Decorative paint is the perfect way to give new life to old furniture, and 200 full-color and two-color illustrations can teach the reader everything from graining to trompe l'oeil. It is the ideal introduction to a versatile decorating technique.

Annie Sloan shares her secrets to help you create a variety of patterns and effects to decorate your home. Includes information about decorating tools, materials, paint effects, stenciling, decoupage, wood finishes, gilding, and more. Step-by-step instructions and practical tips on trouble spots make this a complete how-to guide.

Traditionally the center of the home, the kitchen is key to successful living. Decorator Annie Sloan, one of the world's leading experts on color and interior painting, has produced a range of stunning professional schemes to give the most popular room of the home an entirely new look with a minimum of effort and little expense. Using her unique expertise, she shows how to decorate every kitchen area - walls, cupboards, and surfaces - providing clear instructions and step-by-step color photography. Projects range from an exuberant Mexican-style blue-and-yellow color-washed kitchen to revamping a battered family table and chairs as Swedish-style lime-washed dining furniture. Annie Sloan's Painted Kitchen also reveals simple afternoon makeovers and ingenious finishing touches, such as painting cupboard knobs or the inside of kitchen drawers in a contrast color to the outside for a fun, fashionable finish. All the projects are suitable for beginners and many feature style variations for the more adventurous.

From in-a-weekend pieces to intricate designs that take more time, these 27 stained-glass projects shine with light, color, and texture, thanks to the great new glasses on the market today. More than 70 color photos present the techniques, all worked with easy-to-acquire, modern, and efficient tools. Try two methods of cutting, with or without making a pattern. Use overlays, plating, and patinas to color the finish, creatively combine different techniques, and see how to work with brass and copper came. Beginners can start on small glass panels and build the skills to make a flat fan lamp, a mirror suitable for the wall or in a window, and more.

Readers will love this "treasure trove of inspiration" filled with stunning before and after photography of finished rooms and interior details. Inside are over "30" astonishing mural and faux finishing "step-by-step" projects, accompanied with interesting chatty side notes and expert tips - as author and artist Curtis Heuser guides the reader "room-by-room" through his beautifully renovated Historic private residence. Readers will learn the secrets to creating unique paint effects, and pick up invaluable designer tips on everything from choosing colors to decorating a bookshelf. Whether a professional or novice in the field, "YOUR HOME A Living Canvas" promises to sweep you up to new inspirational levels!!!