Reducing energy consumption and costs is an issue of ever-increasing importance, and European as well as international legislation aimed at reducing carbon emissions is tightening up minimum energy standards for new buildings and those being extended or renovated. Energy-saving measures in the home will, therefore, become ever more cost-effective throughout our lifetimes. Find a comprehensive outline of them here.

"80% OF CONSUMERS WANT TO REDO THEIR KITCHENS." - Kitchen and Bath Design News

And most of them will want to pull their hair out at some point in the process Appliances or cabinets don't fit or open right . . . the sink is so tight that the faucet gets a wedgie . . . the floor or walls aren't straight or plumb . . . the range hood is a head-banger . . . your contractor forgot to ask you about . . . everything

From DIY go-getters to reluctant remodelers to smart consumers who just want to stay on top of their projects, everyone who dabbles in kitchen design and remodeling needs some "I wish I'd thought of that" help and support.

Packed with truly insider kitchen design secrets and remodeling tips shared in a humorous, realistic way, Kelly's Kitchen Sync has answers to questions you didn't know you should ask. Don't let your project get bogged down by your own horror story Let Kelly help you get it done right, on time and on budget.

You'll learn how to:

Separate expectations from the reality of what will work for you and your kitchen

Figure out where to go, who does what, when to get outside help

Ensure your design matches the space, appliances, and how you use your kitchen

Choose materials that will work best, and when and where to splurge

Keep costs down by making good choices and avoiding costly mistakes

Kelly Morisseau has kitchen design in her blood. Her blog, Kitchen Sync, is a top-ten kitchen design blog on the internet. A second-generation designer, both her parents were kitchen designers long before anyone understood the term. Kelly's award-winning experience includes more than 25 years as a professional kitchen designer, both on her own and for leading design/build firms. She is a Certified Master Kitchen and Bath Designer (CMKBD) and a Certified Interior Designer (CID) in California.

Utilizing modern industrial technology, modular homebuilding offers the promise of building a higher quality home, faster and at a lower cost. Dr. Mullens uses his 20 years of experience in the industry to examine the theory and practice of modular homebuilding, identifying its strengths and weaknesses and introducing a structured engineering design approach for configuring a high performance modular factory. The book integrates three invaluable sources of knowledge: 1) the practices and experience of current modular producers, many of whom are industry pioneers who helped create and develop the industry, 2) emerging best business practices, such as lean production and mass customization, that are transforming the industry, and 3) current scientific research findings that provide additional insight. The goal of this book is to equip stakeholders inside and outside the industry - factory designers, product designers, operating managers, investors, and researchers - so they can design and operate high performance modular factories. This book is directed to several groups: 1) industry professionals that are responsible for owning, designing and operating a modular factory, 2) advanced undergraduate and graduate students that are studying residential construction, construction science, construction management, building technology or industrial engineering and who are enrolled in courses addressing prefabricated homebuilding, and 3) faculty and students that are engaged in academic research involving prefabricated homebuilding. The book is rich in technical detail. Graphs of benchmarking results document production performance across the industry. Individual production processes are described. A conceptual Value Stream Map is developed to show how product can flow between production processes to create the overall production system. Common production layouts are provided with commentary, including material handling and storage options. Numerous photos are used to document layout and equipment choices.

Building a Garage is a practical, step-by-step guide which covers all aspects of building a garage from the planning and design stage through to construction and completion. Whether you would like to build a garage yourself or employ a builder, whether you want to construct a double or a single garage, whether you wish to build with bricks or wood, and whether you require a garage just to house your car or also to provide storage and workshop facilities, this is the book for you.

Say goodbye to clutter, reduce stress, and live simply with this easy-to-use guide to downsizing!

Whether you are selling your family home, blending households into a new home, or cleaning out your aging parents' home, sorting through a lifetime's worth of accumulated possessions can be a daunting and stressful experience. Decluttering guru Peter Walsh recently went through the process of downsizing his childhood home and dividing his late parents' possessions among his family. He realized that making these decisions about mementos and heirlooms creates strong emotions and can be an overwhelming chore.

In Let It Go, Peter will help you turn downsizing into a rejuvenating life change with his useful tips and practical takeaways, including how to:

- Understand the emotional challenges that accompany downsizing
- Establish a hierarchy of mementos and collectibles
- Calculate the amount of stuff you can bring into your new life
- Create strategies for dividing heirlooms among family members without drama

This new phase brings unexpected freedoms and opportunities, and Peter walks you through every step of the process. You'll feel freer and happier than you ever thought possible once you Let It Go.

