How to Zoom your room Room Rater's ultimate style guide

Combining Taylor and Bahrey's offbeat yet straightforward commentary with fun illustrations by Chris Morris, this is a smart, savvy, and just plain charming guide to decorating your Zoom-viewable rooms. The authors--who got their start on Twitter shortly after the pandemic began, ranking the backgrounds of well-known celebrities and media folks in video interviews--start by pointing out what's special about designing spaces for video (other than seeing through a computer camera's eye). They comment on violations (electrical cords showing, matchy-matchy décor) and top 25 décor items (pineapples--really?), and share best-of lists, for instance, classic chairs, use of small spaces, and bookshelf styles. Readers can expect on-trend notes about design today, touching on the popularity of wallpaper, book display (forget arranging by color), lighting, and more. Loosely organized and branching out from the various rooms readers may want to stage (attic, kitchen, den), this is the easiest way yet to absorb design advice.

Zoom backgrounds get a serious consideration in this compendium of simple but effective decorating principles. Taylor and Bahrey, who run the Room Rater Twitter account (which judges web-meeting backgrounds on a scale of 1--10), aim to help readers create a room that looks beautiful on a group video chat. They hold forth on making small spaces look bigger (get lighting "off the floor" and use mirrors) and using plants to enhance a backdrop (White Phalaenopsis orchids will brighten things up). "Room Rater Top Tips" come along the way from notable editors, politicians, and podcasters: Sen. Mazie Hirono eschews large works of art for decorative quilts, and Boston Globe columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr urges readers to not "be afraid of color." Those feeling intimidated by design will appreciate the authors' collection of room-specific setup templates for various areas, whether the porch, attic, or living room. The occasional odd side trips­-- into the history of gnomes, for example, should readers want to add them into the scene as Bloomberg columnist Tim O'Brien did--are fun, and the authors keep things approachable for amateur stylists. At-home workers looking to spruce up their screen presence would do well to start here. (June)