I was given a copy of a new book and enjoyed reading it, so I want to share it with you.  The book — Housing Reclaimed: Sustainable Homes for Next to Nothing — was written by Jessica Kellner, who is an editor of Natural Home and Garden Magazine.  In Housing Reclaimed, released on October 4, 2011 by New Society Publishers, Kellner explains why the standard housing model is broken and how readers can find an alternative housing model in the form of salvaged materials and sweat equity.

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The Ecology Center, an educational facility in Orange County, held a series of DIY workshops in 2009 and 2010 to teach people practical, environmental solutions for the home.  With the popularity of the workshops, The Ecology Center decided to compile the projects as a reference, and that reference became Backyard Skills: A D.I.Y. Handbook.  We’ve been given a review copy to read and share on this site.

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*Leave one comment per person through the end of Wednesday, June 8, 2011, to be considered for a random giveaway of one Tigressá area rug from Shaw Floors.

Last year Shaw Floors sent us a sample kit of their new Tigressá SoftStyle carpet, which is made with recyclable Nylon 6 and designed for durable, long-life performance.  In celebration of the one year anniversary of the launch, Shaw sent us an 8′ x 10′ area rug called A Touch Too Much, the number one selling style in Tigressá, and gave us an extra to give away today.

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*Leave a comment below through the end of Friday, April 1, 2011, to be considered for a random giveaway of a voucher to receive a ProHome Soil Sensor System to be connected to an existing sprinkler system.

Depending on where you are on the Pyramid of Water Conservation, you may still have turf grass or an irrigation system, or both.  And these things guzzle water like crazy through Spring and Summer.  If you’re thinking about using less water and saving more money at the same time, perhaps UgMO Technologies — short for underground monitoring — could help out with their water-saving UgMO ProHome system.

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Leave a comment below through the end of Wednesday, February 2, 2011, to be considered for this random book giveaway.*

Princeton Architectural Press was nice enough to send us a copy of a newly published book on skinny houses called Narrow Houses: New Directions in Efficient Design.  Authored by Avi Friedman, Narrow Houses includes 28 case studies — all measuring less than 25 feet in width — with site plans, floor plans, and tons of photos.

Projects featured in this book vary with a healthy dose of detached, semi-detached, and attached examples.  If you have a thin site, perhaps a copy would provide value in the form of getting ideas to maximize your lot.

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