Room for Improvement: Change Your Home! Enhance Your Life!    by Barbara Kavovit Order:  USA  Can Rodale, 2005 (2005) Softcover Read an Excerpt      Reviewed by Martina Bexte Barbara K is a single mom from New York City who moved from being head of a construction firm to a career as a women's self-help guru. She has designed and marketed her own line of tools, tool kits and accessories made especially for women. She's also a television regular, featured in venues like the New York Times and USA Today. In Room for Improvement, Barbara offers to show 'how easy it is to use tools around the house' to improve our environments. She maintains that 'knowing how to do your own simple home repairs and decorating and design jobs gives you control over your own life and home'. Barbara K. is a very enthusiastic teacher. She begins by advising how to select basic tools and how to store them, whether in your own personal toolbox or on a pegboard in the basement, garage or shed. She also argues that once you know how to operate tools safely and then become more proficient, there's 'no such thing as too many tools' - a helpful A-Z illustrated glossary proves her point. After teaching the basics, Barbara tackles simple jobs around the house. Tired of looking at that boring wall in the living room? She suggests ways to change or modernize the look. Does your 20-year-old kitchen floor need perking up? Barbara shows how. She explains how easy it is to re-wire a lamp, initiate clutter control in closets and spare bedrooms, install simple but attractive shelving, and fix problems in the bathroom without that expensive plumbing bill. She even shows how to give kitchen cabinets a modern makeover. In the final chapter, she moves to the great outdoors, explaining how to perk up a back yard with a flagstone path, window boxes, privacy screens and party lights. She intersperses 'Quick Hints' and 'Safety Tips' too, as well as plenty of colour illustrations and photographs. So pick up a copy of Room for Improvement - it's a great way to discover the handywoman inside you. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more NonFiction books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews