Right now I’m missing my garden. At the moment it is a bare scene, the color sucked out of it, the dry reeds of last year’s fennel rattling in the wind. I came across a photograph I took last April, when I first planted up my little space. The greenness of it all so many sprouts, such happy little boxwoods. It was like finding a baby picture when your child is a teenager when was this ever real? As winter grinds to its end, the solace of seed and plant catalogs is great. But when I see a catalog photo of an impossibly bloomy shrub rose, I wonder a) did they glue extra blossoms on there? and b) how could I ever get such a thing to grow like that in my own garden? This is why I prefer books as my preseason warm-up: at least these folks aren’t trying to sell me something. Seen in a book, that same bloomy shrub rose becomes not a tarty come-on but a noble goal, a specimen that any patient and well-intentioned gardener can nurture to its rightful destiny.

A number of exciting new books are full of noble goals for the patient gardener. And there’s a good one for the impatient gardener, too.

Inspiration If you don’t know who P. Allen Smith is, you haven’t been watching enough TV. This soft-voiced Southern gardener is a gentle antidote to Martha Stewart, and his syndicated show and frequent spots on the Weather Channel and CBS reveal a guy who seems, above all, unpretentious and friendly. Probably grows tomatoes at home, you think when you see him. But when you see his new book, you realize it’s like someone saying he likes eggs, and you glance up to see a dozen FabergŽs on the mantelpiece. Smith is downhome, but he is thinking big, too.

It is a treat to read P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home: Creating a Garden for Everyday Living (Clarkson Potter, $29.95, 224 pages, ISBN 0609609327). Read this book for the author’s overarching principle: to think of the space outside your home as an extension of the home, not as a swath of lawn to mow. Use that space to create areas that blur the distinction between inside and out, and create outdoor spaces for the things you love to do: cook, relax, play with children, entertain. This notion of garden “rooms” is quite English and quite ancient, so Smith provides photographs of long-established gardens both English and American that make his case in a lovely way. His own gardens provide the core of the illustrations, and they are amazing. There is much here for those of us without giant landscaping budgets or huge yards: practical advice on choosing plants, a wealth of ideas for adding privacy and an overall message that we should think about our yards in a new way. All is delivered in a sophisticated, elegant book design.

Another new book to get you thinking fresh is Garden Color (Better Homes and Gardens, $19.95, 192 pages, ISBN 0696215349). Just about every gardener has a place, by a front door or a porch, where the main goal is vibrant color. This book takes you through the color wheel, exploring color theory in the garden and showing in dozens of photographs plant combinations that will make color explode in your garden. In that sturdy Better Homes and Gardens way, the focus is on plants that are widely available and easy to grow. Every plant ever grown Well, not quite. But something very special for gardeners is going on in American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Plants ∧ Flowers, Christopher Brickell and Trevor Cole, editors-in-chief (DK, $60, 720 pages, ISBN 0789489937). There are a number of comprehensive plant encyclopedias out there (Taylor’s Master Guide to Gardening has been my favorite), but they tend to be arranged alphabetically. The AHS Encyclopedia arranges plants by color, size and type. This Plant Selector system is a godsend for the gardener trying to fill a gap in a garden (“I need a small yellow perennial blooming early spring”) or someone who forgot the name of the plant she saw at the garden center (“It was a white climber”). But that’s not all. In addition to the full-color Plant Selector, the Plant Dictionary covers 8,000 plants, which is a help when you return from the garden center chanting “lamium, lamium” and can’t remember what it is.

There is a reason some books cost $60. (The proofreading bill alone on this thing had to be wicked.) But the results are worth it: a rich resource for the gardener who is ready to move beyond flats of pansies and start thinking about the enormous world of plants. I will be using this book often this spring.

Practicality And then there’s the real world, where those flats of pansies sit for a while on the back porch, reproachful every time I pass them. Not a noble sight at all. It is impossible to do everything I’d like to do in my garden, but I would be miserable without it. Joanna Smith understands this dilemma, and she is full of ideas in The One-Hour Garden: How You Can Have a No-Fuss, No-Work Garden. The title, of course, is a tease the only no-work garden is a paved garden. What’s helpful about this book is the notion of time management. Smith spends most of the book evaluating the time and trouble required for various garden elements and plants, which is not how many gardeners approach their garden planning. She’s anti-lawn, anti-weeding and pro-gravel, and she encourages careful thought about soil conditions, light and moisture. This book will take more than an hour to read, which will put you a week behind on your garden. But Smith shoehorns a ton of information into this colorful volume, with lots of quick lists, short how-tos and hints. This book will save time for every gardener, even the ones who like a high-fuss, tons-of-work garden. Small pleasures Finally, there is good news for anyone who doesn’t have access to a yard. Rosemary McCreary is a prolific garden book author, and her newest volume brings the idea of landscaping inside. Tabletop Gardens (Storey, $27.50, 160 pages, ISBN 1580174663) is not your average houseplant book. A single plant placed with care becomes a sculpture. A glass globe becomes a child’s fairy-tale garden. Flowering bulbs and forsythia branches turn into a centerpiece garden. McCreary isn’t one to plop a ficus in a corner and be done; the lovely color photographs prove that a tabletop garden can be a fascinating indoor environment. Cactus, grasses, climbing vines and bromeliads are all on her list of unusual ways to decorate with living plants, and her plant lists and care information make it all seem quite simple. Even if you do have an acre of perennials and a topiary garden, Tabletop Gardens is an inspiration. Sometimes, thinking small can be the most noble goal of all. Ann Shayne is a former editor of BookPage.

Right now I’m missing my garden. At the moment it is a bare scene, the color sucked out of it, the dry reeds of last year’s fennel rattling in the wind. I came across a photograph I took last April, when I first planted up my little space. The greenness of it all so many sprouts, such happy little boxwoods. It was like finding a baby picture when your child is a teenager when was this ever real? As winter grinds to its end, the solace of seed and plant catalogs is great. But when I see a catalog photo of an impossibly bloomy shrub rose, I wonder a) did they glue extra blossoms on there? and b) how could I ever get such a thing to grow like that in my own garden? This is why I prefer books as my preseason warm-up: at least these folks aren’t trying to sell me something. Seen in a book, that same bloomy shrub rose becomes not a tarty come-on but a noble goal, a specimen that any patient and well-intentioned gardener can nurture to its rightful destiny.

A number of exciting new books are full of noble goals for the patient gardener. And there’s a good one for the impatient gardener, too.

Inspiration If you don’t know who P. Allen Smith is, you haven’t been watching enough TV. This soft-voiced Southern gardener is a gentle antidote to Martha Stewart, and his syndicated show and frequent spots on the Weather Channel and CBS reveal a guy who seems, above all, unpretentious and friendly. Probably grows tomatoes at home, you think when you see him. But when you see his new book, you realize it’s like someone saying he likes eggs, and you glance up to see a dozen FabergŽs on the mantelpiece. Smith is downhome, but he is thinking big, too.

