This useful compendium is packed with tips, techniques, quick fixes and trade secrets aimed at complete beginners planning their first-ever home makeover. Clear, simple instructions will de-mystify all key aspects, giving you the tools to get the job done quickly and professionally.

The book’s focus is on painting and decorating, and includes all aspects of preparation of walls and paintwork, including stripping, sanding, filling and sealing and moving onto pro-standard wallpapering, painting and tiling. Readers will pick up the kind of trade secrets to achieve a really good finish, really fast – avoiding the common pitfalls and mistakes that can often beset the occasional DIYer.

With useful lists of the essential tools required for a job, along with fi x-it solutions for when things go wrong, 300 Tips, Techniques and Trade Secrets for Painting and Decorating is the manual that will make home makeovers as painless as possible.

Raleigh Briggs collects her zines, illustrations, and thoughts around what it is that makes a great DIY household--homemade cleaning solvents that aren't made from poison, herbs that will heal you, and how to setup a great garden. These tips and tricks fill in the gaps for those of us longing to live this lifestyle but lacking the necesary know-how.

Whether you dream of restoring an heirloom to its former beauty, or just want to modernize a flea market treasure, Amy Howard has the design and refinishing secrets you need. Here are all the furniture finishing recipes, techniques, and tips that have made Howard's beloved classes sold-out success stories, and made Howard herself the go-to guru of refinishing and "use what you have" redecorating. Try your hand at unique painted and faux finishes, and experiment with gold leaf, distressing, and marvelous graining effects. Along the way, you will learn a treasure trove of techniques, as Howard shares before-and-after makeovers from her studio and offers impeccable step-by-step instruction in all that is needed to achieve each look.

Live Small/Live Modern curates the most envy-inducing spaces pulled from Beams at Home, the interior and lifestyle series that has sold over 70,000 copies and has gained a cult-like following in Japan. Filled with infinite ideas for how to spruce up your home in hip and clever ways, this is an indispensable guide to the Japanese art of tidying up in small spaces. Published here for the first time in English, Live Small/Live Modern profiles more than 100 homes from tiny one-bedroom apartments to high-ceilinged lofts offering readers a fountain of ideas on how to design, organize, and adorn small spaces without sacrificing personality and style. Over 400 beautiful colour photographs showcase the homes of ever-hip people whose honest approach to decorating never fails to exude a laid-back, Japanese-cool style. This book will be loved by dwellers in destinations such as LA, Brooklyn, Tokyo, Portland, and London as well as fans of art, fashion, and design while serving up a major dose of interior design envy.

In this stylish and light-infused design book, Domino magazine contributor Nina Freudenberger and former domino photographer Brittany Ambridge offer a glimpse into 20 aspirational bungalows, coastal cabins, boat houses, and hideaways in California, Montauk, Baja, Australia, and more. Surfing is more than just a recreational activity for its passionate followers-it has become a lifestyle embracing a sense of adventures, zen attitude, and, for many, life near the beach. This sensibility touches every part of their lives including the remarkable places they call home. Surf Shack profiles these spaces, highlighting rooms that prioritize communal socializing and break down barriers between indoors and outdoors, as well as the professional and amateur surfers that crafted them. Featured surfers include a mix of professionals and serious hobbyists, including Sean MacPherson (whose father starred in Endless Summer and mother was a surf champion), pro longboarder Kassia Meador, surfboard distributor Mel Hayhoe, and furniture maker Mark Tuckey. Lush lifestyle photography shows just how sophisticated and inviting these homes are with personal accents (like handmade surf boards, cactus gardens, or Mexican blankets) juxtaposed with dreamy architectural details (outdoor showers, plunge pools, and skylights). Just as readers bought Cabin Porn for the vicariousness of simple, rustic, small-space living, so, too, will readers come to this book for the laid-back lifestyle of shown in these homes.

Quilting is big business. This book is for anyone who wants to turn their love for quilts into profit in a market that is viable and continues to grow. It will guide the reader through all the aspects of setting up and running a thriving home-based quilti

Making House features the houses and apartments of leading interior, furniture, and product designers homes by designers, as designed for themselves including the abodes of well-known figures such as Jonathan Adler, Marc Newson, Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci of Dimore Studio, and Stephen Sills. A great degree of inspiration is to be found among the personal homes and interiors of the masters. Designers, architects, and artists are free to experiment in a way that is unique, without any of the traditional limitations of a client-commissioned project. These are laboratories of invention. They are also private retreats, which offer a range of design solutions for common challenges from which the reader may glean new ideas and the motivation to make such ideas real. Beautifully illustrated, this volume is at once a document and a celebration of some of the most inspiring homes from around the world and the creative minds and personalities behind them, photographed specifically for this book.

