Sheds: the Do-it-Yourself Guide for Backyard Builders

Shed the illusion that the building in you're your in which tools and backyard equipment are stored must be, by definition, a boring and ugly necessity. The revised and expanded edition of Sheds contains absolutely everything you need to know to design, build and enjoy the ultimate backyard shed.

Award-winning designer David Stiles helps you think through the issues involved in shed design, such as use, cost, placement and "degree of difficulty." Following a chapter on construction basics, he guides you through each step of building a simple 8 x 10-foot shed -- from foundation to cupola and everything in between. This core chapter includes a material list, step-by-step illustrated instructions and a daily labor schedule, as well as new information on timber framing and moving your shed to a different location.

The book then presents several basic sheds, along with a number of more complex special-use sheds, including a pool shed, an Irish garden shed, even a Japanese boat shed. The all-new storage shed on posts allows you to situate your building of a slope.

Packed with detailed illustrations, plans, commonsense advice and an inspiring selection of color photographs, Sheds is like having a consultant at your side as you work. Whether you are an average amateur builder or an ambitious expert, this book has something for you.

David Stiles is a designer'/builder and together, with his wife Jeanie, has authored fifteen books, including Sheds: The Do-It-Yourself Guide, Revised Edition (Firefly 1998), The Treehouse Book (which won the ALA Notable Children's Book Award), and Playhouses You Can Build (Firefly 1999). A graduate of the Pratt Institute and the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy, David is the winner of two awards from the New York Planning Commission for his designs for The Playground for All Children.

David and Jeanie's articles have appeared in several magazines and newspapers including House Beautiful, Better Homes and Gardens, Country Living, Home Mechanix, Rebecca's Gardens, and The New York Times. They have appeared on numerous television programs, including Lifetime Television Our Home and the Discovery Channel's Home Matters shows. They divide their time between New York City and East Hampton, N.Y. where they live in a barn which they renovated themselves.