Minibooks solve problem of lengthy reading

Minibooks solve problem
of lengthy reading

Fifteen years of studying personality types led Beverly Coggins to a realization: If you’re overwhelmed by the idea of getting organized, you’re also likely to be daunted by the thought of reading a long how-to book on the subject.

So Coggins, a professional organizer from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, created a series of fast-reading organizing minibooks tailored for those people.

Each of her “1-2-3 ... Get Organized” minibooks guides the reader in one particular task, such as organizing a kitchen, decluttering or managing time at the office. The task is divided into three steps, so the reader doesn’t get scared off by the sense that the job is too big.

Because the books are brief (20 to 69 pages) and to the point, reading each step takes only a matter of minutes.

Coggins sells her minibooks in both electronic and traditional form at www.1-2-3GetOrganized.com, where she also offers workbooks on several organizing and time-management topics. You can download each minibook in PDF form for $5.99 or purchase spiral-bound copies of some titles for $8.75 to $12.75. Some of her products are also available at Borders and on Amazon.com.

Mighty Mice bookends

If your books are stacked in messy piles, restore order with a pair of $40 Mighty Mice bookends from the Sundance catalog.

The little brass rodents with a verdigris finish are 3 inches tall and sit on a 4-inch base that slides under books to keep them upright.

To order, call (800) 422-2770 or go to www.sundancecatalog.com.

Book offers ideas
for paint and paper

David Oliver, a London decorator with clients as diverse as former first daughter Chelsea Clinton and singer Kylie Minogue, says he’s all too familiar with what he calls “paint analysis paralysis,” which strikes when people realize that paint can have the biggest impact for the least expense of any design decision but fret over an exact shade for months or even years.

In his first book, Oliver doesn’t try to tell us what to do about paint paralysis. Instead, page after page of inspiration in “Paint and Paper in Decoration” (Rizzoli, $45) — grass green steps leading up to an attic, a worn wooden floor painted shades of blue, a stunning black kitchen wall — could surely be a step toward a cure.

Combined dispatches