Vegetables from your own farm to your own table We all love good food, and the fresher it is, the better! And what could be fresher than farm-to-table terms than vegetables you've grown at home? The new edition of Vegetable Gardening For Dummies puts you in touch with your roots in a thousands of years old farming tradition by demonstrating how easy it is to grow your own. And there's no need to buy a farm: all you need to become a successful cultivator of the land is this book and a small plot of soil in the yard, or a container set aside for some tasty natural edibles. Add water and some care, love, and attention--et voila! In a friendly, come-relax-in-my-garden style Charlie Nardozzi--leading horticultural writer and guest expert on shows such as Martha Stewart Living Radio--shares the nutritious results of a lifetime of vegetable-growing experience to delve into the nitty-gritty of micro-farming. It's not rocket science--quite the opposite--but you do need a bit of patience before you can reap your first glorious harvest. This book shows you how to master that, as you get down and dirty with the enjoyable work of building soil, starting seeds, controlling pests, and maintaining your garden. And as your early efforts turn to green shoots, you can dig deeper into information on special tips and tricks, as well as hundreds of vegetable varieties--many of which are beautiful to behold as well as tasty to eat! Plan out your garden Know your veggies, from tomatoes to chard Keep your plants happy and healthy Harvest, store, and preserve your crops Whether your thumb is a fertile green or you've never put plant-to-pot before, this book will bring out your inner farmer: you'll find everything required to transform your garden into a self-renewing larder--and complement every meal with a crisp, healthy, home-grown treat.

NOW A MAJOR NEW TV SERIES: CAROL DRINKWATER'S SECRET PROVENCE The first in Carol Drinkwater's bestselling series set on a Provencal olive farm. 'She writes so well you can almost smell the sun-baked countryside' BELLA 'Spellbinding' CHOICE 'Vibrant, intoxicating and heart-warming' SUNDAY EXPRESS 'All my life, I have dreamed of acquiring a crumbling, shabby-chic house overlooking the sea. In my mind's eye, I have pictured a corner of paradise where friends can gather to swim, relax, debate, eat fresh fruits picked directly from the garden and great steaming plates of food served from an al fresco kitchen and dished up on to a candlelit table the length of a railway sleeper...' When Carol Drinkwater and her partner Michel have the opportunity to buy 10 acres of disused olive farm in Provence, the idea seems absurd. After all, they don't have a lot of money, and they've only been together a little while. THE OLIVE FARM is the story of the highs and lows of purchasing the farm and life in Provence: the local customs and cuisine; the threats of fire and adoption of a menagerie of animals; the potential financial ruin and the thrill of harvesting their own olives - especially when they are discovered to produce the finest extra-virgin olive oil...

This book is an essential companion for all those considering a house extension. Featuring checklists and guidance on how to ensure your project is a success, this essential guide distils all the practical information needed to run a project from dream to reality, highlighting the pitfalls along the way and suggesting ways to avoid them. Richly illustrated with inspirational examples and case studies, this book demystifies both the building process and all the surrounding issues to do with design, sustainability, budgeting, planning, regulations and the use of building contracts.

An effective space is one that works for you, liberating you to live the life you want.

Natasha takes you around the home and shares her hacks from the kitchen to the bedroom via the bathroom and entranceway. Never again will you need to step over your "floordrobe", rifle through the shoe rack, or spend ten minutes searching for keys.

Applying Natasha's "house rules" to every room, drawer and cupboard, you'll learn to ditch the complex systems, keep things where you use them and set all-important boundaries throughout your home.

Taking the questionnaire at the start of the book will reveal the priorities for your living space. Then, by implementing daily routines, simple systems and practical processes tailored to your needs, you will create an ideal stress-free environment that looks good, too.

With beautiful photography throughout, and step-by-step diagrams of folds for everything from towels and T-shirts to gift-wrap, Natasha's system for creating a serene home can be applied to any space, large or small.

This is the definitive guide for learning the art of lock picking. Inside you will discover the secrets of the trade. By reading this book, practicing, and applying the methods introduced, you can successfully master picking most modern locks. This book makes it easy and gives you the edge to quickly learn and start picking locks today. Not only does this book cover what tools and techniques are needed to pick most common locks, but it also goes through what to do step-by-step; and actually teaches how to do it. It explains what all of the tools are and for what they are used. What really sets this book apart is the vast assortment of illustrations that make everything easy to understand. This really is a visual guide containing pages filled with diagrams and drawings that will instantly show you how locks work, and exactly what to do to bypass them. You can start learning today! Inside, you will find sections about warded locks, pin tumblers, wafer tumblers, and more. These are the locks found on most residential and commercial doors, cars, padlocks, desks, filing cabinets, safes, equipment, vending machines, bike locks, etc... Each section includes an in-depth and easy to understand explanation as to how that type of lock works. This book even outlines several exercises you can perform in order to improve your lock picking skills. You'll be picking every lock in your house in no time.

New York Times best seller Ever since Gabrielle Stanley Blair became a parent, she's believed that a thoughtfully designed home is one of the greatest gifts we can give our families, and that the objects and decor we choose to surround ourselves with tell our family's story. In this, her first book, Blair offers a room-by-room guide to keeping things sane, organized, creative, and stylish. She provides advice on getting the most out of even the smallest spaces; simple fixes that make it easy for little ones to help out around the house; ingenious storage solutions for the never-ending stream of kid stuff; rainy-day DIY projects; and much, much more.

