House & Home

Get the home of tomorrow, today! Absolute Beginner's Guide to Home Automation will help you turn your ordinary home into a high-tech haven. Want to schedule your lights to turn on while you're on vacation? Stuck late at work and want to start the roast you put in the crock pot this morning? You can make it all happen with the help of existing 110V electrical wiring in your home and this step-by-step tutorial. Through simple, do-it-yourself instructions, you will walk through the process of outfitting every room in your home with a network connection that you can control with a few clicks on your computer keyboard. Complete with illustrations and photographs, Absolute Beginner's Guide to Home Automation will have you riding the wave of the future in no time. more...

Price: $17.59

Finding the perfect house is never easy. Rebuilding one from a crumbling pile—to say nothing of making it into a home—is even harder. With their infant son in tow, David Giffels and his wife comb the environs of Akron, Ohio, in search of just the right house for their burgeoning family. Running through David's head the whole time are the lyrics of a Replacements song, ". . . Look me in the eye, then tell me that I'm satisfied," and it gives all the more purpose to their quest. But nothing seems right . . . until they spot a beautiful, decaying Gilded Age mansion. A former rubber industry executive's domain, the once grand residence lacks functional plumbing and electricity, leaks rain like a cartoon shack, and is infested with all manner of wildlife. But for a young man at a coming-of-age crossroads—"suspended between a perpetual youth and an inevitable adulthood"—the challenge is exactly the allure. All the Way Home follows Giffels's funny, poignant, and confounding journey as he and his wife and a colorful collection of helpers turn a money pit into a house that will complete their family. Nothing could prepare them for a home restoration epic that includes evicting squatters (both four- and two-legged), battling an invading wisteria vine, hunting a ghost, and discovering thousands of dollars in hidden Depression-era cash. But the story's heart lies deeper, in an unexpected series of personal hardships that call into question what "home" really means, and what it means to grow up. Written with the humor and insight of Bill Bryson and John Grogan, All the Way Home is the engaging tale of a young father's struggle to restore a house and find his way . . . without losing himself. more...

Price: $11.99

When Joan Caraganis Jakobson's daughter became engaged, she realized there was so much she wanted to tell her before she left. But time was running out. Joan started writing out the hard-earned lessons she had learned over the years. Filled with wonderfully sassy advice, AND ONE MORE THING...gives daughters information they'll really use - like what to do when seated next to a boring person at a dinner party, how to properly arrange flowers, and how to tell a real designer bag from a fake one. As Joan's daughter says, Joan may look like a minivan-driving soccer mom with a twin set and pearls, but this is a woman full of surprises. And so is the book. Joan tells women: "for God's sake talk about politics and sex at dinner parties (what else is more entertaining?)" At the end of the book there are pages for mothers to personalize with their own advice to their daughters. more...

Price: $34.00

The DIY and decorators' complete illustrated handbook on creating ceiling and wall textures and fixing coving. more...

Price: $64.95

Learn how to soothe sunburns, dry-clean your dog, and perform other household miracles with baking soda. Want to relieve your stuffy nose? Make your musty old books smell better? Kill roaches without pesticide? You can do it all with baking soda, and this updated edition of Baking Soda Bonanza shows you how! Cheap, ecologically sound, and more effective than most household cleaners, baking soda can be used to fix all sorts of household problems, from baking the perfect muffins to soothing bee stings to clearing out clogged drains. With a history of baking soda and many popular recipes for baking included, this is a book every household should have. more...

Price: $10.99