2 comments about Elegant and Easy Foyers, Halls, and Stairs: 100 Trade Secrets for Designing with Style.

1. This is a great book, especially if you kind of know what type of look you want, but need help going about it. I now love my suburban cookie cutter home 2 level entry, and it's because of this book!! Won't hold your hand, but will help you think of ideas you can really use!



2. I'm sure a lot of the ideas were excellent. Maybe I'm just a visual person, but I think the book would have been better if it included pictures. It was difficult to read the text and really picture how any of the ideas would look.

No comments about Painting, Staining, and Finishing.

1 comments about Toolchest.

1. Toolchest was the first book I read on the art of woodworking. It is still the as fresh and interesting as it was then. Toolchest appears to be simple enough to be placed in the childrens book section. Don't let this fool you. While it does deal only with the basics of woodworking, it reveals what is wonderous about the ancient art. A masterpiece in wood results from just you, a piece of wood, and a few simple tools. Another point worth mentioning is the nice artwork which accompanies the text. It is fine in both detail, and direction, giving the reader a greater appreciation for the subject matter than a photograph could. All in all, this is a witty, truthful, basic and beautiful book.

1 comments about Lou Manfredini's Room Smarts.

1. His books are serious, straight-forward, and offer tons of tid-bits of information, most of which wasn't over my head. Even if you aren't able to do some of the projects you want to, you will understand what is going on and get some money saving tips throughout. I have the entire series and it's well worth it, though I got all mine used, so it was only about $20 and worth it!

No comments about Backyards: A Sunset Design Guide (Sunset Design Guides).

2 comments about Baubles, Dangles, & Beads: Stained Glass Jewelry Book.

1. This is what is wrong with solder jewelry. Gaudy and silly. The book is black and white and illustrations are sketched? Don't bother.



2. Good technique, alittle dated on design. great little book.

2 comments about Structure, Roofing, and the Exterior.

1. With over 500 illustrations, "Structure, Roofing and the Exterior" shows you exactly what the finished job should look like.

   Alan Carson and Robert Dunlop prove in this easy-to-use book that pictures really are worth a thousand words. Through clearly detailed illustrations Carson and Dunlop walk you through your home, showing you just what your repairs and renovations should look like, inside and out. This book is an excellent tool for the new home owner or home inspector, showing you which pitfalls to avoid and what to look for when searching for potential problems in the structure, roof or exteriorof your or your client's home.




2. You're a Home Inspector or simply in search of picture after picture with little other detail other than technical information. If you are looking for advice on how to repair or fix items, DO NOT BUY this or other Carson Dunlop books in this series, or the - The Illustrated Home. Carson Dunlop is a firm out of Canada that does produce good materials for Home Inspectors, but these are not "how to" manuals, nor are these books good for the average home owner.Kind of sad when people write misleading reviews to simply increase sales. On the positive - DO BUY this book if you are simply looking for very detailed technical information.

4 comments about The Complete Guide to Building Your Home for Less (Popular Woodworking).

1. Builder and author Michael Conroy has built many a home for only $43 per square foot: half the national average; and his secrets of construction point the way for similar savings for owner/builders in The Complete Guide To Building Your Home For Less. From choosing economical materials and simplifying floor plans to buying undervalued land and learning how to follow building codes, this book is the item of choice for any who would do some of the work themselves and understand where to trim costs without trimming quality.



2. I will say one thing about Michael Conroy -- he's not a believer in green building unless it's cost-effective, and he's not going to say otherwise. There's no pandering to environmentalists, he is straightforward about who he is and what he's about. If an item or system adds the $$ to his bottom line, he's all for it. That's it, that's the basis of the book. I expected this from the title, but I was still taken aback by the idea that nothing matters except resale value. I guess this is the wrong book for me -- I am looking to remodel for less, but through the use of innovative building materials and smarts gleaned from experts' experiences. Not cost-cutting shortcuts from a braggart interested only in the bottom line at resale time (read his intro).