It is a treat to read P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home: Creating a Garden for Everyday Living (Clarkson Potter, $29.95, 224 pages, ISBN 0609609327). Read this book for the author’s overarching principle: to think of the space outside your home as an extension of the home, not as a swath of lawn to mow. Use that space to create areas that blur the distinction between inside and out, and create outdoor spaces for the things you love to do: cook, relax, play with children, entertain. This notion of garden “rooms” is quite English and quite ancient, so Smith provides photographs of long-established gardens both English and American that make his case in a lovely way. His own gardens provide the core of the illustrations, and they are amazing. There is much here for those of us without giant landscaping budgets or huge yards: practical advice on choosing plants, a wealth of ideas for adding privacy and an overall message that we should think about our yards in a new way. All is delivered in a sophisticated, elegant book design.

Another new book to get you thinking fresh is Garden Color (Better Homes and Gardens, $19.95, 192 pages, ISBN 0696215349). Just about every gardener has a place, by a front door or a porch, where the main goal is vibrant color. This book takes you through the color wheel, exploring color theory in the garden and showing in dozens of photographs plant combinations that will make color explode in your garden. In that sturdy Better Homes and Gardens way, the focus is on plants that are widely available and easy to grow. Every plant ever grown Well, not quite. But something very special for gardeners is going on in American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Plants ∧ Flowers, Christopher Brickell and Trevor Cole, editors-in-chief. There are a number of comprehensive plant encyclopedias out there (Taylor’s Master Guide to Gardening has been my favorite), but they tend to be arranged alphabetically. The AHS Encyclopedia arranges plants by color, size and type. This Plant Selector system is a godsend for the gardener trying to fill a gap in a garden (“I need a small yellow perennial blooming early spring”) or someone who forgot the name of the plant she saw at the garden center (“It was a white climber”). But that’s not all. In addition to the full-color Plant Selector, the Plant Dictionary covers 8,000 plants, which is a help when you return from the garden center chanting “lamium, lamium” and can’t remember what it is.

There is a reason some books cost $60. (The proofreading bill alone on this thing had to be wicked.) But the results are worth it: a rich resource for the gardener who is ready to move beyond flats of pansies and start thinking about the enormous world of plants. I will be using this book often this spring.

Practicality And then there’s the real world, where those flats of pansies sit for a while on the back porch, reproachful every time I pass them. Not a noble sight at all. It is impossible to do everything I’d like to do in my garden, but I would be miserable without it. Joanna Smith understands this dilemma, and she is full of ideas in The One-Hour Garden: How You Can Have a No-Fuss, No-Work Garden (Reader’s Digest, $26.95, 160 pages, ISBN 0762104252). The title, of course, is a tease the only no-work garden is a paved garden. What’s helpful about this book is the notion of time management. Smith spends most of the book evaluating the time and trouble required for various garden elements and plants, which is not how many gardeners approach their garden planning. She’s anti-lawn, anti-weeding and pro-gravel, and she encourages careful thought about soil conditions, light and moisture. This book will take more than an hour to read, which will put you a week behind on your garden. But Smith shoehorns a ton of information into this colorful volume, with lots of quick lists, short how-tos and hints. This book will save time for every gardener, even the ones who like a high-fuss, tons-of-work garden. Small pleasures Finally, there is good news for anyone who doesn’t have access to a yard. Rosemary McCreary is a prolific garden book author, and her newest volume brings the idea of landscaping inside. Tabletop Gardens (Storey, $27.50, 160 pages, ISBN 1580174663) is not your average houseplant book. A single plant placed with care becomes a sculpture. A glass globe becomes a child’s fairy-tale garden. Flowering bulbs and forsythia branches turn into a centerpiece garden. McCreary isn’t one to plop a ficus in a corner and be done; the lovely color photographs prove that a tabletop garden can be a fascinating indoor environment. Cactus, grasses, climbing vines and bromeliads are all on her list of unusual ways to decorate with living plants, and her plant lists and care information make it all seem quite simple. Even if you do have an acre of perennials and a topiary garden, Tabletop Gardens is an inspiration. Sometimes, thinking small can be the most noble goal of all. Ann Shayne is a former editor of BookPage.

Right now I’m missing my garden. At the moment it is a bare scene, the color sucked out of it, the dry reeds of last year’s fennel rattling in the wind. I came across a photograph I took last April, when I first planted up my little space. The greenness of it all so many sprouts, such happy little boxwoods. It was like finding a baby picture when your child is a teenager when was this ever real? As winter grinds to its end, the solace of seed and plant catalogs is great. But when I see a catalog photo of an impossibly bloomy shrub rose, I wonder a) did they glue extra blossoms on there? and b) how could I ever get such a thing to grow like that in my own garden? This is why I prefer books as my preseason warm-up: at least these folks aren’t trying to sell me something. Seen in a book, that same bloomy shrub rose becomes not a tarty come-on but a noble goal, a specimen that any patient and well-intentioned gardener can nurture to its rightful destiny.

A number of exciting new books are full of noble goals for the patient gardener. And there’s a good one for the impatient gardener, too.

Inspiration If you don’t know who P. Allen Smith is, you haven’t been watching enough TV. This soft-voiced Southern gardener is a gentle antidote to Martha Stewart, and his syndicated show and frequent spots on the Weather Channel and CBS reveal a guy who seems, above all, unpretentious and friendly. Probably grows tomatoes at home, you think when you see him. But when you see his new book, you realize it’s like someone saying he likes eggs, and you glance up to see a dozen FabergŽs on the mantelpiece. Smith is downhome, but he is thinking big, too.

It is a treat to read P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home: Creating a Garden for Everyday Living (Clarkson Potter, $29.95, 224 pages, ISBN 0609609327). Read this book for the author’s overarching principle: to think of the space outside your home as an extension of the home, not as a swath of lawn to mow. Use that space to create areas that blur the distinction between inside and out, and create outdoor spaces for the things you love to do: cook, relax, play with children, entertain. This notion of garden “rooms” is quite English and quite ancient, so Smith provides photographs of long-established gardens both English and American that make his case in a lovely way. His own gardens provide the core of the illustrations, and they are amazing. There is much here for those of us without giant landscaping budgets or huge yards: practical advice on choosing plants, a wealth of ideas for adding privacy and an overall message that we should think about our yards in a new way. All is delivered in a sophisticated, elegant book design.

