No comments about Paint Handbook.

4 comments about 100 Things You Don't Need a Man For.

1. I was a bit skeptical at first, but this book made everything look doable. I've been renovating my kitchen without spending any money on outside help. I highly recommend it!



2. Great book! Helped me renovate my apartment without spending any money on outside help. I highly recommend it!



3. We just looked at this book. We were researching DIY books and were excited about the topic, but the content makes women look like idiots. The references are sexist and completely out of date. Women deserve to be treated with more intelligence



4. This book has fun pictures. The style is retro and very tongue in cheek, ala 1950s Good Housekeeping. This book proves that women can do home improvement. It takes the intimidation out of DIY for women with its wonderful layout and attractive presentation. The project instructions are very clear and easy to follow. It covers many projects including hanging cabinets and laying flooring. This would be a cute wedding shower gift or a house warming gift for a single girlfriend.

2 comments about Hiring Contractors Without Going Through Hell: How to Find, Hire, Supervise, and Pay Professional Help.

1. I have found this book to be very enlightening. I am in the process of hiring a contractor, and this book opened my eyes to several steps that I need to take in order to protect myself and my investment. In particular, I found the sections on writing the contract and setting up the payment schedules to be helpful. There are a couple of improvements that could be made to this book to make it even more helpful. It should include more examples of contracts. The one full contract example the book includes is reduced to unreadable text size in order to save print, which makes it nearly useless as an example.

   Since the book was written pre-Web, it would benefit from being revised to include information on helpful websites. For example, the book provides the addresses and phone numbers of licensing bureaus for each state, but it would be nice to have a website address, too.

   All in all, this is a good starter book and has the potential to save you far more than its cost in troubles and headaches.




2. This book is an easy read and effective resource. The chapters on the contract, financing, and scams are well worth it. Helpful examples of forms in the Appendix (print is a bit small in the paperbook version).
   
   Use this along with What the experts don't tell you about building or renovating your home (may be reissued in 2008 with a new title).

1 comments about The Investigation of Buildings: A Guide for Architects, Engineers, and Owners.

1. This book is very good for Engineers to review the status of different existing buildings.

5 comments about The Savvy Woman's Guide to Owning a Home (The Savvy Woman's Guide).

1. Kitty Werner has done something amazing here: she has taken pretty much everything that anyone needs to know before owning or renting a home, and found an easy way to explain fairly technical concepts to people with no technical knowledge. And she manages not to sound patronizing, even when explaining real basic stuff that most of us take for granted--because she doesn't assume you have prior experience.

   Her advice on practical matters from insurance to chimney cleaning to what to do in an emergency could save the reader thousands of dollars--and save lives.

   The title is really too narrow for this broad and useful book. It's useful to both owners and renters, to both men and women. In fact, it would be the ideal present to buy a graduating college student just going out on his or her own--I sure wish I had such a book when I got my first apartment, and again when I got my first house. Don't let the book's somewhat peculiar layout choices get in the way. This book will benefit anyone who ever has to manage any aspect of finding and maintaining a place to live. Following Kitty's savvy advice will lower your bills, lower your stress level, and improve the quality of your life. I will ask the author if I can excerpt a chapter on my Frugal and Fashionable Living webzine.

   Highly recommended.

   Shel Horowitz is owner of http://www.frugalfun.com. His latest book is Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First. His most relevant book is The Penny-Pinching Hedonist: How to Live Like Royalty with a Peasant's Pocketbook.




2. I am shocked by the good reviews this book is getting. I made this purchase thinking I'd learn how to "care for, improve and maintain" my home. Instead I found a bunch of non-specific reasons why I need to maintain my home and nothing about how to do so. What exactly are these reviewers referring back to? There is no information here that is complete enough to be useful. I am willing to bet that I never need to open this book again.
   
   Anyone who has ever moved already knows most of the helpful hints contained in the first 1/3 of this book. We're talking about simple things like: change your address with the post office; find out how to get from your new house to your office; call the electric company and get the power turned on...
   
   The real content is in middle third of the book. That's the section that's supposed to be about maintaining your home. Here's the gist: Houses have plumbing systems, call a plumber. Houses have electric systems, call an electrician. (Unless you want to change the color of your light switch, apparently as women we're all supposed to get giddy at the thought of light switches in different colors.) The repairs chapter is concentrated on which professionals to call in. Roof trouble requires a roofer... There are a whopping 2 paragraphs about doing repairs yourself. In these paragraphs Ms. Werner recommends purchasing a book about home maintenance!!! The seasonal and yearly checkup chapters are the only redeeming part of the whole book, although they are still lacking. These consist basically of a list of places to check for structural damage.
   
