A charming checklist for decluttering. In this whimsical yet practical guide to sorting through the too-much-stuff of modern life, the premise is simple: on each page, a delightful illustration of items that fill our lives--novelty ice cube trays, a manual typewriter, game pieces, that souvenir snow globe. And beneath each drawing, two little checkboxes: Yes and No. Look at the object. Note your response. Act accordingly! Additionally, the book is filled with dozens of tips and ideas for what to do with things that may be hard to part with, like children's artwork. An inspiring gift!

"When it sings, a garden will have the power to transport and to lead you to a place that is magical. It is an oasis for creation, available to anyone with a little space and the compunction to get their hands dirty." In Natural Selection, Dan Pearson draws on ten years of his Observer columns to explore the rhythms and pleasures of a year in the garden. Travelling between his city-bound plot in Peckham and twenty acres of rolling hillside in Somerset, he celebrates the beautiful skeletons of the winter garden, the joyous passage into spring, the heady smell of summer's bud break and the flaring of colour in autumn. Pearson's irresistible enthusiasm and wealth of knowledge overflow in a book teeming with tips to inspire your own space, be it a city window box or country field. Bringing you a newfound appreciation of nature, both wild and tamed, reading Natural Selection is a deeply restorative experience.

Brimming with design ideas, drawings and photographs of exemplary projects, this is a must-have, highly visual guide to extending a Victorian terraced house for designers, architects and homeowners. An essential resource for designing and delivering a wide variety of extensions, it features case studies from the full gamut of nineteenth-century terrace house types. Detailed plans reveal, floor by floor, a range of options for extending and/or reconfiguring space. Colour-coded, before-and-after plans show at a glance which walls have been removed or changed in each option. This is complemented by extensive colour photography of realised, built work. Ideas and inspiration are supplemented by practical guidance with 'rules of thumb' for design and key information on permitted development rights. All plans are drawn to scale, so that they may be measured from and used for planning any renovation project. Covering different types of briefs and design solutions, this indispensable guide to renovating Victorian terraces features extensions, loft conversions, basements and interior remodelling. It contains over 150 floor plans and 100 full-page colour images. Jacqueline Green is a London-based architect with over 20 years' experience of residential projects. She is a founding director of Green & Teggin Architects. Featured architects include: Alma-nac Scenario Architecture Yard Architects

Every year, the world produces more than 300 million tons of plastic. These products will never break down and will endlessly pollute our oceans, air, land, and food chain. But the good news is that there are many steps, small and large, we can take to change our plastic-using habits. This illustrated book offers more than 100 suggestions in an accessible visual and gifty package. The introductory chapter walks readers through the different types of plastic and terminology. Then, starting with two of the most prevalent problems - the plastic water bottle and the plastic shopping bag - the book continues with the actions we can take each day to achieve a plastic-free life, organised into thematic lifestyle categories covering food, health and beauty, home, special occasions, and more. The information is presented in short actionable text, and the entries include facts to help the reader understand why the change is a good one. Swap your to-go cup for a reusable mug or invest in metal straws; learn how to DIY your cleaning products, party decorations, and grocery bags; incorporate alternatives to plastic wrap, take-out containers, commercial cosmetic products, cotton balls, and water filters; find out how to avoid the toxins released from the plastic in your refrigerator, shampoo bottles, clothing, and office supplies. Living Without Plastic is an appealing and attractive guide to help readers end their relationship with plastic for good.

As the modern world changes and evolves, so does the modern lifestyle. Our levels of home comfort, desires, and overall life satisfactions are being defined in new ways, often contrasting with notions of the 'traditional' house design. We aim to live simpler lives yet somehow manage to have more material possessions than before; and we opt to reside in open-plan homes that provide a sense of freedom. All too often traditionally designed homes are no longer able to satisfy our contemporary living needs. The restoration of living spaces is usually to restore existing buildings that may have become impractical over time, if not outdated. These days, the challenge is how to adapt and transform these existing buildings to modern standards, all the while maintaining what may still be useful, special features or design characteristics, or what we like most about the space. This book showcases a selection of examples of how people from around the world have ingeniously refurbished an old house to meet their needs for a modern lifestyle. With vivid descriptions, detailed drawings and rich photography (including befores and afters), this book provides designers and architects, as well as owner-builders of old houses several excellent strategies on how to approach their restoration, and how to convey a modern life concept, revitalizing, and refreshing the houses for the next generation.

The essential ingredient for full enjoyment of your river, lake, pond, or oceanfront property.

