A modern twist on a nostalgic favorite Nothing says elegant, genteel living like a well built, well appointed porch or sunroom. The Complete Guide to Porches & Patio Rooms offers design advice and easy-to-follow, concise instructions for adding living spaces that bring the indoors and outdoors together in delightful ways. In addition to offering hundreds of inspirational ideas, the book provides thorough plans and photo directions for six versatile, flexible architectural projects. For the 500,000 homeowners now building sunrooms each year, this book explores the most popular functions and then offers step-by-step instructions to design and build those specific spaces. For example, an open porch can be used for social gatherings, as a sheltered outdoor cooking space, or simply be added simply to improve a home’s curb appeal. A sunroom can serve as a full room addition to a home, complete with protective walls, ceilings, and electrical service; can serve as an indoor garden space for green living plants; or could be put into service as a music conservatory for an elegant grand piano. This book is an indispensable source of information on planning, designing, and building the addition of your dreams, from digging foundations to final decorating.

Build a beautiful custom patio or walkway with the step-by-step, photo-illustrated guidance of BLACK+DECKER The Complete Guide to Patios – 3rd Edition. A patio is the hub and heart of any yard. It’s the hard, flat, well-drained surface where you can comfortably enjoy the sunshine, feel a cool breeze, relax with a cold beverage, or hang around the barbecue with your friends and family. Luckily, patios are relatively easy to design and install yourself, and don’t require a lot of expensive tools and complicated techniques. BLACK+DECKER The Complete Guide to Patios – 3rd Edition guides the way with easy-to-follow instructions to plan and complete virtually any patio or walkway undertaking you can think of. An extensive materials and design section helps you wrap your head around all the upfront planning, and the 30+ patio, walkway, and landscape projects are illustrated with detailed photographs to guide your progress. From flagstone to interlocking pavers or plain gravel, all options are covered, as well as design tips, excavation advice, how to install a subbase, and how to install the most popular surfacing products. You’ll also find a substantial section on earth-friendly patios that make use of recycled materials and keep water runoff to a minimum, conserving resources and removing pressure from our water-treatment facilities. Discover how to create captivating: Patio and edging projects using sandset brick, cobblestone pavers, mortared flagstones, tiled concrete, and more Earth-friendly patios using recycled plastic pavers, recycled rubber chips, composite permeable pavers, subsurface grids, and more Walkways and steps using sandset brick, concrete, flagstones, gravel, timber, and more Patio rooms and amenities such as an under-deck patio, patio enclosure, screened patio room, and patio kitchen Create the perfect patio for your needs with BLACK+DECKER The Complete Guide to Patios – 3rd Edition and you will truly understand how much enjoyment these humble structures have to give.

Building a major addition to your house can take over your life or drain your bank account if you aren’t fully prepared with top-notch information. The Complete Guide to Room Additions is both an insurance policy for dealing with contractors and a planning guide that arms homeowners with vital information about the remodeling process. But it also is much more than that: it’s a hardworking how-to manual filled with hundreds of photos that show you the hammer-and-nail details that go into these major projects. From garage conversions to kitchen bump-pout expansions, dormer additions and more, this book will be an indispensable tool for any project that adds new square footage to your home’s footprint.

Perfect reference tool for anyone considering adding or remodeling a porch, sunroom, or conservatory. More than 290 color photos and 60 color illustrations.

This expanded edition of The Complete Guide: Build Your Kids a Treehouse covers every aspect of treehouse building, from choosing a tree and safety considerations to adding interior furniture and even a zip line. Now featuring two all-new treehouse plans with step-by-step photo-illustrated instruction. For kids, a treehouse is a room that never has to be cleaned, a place for muddy shoes and bug jars and adventures real and imagined; a house that you can paint whenever and however you want, without gaining approval. For adults, it’s a room that never has to be cleaned, a place for muddy shoes and…well, you get the idea. But best of all a treehouse is up in a tree. And that’s just cool. Filled with inspiring photos of finished treehouses and easy-to-follow instructions for building your own, learn with your family treehouse basics—choosing a tree, planning and design, treehouse safety—followed by building techniques for: Platforms designed for various tree configurations Framing and finishing walls and railings Finishing interiors with paneling, shelves, and flip-down tables and bunks Doors, both classic and in fun shapes Windows, including shutters and pop-ups Building and framing roofs Modes of access, including ladders, stairs, trap doors, and a fireman’s pole Playthings, including swings, a zip line, a rock climbing wall, slides, and more You can get started right away by following the complete plans and step-by-step photos for making your choice of two popular treehouse designs: an open-air treehouse and a gable house with entry deck. To give you even more to choose from, you will find fully developed plans for six additional treehouse types that you can adapt to your particular trees and wishes. Build the treehouse you and your kids have always dreamed of with BLACK+DECKER The Complete Guide to Treehouses, 2nd edition.

Profusely illustrated text provides information on the design and construction of outdoor living areas.

Shows techniques, materials, step-by-step directions, safety advice, and hundreds of color illustrations for building decks, porches, and patios.