Elizabeth Mayhew thinks decorating doesn’t have to be daunting. When friends ask her advice on what to paint a room, she says, they don’t want a design lesson; they want a specific paint color.

That’s why she’s written “Flip! for Decorating: A Page-by-Page, Piece-by-Piece, Room-by-Room Guide to Transforming Your Home.”

Mayhew, a lifestyle expert on NBC’s “Today Show,” simplifies design by concentrating on the casually sophisticated look that’s popular now. For instance, she limits her suggestions on window treatments to shades, blinds and curtain panels, because she likes a simple, tailored approach. She also focuses on just four rooms: the living room, dining room, family room and bedroom.

The book adds a fun flip-book feature that lets you riffle the pages and watch rooms being decorated. The spacing of the photos is such that you don’t really get the effect of watching a silent movie, but it’s still interesting to see a room come together.

Flip! for Decorating is published by Ballantine Books and sells for $24 in softcover.