The Bottom Line
Pros
- Detailed illustrations bring these "creative landscapes" alive.
Cons
- This book currently unavailable through PriceGrabber.
- "The Complete Guide to Creative Landscapes" could profit from having a glossary.
Description
- "The Complete Guide to Creative Landscapes" tells you how to work with bricks.
- Discover how to work with faux rocks, or "hypertufa."
- Learn about factors -- such as soil types -- that can make or break a landscape design plan.
Guide Review - Black & Decker's "The Complete Guide to Creative Landscapes"
Part I, "Designing Your Outdoor Home," instructs you in drawing your own landscape plans. Put your thinking caps on for these chapters! The approach is very detailed, the goal being to show do-it-yourselfers how the pros do it. You'll find out how to measure a property, and how to set those measurements down on paper, establishing a scale of your choice. Of course, there's more to designing a landscape than just measuring and drawing. You'll also learn how a landscape designer dissects a property to estimate its potential and its pitfalls.
Part II, "Building Your Outdoor Home," is predictably populated by chapters such as "Building Basics." Find out more about the components of those outdoor "rooms," such as the arbors that serve as the "ceiling." There's also information on irrigation systems and outdoor lighting.
Part III, concludes the book, with a look at "Decorating Your Outdoor Home." For instance, there are chapters on installing water features and building copper trellises. There are even supplemental chapters that show you how to cut and solder copper for that trellis project.
This Black & Decker book is far-ranging and detailed, yet it neither strays too far afield nor loses the reader in superfluous detail. I'd recommend it as a resource of choice for serious do-it-yourselfers.
