Trading Spaces $100 to $1000 Makeovers: Maximizing Your Decorating Dollars (Trading Spaces)

Rating:
Summary: Fun ideas, but too many fan club fillers
Review: I liked that it had lots of room photos and tips for projects. Some turned out a bit odd or too home-made for my taste. Who really wants a dark blue wall with silver 5-inch squares stuck on it? I wish I could sew, then I could make a curtain out of a thrift shop dress. It would save lots of money over shopping at Penny's or Sears.
It really does get you to thinking of transforming garage sale finds and throwing around some paint to do a budget makeover for a room.
I didn't really need 13 pages listing episode-by-episode what had happened in each weekly show. I wanted decorating ideas, not a fan club book. Just skip past those parts and enjoy the photos and project ideas. Happy decorating!

Rating:
Summary: Fun ideas, but too many fan club fillers
Review: I liked that it had lots of room photos and tips for projects. Some turned out a bit odd or too home-made for my taste. Who really wants a dark blue wall with silver 5-inch squares stuck on it? I wish I could sew, then I could make a curtain out of a thrift shop dress. It would save lots of money over shopping at Penny's or Sears.
It really does get you to thinking of transforming garage sale finds and throwing around some paint to do a budget makeover for a room.
I didn't really need 13 pages listing episode-by-episode what had happened in each weekly show. I wanted decorating ideas, not a fan club book. Just skip past those parts and enjoy the photos and project ideas. Happy decorating!

Rating:
Summary: There are better budget decorating books out there
Review: There are a few good ideas in this book that inspired me, but you really need to have a lot of skills to do most of the projects. For example, it suggests that you can easily paint your own wall hangings, but forgets that some people may not be that artistic. Another suggestion is to build your own bench-style slatted coffee table, as if everyone has carpentry skills. It also says that you can make your own slipcovers, pillow cases, and drapes, just like the ones they show. Sure, it would be cool to have custom-made fabric drapes if I were a seamstress.

There are some step-by-step projects throughout the book called "Thrifty Projects". In one, it tells you how to make a storage bench in 7 steps, but with all the materials you'll need (NOT including all the tools!), it would probably be cheaper to buy one (definitely less hassle!)

Like the title, there are room makeovers from $100 to $1,000. The same room is showed redecorated with first $100, then $500, then $1,000. I was disappointed that every $100 room included paint, which cost at least $50 (except for one room project, it cost $12). Oh, and they only include four of these $100 to $1,000 featured room makeovers in the entire book, despite the title.

If you're interested in Theme Rooms, you may find this a useful book; although, they look a bit tacky to me. I thought the Safari Room was cute for a college student, but the Prison Themed Bedroom was downright creepy!

The Bottom Line: This is basically an advertisement for the television show. In fact, you're better off just watching the show, because there's nothing new here. They only show projects from shows they did, complete with a convenient little program guide in the back. Unfortunately, they left out a Table of Contents, so you have to flip through the book to find something you're looking for. Also, you need to already possess the skills and knowledge to do these "budget" ideas, and the four main ingredients for almost all of the room ideas are paint (and lots of it), fabric, MDF (instead of plywood), and floor tiles.

I'm going to insert a little peeve here I have about all decorating books I've read (about 5 so far): I rent an apartment in a community complex, so I'm not allowed to paint the walls or remove the wall-to-wall carpet to put in tiles or wood floors. Yet in EVERY book I've seen, the emphasis is on paint. Also, why does almost every living room have wood floors AND fireplaces? If any designer/decorator can redecorate a room with a soft white paint job, beige wall-to-wall carpet and white blinds (not allowed to remove them either), and no fireplace for a "focal point", then I would call THAT a decorating challenge!