Product Review

The play of light and shade can make outdoor painting projects more daunting than interior ones, so world-renowned decorative painting expert Annie Sloan begins this book with a lesson in understanding and managing color. Sloan shows do-it-yourselfers how to create a cozy dinner nook, accent open spaces with converted salvage, and paint an old plastic pot to resemble an elegant metallic planter. Full-color photographs accompany each stage of the process, with step-by-step instructions that encourage readers to use every imaginable material - paint, pebbles, sand, plastics, ceramics, glass, cement, mirrors, and tiles - to give grace to a garden or panache to a patio. Sloan's enthusiasm is so contagious that any outdoor surface will look like a blank canvas crying for color.