Home and house maintenance Books

Master the Dovetail...The Iconic, Fundamental Woodworking Joint.The iconic dovetail is the king of woodworking joints; creating a beautiful, tightly fit dovetail corner ranks top among many woodworkers' bucket lists. Get your pins and tails straight with...

How long is an ell? What is the largest size of champagne bottle?How do you measure the heat of a chilli pepper? Why is the depth of water measured in fathoms? And what is a cubit?The Curious History of Weights & Measures tells the story of how we...

Woodworking projects that will transform your outdoor space.Spend more time enjoying your patio, porch, and backyard with more than a dozen projects, including a classic Adirondack, sturdy and stylish tables, comfortable benches, and much more. With...

Vic Tesolin's Projects from the Minimailist Woodworker teaches the basics of furniture making using step-by-step photos detailing the process of building handsome projects any woodworker will be proud to create.A follow-up to Vic's much-lauded first...

Discover how resin can transform your next woodturned project into a work of art...You've probably seen the dazzling work of woodturners who've combined resin with wood to create gorgeous, one-of-a-kind projects ranging from pens and bowls to platters,...

A totally new category of plants - as easy to grow as tomatoes, perfect for gardenersCannabis prohibition is ending around the world, and there's a new bud in town - auto-flowering cannabis. As easy to grow as tomatoes, auto-flowering cannabis is the...

Escapology: Modern Cabins, Cottages and Retreats is a stunning book of modern-day retreats - bucolic weekend escapes by the sea, remote getaways in the woods, and rustic mountain hideouts - to inspire peaceful and quiet living. The authors...

Turn your photo chaos into precious memories to be enjoyed and shared!Now more than ever, we hold our photo collections dear. They are often some of our most prized possessions. Wouldn't it be great to finally have all your photos organized, safe,...

Create colourful masterpieces with the official guide to using Unicorn SPiT!Unicorn SPiT is a paint, gel stain, and glaze concentrate all in one bottle! It creates a multifaceted, 3-dimensional effect on wood, glass, metal, fabric, pottery, wicker,...

Grow your own vegetables and herbs, indoors in containers or outside in a garden. Raise chickens or goats. Build a beehive. Make your own nontoxic cleaning sprays. And more!Gehring's books on country living have sold more than 500,000 copies. In this...

Make sanitisers, soaps, and all your personal hygiene needs to kill germs and keep you virus-free! These days, dangerous viruses can suddenly become rampant, and bacteria can adapt to become antibiotic-resistant, so we must be extra-vigilant...

Full of sweet illustrations and gorgeous photographs, step-by-step instructions for essential skills such as building a chicken coop are interspersed with country lore and old-fashioned tips and tricks. Good Living Guide to...

Sondra Lender is a Professional Organizer and also a mom of two young boys. She has worked with hundreds of clients since 2010, organizing everything from homes to businesses. She knows firsthand about the daily challenge of keeping a family home in...

Learn to attract and feed a variety of woodpeckers with this pocket-sized guide.The splash of red on black and white-few backyard guests are more exciting to behold than the Downy Woodpecker. And what can capture a bird-watcher's attention like a...

Learn to attract and feed a variety of orioles with this pocket-sized guide.The flaming orange of the male Baltimore Oriole is always splendid to see. And the oriole's familiar series of whistle songs pleasantly reminds us that spring has arrived. You...

Learn to attract and feed a variety of hummingbirds with this pocket-sized guide.The glittering throat patch of the male Ruby-throated Hummingbird is a worthy adornment for this princely bird. And what else can captivate a bird watcher as much as a...

Learn to attract and feed a variety finches with this pocket-sized guide. The bold yellow color of the male American Goldfinch is a welcome sight in any summer garden. And the pleasing songs and high-pitched calls of all the finches truly bring your yard...

Learn to attract and feed cardinals with this pocket-sized guide.The vibrant red of the male Northern Cardinal is stunning any time of year-and nothing is more beautiful than the early spring duets of cardinals singing their hearts out. You love these...

Learn to attract and feed Eastern, Western, and Mountain Bluebirds with this pocket-sized guide.The Eastern Bluebird's blend of sky blue and rusty orange is a happy sprinkle of color in any backyard or garden. Easily tamed and full of personality,...

Helpful tips, space-saving tricks and DIY projects for making a shoebox apartment beautifully functional. This handy pocket guide enables readers to transform a tiny apartment into a welcoming, delightful and adorable abode...

Grow twice the fruits and vegetables in half the space on the farm, in the backyard, or in your window! The Ultimate Guide to Soil begins with a personality test for your soil, then uses that information to plan a course of action for...

Prepare your child for the unpredictable through 52 prepper projects. Teach them basic outdoors survival skills, first aid, how to create their own "bug-out bag," and more.

A field-tested guide to surviving a nuclear attack, written by a revered civil defense expert.This edition of Cresson H. Kearny's iconic Nuclear War Survival Skills (originally published in 1979), updated by Kearny himself in 1987 and again in 2001,...

