It's Your Room!: A Decorating Guide for Real Kids

Lisa Arsenault is a high-school English teacher who is involved in
several ministry campaigns to increase literacy.

A handy manual for young people who want to redecorate their rooms, this
guide covers the gamut from establishing a personal style to the
finishing touches. How to set up a sample board starts the ball rolling
and is a practical way to establish a consistent individual style.
Creating a budget provides a realistic framework for what can actually
be purchased. How to tackle any special challenges the room may present
(such as having to share with a sibling or the necessity of the room
having to function as more than a bedroom) is followed by information on
how to make a floor plan, lighting, window treatments, art, closet
organization, and accessorizing.

Major categories such as colour, furniture, and closet storage are
subdivided into readily accessible blocks of information. There are
sidebars with helpful information, quick-tip inserts, and ideas that
teenagers have tried and found to work well. The section on lighting is
particularly informative: a chart provides information on the accurate
placement of track lighting, and various terms such as lumens and watts
are defined.

Practical advice addresses any issue that could come up during the
process of redecoration. The use of bright colours in the illustrations
makes the pages pop, and cartoon-type figures keep the tone light and
cheerful. A “designer dictionary” defines the various decorating
styles and an index makes for easy reference. Several thumbnail
biographies of famous designers further elucidate the concept of
personal style. Recommended.