If you're fortunate enough to own waterfront property, you know that a dock is essential for realizing maximum value and enjoyment of that land. Now you can build your own dock, or repair an existing dock, with this comprehensive, easy-to-use guide -- the only book devoted exclusively to residential docks.

The Dock Manual contains 10 complete plan for stationary and floating docks -- each with materials and tool lists, and simple, illustrated construction techniques. You'll also find step-by-step instructions for analyzing your shoreline and choosing the right dock for your needs.

You'll refer to The Dock Manual throughout the year for expert advice to help you:

* Make repairs and upgrades

* Winterize your dock

* Build angle, roller, and stair ramps

* Paint, stain, and treat your dock

* Deter and repair decay to wood and plastic

* Incorporate design options like trims and colors

Filled with practical advice as well as history, Blu Greenberg's book is a comprehensive guide to the joys and complexities of running a modern Jewish home. How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household is a modern, comprehensive guide covering virtually every aspect of Jewish home life. It provides practical advice on how to manage a Jewish home in the traditional way and offers fascinating accounts of the history behind the tradition. In a warm, personal style, Blu Greenberg shows that, contrary to popular belief, the home, and not the synagogue, is the most important institution in Jewish life. Divided into three large sections-"The Jewish Way," "Special Stages of Life," and "Celebration and Remembering"-this book educates the uninitiated and reminds the already observant Jew of how Judaism approaches daily life. Topics include prayer, dress, holidays, food preparation, marriage, birth, death, parenthood, and many others. This description of the modern-yet-traditional Jewish household will earn special regard among the many American Jews who are reexploring their ties to Jewish tradition. Such Jews will find this book a flexible guide that provides a knowledge of the requirements of traditional Judaism without advocating immediate and complete compliance. How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household will also appeal to observant Jews, providing them with helpful tips on how to manage their homes and special insights into the most minute details and procedures in a traditional household. Herself a traditional Jew, Blu Greenberg is nevertheless quite sympathetic to feminist views on the role of women in Jewish observance. How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household therefore speaks intimately to women who are struggling to reconcile their identities as modern women with their commitments to traditional Judaism.

For 70 years, readers have been enjoying Meinecke's classic odes to the simple life, Your Cabin in the Woods (1943) and Cabin Craft and Outdoor Living (1947). For the first time, these books are combined into a deluxe two-color vintage package, featuring hundreds of charming illustrations by Victor Aures, known for his work with the Boy Scouts of America. In writing both practical and inspirational, Meinecke details how to turn your dream into a reality, from building plans to choosing land to using tools. However the book's enduring appeal owes in large part to its warmly engaging tone and firm belief in the restorative power of nature. He delights in the satisfaction of hard work, writing "in the doing you find yourself tired, muscles a bit sore, hands hardened and rough, but you will say over and over again, 'I did it.'" Meinecke's homespun wisdom is a comfort in your toil, "Take full enjoyment in the building. Take time out to rest. Most city folks seem always to rush things through. Why? Lay off until tomorrow. Take an afternoon nap. Stop the clock for the weekend. Get off to an early start in the cool of tomorrow morning. You may be crowded in your work in town, but this should be your rest cure, your recreating. Don't spoil it by city driving standards."

Running a small business can be daunting to the contractor whose expertise is in building -- not finance or law. This book helps to demystify the day-to-day challenges that contractors face. Running a Successful Construction Company is acknowledged as the leading book in its field. Includes 50 color photos and drawings.

This best-selling guide to decluttering your home from Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes readers step-by-step through her revolutionary KonMari Method for simplifying, organizing, and storing.
Japanese organizational consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly declutter your home once, you'll never have to do it again. Whereas most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, the KonMari Method's category-by-category, all-at-once prescription leads to lasting results. In fact, none of Kondo's clients have been repeat customers (and she still has a three-month waiting list of new customers ). With detailed guidance for every type of item in the household, this quirky little manual from Japan's newest lifestyle phenomenon will help readers clear their clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home--and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.

A natural swimming pool is an exciting addition to a garden. It is the ultimate play resource that provides a healthy, chlorine-free environment for swimming, a living ecosystem for nature lovers and whole new world of aquatic plants for gardeners. This practical handbook describes a wide range of pools from simple "swimming ponds" to models with separate plant regeneration areas, and others that resemble traditional pools. It explains how plants are used to keep the water clean and advises on pumps, skimmers and filters to limit the growth of algae, encourage the growth of biofilm and keep the water sparkling. Natural swimming pools are easy to maintain, have low running costs and require less fill-up water than conventional pools. This book provides tried-and-trusted advice on a feature that is increasingly in demand among aspirational, eco-minded gardeners and designers.

