Review
A glossy, inexpensive and easy to follow recipe for a beautiful home, says Sarah Lapsley.
- Easy Paint Makeovers: Crackling, Leafing, Sponging, Antiquing & More
- Sterling
Easy Paint Makeovers: Crackling, Leafing, Sponging, Antiquing & More
A well produced beginner’s guide to ‘antiquing’ and other interior decorating effects, for the budding interior designer.
Award winning author and ‘wall artisan’ Kass Wilson certainly knows her stuff. With 15 years in the design industry under her belt, her work has been featured in numerous publications, show homes and galleries. The book – a good size, with enough glossy photographs to give you a decent idea of the effect you’re going for in each case – is laid out a little like a recipe book. The introductory chapters give a thorough breakdown of the effects; a crash course in types of paint and their uses; plus a list of the basic supplies and equipment needed and a guide to preparing surfaces. From here we dive straight into the different projects – each of which includes a list of supplies, easy to follow instructions and good use of photographs to illustrate the finished effect. Some of them – Master Bath Columns for example; where brush stippling is used to create ‘marble-look’ columns – are too tacky for words. Others are not only attractive – but surprisingly straightforward to recreate. The before and after pictures of the range of transformations wrought on a variety of white kitchen cupboards and bathroom cabinets is testament to the difference these inexpensive techniques can make to rooms.
Sarah Lapsley