3. This book is worth the time and money. The delivery time was great.



4. This book is how to build inexpensively and cheaply. He is all about the bottom line, and has no interest in building green, who might live in the house after him (he says as much), health concerns, building a lasting structure, or helping the environment. If you don't care about those things, this is a great book on how to cut most every corner. It is well written and concise. I think in the last two years material costs have probably totally changed his numbers, but a simple percentage add-on will likely cut it. Also, this book seems to mostly apply to suburban and rural building.

No comments about Surviving Global Slavery : Living Under the New World Order.

5 comments about Trade Secrets From Use What You Have (R) Decorating.

1. Ms. Ward once again presents a useful tool for those struggling with such basicdecorating dilemmas as furniture placement, window treatments, light & color, and floor coverings. In her first, invaluable, book she noted the ten most common decorating mistakes and how to solve them. This book recaps much of what was said in her first. The best points in this book are her true-life examples of problem solving. The primary flaw is the lack of photographs or detailed illustrations. Ms. Ward prides herself on giving useful decorating advice, which she does extremely well, as opposed to those coffee table decorating books that require huge outlays of money to achieve anything like the proposed results. Nevertheless, photographs would greatly enhance the text and the reader's understanding of the principles she espouses. Another flaw with the book is the title "Trade Secrets" - it is hardly a trade secret that Hold Everything sells organizers. A better title would be "Tips from Use What You Have Decorating." This book reinforces whot one has learned from the first, and I must say that "Use what you Have Decorating" is one of the best books in this genre.



2. This book consists of lots of tips, think Martha Stewart's "Good Things" but with no pictures. Most of the tips don't need pictures, but some tips definitely could have used them. The tips are all over the map and not necessarily decorating related.
   
   I'm sure I wasn't the only one hoping for more "before and after" room arrangement pictures, but you're not going to get any in this book.
   
   In a way, it suffers from a sense of being old-fashioned, as when she suggests putting a desk behind a sofa, and not facing it against the wall. Well, unless you are willing to spend big bucks to re-wire and re-carpet to hide electrical cords, you are NOT going to put a desk facing the middle of a room any more because of the tripping hazard, since even if you do bundle the cords up, they still have to be plugged into an outlet. What she suggests might work for the "kiddie table" that lots of people have in their living room, but no sofa is going to "hide" your computer, printer, etc. She seems to be oblivious to the idea of the modern home desk with the need to plug in the computer, printer, modem, phone, task light, etc.--the days of the executive desk with nothing on it but perhaps a blotter and pen are LONG gone.
   
   I liked this book, but not in the same way as her first book. I did not really see it as a follow-up to her first book, but really a totally different book. I hope she writes another book that is a true follow-up to her first book, dealing with all the other rooms she left out.



3. While I enjoyed most of the suggestions in this book, I did not enjoy the way it was presented. I felt a little like a new recruit in bootcamp! Yipes! And what to do about my beautiful leather loveseat? Throw it out? I did however rearrange my living room so that my fireplace in the corner AND television nearby are both focal points. HELLO... we are real people with real homes and YES we do occasionally watch television in our real home. Color pictures would be great too. Maybe we have all just been conditioned by glossy magazines companies to expect pretty color pictures with our text. Well, we are the demanding and drooling public and WE WANT PICTURES! I'm glad I borrowed this one from the library and didn't purchase it first!



4. For those of us who are short on time and cash, the ideas in Lauri Ward's Trade Secrets are a life-saver (or rather, a room-saver!). The chapters break things down into sections on how to get a decorator look when displaying accessories, which tricks pros use for making artwork look great, etc.
   No glossy photos here but they are not missed. Instead, there are dozens of smart tips in every chapter that can be implemented immediately without buying stuff. Overall this is quite a useful book that can help answer decorating questions and actually teach us some of the secrets of the trade.
   A very good follow up to Ward's 'Use What You Have Decorating,' which is one of the best decorating books around.



5. The design ideas in the photos of this book are generally poor and not at all in keeping with what one would expect to get from this author. Her use of art is way overdone and totally top heavy and flies in the face of good design.