Ty's Tricks

Pennington, the heartthrob-cum-carpenter on The Learning Channel's show Trading Spaces, lends a conversational tone and his signature wit to this do-it-yourself guide for everyone. He proclaims that""anyone, even you, can save money by doing some of your own home renovation and repair, no matter how inexperienced you are, no matter how lousy you are with your hands, no matter how much you think you can't do it."" Then he shows readers some of what he's done--the first chapter is a tour of Pennington's renovated home, complete with inspiring before and after photos, and even a seductively silly shot of Pennington in the shower. Ensuing chapters include information on building and making""cool stuff,"" hiring contractors, tools and materials, walls, paint, floors, plumbing, and creating your own style; the photos help illustrate each process. The narrative is never presented in intimidating, technical jargon-filled chunks; it's broken down into lists, boxes, sidebars, and snippets, and the frequent""Ty's Tips"" feature. These boxes contain breezy, common sense advice such as""When buying Sheetrock, bring a person with you, buy him lunch and then take him to your home to help you drag it inside."" Like the rest of this volume, it's good advice and amusingly worthwhile to read, whether the reader is undertaking a huge project or just contemplating a few changes.