Better Homes and Gardens
101 Weekend Projects

Creative Ideas for Your Home!

Phillips Media/Multicom

Available in Hybrid format

Windows ISBN Unavailable

Review by James Neal Webb

I can't think of anything more relaxing than working with my hands. Building, repairing, painting, digging in the garden--I love it all, though I rarely get the chance to do any of these things. I think it is something akin to the old Zen masters tending and raking a rock garden; the physical labor and the act of creating serve to disassociate the mind from what the body is doing and is a form of meditation. Having said all this flowery stuff about the joys of doing, I must confess that watching someone else doing is the next best thing to being there. It must be true for others as well; if everyone who ever watched a PBS gardening show or picked up a craft magazine did every neat little project they happened across, this world would probably be overrun with duck-shaped planters and imitation Shaker quilts.

Just because Better Homes and Gardens 101 Weekend Projects has, well, 101 projects in it, don't feel obligated to do them all. Admittedly it has an easy-to-use interface, with plans and diagrams and pictures of many finished products, and sure, you can print out instructions for each and every one for use at a later date, but you don't have to. There's bound to be some things in here that you won't like--heck, we all have different tastes (I thought the American flag bird house was a little much).

While this CD-ROM does go a little light on the video aspects, it more than makes up for it by the sheer volume of projects detailed. And it does make extensive use of video in one segment, that of painting techniques, which is particularly helpful. And, if by some miracle, you happen to complete all 101 projects and you still want more to do, you can check out an on-disc catalog of more complicated project plans that you can order from Better Homes and Gardens. (Actually, you can look at the catalog whether you do any projects or not.)Better Homes and Gardens 101 Weekend Projects is not a bad little idea generator for the handily inclined. Think of it as a giant, animated edition of Better Homes and Gardens, but without the recipes and advertisements.

James Neal Webb operates his own graphics business in Nashville, Tennessee and can be reached at jim_webb@bookpage.com.

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