   The final 1/3 of the book contains more generalized information that about emergency planning, picking schools for your kids and canceling your mail when you go on vacation. Again, this is not really relevant to home improvement, and is mostly targeted at people lacking common sense or people who have made long distance moves. This is followed up by a few pages about remodeling. Guess what: you're supposed to call a contractor to do you're remodeling.



3. This book is for people who think BEFORE they act and like Curious George, like to know a little about how things work with out being overwhelmed with technical details. People who buy this book AFTER they move into a home (for rent or sale) will find that they wished they had bought the book BEFORE the move. The author underestimates both the usefulness of her book and the wide audience (my Dad needed this book as well as myself before my first apartment). I think this would be a good read prior to searching for a home as buyers tend to get caught up in the emotions of the buy. This practical book brings you down to earth and makes you focus on basic items like the safety of home.
   
   The index alone functions as a checklist that is worth the purchase price of the book as it lists the basics to consider in an existing home or apartment. Specific details change too rapidly to rely on absolutes, but this book gives you subjects to begin thinking about. I did find myself wishing the author had placed the 6 major categories (Before you Move, Know Your House, Those Inevitable Repairs, Emergencies, Community, & Growing Your Home) in between the 22 chapters in the index, but that is really picky - i.e. I'm someone who seldom gives a 5 star rating, not even to my own work!



4. Finally a book that is practical and not overwhelming to the new homeowner or even an experienced home owner. I wish I had had this book when I first became a homeowner. It is the perfect gift for someone just starting out or even someone who has been a homeowner for a long time. The book is so easy to understand and set up in a way that makes it easy to find what you're looking for. Men could use this book as well. My son thought it was great but thought it should have been titled The Savvy Men and Women's Guide to Owning a Home.



5. This book contains all the basics--the things you need to know if you own a home. It's user-friendly--you don't need to be an experienced do-it-yourselfer. For more details on home repairs and maintenance, you will also want a copy of the book "About the House with Henri de Marne." But the books complement each other well--both should be in every home.

1 comments about Be a Successful Remodeling Contractor.

1. I bought this book looking for info to start a business. It seemed like everything was talked around and not to the issue. Suggestions were made such as "There is software out there to help with this" but no suggestions on what worked best for him. I just didn't get any help from this book. The things he did talk about were mostly common sense issues, then when he did address specific issues, he wasn't specific.

1 comments about The Smart Approach to the Organized Home (Smart Approach).

1. I work in the library and have read hundreds of "get organized" books. This item provided a unique perspective with great ideas. I am donating it to the library so all can enjoy. Highly recommended.

No comments about 136 Best Ways to Save on Your Home Energy.

3 comments about You Too Deserve Beautiful Rooms (Life-Enhancing Interior Design) (Life-Enhancing Interior Design).

1. Perla Lichi is one of the most talented designers I have ever seen. I have used many of the ideas from her two books as I built my own home. The pictures are fantastic and most of what she has done can be reproduced economically.



2. If you have a knack for decorating, and love warm, inviting interiors, then this is a book to add to your collection. It is not a how-to book, as the text is sparse, but the photos make quite a statement on their own.
   
   The showcased homes are elegant, opulent, and well beyond the reach of the average homeowner. However, many ideas could be implemented on a smaller scale, and it does provide the reader with some ways to pull a room together. This book would be particularly helpful to those building or remodeling, or looking for ideas on how to give a room that "wow" factor.
   
   Perla Lichi uses a warm color palette for the decorating in this book. Golds, browns, yellows, and rich woods dominate most rooms. The discussion of numerology was a distraction for me, but I could easily get beyond that and appreciate her incredible design talent. Every time I look through the book, I find more details that I could use in my own decorating. It's definitely a keeper.



3. A great book with beautiful pictures which now is on my coffee table. Very nice!!!

1 comments about Great Kids' Rooms Collection.

1. I am a custom carpenter in Metro Detroit, and also have a couple kids of my own whose rooms I plan to redo, so I wanted an idea book for kids rooms. This book has a lot, and I mean a lot of great photos of kids rooms with a variety of great ideas. I had hoped to find more examples of playrooms, such as in basements, etc., but this book is approximately 95% bedrooms. The other drawback is that the overwhelming number of ideas are for infant and girls rooms. There are only a handfull of boys rooms featured. I was really hoping to find more ideas for my son's room, as well as additional options for my customers with boys. I would still recommend the book, and have drawn some great ideas from the content of this book.