Another new book to get you thinking fresh is Garden Color. Just about every gardener has a place, by a front door or a porch, where the main goal is vibrant color. This book takes you through the color wheel, exploring color theory in the garden and showing in dozens of photographs plant combinations that will make color explode in your garden. In that sturdy Better Homes and Gardens way, the focus is on plants that are widely available and easy to grow. Every plant ever grown Well, not quite. But something very special for gardeners is going on in American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Plants ∧ Flowers, Christopher Brickell and Trevor Cole, editors-in-chief (DK, $60, 720 pages, ISBN 0789489937). There are a number of comprehensive plant encyclopedias out there (Taylor’s Master Guide to Gardening has been my favorite), but they tend to be arranged alphabetically. The AHS Encyclopedia arranges plants by color, size and type. This Plant Selector system is a godsend for the gardener trying to fill a gap in a garden (“I need a small yellow perennial blooming early spring”) or someone who forgot the name of the plant she saw at the garden center (“It was a white climber”). But that’s not all. In addition to the full-color Plant Selector, the Plant Dictionary covers 8,000 plants, which is a help when you return from the garden center chanting “lamium, lamium” and can’t remember what it is.

There is a reason some books cost $60. (The proofreading bill alone on this thing had to be wicked.) But the results are worth it: a rich resource for the gardener who is ready to move beyond flats of pansies and start thinking about the enormous world of plants. I will be using this book often this spring.

Practicality And then there’s the real world, where those flats of pansies sit for a while on the back porch, reproachful every time I pass them. Not a noble sight at all. It is impossible to do everything I’d like to do in my garden, but I would be miserable without it. Joanna Smith understands this dilemma, and she is full of ideas in The One-Hour Garden: How You Can Have a No-Fuss, No-Work Garden (Reader’s Digest, $26.95, 160 pages, ISBN 0762104252). The title, of course, is a tease the only no-work garden is a paved garden. What’s helpful about this book is the notion of time management. Smith spends most of the book evaluating the time and trouble required for various garden elements and plants, which is not how many gardeners approach their garden planning. She’s anti-lawn, anti-weeding and pro-gravel, and she encourages careful thought about soil conditions, light and moisture. This book will take more than an hour to read, which will put you a week behind on your garden. But Smith shoehorns a ton of information into this colorful volume, with lots of quick lists, short how-tos and hints. This book will save time for every gardener, even the ones who like a high-fuss, tons-of-work garden. Small pleasures Finally, there is good news for anyone who doesn’t have access to a yard. Rosemary McCreary is a prolific garden book author, and her newest volume brings the idea of landscaping inside. Tabletop Gardens (Storey, $27.50, 160 pages, ISBN 1580174663) is not your average houseplant book. A single plant placed with care becomes a sculpture. A glass globe becomes a child’s fairy-tale garden. Flowering bulbs and forsythia branches turn into a centerpiece garden. McCreary isn’t one to plop a ficus in a corner and be done; the lovely color photographs prove that a tabletop garden can be a fascinating indoor environment. Cactus, grasses, climbing vines and bromeliads are all on her list of unusual ways to decorate with living plants, and her plant lists and care information make it all seem quite simple. Even if you do have an acre of perennials and a topiary garden, Tabletop Gardens is an inspiration. Sometimes, thinking small can be the most noble goal of all. Ann Shayne is a former editor of BookPage.

Right now I’m missing my garden. At the moment it is a bare scene, the color sucked out of it, the dry reeds of last year’s fennel rattling in the wind. I came across a photograph I took last April, when I first planted up my little space. The greenness of it all so many sprouts, such happy little boxwoods. It was like finding a baby picture when your child is a teenager when was this ever real? As winter grinds to its end, the solace of seed and plant catalogs is great. But when I see a catalog photo of an impossibly bloomy shrub rose, I wonder a) did they glue extra blossoms on there? and b) how could I ever get such a thing to grow like that in my own garden? This is why I prefer books as my preseason warm-up: at least these folks aren’t trying to sell me something. Seen in a book, that same bloomy shrub rose becomes not a tarty come-on but a noble goal, a specimen that any patient and well-intentioned gardener can nurture to its rightful destiny.

A number of exciting new books are full of noble goals for the patient gardener. And there’s a good one for the impatient gardener, too.

Inspiration If you don’t know who P. Allen Smith is, you haven’t been watching enough TV. This soft-voiced Southern gardener is a gentle antidote to Martha Stewart, and his syndicated show and frequent spots on the Weather Channel and CBS reveal a guy who seems, above all, unpretentious and friendly. Probably grows tomatoes at home, you think when you see him. But when you see his new book, you realize it’s like someone saying he likes eggs, and you glance up to see a dozen FabergŽs on the mantelpiece. Smith is downhome, but he is thinking big, too.

It is a treat to read P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home: Creating a Garden for Everyday Living. Read this book for the author’s overarching principle: to think of the space outside your home as an extension of the home, not as a swath of lawn to mow. Use that space to create areas that blur the distinction between inside and out, and create outdoor spaces for the things you love to do: cook, relax, play with children, entertain. This notion of garden “rooms” is quite English and quite ancient, so Smith provides photographs of long-established gardens both English and American that make his case in a lovely way. His own gardens provide the core of the illustrations, and they are amazing. There is much here for those of us without giant landscaping budgets or huge yards: practical advice on choosing plants, a wealth of ideas for adding privacy and an overall message that we should think about our yards in a new way. All is delivered in a sophisticated, elegant book design.

Another new book to get you thinking fresh is Garden Color (Better Homes and Gardens, $19.95, 192 pages, ISBN 0696215349). Just about every gardener has a place, by a front door or a porch, where the main goal is vibrant color. This book takes you through the color wheel, exploring color theory in the garden and showing in dozens of photographs plant combinations that will make color explode in your garden. In that sturdy Better Homes and Gardens way, the focus is on plants that are widely available and easy to grow. Every plant ever grown Well, not quite. But something very special for gardeners is going on in American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Plants &and Flowers, Christopher Brickell and Trevor Cole, editors-in-chief (DK, $60, 720 pages, ISBN 0789489937). There are a number of comprehensive plant encyclopedias out there (Taylor’s Master Guide to Gardening has been my favorite), but they tend to be arranged alphabetically. The AHS Encyclopedia arranges plants by color, size and type. This Plant Selector system is a godsend for the gardener trying to fill a gap in a garden (“I need a small yellow perennial blooming early spring”) or someone who forgot the name of the plant she saw at the garden center (“It was a white climber”). But that’s not all. In addition to the full-color Plant Selector, the Plant Dictionary covers 8,000 plants, which is a help when you return from the garden center chanting “lamium, lamium” and can’t remember what it is.

There is a reason some books cost $60. (The proofreading bill alone on this thing had to be wicked.) But the results are worth it: a rich resource for the gardener who is ready to move beyond flats of pansies and start thinking about the enormous world of plants. I will be using this book often this spring.

