A retro-fit offers many benefits: cutting electricity and heating bills, increasing the resale value of homes, slashing carbon emissions and creating a healthier place to live. This book is the guide to making it happen. It looks at: draught-proofing, insulation and damp ventilation, heating and cooling electrical efficiency and renewable energy water use and re-use materials' life cycles and incorporating nature protection from climate change impacts - modelling energy flows and embodied energy how we can meet the need to cut carbon emissions from dwellings by eighty percent by 2050. Projects can apply to apartment blocks, recent builds and older, solid-walled properties. Enlivened with helpful diagrams and photographs, plus plenty of pointers for further information, it provides a comprehensive resource handbook for any building professional and contractor, students - or any homeowner serious about efficiency (cash and carbon) savings.

This is the manual for anyone who wants to become a skilled upholsterer. The book, now made available again in paperback, contains a total of 15 step-by-step projects. The first eight are basic skills projects and collectively these explain the key skills needed to complete any upholstery task.The projects include a drop-in-bottom chair, an overstuffed seat, caning, a box cushion and recovering a modern chair. The remaining seven projects involve the application of skills learnt in the first chapter. Pieces featured are an Art Deco armchair, a wing chair, a chaise longue and a leather chesterfield. A basic techniques section is included, but the aim of this book is to get straight in to the projects, getting hands-on experience of upholstery. There is information on the tools and materials needed, where to look for furniture that you can upholster and advice on choosing fabric. No other book on the market takes such a clear, progressive approach to teaching upholstery.

One of a new series of Haynes DIY Manuals. Welding is an art that goes back to the days of the village blacksmith, but until recently the tools and materials needed were too expensive for DIY use. Nowadays, however, equipment that was once considered

When you are building your own fitted kitchen cabinets, you are not just saving money. You also improve upon the materials & construction used in factory-made cabinets, and get exactly the sizes you want. And with the techniques that the author demonstrates and explains in this book, you can incorporate custom details in your cabinets to make them even more distinctive, e.g: arched doors, custom cornice treatments, oversize pantry cabinets and solid wood end panels. - Designing custom cabinetry to suit your space and budget - - Building drawers and doors in a variety of different styles - - Tools - Understanding wood - Design - Face-frame construction - Doors - - Panels - Building drawers - Base cabinets - Wall cabinets -Other cabinets - - Finishing - Hardware - Accessories - Installation - Countertops - * Taunton's Build Like A Pro series: expert advice from start to finish. * Any serious do-it-yourselfer can make his/her own fitted kitchen armed with the know-how in this fully illustrated book.

BBC Interior Design Masters finalist Siobhan Murphy brings you a fearless home interiors handbook that celebrates maximalism and shows you how your taste in fashion can influence your home decor. 'For me, maximalism is about using colour, patterns and textures in a happy and joyful way. It's about showcasing your personality and the things you love, both in the way you dress and in the way you decorate your home. It's decorating from the heart, going with your gut and not worrying what the neighbours will say.' Siobhan Murphy This first-of-its-kind interiors handbook encourages you to think about the colours, textures, patterns and prints that bring happiness into your life, then shows you some clever ways to work these elements into your home decor. A celebration of bold fashion and maximalist interiors, More Is More Decor showcases key maximalist influencers of the past and present, from Jayne Mansfield to Jonathan Adler, before demonstrating how fashion and other interests such as travel can inspire your interior design choices. Fully illustrated throughout with photos of Siobhan's incredible art deco home, as well as all of her favourite influencers, it's a feast for the eyes and a book that can be pored over or dipped in and out of. With Siobhan's guidance you'll find the confidence to experiment, be bolder with your style and curate a space that fills you with joy. It's time to banish the beige, ditch the drab and throw the interiors rule book out of the window. Chapter breakdown: 1. What Is Maximalism? 2. Inspiration From Places and Things 3. Inspiration From Influencers Past 4. Inspiration From Today's Influencers 5. Playing With Colour 6. Pattern and Print 7. Accessories: The Jewellery of the Home 8. Mood Boarding and Sourcing

The Queen of Clean
with her royal tips for every season,
an untidy home would almost be treason!

Winter

Make snow shoveling a breeze...store holiday decorations with no tangles...humidify dry indoor air...care for flannel sheets...make those Valentine's gems sparkle

Spring

Garden the natural way...allergy-proof your home...banish grass stains...color your Easter eggs

Summer

Prepare for family road trips...care for your camping equipment...keep bugs away without chemicals...clean your sports gear

Fall

Get organized for back to school...store your summer clothes properly...put away your air conditioner...prepare for stress-free holidays!

If you have only dreamed about the beauty of building with timbers, this book will open your eyes. It will convince you that this method is not only practical today for homes and other buildings, but often is less expensive than "stick building."

Timber frame builder Jack Sobon and writer Roger Schroeder offer a book for builders as well as those wishing to have the work done for them. Here is practical how-to for both beginners and experienced carpenters who want to try this method. It offers:

The basics of timber framing.

How to design for strength and beauty.

How to combine modern tools and time-tested methods.

A starter project: How to build a 12 x 16 garden toolshed.

Dozens of illustrations and photos that make it all easy to understand.

