This Saturday, grab your hammer and get ready to tackle all those projects you've left unfinished. Or pull up a chair first and get inspired by these books:
"If I Had a Hammer: More Than 100 Easy Fixes and Weekend Projects" by Andrea Ridout (Collins; $17.95; paperback) offers step-by-step instructions paired with black-and-white illustrations for common household projects that take less than a weekend.
The techniques in the book are comprehensive, easy to follow and cover removing stains, updating old appliances with faux stainless steel, adding wallpaper cutouts to your bathroom, repairing leaky toilets and renovating a kitchen with new cabinet hardware.
Projects for your outdoor spaces also are included.
Balancing work and life is that much harder when you work where you live and live where you work.
"Live/Work: Working at Home, Living at Work" by Deborah K. Dietsch with foreword by Sarah Susanka (Abrams, $35; paperback) has innovative ideas for those struggling with this arrangement.
Featuring 30 home offices from huge to small, in garages or back yards, permanent or temporary, the guide offers solutions for the classical and ultramodern homeowner. A "lessons learned" section for each space offers advice on researching zoning regulations, creating grand or private entrances to the new area, and mixing styles and materials to make the most of your space. Color photos complement the text.
Have some home repair to do? Don't go for your tool box just yet. Grab the peanut butter or the Kool-Aid instead.
