Both an easy-to-use how-to-guide and an eye catching style book, this innovative painting manual shows homeowners, designers, and craftspeople how to create 50 beautiful paint effects—from ageing and verdigris to stippling and trompe l'oeil—in more than 150 gorgeous colors for walls, floors, ceilings, and furniture. Handy features include chapters laid out like recipes, complete with ""ingredients,"" equipment, and step by step instructions to inspire do-it-yourselfers at every level of experience. With a comprehensive source listing; beautiful, full color photography; and a striking design—plus a durable, wipe clean cover to resist splatters at the work site—Paint Recipes offers the perfect combination of practicality and style, all at a terrific price.

--Sunset, May 1996
It seems there's no end to the interest in decorative paint treatments. Now Paint Recipes presents 50 techniques, more than 150 color mixes, and instructions for applying them to a wide variety of surfaces, including walls, floors, and furniture.

The 192-page book is both inspirational and instructional, addressing basic materials and equipment as well as custom paint ""recipes"" and techniques for applying them. Some techniques are familiar (such as sponging and ragging), while others (like fade-away washing, rubbed-back plaster, and loose-glaze brushing) are more unusual.
Some recipes might seem intimidating, since they require mixing your own paint color with colored powders, but the book explains how you can start with premixed paints or add pigment from artists' paints.