Allotments are places to grow food – but they are so much more than that. They are also places that encourage spontaneity, exploration, learning, sharing, restful activity and camaraderie. This book is a celebration of the allotment hut and the wonderful invention and resourcefulness that makes each one unique. The original illustrations offer inspiration for how to create your own, very special shed. This is the ideal gift book for allotment folk, gardeners or those curious about the quirkier side of life.

This small book on small dwellings explores some of the largest questions that can be posed about architecture. What begins where architecture ends? What was before architecture? The ostensible subject of Ann Cline's inquiry is the primitive hut, a one-room structure built of common or rustic materials. Does the proliferation of these structures in recent times represent escapist architectural fantasy, or deeper cultural impulses? As she addresses this question, Cline gracefully weaves together two stories: one of primitive huts in times of cultural transition, and the other of diminutive structures in our own time of architectural transition. From these narrative strands emerges a deeper inquiry: what are the limits of architecture? What ghosts inhabit its edges? What does it mean to dwell outside it? Cline's project began twenty-five years ago, when she set out to translate the Japanese tea ritual into an American idiom. First researching the traditional tea practices of Japan, then building and designing huts in the United States, she attempted to make the "translation" from one culture to another through the use of common American building materials and technology. But her investigation eventually led her to look at many nonarchitectural ideas and sources, for the hut exists both at the beginning of and at the farthest edge of architecture, in the margins between what architecture is and what it is not. In the resulting narrative, she blends autobiography, historical research, and cultural criticism to consider the place that such structures as shacks, teahouses, follies, casitas, and diners--simple, "undesigned" places valued for their timelessness and authenticity--occupy from both a historical and contemporary perspective. This book is an original and imaginative attempt to rethink architecture by studying its boundary conditions and formative structures.

“A glorious piece of prose . . . Pollan leads readers on his adventure with humor and grace.” —Chicago Tribune A captivating personal inquiry into the art of architecture, the craft of building, and the meaning of modern work “A room of one’s own: Is there anybody who hasn’t at one time or another wished for such a place, hasn’t turned those soft words over until they’d assumed a habitable shape?” When Michael Pollan decided to plant a garden, the result was the acclaimed bestseller Second Nature. In A Place of My Own, he turns his sharp insight to the craft of building, as he recounts the process of designing and constructing a small one-room structure on his rural Connecticut property—a place in which he hoped to read, write, and daydream, built with his own two unhandy hands. Michael Pollan's unmatched ability to draw lines of connection between our everyday experiences—whether eating, gardening, or building—and the natural world has been the basis for the popular success of his many works of nonfiction, including the genre-defining bestsellers The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. With this updated edition of his earlier book A Place of My Own, readers can revisit the inspired, intelligent, and often hilarious story of Pollan's realization of a room of his own—a small, wooden hut, his "shelter for daydreams"—built with his admittedly unhandy hands. Inspired by both Thoreau and Mr. Blandings, A Place of My Own not only works to convey the history and meaning of all human building, it also marks the connections between our bodies, our minds, and the natural world.

"A Little House of My Own" offers humble dreams of solitude, romance, oasis for meditation, and whimsy, all less than 325 square feet. Includes the technical details of the structure from the building materials and woodworking techniques to estimated cost of construction. 300 color and b&w photos.

From weekend homes to get-away cabins, this architecture embodies our longing for relaxing in nature.

"She Sheds provides inspiration, tips, and tricks to help create the hideaway of your dreams"--

An unexpected architectural phenomenon-something like a halved tin can turned on its side-swept across the American landscape after World War II: the Quonset hut. Originally designed during the war for use as makeshift housing for soldiers and their families around the world, the seemingly ubiquitous Quonset hut housed a rapidly expanding nation in the 1940s and 1950s both at work and at play. From recording studios-a Quonset was responsible for the birth of the "Nashville sound"--To the 1948 congressional campaign headquarters of Gerald Ford, to an endless variety of incarnations including bars, movie theaters, classrooms, supermarkets, restaurants, and houses of worship, the Quonset hut was the shape of a nation in need of affordable, easy-to-build shelter. Quonset Hut: Metal Living for a Modern Age is a fascinating look at a surprising architectural sensation and offers a refreshing, revealing, and untold story of a true American icon.

From the bestselling author of The Small House Book, comes a collection of designs for tiny homes with “instant curb appeal.” (The New York Times) From internationally recognized small living expert Jay Shafer, who has been featured on CNN, Oprah, Fine Homebuilding, and This Old House, a revised edition of his bestselling book, Tumbleweed DIY Book of Backyard Sheds and Tiny Houses. Ranging in size from 100 to 120 square feet, these tiny backyard buildings can be used as guest cottages, art or writing studios, home offices, craft workshops, vacation retreats, or full-time residences. This book is filled with photos, elevation drawings, and door/window schedules for constructing six of the handsome little buildings, plus an extensive how-to set of instructions that can be applied to any backyard building project. This revised edition contains many new photos of buildings designed by Jay Shafer. Praise for Jay Shafer and Tumbleweed Tiny Houses: "... guru of the small house movement." —John Blackstone, CBS "Move-in ready gems." —Better Homes and Gardens “Astounding." —Oprah Winfrey "A visionary designer ..." —Domino Magazine "100 square feet of bliss." —Thelma Guiterrez, CNN

A classic bestselling resource for every household, Home Comforts helps you manage everyday chores, find creative solutions to domestic dilemmas, and enhance the experience of life at home. “Home Comforts is to the house what Joy of Cooking is to food.” —USA TODAY Home Comforts is an engaging and comprehensive book about housekeeping. It is a lively and readable guide for both beginners and experts in all the domestic arts. From keeping surfaces free of germs, watering plants, removing stains, folding a fitted sheet, cleaning china, tuning a piano, lighting a fire, setting the dining room table—this guide covers everything that people might want to do for themselves in their homes. Further topics include: making up a bed with hospital corners, expert recommendations for safe food storage, reading care labels (and sometimes carefully disregarding them), keeping your home free of dust mites and other allergens, this is a practical, good-humored, philosophical guidebook to the art and science of household management.

Architectural structure & design.