The House Always Wins: America's Most Trusted Home Columnist's Guide to Creating Your (Almost) Perfect Dream House Book

Preface: Come On In     xi
Let's Get Real: Design basics: Finding your dream house and discovering your style
Pick the Right House in the Right Place: What to look for when buying an old or new home     3
Background Check: The importance of homework     12
Reality Check: Why your home will never look like a model home, and how it can still look great     15
Find Your Style and Create Your Plan: Think like Plato: Who are you and what are you doing here?     20
Decisions, Decisions: Selecting wall treatments, flooring, counters, tile, and cabinetry
The Big Picture: Start with something certain     33
The Color of Indecision: Finding the right wall color     37
Floored by the Options: A sane person's guide to choosing carpet, pad, and wood flooring     43
Set in Stone: The fine art of picking creative tile, granite, and other stone     50
Cabinets Are Like Cabernet: The more you know the more you spend     55
Buyer Beware: Avoiding builder gouge on upgrades: A word from the wary     60
Moving Pains: What to pack, what to let go of, and how to put your old stuff in a new place     64
No More Reality Television!: Covering windows with style     72
Calling It Curtains: Drapes from the sublime to the simple     82
It's Not YourGrandma's Wallpaper: The brave new world of wallpaper: For some it's a passion     96
Character Development Begins at Home: Building character one doorknob at a time     105
Honey Do, Honey Don't: How to know when a home improvement job is for someone else     109
The Goods on the Goods: Furnishing your home: Copying good looks, using what you have, finding what you need, getting deals, buying quality
What Do-It-Yourself Decorators Don't Get: Basic design advice from top pros     115
Four Places to Find Inspiration (and Rip Off Ideas): What to take away from home design books, shelter magazines, TV shows, home tours, and the color conspiracy-and what to ignore     121
Pulling the Trigger: Why furniture shopping is so hard, and how to start     139
When Something's Got to Go: Dealing with furniture mistakes and deaths     149
Bargain Hunting: Finding deals, insisting on quality     156
The Finishing Touch: Putting home accessories in their place
Home Accessories Are Like Dessert: It's not the first thousand dollars you spend that matter, but the last hundred     173
Selecting Artwork and Area Rugs: RULE #1: Buy what you love     180
Arranging Books, Collections, and Other Knickknacks: Turn a hodgepodge into an artful display     191
Flowers and Houseplants: Getting good fakes, and helping what's alive thrive      200
Rooms for a Reason: Kids' rooms, home theaters, offices, guest rooms, laundry and mudrooms, garages
Kids' Rooms: Where decorating and parenting clash     211
Home Theaters for Household Drama: The makings of a home theater widow     218
Home Office Is an Oxymoron: A warning to all those who say they want to work from home     228
Company's Coming and the Guest Room Needs Gutting: They're he-ere     236
Utility Rooms and Garages: Note to men: Say it with tools     240
Taking It Outside: Tackling the yard: From design to maintenance, decks to patio furnishings
The Not-So-Great Outdoors: Taking on weeds, sinkholes, Mother Nature, the HOA, and bad landscapers     255
All Decked Out: Building and finishing outdoor living spaces     272
Color Me Floral: An idiot's guide to flowerpots     281
Yard Maintenance: Managing the lazy mow-blow-and-go lawn service, first frosts, and the amazing matters of mulch     287
Homes for the Holidays: Create festive tables, deck the halls, and get ready to party
Thoughts on the Table: Tasteful table settings for festive feasts     301
Christmas Tree Olympics: And other holiday decor sports     305
Party Time!: Whose idea was this?     315
Final Thought: You Can Take This Home     319
Acknowledgments      323
Index     324