Based on House Beautiful's popular color column, this pocket-sized handbook shows how a simple coat of paint can set the mood and add a designer's touch in any room.  This gorgeous primer showcases more than 450 colors...

Bringing together the collective wisdom of a past generation of craftsmen, Traditional Toolmaking provides an in-depth record of the skills and techniques that made the mass production revolution of the twentieth century possible. When first published in...

In daily life, we can take control of the resources and services we depend on. Electricity and energy don't have to come off the public utility grid-alternatives abound in solar, wind, and water generated power. Design decisions can drastically affect...

The traditional American devices contained in this intriguing compilation date from an era long before milking machines, pesticide sprayers, and industrial hay bailers. Yet the simple inventions described for doing everything from managing young bulls to...

Every woodworker will want to own this colorful, information-packed, mammoth resource for weekend crafting. It's filled with 150 classic projects, and features an introductory section that walks readers through the various planning stages. It's all...

"Eve's brave and honest experiment reveals the shocking impact of the throwaway society we've become and at the same time showing small ways we can all do better." -Rebecca Prince-Ruiz, founder of Plastic Free JulyYear of No Garbage is Super Size Me...

Most people use nail polish remover to remove nail polish. They use coffee grounds to make coffee and hair dryers to dry their hair. The majority of people may also think that the use of eggs, lemons, mustard, butter, and mayonnaise should be restricted...

Simple, practical, and inspiring tips for cooking, baking, and cleaning!The kitchen isthe 'hub' of any house. With this compilation of helpful hints, you can keep it running smoothly.Find hacks for the care of kitchen appliances,...

Over 1,000 Tips for Gardening, Country Cooking, Saving Money, DIY Cleaning Solutions, Home Remedies, and More!This comprehensive collection of practical tips covers all aspects of keeping a country home, from painting a wall to removing wine stains,...

Get started with simple, useful, handcrafted woodworking projects for everyday people - with only 12 basic tools!Lots of people want to try woodwork, but they get intimidated by dangerous power tools and difficult techniques. Good news: there are lots of...

Rental Style, which doubles as a decor piece and handy design guide, shows readers how to decorate and organise small, rented spaces on a budget. The book will cover all home development stages from searching for a rental home to decorating and...

Everything You Need to Know about Natural Parasite Control for Livestock, All in One Place! This concise book is loaded with valuable information about ridding livestock of their unwanted guests. Whether you're raising sheep, pigs, horses, cows,...

With an experienced CIA officer as your teacher, you'll gain the knowledge and necessary tools to protect yourself and the ones you love.No matter where we go, we leave tracks and clues of our existence without even knowing. Our electronic footprint...

A foolproof guide both to lying and to detecting deception,Lying and Lie Detection: A CIA Insider's Guide will teach you how the pros can tell if and when somebody is lying. People lie all the time. Studies show that the average American lies between six...

Build Fences, Make Goat Milk Soap, Create Goat Play Structures, and Much More!Get ready to jump into the world of goats, one DIY project at a time. Owning and raising goats doesn't have to be an expensive venture. With imagination, simple tools, and...

A practical and beautiful guide to companion planting for organic gardening successCompanion planting techniques have been used for centuries to facilitate better, more nutritious, and more abundant crops. With Companion Planting, you'll have all the...

Learn the logistics of choosing windows, insulation, appliances, and lighting. Find out about FSC certified wood and about using reclaimed materials. Here is everything you need to make your home sustainable.Whether the reader is building a new home or...

Easy and Effective Strategies to Jumpstart a Sustainable, Waste-Free LifestyleWe have a worldwide trash epidemic. The average American disposes of 4.4 pounds of garbage per day, and our landfills hold 254 million tons of waste.What if there were a...

Welcome to the world of produce preservation. In Can It & Ferment It, blogger and preservation enthusiast Stephanie Thurow brings the canning and fermenting communities together by offering recipes that work for both canning and fermenting. From a...

Homesteading From Scratch is for people who want to do things differently-the type of people who want to eat real food, grow herbs, make cheese, raise baby animals, hunt mushrooms, pick blackberries, unschool their children, can jelly, ferment kraut,...

Timber! Learn how to wield a chainsaw safely-and other lumberjacking skills.While the lumberjack look may be trending among the fashion-forward crowd, lumberjacking is a useful real-world skill. An amateur with a chainsaw or an ax is dangerous to both...

A stylish and inspiring guide for living a happier life in balance with the natural world.Minimal: For Simple and Sustainable Living offers readers inspiration and tools to embrace simple living and create meaningful, lasting change in their lives. From...

Henry David Thoreau built his small cabin on Walden Pond in 1845 and, for two years, lived there as simply as possible, eliminating the unnecessary material and spiritual details that intrude upon human happiness. Thoreau described his experiences in...

Lloyd, the former shelter editor of the Whole Earth Catalog, has published seven books on owner building, showcasing hundreds of builders, and this is his first book on his own work.Starting with a vacant half-acre piece of land, they built their own...

The Barefoot Architect is a book dedicated to helping economically-challenged tropical builders learn how to provide shelter, clean water, electrical energy, and sanitation by using indigenous,...