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.

Getting--and staying--organized is a challenge in and of itself. Add motherhood to the mix, and you've got a whole new dimension of difficulty. So how does a busy mom stay on top of the daily chaos that children inevitably bring along with them? No matter what your situation is, Kristi Clover's home organization systems will work for you. Her foundational rules are highly adaptable and will help you make your home more efficient no matter where you live or how many kids you have (and how messy they are). She helps you prioritize, break down big jobs, declutter, develop age-appropriate chores for your kids, tackle the endless piles of laundry, and so much more. If you long to have a functional and fabulous home for your family and you're tired of feeling overwhelmed by all the work, this life-changing book is for you!

Holy reno inspo! Before & afters Styling how-to's Money-saving reno tips 'Australia's most fabulous renovators' Real Living magazine When best friends Erin, Bonnie and Lana ditched their corporate careers to start Three Birds Renovations, they were rookie renovators with big ideas. Today, with many incredible house transformations under their toolbelt, they're a power trio turning neighbourhood ugly ducklings into swans. If you lust over images of beautiful homes but feel stuck when it comes to your own space, these 'birds' have your back. The book is packed with gorgeous details from their projects, friendly words of encouragement and more than 400 reno tips to help you avoid budget blow-outs, manage trades and timelines, and style without stress. Whether you're starting small or going all-in with a whole-home reno, this is destined to become one of the most useful books you own. Turn your reno dreams into reality!

Turn the outdoor space you may not own into one that makes you feel at home. A gardening book unlike any other, RHS How to Garden When You Rent brings together projects, inspiration, and handy know-how specifically tailored to people who rent. With chapters designed around lease lengths, readers will find something for their outdoor space, whether they plan to rent for just a few months or expect to stay in their home for a several years or more. Written by Matthew Pottage, this must-have book combines creative ideas with serious gardening expertise - all without breaking the bank or needing countless hours of hands-on work. Keep your landlord happy and your garden in good shape with plenty of tips, tricks, and techniques for good garden maintenance, and discover ways of turning even the most unloved balcony, yard, or urban garden into a lush, welcoming space that you, your flatmates, and your friends can enjoy for as long as you choose to live there.

Woodburning stoves have become incredibly popular and it's easy to see why. Not only do woodburners save money on fuel, they're a carbon-neutral way to heat your home and make a great looking feature in a room. If you're thinking of getting a woodburner, this comprehensive collection of basic information will guide you through everything you need to know, from choosing the most suitable stove for your needs to installing and operating one efficiently and safely.

DIY enthusiasts, tiny house-lovers, and van-lifers will find inspiration and step-by-step instructions in Tin Can Homestead, the ultimate resource for living small in your own Airstream paradise. The Airstream trailer is the ultimate symbol of vintage wanderlust-and the classic touring vehicle's resurgent popularity has dovetailed with the tiny house movement, resonating with design-minded individuals looking to live small. Tin Can Homestead, based on the popular Instagram of the same name, is the ultimate resource for these would-be DIY-ers, and the perfect coffee-table addition for anyone looking for streamlined, modern lifestyle inspiration. Part practical how-to, part lushly illustrated design inspiration, Tin Can Homestead follows the story of one couple as they build themselves a new life in an old Airstream. Through personal stories and down-and-dirty checklists, this book guides readers through all stages of creating their own Airstream homes-from buying a trailer to plumbing and electrical work. With a hip, bohemian aesthetic and a fresh authorial voice, the authors pair their DIY knowledge with lifestyle advice-including decor, design, and entertaining-and abundant illustrations, from in-process photographs to hand-drawn illustrations.

This book pens a window on the experiences of urban people living through one of Africa's most dramatic economic declines in the postcolonial era by focusing on such broad themes as household dynamics, gender politics, and informal economy in Mtendere. The author argues that African urbanism is not purely a product of colonialism but a result of a wide variety of influences both local and foreign.

If you're looking to clean up but not clean out, if you want to declutter but don't want to throw out eighty percent of your stuff, if you want to be able to find matching socks in the morning but don't want a color-coded sock drawer, you've come to the right place. Organized Enough offers a groundbreaking, science-driven method for getting--and staying--organized. Amanda Sullivan's proven approach will teach you the lifelong habits of the organized, showing you how to make cleaning up effortless and automatic. With seven concepts to help you define your goals and seven essential habits to keep chaos and clutter at bay, Organized Enough will teach you to reframe how you think about your space, your stuff, and your life. You'll learn how to: * Sort the "stuff" from the sentimental * Become a paper-filing ninja * Cultivate consistency, not chaos * Set up systems that can run on autopilot * Let go of guilt and start enjoying your home * ...and more