This Old House meets #HomeImprovementFails in this collection of laugh-out-loud essays, perfect for fans of Nick Offerman, CarTalk, or The Red Green Show. "This book is all the fix-it you need for your hurt home improvement ego." --Harrison Scott Key, Thurber-prize winning author of The World's Largest Man Meet Brian Harris, a (mostly) retired, self-proclaimed jack of all trades with a penchant for DIY and inventive money-saving schemes. Armed with a soldering gun, his trusty nine-foot ladder, and of course the handyman's secret weapon--duct tape--Brian's projects start out as simple chores: trim a tree branch, stain the cedar siding on his home...but all too often they end in costly disaster. Sometimes he's trying to do the right thing, like the time he wrecked his pool while saving some baby ducks. Often, he channels his inner MacGyver: he once taped his hockey skate back together so he could finish his rec-league game, only to get suspended for falling on the referee when it broke (again). But usually he's just being, well, cheap! Like the time he inadvertently destroyed a $295 car key fob because he wouldn't pay the (outrageous) $10 fee to have the battery professionally replaced. In The Cheap Handyman, Brian anthologizes his hard-won wisdom, teaching us how (not) to cut down a tree, what to do if a stray cat has kittens in your HVAC system, three very incorrect uses for duct tape, the manifold hazards of pool maintenance, and more. Filled with unforgettable true stories from the everyday life of an average guy just trying to save a few bucks, The Cheap Handyman is a delightful tribute to anyone who has ever thought, "Sure! I can do that!"

There are other manuals on how to build cabins, but W. Ben Hunt's is the only one that shows you how to build and furnish an authentic pioneer cabin the easy way, natural, using only hand tools and the woods around you. Our ancestors used logs and hand tools to build durable, dry, windproof, and protective dwellings; and they fashioned chairs, beds, and tables out of half logs, twigs branches, and bushes. In this day of power saws, lumberyards, and high prices, it's good to know that you can build in the same way.

Todays leading interior designers are absolutely enamored with concrete. Innovators and artisans are enthusiastically exploring the ever-expanding uses for concrete as an artistic medium, and the potential seems endless. New permanent colors for concrete are infinite and the textures limited only by the imagination. Concrete can imitate any surface, from expensive marble and granite to slick glass or worn and faded terracotta and brick.\nThis book takes you on a visual tour of amazing concrete applications indoors, from floors and countertops, to fireplace surrounds. It highlights groundbreaking artistry in concrete that is opening the doors for craftsmen, and even do-it-yourselfers, to create murals on floors, walls, and ceilings.\nA companion volume explores decorative applications for the homes exterior.

In Building A Low Impact Roundhouse Tony Wrench shares his many years of experience, his skills and techniques, his ups and downs, always in a witty and inspiring manner. The book covers the process of visualising and designing a house through to the practical side of lifting the living roof, infilling the walls, laying out rooms and adding renewable, autonomous technology. Building A Low Impact Roundhouse has become a classic text. Tonys home and lifestyle have attracted the interest of the media and he and his partner continue to inspire many individuals and communities to seek out ways of living more sustainably. Now in its fourth edition, with a fascinating 2014 update. Tony also includes sections on the physical design and writes about the lifestyle required for living in a roundhouse. He offers advice on roofs, floors, walls, compost toilets, wood stoves, kitchens, windows and on planning permission. There are additional photographs of life in and around the dwelling and illustrations from the construction plans for one of the UK's most unique of homes. This true and captivating story covers the realisation of a lifetime s dream as well as being a practical how to manual for anyone who loves the idea of low impact living and wants to self-build an affordable, organic home.

This second edition of Workshop Electrics has been completely revised and updated to bring it in line with the latest advances in technology and to fully conform with BS7671 (17th edition of wiring regulations). A quarter of the illustrations are also new. The book deals with electricity in the workshop and includes everything from fitting a 13amp plug to wiring up a new workshop building. Safety, a key issue is covered as well as inspection and testing. Starting with the planning necessary before electrical installation commences, the book then deals with the fusing, equipment, lighting, fixtures, fittings and wiring for 230-volt mains electricity. Further chapters cover outside workshops, three-phase supplies and a range of low-voltage equipment. Finally there is a glossary, a list of useful addresses and an index.

Each title in this new do-it-yourself series presents over 20 projects to complete with clear, step-by-step color photographs throughout. Each book includes an easily-accessible materials list for each project as well as all necessary stencils, patterns and templates. Whether you decide to decorate an entire house or garden, or simply want to make a thoughtful hand-made gift, the In A Weekend Series has all the ideas you need.Look inside for a host of creative ideas for making planters and window boxes from scratch, as well as transforming and reviving articles from around the home.

The Sunday Times bestseller, Making It is an inspirational memoir about beating the odds and turning things around even when it all seems hopeless, by Jay Blades, the beloved star of hit BBC One show The Repair Shop. We had our hardships, and there were times that we didn't have a lot of food and didn't have a lot of money. But that didn't stop me having the time of my life. In his book, Jay shares the details of his life, from his childhood growing up sheltered and innocent on a council estate in Hackney, to his adolescence when he was introduced to violent racism at secondary school, to being brutalized by police as a teen, to finally becoming the presenter of the hit primetime show The Repair Shop. Jay reflects on strength, weakness and what it means to be a man. He questions the boundaries society places on male vulnerability and how letting himself be nurtured helped him flourish into the person he is today. An expert at giving a second life to cherished items, Jay's positivity, pragmatism and kindness shine through these pages and show that with care and love, anything can be mended.