This is the ultimate guide to creating an outdoor oasis in your very own backyard. Hundreds of images illustrate creative ideas for turning a simple lawn into a fresh-air room. Topics covered include using landscaping to create "walls" and a sense of space. Design possibilities of wood, poured concrete, brick, tile, gravel, natural stone, and concrete pavers are explored. Consider decorating loggias, patios, courtyards, covered porches, decks, lanais, and rooftops, as well as temporary structures. Learn how to furnish an outdoor room. A large section on outdoor kitchens provides ideas for outdoor design's hottest trend. Designers, contractors, architects, and homeowners will love the multitude of ideas for fashioning amazing outdoor spaces.
The natural look and feel of stone is unmatched by any other building or decorating medium. It provides a professional and elegant appearance that is also practical and durable for home interiors and exteriors. Thousands of inspirational photographs in this book show you how to integrate this prized material into your home. Packed with expert advice on design, materials, budgets, maintenance, and installation, 1001 Ideas for Stone Work is your professional guide to working with stone.
What more appealing scene can you conjure up on a wintry day than a pair of comfortable armchairs pulled up to a crackling fire while wisps of smoke curl from the chimney top? All your senses are in use--the sight of the flickering flames, the sound of the crackling logs, the warmth on your face, and the fragrance and taste of wood smoke. The hearth truly is the essential core of every home, whether it is an actual fireplace or merely a mantel displaying the treasures and trophies of intertwined lives. Long past the days of strictly utilitarian purpose, fireplaces and stoves are a design feature in their own right. They are available in an array of styles, sizes, and colors; offer a variety of fuel choices; and feature benefits beyond mere aesthetics, including heat and cooking. Fireplaces and heat sources are also widely found in many rooms throughout the house, including the family or living room, bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom, as well as outdoors. And the latest innovations in fireplace and stove technologies make having one no longer an expensive proposition.
While the building market is seeing growth in the fireplace market, so too is the remodeling marketplace. In fact, many homeowners are refacing their existing fireplace, upgrading their wood fireplace to gas, or simply installing a new faux fireplace where there wasn't one before. In this book readers will find hundreds of examples of all types of indoor fireplaces--from wood to gas, freestanding, and ventless--and stoves, both wood and pellet. In addition to gorgeous photos of a full range of fireplace styles, materials, and decor for indoor and outdoor fireplaces and stoves, solid information on practical designconsiderations--maintaining a fireplace or stove, remodeling an existing fireplace, safety, converting a wood-burning fireplace to gas, and the like--are explained in detail, making this the only book on the market to offer the breadth of content on both the design and practical components of all types of the latest indoor and outdoor fireplaces and stoves. Aesthetic and practical design considerations for hearths and mantels, built-ins and storage, lighting, and accessories like screen, brooms, and bellows are also covered. A thorough glossary, resources, and index provide reference-like information.
Whether your home is small or large, an apartment in the city or a country cottage, it is a space that should be at once beautiful and livable. The key to that is managing the upkeep without feeling flustered. Until now, there has never been a comprehensive resource that not only tells how to care for your home and everything in it, but that also simplifies the process by explaining just when. With secrets from Martha Stewart for accomplishing the most challenging homekeeping tasks with ease, this detailed and comprehensive book is the only one you will need to help you keep your home looking its best, floor to ceiling, room by room.
In Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook, Martha shares her unparalleled expertise in home maintenance and care. Readable and practical-and graced with charts, sidebars, illustrated techniques, and personalanecdotes from Martha's decades of experience caring for her homes-this is far more than just a compendium of ways to keep your house clean. It covers everything from properly executing a living room floor plan to setting a formal table; from choosing HEPA filters to sealing soapstone countertops; from organizing your home office to polishing your silver and caring for family heirlooms. Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook is organized for clarity and maximum practicality: Room by Room covers the upkeep of the appliances, tools, furnishings, and surfaces found in each room, from the entryway to the kitchen, from the attic to the laundry room. Throughout the House instructs the reader on the proper ways to routinely clean and periodically maintain everything in the home, including dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, polishing, scrubbing, waxing and much more. Comfort and Safety focuses on techniques to ensure your home is running properly and safely, such as recognizing when to clean vents, fixing a leaky faucet, and eradicating pests. A-to-Z Materials Guide provides an invaluable resource that explains the unusual materials that many favorite objects are made of-from abalone to zinc-
and how to care for them so they last. Encyclopedic yet friendly, Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook is a seminal work-a must-have for everyone who wants a well-cared-for home that will endure for generations.
