How many of us dream of the perfect home, beautifully tailored to our own living requirements and style? And how many more of us dream of creating that home in some spectacular spot overseas? Grand Designs, one of Channel Four's most successful series ever has now moved abroad to combine home-building dreams with the desire to forge a new life abroad. This accompanying book is packed with real advice and inspiration for both real and armchair builders. Kevin McCloud covers the requirements for locating and buying land and property, and securing building permission, in the countries targeted by most British buyers - Spain, France, Italy and Irelnad - including plenty of pointers on the common pitfalls. Both complete self-builds and renovations are covered, with advice on building abroad as well as what to do when things - as they so often do - go wrong.
Sarah Susanka contends that people are naturally drawn to intimate spaces. Large structures inspired by outdated patterns tend to result in houses that just don’t work. In The Not So Big House, she proposes clear guidelines for creating homes that serve spiritual needs as well as material requirements. Topics covered include designing for specific lifestyles, budgeting, building a home from scratch, and using energy-efficient construction. With more than 200 color photographs as well as floor plans, the book is perfect for homeowners ready to rethink their space. “Susanka says to evaluate what makes you feel at home and let your activities define your rooms.” — San Francisco Chronicle
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1001 All-Time Best-Selling Home Plans has it all! The very best from 26 of the worlds finest designers, together in a single volume for the first time ever! The roster of the designers reads like a Whos Who of the best residential designers in the World. With such design depth, 1001 All-Time Best-Selling Home Plans fully explores every important exterior and regional style possible.
This book takes the mystery out of small-scale construction. Projects are offered with complete plans and instructions.
Anyone who thinks the garage is simply a place to park the car will never think that way again after a look at this book. Garage takes a look at the last, undiscovered frontier of home design... the most versatile room not in the house. The book explores many uses for this ubiquitous space--from studio, library, and museum, to soundstage, playroom, and greenhouse. Garage takes this space seriously, after all. This book includes more than 200 color photographs of over 50 garages, shows how to create a garage "room" that meets one's needs for efficiency and style, and provides options for using existing space and floor plans for new structures.
(1)Over 70 percent of Americans cannot afford to own a code-enforced, contractor-built home. This has led to widespread interest in using natural materials-straw, cob, and earth-for building homes and other buildings that are inexpensive, and that rely largely on labor rather than expensive and often environmentally-damaging outsourced materials.
Earthbag Building is the first comprehensive guide to all the tools, tricks, and techniques for building with bags filled with earth-or earthbags. Having been introduced to sandbag construction by the renowned Nader Khalili in 1993, the authors developed this "Flexible Form Rammed Earth Technique" over the last decade. A reliable method for constructing homes, outbuildings, garden walls and much more, this enduring, tree-free architecture can also be used to create arched and domed structures of great beauty-in any region, and at home, in developing countries, or in emergency relief work.This profusely illustrated guide first discusses the many merits of earthbag construction, and then leads the reader through the key elements of an earthbag building:
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