Practicality And then there’s the real world, where those flats of pansies sit for a while on the back porch, reproachful every time I pass them. Not a noble sight at all. It is impossible to do everything I’d like to do in my garden, but I would be miserable without it. Joanna Smith understands this dilemma, and she is full of ideas in The One-Hour Garden: How You Can Have a No-Fuss, No-Work Garden (Reader’s Digest, $26.95, 160 pages, ISBN 0762104252). The title, of course, is a tease the only no-work garden is a paved garden. What’s helpful about this book is the notion of time management. Smith spends most of the book evaluating the time and trouble required for various garden elements and plants, which is not how many gardeners approach their garden planning. She’s anti-lawn, anti-weeding and pro-gravel, and she encourages careful thought about soil conditions, light and moisture. This book will take more than an hour to read, which will put you a week behind on your garden. But Smith shoehorns a ton of information into this colorful volume, with lots of quick lists, short how-tos and hints. This book will save time for every gardener, even the ones who like a high-fuss, tons-of-work garden. Small pleasures Finally, there is good news for anyone who doesn’t have access to a yard. Rosemary McCreary is a prolific garden book author, and her newest volume brings the idea of landscaping inside. Tabletop Gardens (Storey, $27.50, 160 pages, ISBN 1580174663) is not your average houseplant book. A single plant placed with care becomes a sculpture. A glass globe becomes a child’s fairy-tale garden. Flowering bulbs and forsythia branches turn into a centerpiece garden. McCreary isn’t one to plop a ficus in a corner and be done; the lovely color photographs prove that a tabletop garden can be a fascinating indoor environment. Cactus, grasses, climbing vines and bromeliads are all on her list of unusual ways to decorate with living plants, and her plant lists and care information make it all seem quite simple. Even if you do have an acre of perennials and a topiary garden, Tabletop Gardens is an inspiration. Sometimes, thinking small can be the most noble goal of all. Ann Shayne is a former editor of BookPage.

Are you suffering from CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome)? Has your kitchen table disappeared under a mountain of clutter? Did you spend most of the morning searching for an overdue phone bill that simply must be paid today? If so, you’re certainly not alone. As Marla Cilley has discovered, there are tens of thousands possibly millions of us who simply can’t keep our houses neat and tidy. Cilley decided to come to the rescue by stepping into a phone booth and emerging as The FlyLady, a superwoman of household organization who rescues the messiest from their dusty, dirty, clutter-laden homes.

Cilley is the chief housekeeper-in-residence at a popular Web site, www.flylady.net, and earlier this year she self-published a book for the overwhelmed, overextended and overdrawn: Sink Reflections: FlyLady’s BabyStep Guide to Overcoming CHAOS. The first printing of the book sold out so quickly that it was snapped up by Bantam Books, which is publishing a trade paperback edition this month ($14.95, 223 pages, ISBN 0553382179).

Cilley’s approach is light-hearted, supportive and sometimes even fun, as the 130,000 subscribers to her Web site have learned. Her commandments range from the 27-Fling Boogie (in which you run through your house at a dizzying pace and grab 27 items to throw away) to the Hot Spot Fire Drill (a twice-a-day cleanup of an area that attracts clutter). After reforming her own disorganized ways a few years ago ( my home was full of clutter, my sink was overrun with dirty dishes and I looked like a truck had just run over me ) Cilley set up a small e-mail group to counsel others. The group evolved into her popular Web site, which she runs with a crew of five from her home in the North Carolina mountains. BookPage recently asked the FlyLady for some help in crawling out from under our own mountain of stuff.

BookPage: Help! My house/life is in total CHAOS. How do I take that daunting first step toward fixing it? Marla Cilley: Go shine your kitchen sink! Quit looking at the big picture and just take the first babystep and shine that sink! You write that the FlyLady program really isn’t about cleaning. What is the heart of your message to the messy? If you take care of yourself first and I mean FLY(Finally Loving Yourself), your home and life will fall right into place. BabySteps, BabySteps, BabySteps. Establish the foundations of small routines and before you know it, you will find the peace you are looking for.

Who are the typical subscribers to your Web site? They are from all walks of life: FLY Guys, homeschooling parents, retired people. You name it and we have them in our cyber-family. FLYing works for anyone who has a home and is tired of living in CHAOS! Does your own house ever lapse into CHAOS? NO! Occasionally I have a hot spot get out of control, but it only takes five minutes to put out that fire! My routines allow us the freedom to open our door to guests at a moment’s notice.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever parted with in a 27-Fling Boogie? Flinging becomes fun after a little while. I have never parted with anything that made me smile. If it doesn’t, it is out of here. It is so easy if you can ask yourself a simple question. Do I love you? Do I use you? Do I have a place for you? If you can honestly answer these questions, then the item is worth keeping. If not, look out the flinging has begun! What’s the household chore you dread the most, and how do you convince yourself to do it anyway? I don’t dread any of them, because none of them take more than 15 minutes to do and I can do anything for 15 minutes! When my timer goes off, I get to stop! The holidays are approaching, and I can’t find my dining room table under all the clutter. How can I uncover it in time for Thanksgiving? Find your garbage can first and use it! The trashcan is my favorite filing system! Toss it out!

As a real estate agent, I’ve seen homes in many price ranges. But whether a house has a market value of $50,000 or $500,000, it’s not the price tag but the personal touches that turn four sheetrock walls into a warm, welcoming room. If your kitchen needs some kick, or you want to make your boudoir more bewitching, we’ve found three excellent books to help you define and design your own distinctive spaces.

Decorating dilemmas For the economically minded or anyone else who wants a creative challenge, Trade Secrets from Use What You Have Decorating by Lauri Ward (Putnam, $27.95, 256 pages, ISBN 0399148094) is a delightful foray into inexpensive ideas and treatments that yield dramatic, room-changing results. Ward, who has her own decorating Web site (www.decorate.com) and appears regularly in the national media as a design expert, shares her extensive knowledge in this unintimidating, “brass tacks” book. Having worked with hundreds of homeowners, she offers their real-life decorating dilemmas as examples of transformations that can be readily accomplished without great investments of time or money. And she offers tons of tips, like using unconventional curtain rods a hockey stick or a golf club in a sport fan’s room, or a bamboo pole or dried tree branch in nature-oriented settings. But Ward’s Trade Secrets is more than a list of decorating tips and tricks; there are solid chapters on basic fundamentals such as “Home Offices,” “The Bottom Line on Flooring” and “Decorating with Paint and Paper.” The illustrations are not lavish; they are simple black and white drawings, but they fit the thrifty tone and complement the simple, “you can do this too” approach for which Ward is known.

A sense of adventure If you need more visual appeal before you can be inspired to create, Tracy Porter’s Home Style: Creative and Livable Decorating Ideas for Everyone by Tracy Porter (Hyperion, $24.95, 144 pages, ISBN 0786868112) contains enough sensuous, eye-catching photographs to stimulate even the most neutral-toned imagination. Still, plenty of space is left (whole pages) for Porter’s ample lists of tips on topics like “Display Ideas,” “Decorating Your Mantels” or (another of my favorites surprise, surprise) “Decorating with Books.” Like Ward, Porter encourages you to take interesting pieces you may already have and use them in new and adventuresome ways. For example, she proposes hanging an heirloom chandelier in an unconventional spot in a nursery or over a bathtub or using a vintage screen door as an interior door, where an airy, inviting and unusual feature would say “Welcome!” An added bonus to this book is the final section that gives how-to instructions on many of the exquisite little treasures found in the earlier pages, like her “Make and Create” drawerpulls, lampshades or switch plates, most of which can be accomplished with your own household “finds” and a hot-glue gun.

