Grand Finishes for Walls & Floors

Nikitas, the host of San Francisco cable television's The Power of Positive Painting, promises us ``grand'' finishes for walls and floors in this otherwise down-to-earth guide for the do-it-yourselfer.Well, why not? We've already observed all manner of colorful role models in this field-the crafty New Englander, the practical Midwesterner, the cracker-barrel philosopher from the South. Here we get the laid-back Californian, but we are not urged to get blissed out at a Zen monastery in preparation for a redo. This is instead a basic presentation of three home improvement projects-wall painting, wallpapering and floor refinishing-in unintimidating plain talk. Instructions are friendly and offer a pointedly ecological awareness. Nikitas's firm and gentle personality comes across. Sidebars, called ``The Voice of Experience,'' are useful hints in the form of cautionary tales narrated with a cheerful nonchalance (e.g., a painfully funny story about hanging a very long strip of wallpaper horizontally). How-to illustrations are direct and to the point. It's a good book for coaxing the wary beginner, rather than a source book for the hardened DIY addict. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)