Rustic Retreats: A Build-It-Yourself Guide

• Cabins: A Guide to Building Your Own Nature Retreat
• How to Build Your Dream Cabin in the Woods: The Ultimate Guide to Building and Maintaining a Backcountry Getaway
• Sheds: The Do-It-Yourself Guide for Backyard Builders
• Ideas for Great Backyard Cottages
• How to Build and Furnish a Log Cabin

Instead of just looking for pretty pictures and dreaming. I liked this book alot. Contains simple and practical ideas. If I can do it you can too. But I would say it is best for someone who is ready to get off their duff and build something, anything.

The drawings are fun and lively. So are the tree houses. Thanks for a great book to just read, or get us outside with a saw and hammer. I'm glad there are no photos in this book. Not that all of these projects are practical homes, but now I have ideas for that "fort" in the back acre my kids are bugging me about.

Get an imagination. They also give important aspects of the project that a photo rarely illustrates. Now I know how (in detail) to construct a tipi, or put together a simple door or roof that really would hold up to nature. The primitive shelters section is great.

These are very rustic retreats, such as a lean-to to use as a nature retreat, or for the shack-like building the size of a garden shed for sleeping in as a weekend getaway,(sans electricity or toilets).The one I loved the most was a rustic arbor for grapevines that was basically 4 poles with a semi-roof--for the vines to grow up and over the top to form a roof. Just know this is not for children's tree houses or play houses. It is about the nuts and bolts of really building one of these structures. This is not a glitzy-beautiful tempting type of book. These are true rustic retreats for adults. The idea of sitting under it with a table and relaxing outdoors was quite tempting. I suggest browsing this book first to see if there is a structure you are interested in.The plans are quite detailed and seem more than adequate to use as building plans. However, where I would get the rustic tree trunks to make this is beyond me (but it looked wonderful).There are no photographs.

I don't get why you put a beautiful photo on the cover of your book and all 2nd rate hand drawn pictues inside. Maybe good for a kids Fort or a Bowhunting stand. It's deceptive. Won't help you with Country Home ideas.

For anyone with space enough, but without the money to build on it, this book has so many answers. It has line drawings on almost every page and is pure delight to read and dream over.