Achieving real style Straight Talk on Decorating by Lynette Jennings is angled toward a more “mature” budget, but Jennings, host of Discovery Channel’s Lynette Jennings Design, brings her warm, witty, conversational tone to the pages of this practical, unpretentious “production.” Her own homes in Toronto and Atlanta are featured in sumptuous photos, as she explains why each room works to satisfy both the elements of pleasing design and the living requirements of real people. “Real style,” she admonishes, “means being sure of who you are, how you want to live, and what you want for your loved ones.” One of the most provocative portions of this book is Jennings’ treatment of color. In debunking decorating myths, she encourages homeowners to go against traditional real estate wisdom and boldly paint those safe, white “easy sell” walls. She argues that a beautiful home, “a home full of colorful personality. . . will be the most memorable, intriguing, and valuable to a prospective buyer.” And, I have to admit the photographs in this book make a mighty good case for her “go ahead and give it some color” arguments. In fact, real estate agents take note any of these books would make great house-warming gifts to pass to your clients at closing, along with the keys to their new homes!

As a real estate agent, I’ve seen homes in many price ranges. But whether a house has a market value of $50,000 or $500,000, it’s not the price tag but the personal touches that turn four sheetrock walls into a warm, welcoming room. If your kitchen needs some kick, or you want to make your boudoir more bewitching, we’ve found three excellent books to help you define and design your own distinctive spaces.

Decorating dilemmas For the economically minded or anyone else who wants a creative challenge, Trade Secrets from Use What You Have Decorating by Lauri Ward (Putnam, $27.95, 256 pages, ISBN 0399148094) is a delightful foray into inexpensive ideas and treatments that yield dramatic, room-changing results. Ward, who has her own decorating Web site (www.decorate.com) and appears regularly in the national media as a design expert, shares her extensive knowledge in this unintimidating, “brass tacks” book. Having worked with hundreds of homeowners, she offers their real-life decorating dilemmas as examples of transformations that can be readily accomplished without great investments of time or money. And she offers tons of tips, like using unconventional curtain rods a hockey stick or a golf club in a sport fan’s room, or a bamboo pole or dried tree branch in nature-oriented settings. But Ward’s Trade Secrets is more than a list of decorating tips and tricks; there are solid chapters on basic fundamentals such as “Home Offices,” “The Bottom Line on Flooring” and “Decorating with Paint and Paper.” The illustrations are not lavish; they are simple black and white drawings, but they fit the thrifty tone and complement the simple, “you can do this too” approach for which Ward is known.

A sense of adventure If you need more visual appeal before you can be inspired to create, Tracy Porter’s Home Style: Creative and Livable Decorating Ideas for Everyone by Tracy Porter contains enough sensuous, eye-catching photographs to stimulate even the most neutral-toned imagination. Still, plenty of space is left (whole pages) for Porter’s ample lists of tips on topics like “Display Ideas,” “Decorating Your Mantels” or (another of my favorites surprise, surprise) “Decorating with Books.” Like Ward, Porter encourages you to take interesting pieces you may already have and use them in new and adventuresome ways. For example, she proposes hanging an heirloom chandelier in an unconventional spot in a nursery or over a bathtub or using a vintage screen door as an interior door, where an airy, inviting and unusual feature would say “Welcome!” An added bonus to this book is the final section that gives how-to instructions on many of the exquisite little treasures found in the earlier pages, like her “Make and Create” drawerpulls, lampshades or switch plates, most of which can be accomplished with your own household “finds” and a hot-glue gun.

Achieving real style Straight Talk on Decorating by Lynette Jennings (Meredith, $34.95, 240 pages, ISBN 0696211084) is angled toward a more “mature” budget, but Jennings, host of Discovery Channel’s Lynette Jennings Design, brings her warm, witty, conversational tone to the pages of this practical, unpretentious “production.” Her own homes in Toronto and Atlanta are featured in sumptuous photos, as she explains why each room works to satisfy both the elements of pleasing design and the living requirements of real people. “Real style,” she admonishes, “means being sure of who you are, how you want to live, and what you want for your loved ones.” One of the most provocative portions of this book is Jennings’ treatment of color. In debunking decorating myths, she encourages homeowners to go against traditional real estate wisdom and boldly paint those safe, white “easy sell” walls. She argues that a beautiful home, “a home full of colorful personality. . . will be the most memorable, intriguing, and valuable to a prospective buyer.” And, I have to admit the photographs in this book make a mighty good case for her “go ahead and give it some color” arguments. In fact, real estate agents take note any of these books would make great house-warming gifts to pass to your clients at closing, along with the keys to their new homes!

As a real estate agent, I’ve seen homes in many price ranges. But whether a house has a market value of $50,000 or $500,000, it’s not the price tag but the personal touches that turn four sheetrock walls into a warm, welcoming room. If your kitchen needs some kick, or you want to make your boudoir more bewitching, we’ve found three excellent books to help you define and design your own distinctive spaces.

Decorating dilemmas For the economically minded or anyone else who wants a creative challenge, Trade Secrets from Use What You Have Decorating by Lauri Ward is a delightful foray into inexpensive ideas and treatments that yield dramatic, room-changing results. Ward, who has her own decorating Web site (www.decorate.com) and appears regularly in the national media as a design expert, shares her extensive knowledge in this unintimidating, “brass tacks” book. Having worked with hundreds of homeowners, she offers their real-life decorating dilemmas as examples of transformations that can be readily accomplished without great investments of time or money. And she offers tons of tips, like using unconventional curtain rods a hockey stick or a golf club in a sport fan’s room, or a bamboo pole or dried tree branch in nature-oriented settings. But Ward’s Trade Secrets is more than a list of decorating tips and tricks; there are solid chapters on basic fundamentals such as “Home Offices,” “The Bottom Line on Flooring” and “Decorating with Paint and Paper.” The illustrations are not lavish; they are simple black and white drawings, but they fit the thrifty tone and complement the simple, “you can do this too” approach for which Ward is known.

A sense of adventure If you need more visual appeal before you can be inspired to create, Tracy Porter’s Home Style: Creative and Livable Decorating Ideas for Everyone by Tracy Porter (Hyperion, $24.95, 144 pages, ISBN 0786868112) contains enough sensuous, eye-catching photographs to stimulate even the most neutral-toned imagination. Still, plenty of space is left (whole pages) for Porter’s ample lists of tips on topics like “Display Ideas,” “Decorating Your Mantels” or (another of my favorites surprise, surprise) “Decorating with Books.” Like Ward, Porter encourages you to take interesting pieces you may already have and use them in new and adventuresome ways. For example, she proposes hanging an heirloom chandelier in an unconventional spot in a nursery or over a bathtub or using a vintage screen door as an interior door, where an airy, inviting and unusual feature would say “Welcome!” An added bonus to this book is the final section that gives how-to instructions on many of the exquisite little treasures found in the earlier pages, like her “Make and Create” drawerpulls, lampshades or switch plates, most of which can be accomplished with your own household “finds” and a hot-glue gun.

