result is STUNNING. I'm not a fan of a lot of stenciling, faux this and that, but I have to say, this book has techniques that really look amazing. We practiced on scraps of wood or wall board to gain confidence before plunging in. I can't wait to try some of the other techniques. If you run out of rooms and furniture to renovate, you can always restore yard-sale finds and donate them to church or school craft fairs. WAY too much fun. This book is a real treasure.

I've always admired wall finishes that I see in my day-to-day travels - in restaurants, public spaces and magazine photographs. With Debbie Travis' book I can now recreate a wall treatment in my kitchen that I first saw in a trendy Seattle restaurant. I can't wait to get started!

Tired of white walls, I purchased (and returned) several books in an effort to learn how to make my new home look like those photographed in magazines. In particular, I was looking for an easy procedure for the Ragging Off finish. Debbie Travis' book provides that and more. Each finish for walls, furniture and floors includes a brief description, a list of paint and tools, easy instructions with photographs and several variations of the featured theme. Equally important, her TIP sidebars helped me avoid costly and time consuming mistakes. The most creative chapter, Patterns, includes Squeegee Stripes, Combing, Terra-Cotta Tiles and Stone Blocking. Another favorite is the Carrara Marble effect in the Stone Finishes chapter. This book has something for everyone regardless of style preference, experience or ability. It's an absolute must for novices and professionals alike!

I highly recommend this book to anyone planning to redecorate. I wanted to colorwash my bedroom and looked at dozens of books that contained hopelessly complicated directions requiring obscure ingredients. This book is clear, readable, contains simple directions, and uses easy to obtain ingredients. I have no artistic ability and still got great results. My interior decorator is very impressed and is ordering her own copy of the book!