I love watching home improvement and real estate shows on television and Netflix. I get inspired by projects, and excited to try some on my own. Sometimes though, I need more detailed instructions on how to bring ideas to life. I have found some great DIY books at my local library and bookstore to help me (digital are great, but sometimes I need a physical book to look at during the process). I am excited to share with you some books that would make great gift ideas for the DIY fan in your life.
Before looking at 5-Gallon Bucket Book: DIY Projects, Hacks, and Upcycles, I had no idea there were so many creative and inventive things you could do with a 5 gallon bucket. We’ve used them here and there for various projects, but after browsing this book, I’m inspired to try a few new things.
If your readers are into upcycling and cool projects we’ve got a very unique book, the 5-GALLON BUCKET BOOK: DIY Projects, Hacks, and Upcycles. The book includes 60+ DIY projects for homeowners, gardeners, tinkerers, and more.
The ubiquitous five-gallon bucket can do more than carry things! It can also be hacked, hot-rodded, reengineered, and upcycled to create dozens of useful DIY projects for homeowners, gardeners, and hobbyists. Each project has simple step-by-step instructions, as well as parts lists and images of the completed projects. The wealth of projects collected in this book includes inventions that range from useful to just plain fun, and from as simple as it gets to fairly involved. These can serve apartment dwellers (Small-Room Air Conditioner, page 12); homeowners (Cyclone Dust Collector, page 34) and their children (Air Cannon, page 94); small farmers (Chicken Feeder, page 72); hobbyists (Post-Mounted Birdhouse, page 137); and even back-to-the-land homesteaders and survivalists (Camping and Composting Toilet, page 48). The odds are good you’ll find something to make that’s fun and handy!
This DIY Cable and Cord Organizer Project is at the top of my list. We have a ridiculous quantity of cords in our basement. Most of these have made multiple cross country moves with us. As technology gets updated or replaced, the cords were tossed into a box, which multiplied. At some point, someone put them into trash bags, but the man in the house refused to let them get tossed. I tried to separate them, wrap them around, and zip tie them, in an attempt at organization. A few bags of zip ties later, and the pile is still not even 25% done. I’d like to do this to help get them sorted and organized so we can figure out what to keep and what to toss, and then keep them all organized in the future 🙂
My grandfather, cousin, and several friends all raise chickens, legally, within their respective towns, in their backyards. They LOVE getting fresh eggs each day, and the lessons the kids learn about how to care for and raise animals. I’d love to live in an area where we were able to do this, or have a friend with a farm we could visit, so the kids could learn about raising animals. There are a lot of important life lessons, in doing so. If you know someone who lives on a farm, raises animals, wants to raise animals, or just wants to teach their kids about raising animals, Barnyard Kids: A Family Guide for Raising Animals would be a great resource for them.
This is an example of one of the pages in this book. For those considering raising chickens, there are many questions that must be answered ahead of time. Some you may be aware of, others you might not know to ask, if this is your first foray into the experience. I have been fascinated with the information I’ve learned from browsing this book.
No doubt many of your readers are raising farm animals – or are thinking of taking that leap – and for those with kids, the new Barnyard Kids – A Family Guide for Raising Animals, by Dina Rudick will make the perfect gift.
Parents and young kids now have a go-to resource to get started on raising chickens, pigs, sheep, goats, cows, horses, and rabbits. Written so parents and kids can read the book together, it’s filled with essential information, from choosing the right ones animals, to the work, time, and space that’s needed. Each chapter on each animal has four sections. “What Makes Them Tick” discusses food and water needs, hygiene, instincts and the animals’ social needs. “What Makes Them Sick” includes signs and causes of illness, medical supplies and vaccination info. “Where Do They Live” covers housing the animals. “What Can They Give” covers just that – from the various by products each animal gives – from food to milk to the usefulness of excrement.
Kids have helped take care of animals for generations, learning responsibility and self-reliance in the process. Barnyard Kids gives kids and parents the tools to dream about and plan for raising farm animals, empowering anyone who reads it to imagine a life with farm animals and make it real.
I saved the Home Planner & Logbook for last, because honestly I think I could do an entire SERIES on this book. I have recommended this book to numerous people in person, for a variety of reasons. If you are a homeowner, this book is an invaluable resource. Before I get into why I like this book so much, let me suggest it as a gift idea for everyone, specifically those who are first time homebuyers. It would also be a great item for real estate agents to gift to homeowners when they are closing on their home. We had some amazing agents when we bought our home in Oklahoma many years ago. They gave us a business card holder that we still use, each holiday they’d send a themed dish towel, and every other month they’d send a scented car air freshener. With each gift, they’d include a few business cards, and we passed them out to everyone we knew who was looking to buy or sell, and they have had great success with their business. {If you live in the OKC area and are thinking of moving, email me, I still highly recommend them!}.