A modern home-keeping handbook for thrifty DIYers who care about sustainability and want to create an organised, productive and beautiful kitchen and home. A fresh take on modern homemaking, this is a practical (and sometimes sassy) guide to maximising your time, effort and energy in the kitchen and beyond. With a focus on less consumerism, you will learn how to organise your kitchen and home to make best use of your time and enjoy great results. For those yearning to live a more ecologically-minded, grounded lifestyle, this book is full of practical, no-nonsense advice, fabulous recipes and time- and money-saving techniques. There are 77 edible recipes and 38 home and bodycare recipes.

"Jen Robin is not just an organizer-she is a teacher and a healer. As she helps sort our 'stuff' she is also sorting our values, emotions, relationships, and dreams. She is a magician and this book will work magic on your home and life." - Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Untamed In this essential guide, the creative force behind the popular organization company Life in Jeneral reveals her emotionally engaged approach to decluttering-a unique process that empowers people to re-envision their spaces to suit their evolving needs. Life is about connection, not collection. Jen Robin's company, Life in Jeneral, focuses on the "soul work" of home organization-the psychological and emotional foundation necessary for creating a streamlined and sustainable lifestyle. For Jen, change comes from within-a process that to succeed, must begin with the heart. Americans are spending more time at home than ever before, and many have come to realize that their living spaces aren't serving them. We have too many things, resulting in physical and mental clutter. And the organizational strategies we try only go so far, leaving us feeling disconnected and disheartened. Life in Jeneral helps you build healthier mental habits that allow us to break free from the clutter, while providing traditional strategies to get-and stay-organized. Beautifully designed and featuring examples from Jen's personal experiences and those of her clients, Life in Jeneral teaches us how to: Flip common mental blocks that prevent us from organizational success Identify and tackle "clutter magnets"-the spaces where things seem to gather Discover common emotional baggage keyed to specific types of clutter Organize and evolve specific spaces in the home, room by room Life in Jeneral offers a holistic approach to organization; once we understand what we want from our spaces-how they can nurture and support our emotional well-being-we can create a home that feels both practical and joyful.

In the DONE IN A DAY series, a step-by-step instruction book containing twelve basic projects for the garden, each of which can be completed in one day. Each project can be personalized by variations and is illustrated with photographs and exploded diagrams.

Tiny homes are all the rage these days, especially among young people new to the housing market, for people wanting a small dwelling as a second home or as a studio, and among singles and empty nesters. As millions are experiencing the "magic" of tidying up and reducing the number of their possessions, many are also seeing the value of living with less space, while environmentalists are also valuing a smaller carbon footprint. How to Build Your Own Tiny House is a comprehensive guide to the actual construction process, building codes, and regulations, not another pretty picture book about tiny houses. Offers anyone with basic carpentry skills step-by-step instructions to successfully build a tiny house (250 to 1,000 square feet.) The book covers everything from forming a bill of materials to the basics of frame construction; it details wiring and plumbing a tiny home, outlines construction codes for small buildings and gives pointers as to where local regulations may apply, and also includes a section on building appropriately sized furniture for a tiny home. Includes a selection of tiny home designs, each of which can be expanded as needs change.

This A-to-Z guide illuminates the numerous health benefits of 50 common, easy-to-grow houseplants along with detailed care instructions and beautiful illustrations of each plant. With plant-scaped rooms popping up all over Pinterest, style blogs, and home decor magazines, houseplants are the hottest home accessory right now-and for good reason. Plants are a quick and easy way to add life, color, and texture to any indoor space. But houseplants offer so much more than just visual interest to a room. They can purify the air, reduce stress, improve sleep-and much more! Houseplants for a Healthy Home explains the specific health and wellness benefits of 50 common, easy-to-grow, and popular houseplants, while introducing you to new favorites bound to brighten your life. You will find an A-to-Z guide of a variety of the plants that includes a beautiful illustration of each plant, along with the plant's health benefits and clear, detailed care instructions. Let Houseplants for a Healthy Home lead you to a life in full bloom.