Tree houses have come of age. The image of a few planks nailed into the branches of a tree has changed into a new generation of specially designed and built structures, suitable as a playhouse, a study, or even a guestroom. Totally inhabitable and filled with designer furniture, plumbing, and electronic wizardry, the twenty tree houses featured in this book are to be admired, dreamed about, and even built.
Featuring spectacular photography of exteriors set up among the trees, and interior shots that offer design ideas for living the "high" life, The Treehouse Book offers a fairy tale castle, a thatched cottage, a complete hotel, and much more. Each project was designed using computer technology and built using sustainable materials to create structures that only seem like fantasy. Each is cleverly fitted to the chosen trees, avoiding long-term damage to these remarkable structures. With a section on plans and building techniques to help the competent reader design and build a fabulous tree house for him or herself, The Treehouse Book will inspire everyone to dream about what life would be like leaving all cares and worries behind and below.
If you manage your own water supply, you've likely had, are having, or will have water problems. Whether it's an issue of access, contamination, or taste, Stu Campbell has a clever solution, often enlivened by a charming anecdote. Campbell offers techniques for locating water on your property, as well as how to purify, store, and distribute it throughout your home. With an approachable style, expert advice, and money-saving strategies, The Home Water Supply has all of your water issues covered.
All home improvements don't require a contractor. Installing a smoke detector, painting a room, and unclogging a sink are all home improvements. In fact, doing the job yourself is often cheaper and always more rewarding. There's no mystery to home repair. The most important tool you need to make home repairs is know-how--to fix the problem at hand and to buy the other tools and hardware you'll need
Home Improvement For Dummies is a whole-house repair manual for everyone from fledgling do-it-yourselfers to seasoned handymen and women. This anybody-can-do-it approach will help you with a repair that needs fixing right away or get you started on a project you've been planning. This book is for you if you need advice on these topics and more:
- Painting and decorating
- Carpentry
- Plumbing and electrical
- Outside repairs
- Building shelves
- Tiling
- Insulating
- Refinish and stain wood
- Repair squeaky stairs
- Install floor tiles
- Improve your home's energy efficiency
- Maintain and upgrade plumbing
- Install an outdoor sprinkler system
- Install a ceiling fan
- Maintain central air conditioning and heating
Whether you just have a few pesky projects you want to fix quickly or you want to become a home-improvement expert, this easy-to-follow guide gives you everything you will ever need to know. A helpful appendix is packed with online resources that let you network with other do-it-yourselfers.
This widely used text/workbook teaches the practical mathematics essential the building construction and carpentry trades. The book features short units that begin with a brief explanation of an important math principle followed by straightforward explanations and examples that are worked out in detail so readers can see first-hand how to perform the functions involved. Basic mathematical problems relevant to the construction trade are accompanied by clear-cut illustrations and together give readers the opportunity to apply and practice math principles common to carpentry.
Everyone can make green home decisions on a budget with this inspiring, informationpacked guide. Whether you are building, remodeling, buying, or just curious, here are real-world strategies for getting the greenest results from your budget, with hundreds of ideas for a home that is built to last, comfortable and healthy, money- and time-saving in the long term, and kind to the planet. From your home's exterior to its operating systems within, from siting to interior design, this is the basic training that has given many the confidence to proceed. Award-winning sustainable design and building consultant and teacher Kathleen O'Brien and architectural designer and sustainability consultant Kathleen Smith offer their "top picks" for each phase. They've also each faced their own green home challenges in a single-family house and a duplex, and other case studies show affordable energy-efficient green homes both old and new. Brimming with ideas, clear and logical, with tips, checklists, and resources for green home planning, construction, remodeling, and maintenance, extensively illustrated with photos and diagrams, this is the essential green home manual for novice and professional alike.
Just the thought of "going green" can make you feel blue. Trying to live sustainably sounds like a whole lot of work and a whole lot of deprivation. Well, Josh Piven aims to both shrink your carbon footprint and soothe your eco-anxiety. In a guidebook that's as funny as it is practical, Piven shows you how to green every room of the house--and have a good time doing it. Projects range from the playful (raising trout in your swimming pool) all the way to big-time, serious home alterations (installing a root cellar) that will have your neighbors green with envy. Don't fret if you're not a natural wrench-turner: Most of Piven's suggestions are inexpensive, totally approachable, and accompanied by clear illustrations. This Green House is likely to be the most entertaining homeowner's manual you've ever used.