We are all born with an innate desire to creatively express the essence of who we are. This desire is embedded into our soul, a gift at birth, our own Northern Star in a galaxy full of the unknown. Your physical setting can either hamper or inspire this creative calling. Known for her eclectic style and helping others see the possibility within themselves, their homes, and personal style, Desha Peacock offers you tips on designing a creative work space that will also inspire you to do the work you are meant to do. Peacock's design tips cover how to: Use your work space to inspire your best work. Choose the right color to enhance your mood. Create a cozy virtual office no matter where you live. Work with a tiny space in a closet or other nook. Mix vintage, modern, and thrift store finds so you can create the style you crave, no matter your budget. Gain more clarity so you can focus on what's most important to your business or creative life. Your Creative Work Space features full-color photographs of unique, creative work spaces from the traditional home office to the artist's studio or writing salon.

By refacing old cabinets, virtually anyone with basic skills can make a kitchen or any room in the house look stunning at a fraction of the cost of new. The secret is knowing how to refurbish old cabinets by applying high-quality wood laminate and new cabinet doors, door fronts, and/or trim. This book shows readers everything they need to know to achieve professional results. 130 color photos. 50 drawings.

This eco-elegant guide to home d cor is packed with attractive decorating ideas inspired by the colours, forms, and themes of nature. Focused on the environmental impact of design choices, it offers home design with a point of view and a conscience. Author Janet Sobesky shows how to bring a breath of freshness into home decorating by incorporating natural elements into everyday living. Using organic and eco-conscious materials for earth-friendly designs, Janet presents a host of practical suggestions for achieving a comfortable, informal, easy-care, and sustainable lifestyle. With advice for every room in the house, Natural Style includes the latest information on organic fabrics, natural flooring materials, low VOC paints, energy-efficient lighting options, and more.

The Style Me Vintage treatment is now given to homes--real stylish homes feature owners' stories and style notes

Celebrating the perennial interest in incorporating vintage flea-market finds into interior schemes, this book is a feast of retro inspiration. With practical information on how to identitfy and source original vintage homewares, there is also plenty of inspiration on how to style your rooms according to your favored decade, whether it be the 1920s or the 1970s. There's also plenty of advice on how to mix eras and incorporate vintage into contemporary schemes. This book will provide a sourcebook of inspiration to all those hungry for nostalgic design. From ideas for display (fab 1960s artwork, kitsch figurines, retro plates, and crockery) to larger furniture finds (1950s sideboards, classic fabrics, reupholstered armchairs) see how vintage design can be made to work today.

Many homeowners look at decorating as do-it-yourself proposition. Others seek out the advice of an expert. "Decorating Ideas that Work" covers both bases completely. Bursting with over 500 photographs and drawings, Heather Paper's hard-working sourcebook is all a potential decorator needs to transform their house into a showcase. Chock full of information on both contemporary and traditional furniture and accessories - and how to thoughtfully combine them.

Japanese interiors focus primarily on one simple philosophy, Zen. All the rooms in a traditionally furnished Japanese home strive to achieve a balance of peace and simplicity; their interiors are steeped in centuries of cultural influence, and a sense of calm is key to the whole aesthetic. This handbook shows how to create a tailor-made Japanese home. Working through the house one room at a time, it highlights classic items of furniture and signature accessories, from tatami mats and paper lanterns to shoji (dividing screens). In-depth case studies demonstrate the essential elements and provide inspiration, while colour combinations are explored to help personalize this iconic style for the home. Anyone who hankers after the Japanese look and is eager to bring it to their own home will find this book a valuable resource.

As indoor kitchen design books do, The New Outdoor Kitchen covers initial design and planning and, in subsequent chapters, covers "stove" options (grills, smokers, wood-fired ovens); the rest of the kitchen (outdoor refrigerators, sinks, cabinets, and countertops); the entertaining and eating areas (including a discussion of outdoor heaters, social fire-fireplaces, firepits, and chimineas--and bug control to increase your season of enjoyment); and, finally, the grace notes of the outdoor kitchen--lighting and sound systems, plantings, and water features. Ten portfolio kitchens will be laced between the chapters, and the book will conclude with an extensive source list. The kitchens pictured in the book will run the size, price, ambition, and creativity gamut, from kitchens sited on decks and patios to a small urban backyard set up to elaborate built-in, freestanding outdoor environments.

