If one sentence could be taken to set the keynote for this book of bits and pieces of advice about home decoration that sentence is -- ""Color is the budget's best friend."" For Dorothy Draper talks throughout - and at frequent intervals - and from many angles about the use of color:  the value of color, the transformation color can make in walls and furniture and accessories and fabrics; of new ways to inject color; of variants in paint treatment; of keeping rooms alive with color; of plants and living birds in the color scheme. Doors, windows, ceilings, floors; curtains, mirrors, rugs; fireplaces and mantels; room dividers and floating wall units; lighting; mix-matching furniture, periods, etc. -- all this and more is covered. Her advice to use one's individuality and ingenuity and flair to balance the price tag should be a spur to the homemaker who, no matter how experienced, will find ideas here. Not a book to read at a sitting, but a book to use.