Christopher Lowell's If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It!: Dream Decor on a Budget

Lowell, the host of an eponymous home decorating show on the Discovery Channel and the author of the very successful Christopher Lowell's Seven Layers of Design, has a vivacious, flamboyant persona that's garnered him a considerable squadron of fans. His forte: inspiration on the psychological side, and re-design on the physical. Taking a room in a modest house or apartment, for example, he applies a theme (""Theater Living,"" say, or ""Zen-sational Office"") to liven it up; ""every dream, like every good room,"" he writes, ""needs a theme."" Unfortunately, most theme projects provide an opportunity for cliche: ""Martini Lounge"" means zebra print pillows and bar stools; ""Moroccan Mystique"" translates into hanging tapestries and paisley prints. The unifying style that Lowell achieves is something cramped, gaudy, and busy to the point of exhaustion, flooded with the brilliant color spectrum of the mall teen-furnishings store. On the other hand, he does empower his fans to pursue their home decorating fantasies in whatever wild and potentially wonderful direction they may lead.