Stonescaping Idea Book

The right kind of stone and how you incorporate it in your landscape and garden can make all the difference. Stone, a broad term that includes pavers, fieldstones, bricks, rocks and boulders, and stone veneer, can be used to create a distinct yet practical component to any yard. And with the variety of natural and manufactured stone products widely available today, incorporating stone in the landscape is no longer out of reach.

Stonescaping Idea Book showcases a wide range of inspiring and practical ideas for using stone in all types of landscape settings and for all budgets and regions of the country. Along with tried-and-true designs for inviting walkways and beautiful walls, new ways of using stone in gardens and patio spaces are also presented. You’ll discover ideas for creating graceful streams, waterfalls, or even simple fountains that will help transform your backyard into a private retreat. And you’ll find a wide range of outdoor living spaces that family and friends can enjoy for years to come. As the examples in the book demonstrate, there is a world of stone to explore; this book will help get you started on the right path.

Available at Amazon.com.

How to Build Walks, Walls & Patio Floors

With the newest edition of Sunset's bestselling Walks, Walls Patio Floors, homeowners learn a lot more than how to pour a perfect concrete slab (though they learn the best way to do that, too.) Following clear instructions and step-by-step photography, they learn how to plan, design, and build their own outdoor paradise.

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Landscaping with Stone

Landscaping with Stone is a combination landscape design and project book in one. The first section provides readers with a framework for incorporating stone in their landscape designs, including a look at the different types of stone used in landscapes, sources of inspiration, and ways to think about stone in relation to other landscape elements. The second part of the book provides readers with tips on working with stone, from transporting to cutting and setting. There is also step-by-step instruction on some of the most popular stone projects, including patios, walls, and rock gardens.

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Landscape Planning: Practical Techniques for the Home Gardener

Landscaping a property can be an overwhelming task. How much will it cost? How long will it take? What plants will grow best in a particular location? Is it a do-it-yourself or a professional job?

Landscape designer and horticulturalist Judith Adam provides every crucial step in designing and implementing a landscape plan: from assessing specific needs and planning a budget and timeline, to making the best choices for a successful garden. From her years of experience, Adam describes 200 of her favorite plants, shrubs and trees. This revised edition includes a new chapter on low-maintenance and self-reliant gardening that helps the home gardener get the most out of the space with the least amount of work.

This new edition of Landscape Planning includes:

• 25 fully illustrated step-by-step projects
• 27 fully illustrated Ten Best lists, such as ten best drought-resistant shrubs; ten best plants for autumn display
• A property assessment survey, budget questionnaire and sample four-year plan
• Hardscaping: ideas for steps, sidewalks, fences and lighting
• Softscaping: working with plants, shrubs, trees and lawns
• Techniques for planting, irrigating and fertilizing plants and controlling pests
• A list of tools that every gardener needs
• Plans for a low-maintenance garden -- and much more.

This comprehensive guide is a must-have for homeowners and avid gardeners alike.

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Bath Design Guide

Big bathroom, little bathroom, Bath Design Guide by Meredith Books, has your decorating ideas for any size of space. With stylish trends in countertops and cabinetry, to smart choices in toilets and showers, this essential guide will help you create a bathroom that's stylish, comfortable and convenient for the whole family. Bath Design Guide also has over 200 photos that will inspire your decorating venture.

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Water Garden Idea Book

Water gardening is making a big splash in today's landscapes. Called the fastest-growing part of the landscape industry today, the installation of water features in the landscape is a multi-billion dollar market. It's easy to see why. Splashing fountains make hot days seem a bit cooler. Basins of water reflect the blue sky, puffy clouds, and colorful fall leaves. Naturalistic ponds and waterfalls attract birds and butterflies to backyards. And tiny tabletop fountains offer soothing sounds that drown out neighborhood noise.

Water Garden Idea Book brings these ideas to life, providing more than 300 photos of all types of water features--with tips for design and placement so that they become striking focal points or soothing and subtle additions for any setting. From ponds and streams to pools and water stairs, fountains, containers, and bubbling urns, Water Garden Idea Book has it all. Special emphasis is given to siting all types of water features and how to install a water feature yourself. Extensive resource list is included.