Achieving real style Straight Talk on Decorating by Lynette Jennings (Meredith, $34.95, 240 pages, ISBN 0696211084) is angled toward a more “mature” budget, but Jennings, host of Discovery Channel’s Lynette Jennings Design, brings her warm, witty, conversational tone to the pages of this practical, unpretentious “production.” Her own homes in Toronto and Atlanta are featured in sumptuous photos, as she explains why each room works to satisfy both the elements of pleasing design and the living requirements of real people. “Real style,” she admonishes, “means being sure of who you are, how you want to live, and what you want for your loved ones.” One of the most provocative portions of this book is Jennings’ treatment of color. In debunking decorating myths, she encourages homeowners to go against traditional real estate wisdom and boldly paint those safe, white “easy sell” walls. She argues that a beautiful home, “a home full of colorful personality. . . will be the most memorable, intriguing, and valuable to a prospective buyer.” And, I have to admit the photographs in this book make a mighty good case for her “go ahead and give it some color” arguments. In fact, real estate agents take note any of these books would make great house-warming gifts to pass to your clients at closing, along with the keys to their new homes!

Well, OK I’ll admit that not all men make a habit out of reading books. But for every guy who enjoys a novel now and then, there are dozens more who just might like an enlightening browse, an interesting bit of nonfiction, a useful how-to guide or, of course, cool pictures of cool guy-type things. Furthermore, if you can lay a neat gift book on a guy, he will be flattered that you pegged him for the literary type (even if you know better). These recent releases will make solid gift selections for that special guy, whether he be a sports nut, the manly fix-it type or even the rare genteel thinker.

Slam dunk

Certainly one of the finest gift sports books of recent years has to be At the Buzzer! The Greatest Moments in NBA History. A hip, knowing text by sports journalist Bryan Burwell accompanies hundreds of dramatic color photographs that chart the exploits of basketball’s greats Chamberlain, Russell, Havlicek, West, Bird, Dr. J., Magic and Michael from the league’s formative years to the present day. Important playoff game performances, heroic single-game scoring feats, great match-ups and eventful isolated moments are all captured in words and pictures. In addition, the book is accompanied by two audio CDs that present excerpts from pertinent original radio and television broadcasts. Ex-basketball star and TV commentator Bill Walton handles the narration on the discs, which feature the voices of Marv Albert, Brent Musberger, Dick Enberg and a host of other national and local play-by-play announcers.

Good bet

Another terrific volume for those hard-to-shop-for men on your list is A. Alvarez’s Poker: Bets, Bluffs, and Bad Beats. Alvarez, a poet, novelist and frequent New Yorker contributor, is also an inveterate poker player. After tracing poker’s development from various early Persian and French variations, he describes its rise as a uniquely American game that took hold in New Orleans, made its way up the Mississippi on riverboats and eventually became a big part of Las Vegas gaming culture. Drawing on his years of experience, including his participation in the World Series of Poker, Alvarez also offers fascinating anecdotes revolving around game play and the singular characters that inhabit professional poker tables. The author explodes poker myths it’s not about luck, for example discusses poker’s colorful contributions to the English language and even includes lore about poker-playing U.S. presidents (Nixon was one). Evocative color and black-and-white photos capture shuffle, deal, play and players in both fact and fiction.

Tool time

Without question, Tools: A Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia is the volume for that handyman guy we all know and love. Rich photography captures the broad array of tools found in the busy home workshop, ranging from measuring and cutting tools to assembly and finishing tools. Good historical background is provided on tool development, and there are a few interesting archival reproductions showing craftsmen at work in bygone eras. But mostly, the comprehensive coverage handsaws, planes, chisels, lathes, power drills, pliers, vises stresses selecting the right tools for the right jobs and using them with efficiency and artfulness. Helpful appended material (including a micropedia, a glossary and a directory of sources) rounds out this attractive addition to any do-it-yourselfer’s bookshelf. Comedian Tim Allen would drool.

Fast lane

Not everyone idolized Dale Earnhardt, but the void left in NASCAR racing with his untimely demise at the Daytona 500 earlier this year can’t be underestimated. Sports Illustrated senior writer Leigh Montville does a super job of explaining the Earnhardt charisma and legacy in At the Altar of Speed: The Fast Life and Tragic Death of Dale Earnhardt. Where Earnhardt’s devoted and fanatical blue-collar following is concerned, Montville shows the appropriate reverence, quoting a representative sampling of those who idolized the Michael Jordan of his sport. We learn of Dale’s humble North Carolina origins, his rise to NASCAR greatness as "The Intimidator," his marital missteps and eventual success as husband and family man, and his emergence as racing’s most respected elder statesman. Montville also covers that tragic day in February with dramatic restraint. But perhaps most interesting is his profile of the car-racing culture, its rise as the fastest-growing sport in the U.S., and the way Earnhardt managed to maintain his common-man appeal while amassing lifetime earnings in excess of $40 million.

Car talk

Yeah, guys dig cars. They stand for status, speed and sex appeal, don’t they? They’re also awesome to look at, and Cars: A Celebration just might be the ultimate coffee-table gift book on the subject. It’s thick (almost 600 pages), and packed with nearly 2,000 color photos of 146 different cars their interiors, exteriors, engines and distinctive design elements. Coverage is international, including automobile makes such as Aston Martin, Ferrari, Daimler, Lambhorgini, Fiat, Renault, Volvo, Mercedes, Volkswagen and MG. But the view of U.S. cars through the years offers not only an automotive charge but also some definite American sociocultural nostalgia. Thunderbird, Mustang, Galaxie, Edsel, Falcon, Bel Air, Corvair, Corvette, Impala, Cougar, Riviera, GTO, Eldorado these and many more vintage U.S. car models are displayed in all their kitschy glory. The coverage here dates from about the late 1940s, and also includes such infamous pipedream failures as the DeLorean and the Tucker. Quentin Willson’s accompanying text is smartly written, informative about the cars’ appeal (or lack thereof) and includes occasional brief profiles of car designers and company executives. Gorgeous photography makes this a must purchase for that favorite car buff. (And considering the size of this lush volume, it’s actually a good value at $50.)

Say what?

