This smart, provocative look at how the American Dream of single-family homes, white picket fences, and two-car garages became a lonely, overpriced nightmare explores how new trends in housing can help us live better. Over the past century, American demographics and social norms have shifted dramatically. More people are living alone, marrying later in life, and having smaller families. At the same time, their lifestyles are changing, whether by choice or by force, to become more virtual, more mobile, and less stable. But despite the ways that today's America is different and more diverse, housing still looks stuck in the 1950s. In Brave New Home, Diana Lind shows why a country full of single-family houses is bad for us and our planet, and details the new efforts underway that better reflect the way we live now, to ensure that the way we live next is both less lonely and more affordable. Lind takes readers into the homes and communities that are seeking alternatives to the American norm, from multi-generational living, in-law suites, and co-living to microapartments, tiny houses, and new rural communities. Drawing on Lind's expertise and the stories of Americans caught in or forging their own paths outside of our cookie-cutter housing trap, Brave New Home offers a diagnosis of the current American housing crisis and a radical re-imagining of future possibilities.

This New York Times bestselling book is filled with hundreds of fun, deceptively simple, budget-friendly ideas for sprucing up your home. With two home renovations under their (tool) belts and millions of hits per month on their blog YoungHouseLove.com, Sherry and John Petersik are home-improvement enthusiasts primed to pass on a slew of projects, tricks, and techniques to do-it-yourselfers of all levels. Packed with 243 tips and ideas—both classic and unexpected—and more than 400 photographs and illustrations, this is a book that readers will return to again and again for the creative projects and easy-to-follow instructions in the relatable voice the Petersiks are known for. Learn to trick out a thrift-store mirror, spice up plain old roller shades, "hack" your Ikea table to create three distinct looks, and so much more.

Property & real estate.

Presents an ordinary day in the life of a colorful family living in a doll's house.

Big Ernie learns to deal with being worried, mad, and a little sad about moving to a new home.

“Shows us why the actions that prepare us for emergencies and energy descent are the right things to do no matter what the future brings.” —Toby Hemenway, author of Gaia’s Garden Other books tell us how to live the good life—but you might have to win the lottery to do it. Making Home is about improving life with the real people around us and the resources we already have. While encouraging us to be more resilient in the face of hard times, author Sharon Astyk also points out the beauty, grace, and elegance that result, because getting the most out of everything we use is a way of transforming our lives into something much more fulfilling. Written from the perspective of a family who has already made this transition, Making Home shows readers how to turn the challenge of living with less into settling for more—more happiness, more security, and more peace of mind. Learn simple but effective strategies to: · Save money on everything from heating and cooling to refrigeration, laundry, water, sanitation, cooking, and cleaning · Create a stronger, more resilient family · Preserve more for future generations We must make fundamental changes to our way of life in the face of ongoing economic crisis and energy depletion. Making Home takes the fear out of this prospect, and invites us to embrace a simpler, more abundant reality. “Americans are born to be transient—Sharon Astyk has the prescription for dealing with that genetic disease, and building a healthy nativeness into our lives.” —Bill McKibben, New York Times–bestselling author “Exhaustively researched and compassionately delivered.” —Harriet Fasenfest, author of A Householder’s Guide to the Universe

Traces the evolution of modern-day traditional-inspired homes from the earliest colonial period, showcasing classic homes designed in such styles as New England Colonial, Pennsylvania Dutch, French Creole, and Spanish Mission, in more than three hundred full-color photographs and drawings.