Title: BLACK & DECKER READYMADE HOME FURNITURE
Subtitle: EASY BUILDING PROJECTS MADE FROM OFF-THE-SHELF ITEMS
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Author: CHRIS PETERSON
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Genre: NON-FICTION, CRAFTS & HOBBIES, HOME & GARDEN
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Length: 146 PAGES
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Publisher: QUARTO PUBLISHING GROUP – COOL SPRING PRESS
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Received From: NETGALLEY
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Release Date: DECEMBER 25, 2018
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ISBN: 978-0-7603-6162-7
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Price: $21.99 USD / $28.99 CDN (worth every penny)
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Rating: 5 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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DESCRIPTION:
You might not think it, but home stores carry all the furniture you’d find in a show room; it’s just not assembled yet. Black & Decker Readymade Home Furniture shows you how.
You can find just about any furnishing imaginable in the aisles of the home goods store—coffee tables, wine racks, chandeliers—with just a little assembly (and creativity) required. In Black & Decker Readymade Home Furniture, you will learn how to re-imagine the big-box building center as a source for stylish, customized home furnishings that are i nexpensive and easy to make yourself.
Metal connectors, pipes and ductwork, rope, sheet goods, glass, and all varieties of hardware are just a few of the ingredients you can shop for to turn yourself into a furniture maker— without the need to buy a lot of woodworking tools and learn complicated joinery.
Inside this book, you will find a wealth of insightful information on how to convert everyday building materials into fine furnishings, along with 24 projects, complete with instructions to get you started. Unique and custom styles and colors, durability (select the quality materials you want), low cost, and a sense of satisfaction are just a few of the benefits you will experience by doing your furniture shopping at your home center or hardware store.
MY REVIEW:
“Why are home craftsmen and craftswomen, and even the least experienced DIYer among us, drawn to the local hardware store as if in a trance? … What is that allure? Just what is it about hardware stores? The answer can be summed up into one word: possibilities.”
“…This book is about all the bits and pieces that can be put together in new and ingenious ways to create home furnishings and accents that are at once useful, fun, unique and economical.”
The book begins with a “Hardware Primer” which I found particularly helpful. There are photographs of the various types of screws and even a chart for adhesives – providing a quick go-to guide for which type of adhesion should be used in any given scenario and what the drawbacks are for each. There is even a shopping guide for what to look for when purchasing a studfinder (which, I believe every household should own.) In addition to those points I have listed, the guide provides much more necessary information and is good for beginners to learn and are good reminders even for the most skilled home craftsman.
The book is divided into sections. After the Hardware Primer is “Creative Reinventions” which contains fifteen projects, all with brilliant full color photographs of the finished product as well as several photos of each project taken as it is being built. These photographic illustrations are a wonderful addition to the book. They allow the reader to gauge how their work measures up to the book at multiple steps during the build process.
I will not list all the projects in the book, but I will name a few that I want to try to build. There is the rustic-chic Trim-and-Rope Mat that can be used anywhere in the home, including the front door, or the bathroom, or even in the bedroom or on the back deck.
The “Copper Pipe Pot Rack” is next on my husband’s ‘Honey-Do-List’ and I am excited to have it installed in my kitchen. This item could cost upwards of $1500 to buy already built, but will cost less than $100 to do-it-yourself.
The “Chunky Club Chair” is a project I would love to have multiples of. My ‘Honey-Do-List’ seems to be getting longer as I go through this book and discover more amazing projects.
The “Aluminum Sheet Lamp” reminds me of lamps seen in high-end lighting store. I found similar lamps selling online for $300 and up.
The “Living Wall” will turn your backyard, patio or deck into a work of art and depending on what you plant in it, it could also be a source of fresh herbs or vegetables all summer long. This is one project I plan to start in March and to keep it inside with each ‘pot’ planted with vegetable seeds and once summer comes I will move it outside to its rightful place.
Believe it or not, all the projects listed above are from only Section One of this amazing Do-it-yourself book.
The second section is titled: “Built-ins from Stock Cabinetry” and contains eight stunningly beautiful projects that can be completed in a single weekend.
The “Media Bar” from this section looks like something you would see in the “After” shot of a professional television renovation show. It is also being added to my ‘Honey-Do-List.” Wow! My husband is going to be a very busy guy, and my home will look phenomenal when these projects are completed.
I rate BLACK & DECKER READYMADE HOME FURNITURE: EASY BUILDING PROJECTS MADE FROM OFF-THE-SHELF ITEMS as 5+ OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I will come back to this post and add photographs of each project we do, as they are completed.
I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to save money by building projects themselves and who are interested in upping the resale value of their home. These small projects will make a big impact on your home decor and I am very excited about getting started.
**Thank you to #NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book.**
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Chris Peterson is a veteran home improvement and design author.
Among the many books he has written are 5-Gallon Bucket Book, Building with Secondhand Stuff, Manskills, four books in the Ideas You Can Use series, and many books in Cool Springs Press’s BLACK+DECKER Complete Guide series.
He has also co-authored numerous home design books with noted media celebrities.
He lives in Ashland, Oregon.
To learn more about this author, visit the following links:
AMAZON
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CHAPTERS
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ABOUT THE PUBLISHER:
Cool Springs Press is the leading publisher of step-by-step how-to books for both DIY gardening and home improvement. Their state and local gardening books are tailored to specific regional environments across the United States, while the renowned series of foolproof home improvement books have long been trusted on both the bookshelf and the job site.
To find out more about this Publisher visit the following links:
TWITTER
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FACEBOOK
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YOUTUBE
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