Finally, any sensitive guy will admit his manners could use a refresher course. As a Gentleman Would Say: Responses to Life’s Important (and Sometimes Awkward) Situations is the latest entry in a series of Gentlemanners books designed to remind us of the most thoughtful and decent ways to cope with potentially tough social situations. Co-written by John Bridges and Bryan Curtis, the book posits dozens of scenarios at parties, dining out, at work, in love and friendship, making a toast and gives some possible responses, both the taboo, humorous types and the well-considered gentlemanly ones. A witty and useful book, appropriate for maybe more men than we would like to think about.

Daydreaming may seem a little self-indulgent in these difficult times, but curling up with a glossy book on a dreary November day may be just the catalyst you need to re-envision and revitalize your home. Without these dreams, and the designing and redecorating that follow, American homes would not be what they are: welcoming, comfortable places, full of the fragrance of good food cooking on the stove mingled with the sound of healthy debate in the air. Homes where antiques and air mattresses somehow go together.

American homes have become eclectic combinations of functionality, beauty, whimsy, technology and tradition. The season’s best home decorating books discuss planning and designing interior spaces, but they also capture that indomitable, contagious American spirit that is reflected in our individual dwellings our own sweet homes.

Mary Carol Garrity, author of Nell Hill’s Style at Home, is an example of American vivacity and success in her own right. Garrity followed her dream and defied the odds; she transformed an old bank building in the small Midwestern town of Atchison, Kansas, into one of the hottest home furnishing stores in the nation. Customers now come from miles away to feast their eyes on the ever-changing displays of unique and fascinating furniture and home-decorating accessories arranged with Garrity’s special flair for creating style and atmosphere. She shares her design secrets and decorating tips in this warmly illustrated book full of inspirational ideas for invigorating and enhancing your own home’s interior. She encourages her readers to try mix-and-match techniques and to use items they already own in new and creative ways. "Consider an object’s intended purpose," she suggests, "then challenge yourself to dream up other, totally unconnected treatments." She concludes with a room-by-room portfolio of practical suggestions, her list of "must haves" for creative decorating, and seven "rules" she breaks with aplomb, assuring readers they may "happily ignore" them, too, with similar success. If you feel you need a better understanding of the basic rules of design before you start breaking them, however, Better Homes and Garden’s Decorating Basics: Styles, Colors, Furnishings is a wonderful resource. It’s a user-friendly guide to understanding your own tastes and preferences and incorporating them into your home’s dŽcor. It offers a wealth of sage advice, and like Mary Carol Garrity’s book, showcases a philosophy of home decorating that embraces personal taste and one’s cherished belongings. "The joy as well as the challenge of early 21st century decorating is to learn how to pair elements harmoniously and gracefully. It’s about working with and enjoying your favorite colors, furnishings, collections, and art." Resplendent photos take you on sundry home tours in styles ranging from 50s Funk to Country French to Colorful Contemporary. This is a fun book, full of handy tips for the first-time homeowner or beginning decorator.

For the more serious student of design, Mary Gilliatt’s Interior Design Course is a handsome volume with in-depth chapters on specific room elements: walls and ceilings, floors, windows, furniture and finishing touches. Techniques for achieving a multitude of effects are explained in detail, terms are defined, and illustrative, inspiring photos complement the text. The pictures are as sumptuous as they are educational, and plenty of practical advice is sprinkled throughout as well: "A corridor will look less long and narrow if the end wall is painted or covered in a warm color." A renowned British designer, Gilliatt even delves into the play of light in a room, the chronology of style periods and an overview of period furniture on both sides of the Atlantic, making this a comprehensive as well as comely addition to any home library or coffee table. If your house is going to the dogs, and you need more than an innovative paint scheme to solve your decorating dilemmas don’t growl try Animal House Style: Designing a Home to Share with Your Pets by Julia Szabo. This book offers the latest in living with canines, cats and other creatures great and small. Animal lovers will appreciate this light-hearted book devoted to helping humans design pet-friendly accommodations for their co-habitant critters. From choosing appropriate flooring and fabrics to protect your home, to practical safety tips to protect your pet, this book demonstrates how living with animals doesn’t mean giving up style, beauty or your own creature comforts. It’s also packed with plenty of indoor shots, but of course, in these photographs, the dŽcor takes a back seat to the beguiling animals who innocently steal the show.

Aside from all the living, loving and pet-pampering we Americans do in our domiciles, an increasing number of us also accomplish some sort of additional work there. Whether a full-fledged home office is your need, or some space for your lucrative hobby is required, At Work at Home: Design Ideas for Your Home Workplace by Neal Zimmerman takes the home workplace to new heights. (Literally included are "elevated" work spaces like attics, lofts and tree houses, along with plenty of conventional room conversions, additions and renovations.) Again, the photos are divine, and whether you crave a state-of-the-art music studio, erudite writer’s retreat, cozy, out-of-the-way alcove for your computer or a complete home office, if these appealing work spaces don’t motivate you to action, they will certainly allow you to daydream in splendor.

Linda Stankard’s home, sweet home is in Cookeville, Tennessee.

Daydreaming may seem a little self-indulgent in these difficult times, but curling up with a glossy book on a dreary November day may be just the catalyst you need to re-envision and revitalize your home. Without these dreams, and the designing and redecorating that follow, American homes would not be what they are: welcoming, comfortable places, full of the fragrance of good food cooking on the stove mingled with the sound of healthy debate in the air. Homes where antiques and air mattresses somehow go together.

American homes have become eclectic combinations of functionality, beauty, whimsy, technology and tradition. The season’s best home decorating books discuss planning and designing interior spaces, but they also capture that indomitable, contagious American spirit that is reflected in our individual dwellings our own sweet homes.

Mary Carol Garrity, author of Nell Hill’s Style at Home, is an example of American vivacity and success in her own right. Garrity followed her dream and defied the odds; she transformed an old bank building in the small Midwestern town of Atchison, Kansas, into one of the hottest home furnishing stores in the nation. Customers now come from miles away to feast their eyes on the ever-changing displays of unique and fascinating furniture and home-decorating accessories arranged with Garrity’s special flair for creating style and atmosphere. She shares her design secrets and decorating tips in this warmly illustrated book full of inspirational ideas for invigorating and enhancing your own home’s interior. She encourages her readers to try mix-and-match techniques and to use items they already own in new and creative ways. "Consider an object’s intended purpose," she suggests, "then challenge yourself to dream up other, totally unconnected treatments." She concludes with a room-by-room portfolio of practical suggestions, her list of "must haves" for creative decorating, and seven "rules" she breaks with aplomb, assuring readers they may "happily ignore" them, too, with similar success. If you feel you need a better understanding of the basic rules of design before you start breaking them, however, Better Homes and Garden’s Decorating Basics: Styles, Colors, Furnishings is a wonderful resource. It’s a user-friendly guide to understanding your own tastes and preferences and incorporating them into your home’s dŽcor. It offers a wealth of sage advice, and like Mary Carol Garrity’s book, showcases a philosophy of home decorating that embraces personal taste and one’s cherished belongings. "The joy as well as the challenge of early 21st century decorating is to learn how to pair elements harmoniously and gracefully. It’s about working with and enjoying your favorite colors, furnishings, collections, and art." Resplendent photos take you on sundry home tours in styles ranging from 50s Funk to Country French to Colorful Contemporary. This is a fun book, full of handy tips for the first-time homeowner or beginning decorator.