Build a natural pond for wildlife, beauty, and quiet contemplation Typical backyard ponds are a complicated mess of pipes, pumps, filters, and nasty chemicals designed to adjust pH and keep algae at bay. Hardly the bucolic, natural ecosystem beloved by dragonflies, frogs, and songbirds. The antidote is a natural pond, free of hassle, cost, and complexity and designed as a fully functional ecosystem, ideal for biodiversity, swimming, irrigation, and quiet contemplation. Building Natural Ponds is the first step-by-step guide to designing and building natural ponds that use no pumps, filters, chemicals, or electricity and mimic native ponds in both aesthetics and functionality. Highly illustrated with how-to drawings and photographs, coverage includes: Understanding pond ecosystems and natural algae control Planning, design, siting, and pond aesthetics Step-by-step guidance for construction, plants and fish, and maintenance and trouble shooting Scaling up to large ponds, pools, bogs, and rain gardens. Whether you're a backyard gardener looking to add a small serene natural water feature or a homesteader with visions of a large pond for fish, swimming, and irrigation, Building Natural Ponds is the complete guide to building ponds in tune with nature, where plants, insects, and amphibians thrive in blissful serenity. Robert Pavlis , a Master Gardener with over 40 years of gardening experience, is owner and developer of Aspen Grove Gardens, a six-acre botanical garden featuring over 2,500 varieties of plants. A well-respected speaker and teacher, Robert has published articles in Mother Earth News , Ontario Gardening magazine, the widely read blog GardenMyths.com, which explodes common gardening myths and gardening information site GardenFundamentals.com.

The restoration of historic homes has gained immense popularity lately. Unfortunately, there are just as many lost to demolition and unsympathetic alterations. That is not Fairview’s story though – because it was love at first sight when the Benkensteins walked through the historic Georgian house for the first time. Against all advice, they bought the 1861 property and opened the doors of their newly restored family home to guests.

But running a guesthouse is not all moonlight and roses. Philda shares honest insights into the life of the guesthouse owner. The ups and the downs. Memories, anecdotes, inspiration, the wonderful and sometimes the more difficult guests and a few tried and tested recipes. To quote Nikos Kazantzakis in Zorba the Greek. ‘Wife, children, house, everything. The full catastrophe’. More than twenty-eight years of experience in the hospitality industry demands a story or two.

This entertaining memoir is as much about the stories of the people who call Fairview home, and home away from home, as it is about restoring a long-neglected historic dwelling and creating a plant collector’s garden. The Standers lived at Fairview from 1894
to 1974, and an account of this old house could only be complete by mentioning the lives led within the Fairview walls in those times.

Field Guide to Stains is divided into handy sections for easy access to information when time is of the essence: Fruits and Vegetables, Meat and Protein, Household Items, Garage and Yard, and more. Readers will learn more than just removal techniques details include general descriptions and likely seasons, times, and areas of occurrence. Did you know that a yogurt stain is more likely to occur in January (when New Year s resolutions demand more healthy eating), and that correction fluid stains are more prevalent in April (when the pressure to complete your taxes on time is at a high)? Includes more than 100 full-color photographs of stains, each one cross-referenced to its description and step-by-step removal advice. Quick-reference icons guide the reader to the most essential information in each entry. This guide has a sturdy, stain-proof exterior making it a necessity for every cubicle, glove compartment, and college dorm. Field Guide to Stains is a must-have for everyone about to venture out into the wild, to the kitchen, or to a night on the town!

Martha Stewart is America's go-to source for the best answers to nearly every question. As an authority on the many worlds upon which she's built her domestic empire, she can advise on everything from creating a cutting garden and setting the table to playing classic lawn games or building a campfire. Whether it's organising, celebrating, cleaning, decorating, or any number of other life skills, these are the time-tested, Martha-approved strategies for frequent challenges and basic how-to knowledge that everyone should have at the ready. Also included are plenty of solutions for the not-so-common conundrums, such as how to transport a decorated cake, bathe a cat, or fold an American flag. With hundreds of expert tips and useful insights in an easy-to-follow format, this is the manual you need to learn how to do everything - the Martha way.

A reclusive designer living in a custom tiny house in the middle of the Montana wilderness. A couple who traded their expensive Bay Area apartment for a slip at a nearby marina, where they live on a docked sailboat. A family of five who decided to simplify their lives by moving into a school bus, selling most of their possessions in the process. Nomad features their stories, and many more. From vanlifers to boondockers, liveaboards to tiny-house dwellers, these freedom seekers have forged a new way of life for themselves - one that values experiences over things, is environmentally conscious, and is often more budget-friendly than their "rooted" lives ever were. The ubiquity of the internet has ushered in a new era of connectivity that makes working from an Airstream beside a roaring river or running a photography business from a mountaintop a reality. It's now possible to do whatever you want from wherever you want and still have a foothold in the world. This book shows you how, with tours of 26 unconventional homes and the people who live in them, plus all the information you need to make your own off-the-grid dream a reality. There are chapters on bathroom and storage - two of the most challenging aspects of this lifestyle - plus a comprehensive guide to finding the right home, assessing the cost of renovation, handy products for small spaces, and indispensable resources (including sources for replacement RV parts, portable power solutions, tiny wood stoves, and much more).