[.ca] Painting and Decorating Furniture (ISBN 1552091376)

Easy read for beginners:
The title is deceptive as the contents is purely for the beginners and a lot of the projects are decoupaging. It would be a plus if the book includes more painting techniques. Thus, this is not a book for the experienced decorator or painter. However, this book will be a good start for beginners who wanted to try their hand at less frightening furniture decoration projects. The projects in this book are not complicated and they come with easy to follow instructions, aided by beautiful photographs.

Painting and Decorating Furniture:
This is, by far, the best "how to" book I have ever purchased. I was interested in some basics on how to paint/decorate a table & chairs for my Granddaughter and found this recommended book at Amazon.com. Best money I have spent in a while. Loads of interesting (but very simply stated) ideas on LOTS of projects. NOW I know how many of those items I have seen in antique stores and craft shows were created. My Granddaughter's table project is now on the right track. Thanks to this book, I have several other projects planned. Cudos to the author!!

If you like to paint furniture, you will like this book!:
This is absolutely the best book to use if you like to paint furniture. The instructions are well done and the pictures are great. It is also great if you need a book for ideas or inspiration. The minute I opened this book, I knew it was going to be a keeper. Great job Shelia McGraw!

I LOVE THIS BOOK:
This is a great book about decorative furniture painting. McGraw gives creative tips and techniques that I hadn't seen in other books, such as using caulking to create raised effects. She also shows you how to create your own block stamps on a roller to create consistent patterns. Although some of the projects aren't my style, many of them employ techniques that I definitely will use. I bought this book along with "Painted Furniture" by Diane Weaver because I wanted to paint some dressers that had been handed down to me and was looking for inspiration. This one is so much better than the Weaver book. I'm inspired to paint my kitchen table and chairs too. I was going to buy new kitchen chairs, but this book had an example of a painted chair that's exactly like mine. One of my chairs is wobbly and has been glued and clamped several times. This book gave me tips on how to really fix it and although I don't care for the floral motif on the example chair, I'm bursting with ideas for mine.

Good for beginning furniture painters:
I would NOT recommend this book if you are an advanced artist looking for new and fabulous furniture ideas. I was disappointed after receiving this book. This book does not contain anything that is "to die for", just the plain ole basics. However, if you are a beginner, this book will give you the basics for step by step furniture preparation and materials. It has good information on tools and lots of materials that are important to the beginner. If you are looking for beautiful old world style, modern or contemorary painted furniture, this book is NOT for you.!! I recommend: "Sophisticated Surfaces" by Karen Aude. It has beautiful professional ideas for walls, floors and furniture. It features professional artists and sample pictures of their painted furniture, walls and floors.