For the more serious student of design, Mary Gilliatt’s Interior Design Course is a handsome volume with in-depth chapters on specific room elements: walls and ceilings, floors, windows, furniture and finishing touches. Techniques for achieving a multitude of effects are explained in detail, terms are defined, and illustrative, inspiring photos complement the text. The pictures are as sumptuous as they are educational, and plenty of practical advice is sprinkled throughout as well: "A corridor will look less long and narrow if the end wall is painted or covered in a warm color." A renowned British designer, Gilliatt even delves into the play of light in a room, the chronology of style periods and an overview of period furniture on both sides of the Atlantic, making this a comprehensive as well as comely addition to any home library or coffee table. If your house is going to the dogs, and you need more than an innovative paint scheme to solve your decorating dilemmas don’t growl try Animal House Style: Designing a Home to Share with Your Pets by Julia Szabo. This book offers the latest in living with canines, cats and other creatures great and small. Animal lovers will appreciate this light-hearted book devoted to helping humans design pet-friendly accommodations for their co-habitant critters. From choosing appropriate flooring and fabrics to protect your home, to practical safety tips to protect your pet, this book demonstrates how living with animals doesn’t mean giving up style, beauty or your own creature comforts. It’s also packed with plenty of indoor shots, but of course, in these photographs, the dŽcor takes a back seat to the beguiling animals who innocently steal the show.

Aside from all the living, loving and pet-pampering we Americans do in our domiciles, an increasing number of us also accomplish some sort of additional work there. Whether a full-fledged home office is your need, or some space for your lucrative hobby is required, At Work at Home: Design Ideas for Your Home Workplace by Neal Zimmerman takes the home workplace to new heights. (Literally included are "elevated" work spaces like attics, lofts and tree houses, along with plenty of conventional room conversions, additions and renovations.) Again, the photos are divine, and whether you crave a state-of-the-art music studio, erudite writer’s retreat, cozy, out-of-the-way alcove for your computer or a complete home office, if these appealing work spaces don’t motivate you to action, they will certainly allow you to daydream in splendor.

Linda Stankard’s home, sweet home is in Cookeville, Tennessee.

Daydreaming may seem a little self-indulgent in these difficult times, but curling up with a glossy book on a dreary November day may be just the catalyst you need to re-envision and revitalize your home. Without these dreams, and the designing and redecorating that follow, American homes would not be what they are: welcoming, comfortable places, full of the fragrance of good food cooking on the stove mingled with the sound of healthy debate in the air. Homes where antiques and air mattresses somehow go together.

American homes have become eclectic combinations of functionality, beauty, whimsy, technology and tradition. The season’s best home decorating books discuss planning and designing interior spaces, but they also capture that indomitable, contagious American spirit that is reflected in our individual dwellings our own sweet homes.

Mary Carol Garrity, author of Nell Hill’s Style at Home, is an example of American vivacity and success in her own right. Garrity followed her dream and defied the odds; she transformed an old bank building in the small Midwestern town of Atchison, Kansas, into one of the hottest home furnishing stores in the nation. Customers now come from miles away to feast their eyes on the ever-changing displays of unique and fascinating furniture and home-decorating accessories arranged with Garrity’s special flair for creating style and atmosphere. She shares her design secrets and decorating tips in this warmly illustrated book full of inspirational ideas for invigorating and enhancing your own home’s interior. She encourages her readers to try mix-and-match techniques and to use items they already own in new and creative ways. "Consider an object’s intended purpose," she suggests, "then challenge yourself to dream up other, totally unconnected treatments." She concludes with a room-by-room portfolio of practical suggestions, her list of "must haves" for creative decorating, and seven "rules" she breaks with aplomb, assuring readers they may "happily ignore" them, too, with similar success. If you feel you need a better understanding of the basic rules of design before you start breaking them, however, Better Homes and Garden’s Decorating Basics: Styles, Colors, Furnishings is a wonderful resource. It’s a user-friendly guide to understanding your own tastes and preferences and incorporating them into your home’s dŽcor. It offers a wealth of sage advice, and like Mary Carol Garrity’s book, showcases a philosophy of home decorating that embraces personal taste and one’s cherished belongings. "The joy as well as the challenge of early 21st century decorating is to learn how to pair elements harmoniously and gracefully. It’s about working with and enjoying your favorite colors, furnishings, collections, and art." Resplendent photos take you on sundry home tours in styles ranging from Ô50s Funk to Country French to Colorful Contemporary. This is a fun book, full of handy tips for the first-time homeowner or beginning decorator.

For the more serious student of design, Mary Gilliatt’s Interior Design Course is a handsome volume with in-depth chapters on specific room elements: walls and ceilings, floors, windows, furniture and finishing touches. Techniques for achieving a multitude of effects are explained in detail, terms are defined, and illustrative, inspiring photos complement the text. The pictures are as sumptuous as they are educational, and plenty of practical advice is sprinkled throughout as well: "A corridor will look less long and narrow if the end wall is painted or covered in a warm color." A renowned British designer, Gilliatt even delves into the play of light in a room, the chronology of style periods and an overview of period furniture on both sides of the Atlantic, making this a comprehensive as well as comely addition to any home library or coffee table. If your house is going to the dogs, and you need more than an innovative paint scheme to solve your decorating dilemmas don’t growl try Animal House Style: Designing a Home to Share with Your Pets by Julia Szabo. This book offers the latest in living with canines, cats and other creatures great and small. Animal lovers will appreciate this light-hearted book devoted to helping humans design pet-friendly accommodations for their co-habitant critters. From choosing appropriate flooring and fabrics to protect your home, to practical safety tips to protect your pet, this book demonstrates how living with animals doesn’t mean giving up style, beauty or your own creature comforts. It’s also packed with plenty of indoor shots, but of course, in these photographs, the dŽcor takes a back seat to the beguiling animals who innocently steal the show.

Aside from all the living, loving and pet-pampering we Americans do in our domiciles, an increasing number of us also accomplish some sort of additional work there. Whether a full-fledged home office is your need, or some space for your lucrative hobby is required, At Work at Home: Design Ideas for Your Home Workplace by Neal Zimmerman takes the home workplace to new heights. (Literally included are "elevated" work spaces like attics, lofts and tree houses, along with plenty of conventional room conversions, additions and renovations.) Again, the photos are divine, and whether you crave a state-of-the-art music studio, erudite writer’s retreat, cozy, out-of-the-way alcove for your computer or a complete home office, if these appealing work spaces don’t motivate you to action, they will certainly allow you to daydream in splendor.

Linda Stankard’s home, sweet home is in Cookeville, Tennessee.