Multi award-winning interior designer Greg Natale is renowned for doing things differently - his is a bold, fresh and modern Antipodean style that brings the best of classic interiors into the 21st Century. His bold signature style juxtaposes clean lines with repeating geometric patterns, unadorned walls with highly embellished feature pieces, empty space with vivid splashes of color. At once contemporary, restrained, sophisticated and playful, Greg's spectacular interiors integrate architecture, design and decoration to create visually breathtaking masterpieces. In this stunning, photographic collection, Greg guides us through finding the perfect hook, building a concept from the ground up, layering different elements for cohesion, embracing empty space, using colour and pattern to add the magical finishing touches, and giving an interior space that elusive je ne sais quoi.

Take a tour of the most exquisite intimate retreats--inside and out. These beguiling, intimate, and restorative spaces are marvels of design. From serenely dreamy bedrooms to charming reading nooks and sophisticated studies, Veranda reveals a spectacular collection of indoor and outdoor havens. Organized by room and function, this gorgeously photographed book presents stunning kitchens with cerused-oak cabinetry, suspended shelves, and Parisian bistro chairs; grand gardens with sculptural benches, hammocks, and riots of foliage; and luxurious dining and living rooms. Throughout, designers reveal how they created and why they cherish these retreats, while "In the Details" sidebars call out elements like curated collections, hidden alcoves, and showstopping entrance halls that add intimacy and uniqueness to these private, personalized hideaways.

Shabby Chic designer Rachel Ashwell shows readers how to turn any house or apartment into a comfortable, functional, beautiful, and stylish home, in this bestselling guide to getting the most out of flea-market finds and vintage treasures.

What would Little Women be without the charms of the March family's cozy New England home? Or Wuthering Heights without the ghost-infested Wuthering Heights? Getting lost in the setting of a good book can be half the pleasure of reading, and Decorating a Room of One's Own brings literary backdrops to the foreground in this wryly affectionate satire of interior design reporting. English professor and humorist Susan Harlan spoofs decorating culture by reimagining its subject as famous fictional homes and "interviews" the residents who reveal their true tastes: Lady Macbeth's favorite room in the castle, or the design inspiration behind Jay Gatsby's McMansion of unfulfilled dreams. Featuring 30 entries of notable dwellings, sidebars such as "Setting Up an Ideal Governess's Room," and four-color spot illustrations throughout, Decorating a Room of One's Own is the ideal book for readers who appreciate fine literature and a good end table.

More than 125 gorgeous photographs showcase the beauty of award-winning stonemason Lew French's work in eight different homes, illustrating how rounded fieldstone, gray slate, rough granite, and even curvy driftwood can be incorporated into stunning pieces of functional art.

French provides charming narration for each project: how an idea came to be; how a stone-splitting technique is executed; even how one of his most difficult pieces, a three-year-long project, was saved from ruin the day it was completed.

With its contemporary hearths of rustic slate, sculptured walls of both great granite slabs as well as stacked and rounded fieldstones, "Stone By Design: The Artistry of Lew French" will inspire design lovers to incorporate this material in home interiors and exteriors, whether as an artful writer's studio, a playful fireplace, or a carefully crafted garden pathway.

More than just a stunning tribute to the work of Lew French and his unique vision and craft, this book celebrates both the function and form of stone. It's the perfect inspiration for anyone interested in adding the beauty of stone to their home or landscape.

Lew French was born in the small farming town of Zumbrota, Minnesota. He started to work with stone when he was just nineteen years old. He moved to Martha's Vineyard twenty years ago and has worked on his own stone designs exclusively since. His work has been featured in the "New York Times," "House Beautiful," "The Boston Globe Magazine," "Architectural Digest," and "Metropolitan Home." He has also been featured on HGTV's "Modern Masters" and local programs in the Northeast. He has two sons, Asa and Truman.

Alison Shaw is a fine-art and editorial photographer who lives and works on Martha's Vineyard, which has provided the inspiration and subject matter for much of her color and black-and-white photography. Over five thousand of her original fine-art prints are in public and private collections. Alison's work appears regularly in "Yankee Magazine," "Martha's Vineyard Magazine," and "Cape Cod Life." She teaches photography workshops for the Maine Photographic Workshops and Santa Fe Workshops. Alison lives with her family in Oak Bluffs.

'A colourful and comprehensive guide to life on the waterways. Practical, pretty and accessible, it's charmingly designed while providing excellent advice.' BBC Countryfile Magazine

Full-time life on a narrowboat is a novelty for so many of us, and is endlessly fascinating. How do people downsize their lives and belongings into what looks like a large, crayon-coloured floating toy-box? Narrowboat Life answers all the questions we've wanted to ask about the ins and outs of liveaboard life on the inland waterways.

