Katie Brown Decorates: 5 Styles, 10 Rooms, 105 Projects

Media's latest decorating darling, Brown boasts TV credits including Oprah, Good Morning America, and an eponymous program on the Style Network. As it turns out, the charismatic Brown is equally crafty in print. Her crisply designed and brightly photographed book offers step-by-step instructions for decorating projects from the basic (painting) to the wild (sewing a pompom bed skirt). It's the former that will appeal to most do-it-yourselfers: her design for asymmetrical shelving, for instance, is clean and modern, and the project is relatively simple to execute, even for the artistically and mechanically challenged. Her themed rooms--e.g. urban loft, seaside cottage and cabin in the woods--offer interesting models, and the individual components could work in virtually any room, anywhere. For each project, close-range photographs capture detail, and a concise list of supplies and tools heads up the minimalist (but sufficient) directions. But many of Brown's ideas seem frankly outlandish: the lamps made out of socks and sink strainers, the sandpaper glued to the coffee table and the stitched pleather floor covering may look good in the glossy photos, but it's hard to imagine them working in real homes. After all, a dishtowel safety-pinned to a chair (""reupholstering can cost an arm and a leg"") is still just a dishtowel. Color photos throughout.