Back to the book. It took me forever to narrow down the sections I wanted to highlight for you, because they are all so helpful. I narrowed it down to these 6, based on experiences we had as new homeowners, that we didn’t know to look out for.
- Home & Neighborhood Details: It is SO helpful to know all of the information about the property you own – it’s a BIG purchase! Knowing the zoning, dates of construction, {construction log with contractor information} previous owners, square footage, and lot line information will likely come in handy at some point in time. It would’ve been such a stress reliever to have it all handy. There is also a place to record insurance information, real estate agent and mortgage information, and numbers to all emergency municipal agencies.
- Your Water Heater: We had a hot water heater go out on us, and it was a painful experience. This guide goes over the different types of water heaters available, and the differences between them. We had a gas, conventional tank. {The guide includes safety information too!}. We quickly learned that we needed a plumber to come safely remove ours, and install the new one. It turned out to be such a lucky thing for us, because our gas line was hooked up incorrectly, and had not been inspected! The way it was set up was a fire hazard, and proof of a fire that had happened at some point in the past. We were so lucky that it didn’t burn the house down! The old water heater came with the house, and it appeared that the previous owner just rigged it to work. It was definitely a lesson we won’t forget!
- Collecting Critical Documents: This section offers a checklist of important documents that you need to keep in a safe and secure location, preferably a fire-proof safe {consider storing this book inside too!}. If something happens, you don’t want to panic or be frantically searching for documents that are hard to replace, but needed immediately.
- Garbage Disposal and Dishwasher: The guide goes over what information is important to know and look for in each of these. It also has rules for each highlighted, as well as safety information. This was another lesson we learned the hard way. Again, the previous owner had rigged up the installation, and did it improperly, which caused us to have a flood, that took months to deal with.
- Home Inventory: Remember that flood I mentioned? We had to throw things out immediately before they mildewed, and try to quickly photograph them for insurance replacement coverage. It was a nightmare. We’ve had 2 friends deal with burned homes, and they had to do this by memory. Taking an inventory with pictures, and documenting important information about each item, including cost, is often necessary to have the insurance replace them.
- Pockets: At the very back of the book, there are pockets where you can store receipts for important items, documents, or even a CD/Thumb Drive of pictures you’ve taken.
When was the last time you changed your furnace filter? What was the exact shade of the paint you used in the guest bedroom? Is your oven still under warranty?
Every homeowner should know the answer to these questions, and many more, but keeping up with every little thing can be a challenge. It helps if you have a system! That’s where the Black & Decker Home Planner & Logbook comes in. This book tells you what you need to know, how to get the information, and gives you lots of room to keep records about everything you do to your home, including:
- House History
- Financial Information and Warranties
- Scheduled Maintenance Log
- Appliances
- Heating & Cooling
- Repair Projects
- Decorative Log including Paint & Floor Coverings
- Outdoor Areas & Home Exterior
Why not just use a blank notebook? Because the Black & Decker Home Planner & Logbook is full of photos, illustrations, and tips to help you decode every system in your house, such as how to read a water meter or estimate the shelf life of paint.
The book is organized in four segments. The first three, “Understanding Your Home”, “Your Home’s Systems”, and “Your Appliances” gives a tour of the various components and systems of a home that need ongoing vigilance, inspection and maintenance. These are organized with intuitive logic, starting from the roof, moving down to the foundations and landscape, then moving indoors to examine the structural and surface elements, like walls and floors, and examining the appliances and other add-ons. The fourth section, “Home Logbook” is the journal itself, where the homeowner can document everything that has been done to the home, or who to call when your home needs attention.
Two large pockets attached to the back cover help you securely store receipts, warranties, manuals, and other documents, so you won’t have to scramble to find your plumber’s phone number during an emergency! Whether you’re an avid-do-it-yourselfer or a novice to the complexities of owning a home, the Black & Decker Home Planner & Logbook is the all-in-one repository for keeping track of everything that’s done to your home
Jayne says
I live in an apartment so I don’t have to deal with home DIY stuff. It’s definitely not my strength.
Wanda Bergman says
I love doing and making new things, so I would love to read these books.
MPaula says
The Home Planner is a great idea! Having all that information in one place could prevent lots of headaches.