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Patios and Walkways Idea Book

Adding a patio or walkway is about more than just carving out a space for a 20-foot by 20-foot square of brick pavers or connecting the front door to the backyard with flagstone. They need to be stylish and work hard as well, since they are exposed to lots of people, pets, and weather of all sorts. This book provides hundreds of inspiring photos for all types of patios--from terraces to courtyards, pool decking to multi-level versions--walkways, and transitional areas around the home. It also takes a close up look at the wide variety of materials--including brick, concrete pavers, and stone--that can be used to construct patios and walkways. In addition to the photos, sidebars and illustrations give sage advice and more detailed information on materials, design, and practical considerations.

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Ultimate Guide to Crown Molding: Plan, Design, Install

The Ultimate Guide to Crown Molding shows readers how they can add distinction to their homes by installing crown molding. Through over 350 photographs, author Neal Barrett takes readers through the process of selecting crown molding designs for their homes, choosing the right materials, and mastering the techniques of cutting and installing the trim work. But the heart of the book are the 30 crown molding projects. Each contains detailed step-by-step photographs and clear concise text that show how each unique design is created. This approach gives even the novice do-it-yourselfer the confidence to tackle the projects. More experienced homeowners and professional trim carpenters can use author's designs in their own projects.

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Making Workbenches

No single workbench design is ideal for everyone: some craftspeople assemble furniture, while others require only special clamps for smaller projects. Based on the author’s 30 years of experience, this informative handbook will help every woodworker construct exactly the bench he or she needs. Anyone with basic skills could build either the sturdy and versatile joiner’s bench or one for cabinetmakers, and adapt them for individual use. Other workbenches have storage drawers and a cabinet, or are designed for specialties like carving, veneering, guitar making, and more. And this book offers more than just plans for building the bench—it features information on setting it up, installing the tools, and using it for planning, joinery, power tool operations, and assembly.

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Trim Complete

Trim Complete covers those important finishing touches that give a house a one-of-a-kind personality: trim and modling. An expert carpenter, Greg Kossow presents a vibrantly visual guide that details every possible project, from the most basic baseboards, to the most complicated casings. He tackles real-world situations with authoritative advice, never failing to address how to solve problems when things do go wrong. The book's ingenious design makes it a snap to find the relevant information for each project and Kossow includes a crystal-clear table of contents. Plus, unlike most other books that only deal with basic carptnetry, Trim Complete includes hard-to-find advice on complex crown molding and making custom modling.

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Complete Wiring

Become your own wiring apprentice with Meredith Book's, Complete Wiring. Showing you quick ways to complete your home wiring projects - both simple and complex - this book is your ultimate guide to step-by-step wiring. Gain confidence in completing your own wiring tasks at home while saving money from the expenses of contractors.

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Nursery Style

Serena & Lily is the colorful and sophisticated line of baby bedding and furniture beloved by celebrities such as Jennifer Garner and Debra Messing. In Nursery Style the talented designers behind the brand show expectant moms how to ditch the duckies, banish the bunnies, and create a nursery that reflects their personal style—without a Hollywood budget. Whether readers seek a traditional, modern, vintage, or eclectic look, each chapter shows parents how to implement those ideas through the use of color, fabrics, furniture, and accessories. Dozens of practical ideas for storage, comfort, and safety round out the book, making this the ultimate start-to-finish guide to decorating baby's room.

Available at Amazon.com.

Outdoor Kitchen Ideas that Work

No longer defined by simple picnic tables, folding chairs and a citronella candle, outdoor living is the hottest topic in home landscaping and among the hottest trends in home design. At the heart of outdoor living and entertaining is the desire to cook and dine alfresco. While homeowners have been grilling out for decades, the simple portable grill is increasingly being replaced by six-burner grills, grilling islands and full-scale outdoor kitchens. And the décor and accessories that accompany outdoor kitchens are no longer limited to picnic tables, folding chairs or Citronella candles. Outdoor furniture nearly rivals the style and comfort of its indoor counterparts, and outdoor accessories to create any mood and decorate all kinds of outdoor spaces are available everywhere.

Outdoor Kitchen Ideas That Work offers not only inspired design ideas but practical information homeowners need to create their own outdoor kitchen. An in-depth look at planning and designing outdoor kitchens is followed by a closer look at the individual elements that make up an enjoyable outdoor dining experience--from barbecue grills and cabinetry to outdoor appliances and all-weather dining tables.

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Woodworker's Guide to Sharpening: All You Need to Know to Keep Your Tools Sharp

Step-by-step expert instructions and visual aids teach woodworkers the characteristics of steel, carbide, and ceramic while showing how to sharpen any device, from planes, chisels, cabinet scrapers, and drill and router bits to saws, axes, knives, and turning and carving tools. Readers will benefit from a detailed discussion on the four types of bench stones as well as a thorough resource of websites and contact information. An additional chapter presenting a peek at the sharpening setups of some of America’s best professional woodworkers—including James Krenov, Sam Maloof, and David Marks—is also provided.

