So simple window style

These two books will give an amateur do-it-yourselfer the confidence to tackle window decorating and upholstery projects. Abbott and Burren, who also coauthored So Simple Slipcovering, own the Cambridge, England-based interior design firm Angel and Blume. Here they've compiled 30 projects for curtains, shades, and accessories, some of which require no sewing, such as swags, as well as more complex projects like lined pinch-pleat draperies. Their step-by-step instructions are clearly written and effectively illustrated with color photographs. Techniques common to the projects are included on the last pages in the same lucid manner. Readers would have benefited, however, from an overview of the materials needed, as is provided in So Simple Upholstery, whose eight projects are more complex than those suggested by Abbott and Burren for window treatments but are similarly described in clearly photographed, step-by-step instructions. Beginning with the simplest project of recovering a chair seat, the projects progress to reupholstering a button-back chair and, eventually, a sofa. Both books are recommended for public libraries. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.