The book is filled with beautiful, enthralling photography of the waterways themselves, the narrowboats that occupy them and, most importantly, every nook and cranny of their insides. Should you become seduced, the author gives solid hands-on advice about how to make a narrowboat (or widebeam, cruiser or small Dutch barge) your home.

Accompanying these absorbing images, the playful and always informative text satisfies our curiosity to know, among other things:

· How do you fit all of your stuff into such a restricted space?

· How much does a narrowboat cost?

· How do you hold down a job if you're always on the move?

· Does s/he (the cat, dog, parrot) live on the boat as well?

· Is it cold in the winter?

This revised edition of Narrowboat Life features new and expanded sections on ecological living on the waterways - recycling, upcycling and living green - and the costs of living aboard in cities and countryside versus living on-land, as well as new 'step-aboard' profiles of more beautiful boats.

At once a style guide, an inspirational tome, and a how-to volume on creating one s home, this book will serve as a go-to reference for all those seeking to spur their own creativity as they embark on the creation of home. The House that Pinterest Built defines what home and house mean to the celebrated movie star, who is known for her love affair with houses and design. Filled with ideas that reveal a personal yet engaging aesthetic, this volume includes compelling photos from Keaton s past homes and those she admires, as well as a multitude of details from every corner of those spaces and objects that excite and inspire the house designer and dreamer dramatic staircases and magical light fixtures, film stills and book covers, pottery and art drawn from the visual treasure trove known as Pinterest and Keaton s private collection, as she creates and designs her newest house. Rich imagery is accompanied by Keaton s ideas for selecting furniture, kitchen layout, and bedroom design; she talks about the importance of lighting in the bathroom and why the living room needs to be reimagined. Beyond the interior, she explores curb appeal and environmental sensitivity, always with an eye to making home the way it should be a place of tranquillity, a place where one is restored and where one returns to dream again and again. The book culminates in the dream realized, the house she has imagined, designed, and made, now shared with the world for the first time in all-new photography.

'Uplifting, heart-warming, life-enriching. I wish I could have read this book years ago.' - Nigel Slater Nordic countries are consistently rated as the best places to live for quality of life, happiness and education, literacy and gender equality. But what's their secret? In How To Hygge, renowned Scandinavian cook and writer Signe Johansen explores the culture of hygge, shares the secrets of Nordic living and shows you how to adopt these elements into your everyday life, wherever you are in the world. Hygge is central to the Nordic sense of well-being. Roughly translated as 'cosiness', it implies warmth, conviviality and community. With fifty recipes and glorious imagery, Johansen explains how to enjoy the outdoors the Nordic way, the joy of fika (coming together over cake and coffee), how to collaborate to achieve a sense of community and why alcohol is integral to the healthy hedonism of hygge. For those who have long admired the region's stylish design heritage, she reveals how to achieve Scandi-Cool in your own home, without breaking the bank. Explore the culture of hygge, and learn how to live your life to the fullest, Nordic-style.

Transform your home into a calm, balanced and harmonious oasis using architect Anjie Cho's helpful advice, drawing on her background in green design and feng shui. You don't have to get rid of all your possessions and become an ascetic to change your space and discover the benefits that living in a considered, organic way can bring. The easy suggestions in Holistic Spaces show you how to implement the principles of feng shui and green design in your home. Written for the way we live today, as we move toward a more mindful approach to health, diet and the way that we choose the objects in our homes, this is the perfect guide to help you to clear and refresh your living environment. Learn how to make every room in your home serve its highest purpose, create eco-friendly spaces, bring nature indoors, choose colours for maximum impact, select a space for meditation practice, and overall, create a peaceful and organic home. From the bedroom to the home office, these intuitive, straightforward tips will teach you to how improve your spaces to boost the flow of energy through your life.

Six pre-cut stencils for youngsters to trace and color: turtle, sea horse, starfish, conch, crab, lobster.

The Complete Photo Guide to Window Treatments, Second Edition is the most comprehensive book of its kind on the market, offering the reader both inspiring location photography plus step-by-step instructions for making 50 different projects. Window treatments include several curtain styles, formal draperies, swags, valances, cornices, various Roman shades, and roller shades. Designed for the DIY home sewer, this book is also valued by professional workrooms and trade schools because it teaches professional methods for measuring, sewing, and installing window treatments. Now updated with new photography and the latest window treatment styles, this second edition is a must-have for any DIY home sewer.