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Color at Home: Creating Style with Paint

Selecting a paint color, whether for a home’s exterior or the bedroom walls, can feel like a perilous venture. For good reason. Like no other aspect of our environment, color has the power to profoundly affect our feeling of well-being. And taste in color is an extremely personal matter: to choose a color—a saturated red, an understated ochre, a sizzling-hot pink—is to say something revealing about oneself. It’s no wonder that committing to a color demands an act of bravery.

With Color at Home, the Echo Design Group’s Meg and Steven Roberts aim to inspire and encourage you to jump into the exhilarating world of color. Illustrated with more than 150 images of color-infused homes across the country, the book will bolster your courage as you develop a color vision for your own home.

Color at Home insightfully explores the emotional territory mapped by each hue—aqua’s refreshing oasis; orange’s warm radiance; the stark, urbane chic of black and white—while providing essential practical advice on topics such as coordinating colors with a home’s architectural style or historical period. The innovative color grids included in the book help you define your preferred palette.

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Popular Woodworking's Arts & Crafts Furniture: 25 Projects For Every Room In Your Home

Simple and beautiful, Arts & Crafts furniture designs offer an excellent learning medium for furniture building. The Arts & Crafts style allows the craftsman to build a quality piece of furniture in a reasonable amount of time while providing a very successful and satisfying experience.

This book offers a collection of twenty-five Arts & Crafts furniture projects for every room in your home. Some of the projects are accurate reproductions of the original furniture pieces, while others are loving adaptations of the style. In addition to the projects in the book, we've included a Bonus CD-ROM with ten furniture projects and ten technique articles to provide even more information on construction and finishing.

This book represents a collection of projects that the Popular Woodworking staff considers to be some of most visually appealing pieces of furniture ever created.

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Green Remodeling: Your Start toward an Eco-Friendly Home

Ultimate Guide to Green Remodeling goes beyond other home improvement books in that it shows homeowers how they can take part in the "green" revolution when remodeling his or her home. Through common remodeling projects, such as replacing kitchen cabinets and installing new countertops, readers are presented with choices for using green, nontoxic building materials and techniques. Some of the topics covered include reducing home energy use, selecting nontoxic materials, saving water, and supporting the environment through the use of products that are manufactured responsibly or that come fromsustainable natural resources.

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Woodworker's Guide to Veneering & Inlay

Woodworkers will learn how veneer is manufactured and how to choose glue, adhesives, and substrates; band-saw their own veneers; cut, match, and tape veneer panels; accomplish complete four-way matches; and other procedural skills in this expert guide. These techniques are demonstrated through a series of step-by-step exercises that culminate in four finished projects: a dining room table, a wall mirror with shelf, a marquetry picture, and a parquetry design. Complete with a troubleshooting section for repairs and problems and featuring contemporary methods and materials, such as hammer veneering with PVA glue and vacuum pressing of flat and curved panels, this reference is the most inclusive resource for working with veneer and inlay designs.

Available at Amazon.com.

Tiling Complete

Written with the DIYer in mind, this all-encompassing manual takes a head-on approach to every home tiling situation--except those best left for the pros. Loaded with photos and laid out in an intuitive, accessible format, Tiling Complete makes it a snap for even the most hesitant of novices to get the job done right the first time. The authors begin with a thoughtful introduction and move to tile styles and shapes, tools, preparation and installation, plus grouting, sealing and caulking. There is a complete project section and a stress-reducing chapter on Problems and Troubleshooting. Also included are tips on maintenance and repair so that the finished product will shine for years to come.

Available at Amazon.com.

Illustrated Cabinetmaking

Featuring each piece in highly-detailed, exploded drawings and applying time-honored dimension and ergonomic standards, this comprehensive visual sourcebook takes the guesswork out of furniture joinery, assembly, dimension, and style. Woodworkers of any skill level will benefit from more than 1,300 crisp and detailed drawings that explain classic solutions to age-old problems, such as hanging a drawer, attaching a tabletop, and pegging a mortise. Covering hundreds of pieces of furniture, including kitchen cabinets, dining tables, desks, bookcases, and chests, readers will unlock the mysteries of legs, moldings, separate braces, and dozens of other subassemblies.

Available at Amazon.com.