The era of obsessional craft-making as a trendy hobby seems to be drawing to a close. Even Martha Stewart (now aka “M. Diddy”), who appears in this month’s issue of Vanity Fair wearing a shirt that says, “If you want breakfast in bed, sleep in the kitchen,” apparently now spends her downtime looking up ankle-bracelet-removal tips on the Internet rather than crocheting toaster cozies. For those who make and decorate their own home accessories, the focus is now on improving the overall look of one’s home without spending an excessive amount of time or money – not on crafting the most perfect autumn wreath imaginable. This more pragmatic and casual attitude comes across in the latest crop of home-project books.

In her new book, “Glue Gun Decor: How To Dress Up Your Home” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 96 pages, $19.95), Marian McEvoy, the former editor in chief of Elle Decor and House Beautiful, forsakes the needle and thread and the hammer and nail in favor of the glue gun for all sorts of home projects, from recovering chairs to making a headboard. “A professional upholsterer would have a fit with the technique (or lack thereof) I began to develop, but the results looked neat and tailored,” she writes. Ms. McEvoy’s method of gluing pieces of upholstery over coffee stains on old chairs and sprucing up boring sofas with strips of braid or trim does seem to produce surprisingly attractive results – at least when she does it – and she says that the bonds created by the hot glue last for years.

On the other hand, while her glue-gun technique seems like an effective beautification treatment for inexpensive flea market finds or stained furniture, some of Ms. McEvoy’s projects require a budget, level of expertise, or amount of time to spend that some of her readers may not have. Most of the embroideries she uses to adorn her pieces, for instance, come from Suzanis – cotton cloths hand-embroidered by women in Uzbekistan as part of a centuries-old crafts tradition. Ms. McEvoy buys these cloths on eBay for prices of up to $200 and then cuts them up for gluing onto her cushions and lampshades. Although she emphasizes that she only buys Suzanis that are already worn or frayed, there does seem to be something sacrilegious about hacking up someone else’s embroidery for one’s glue-gun projects. And while Ms. McEvoy suggests some nifty time- and money-savers – she uses Kiwi black shoe polish on her wood furniture rather than stain or varnish – some of her projects seem prohibitively time-consuming: one in which she hand-paints 600 seashells of varying shapes and sizes in order to glue-gun each of them to her fireplace in an elaborate pattern, for example. Still, some readers will undoubtedly feel a weight of guilt lifted from their shoulders when they learn that the former Elle Decor editor makes her curtains with a glue gun rather than “dragging out the sewing machine,” as she puts it.

Fashion and home designer Mark Montano, who owns a store in the East Village and appears regularly on the TLC home makeover show “While You Were Out,” makes saving money and time the goal of the projects in his new book, “Dollar Store Decor: 101 Projects for Lush Living That Won’t Break the Bank” (Universe, 128 pages, $19.95). The results are decidedly mixed. Some of his projects are quirky, inspired, and particularly well suited for the apartment of the recent college graduate on a limited budget. I particularly liked his coasters made of dominoes, his handmade bathroom soaps (made in the microwave from ordinary soft glycerin soap), and etched glass pieces. Others are – in a word – hideous, and evoke the handiwork of a young child at summer camp. Examples include the truly awful clothespin picture frame, the frightening nail candlestick holders (made from a wooden post unevenly studded with “two to six hundred 2-inch nails”) and the mystifying panty-hose organizer picture frame (supplies needed: panty-hose organizer, small nail). A number of the projects also seem rather pointless: Is it really worth dressing up a plastic trash can with “about 200 squares of tissue paper” or with polyurethane-coated, color Xeroxed patterns cut from a paper gift bag, for instance?

Two new books by the editors of Women’s Day Special Interest Publications – “52 Weekend Decorating Projects” (Filipacchi, 112 pages, $24.95) and “Budget Makeovers: Give Your Home a New Look” (Filipacchi, 128 pages, $17.95) – helpfully put home craft projects in the larger context of enhancing a room’s overall decor. “Budget Makeovers” presents 16 real home makeovers, providing budgets, time lines, and before-and-after photographs. Each redecoration scenario involves a few craft-oriented do-it-yourself projects – sewing window treatments, making chair-cushions, creating a headboard from a bamboo mat – as well as more standard home-improvement tasks like buying new furniture, repainting walls, and eliminating clutter. Step-by-step instructions for the crafts projects, which are rated either “beginner” or “intermediate” (although very few seem suited to real first-timers), are included at the end. “52 Weekend Decorating Projects” also emphasizes the ways in which individual projects – painting a dresser, making a stenciled headboard, creating your own curtains or shades, sewing a slipcover for an ottoman – can brighten an entire room. If you’re going to take the time to complete a crafts project, the message seems to be, it might as well be something you want to live with for a while.