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Rating: 
Summary: Right on target! Decorating 101
Review: Decorating and design ideas contained in More Splash than Cash are right on target. This book is filled with frugal, creative, innovative methods to improve your home decor.The author's intentional ommission of photographs inspire the readers to get creative and use their imagination. Simple suggestions such as implementing an idea file or using a small trial amount of a color are effective ways to gain confidence in designing and decorating a home. Donna Babylon has done a fine job of introducing the elements of interior design to a broad audience, removing the mystery and encouraging readers to roll up their sleeves and get to work. Tips such as introducing various surfaces and textures in a room to alleviate "sameness" in a room, using color to create and maintain a room's mood, and establishing a room's layout by observing furniture arrangement after a party are all simple ways to get started in designing a space. The Storage Solutions chapter was chock full of effective ways to conquer clutter. Hanging an old window or rack for pots in the kitchen is an ideal way to create more space in an otherwise small area. Containing clutter in baskets, finding hidden storage under stairs and alcoves, using kitchen cabinets throughout your home, building a window seat - these are all practical solutions for a well-organized home, and I frequently include these systems in my own recommendations to clients. This book is a must read for those intimidated by interior decorating - help has finally arrived!
Rating: 
Summary: More Splash than Cash Delivers MORE than it promises
Review: More Splash Than Cash delivers the Goods! Finally, a decorating book that delivers MORE than it promises. MORE SPLASH THAN CASH overflows with ideas that anyone from a college student decorating her first dorm room to the more experienced home owner, can take and use to suit her own needs. The ideas are creative and innovative but also are practical and budget minded. Donna's writing style is easy going and while reading it you feel like you're chatting over coffee with an old friend. Her use of sidebars gives the reader the behind the scenes information they need, a mini lesson, so to speak. The addition of the glossary provides a valuable tool to the reader. The book is well organized and each chapter deals with a different room or design element. Not to be missed is the "helpful how to" chapter which is one of the most comprehensive I've ever seen. I'm looking forward to what new tricks Donna has up her sleeve. Hopefully, there will be a More Splash Than Cash II, III and More!
Rating: 
Summary: Unimpressive
Review: This book is simply a list of ideas, most of them extremely basic, like paint the ceiling a light color to make the walls seem taller, or extremely cheesy and cheap, like covering furniture or a lampshade in wallpaper borders. Innovative ideas like using green plants to make a room feel airy or repeating a color throughout a room to pull it together are plentiful. Many of the ideas are repepeated in different chapters, only phrased differently. I read a few chapters and plan on returning it to exchange for something more unique.
Rating:
Summary: Buying my own copy
Review: What can I say - I work in a library that owns this book, so I have easy access to it and many other decorating books. But after reading this book excitedly, in one sitting, I feel compelled to buy my own copy. There are so many cute, quick, easy and inexpensive ideas here. Most of the ideas are so simple they really can be described in just a paragraph or two. Thankfully that's what the author does, rather than stretching out instructions to fill up space!
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