A well-designed yard can be a sanctuary of sorts and a meeting ground for friends and family. Whether you want to create a beautiful scene out the kitchen window, a restful place for a cool drink outdoors on a warm evening, or whether you like to throw memorable outdoor soirees, a properly furnished yard makes all the difference.

In Beautiful Wooden Projects for Outdoor Living, you'll see how you can turn your castle grounds into a land of leisure by decking them out with a variety of definite improvements. The projects in these pages include an Adirondack loveseat, bench seats and a table, a garden fence, a potting bench, a barbeque station, a wooden walkway, a tool shed, and a trellis. These are very nice designs, too. They're the kind of constructs that can totally transform a yard or garden.

Customize for Your Own Eyes
The pieces in this book will add charm to any yard just the way they are. The chairs and table, for example, would be a nice addition sitting anywhere, as would the potting bench. Sometimes, however, you'll want to customize a design to suit your particular yard geography or needs.

In every case, author John Marckworth has provided step-by-step construction advice and process photos. For example, he shows you how to build a tool shed from the ground up, beginning with the platform framing and moving all the way through shingling. If you want to make your shed larger or smaller, it's easy enough to adjust the size while sticking to the basic construction.

As for projects like the trellis shown on the book cover, not only can it be made wider, taller, or longer, Marckworth also provides a variety of designs for the side panels. (Or you can create your own, if you like.) The Covered Barbeque Station consists of a roof on posts to provide weather protection for a barbeque grill. Part of the charm of this particular project is that it sits on a shapely wooden deck that also accommodates a picnic bench. The entire process is laid out for you here, from the initial staking out of the ground through the building of the deck and roof. You don't have to be a professional contractor to see how you can apply the basic processes to a deck of your own preferred shape.

Sticks and Stones
Whatever you decide to build from this book, you can be sure it's both attractive and soundly built. Marckworth is a cabinetmaker, and it shows in the quality and nature of these projects. The designs are thoughtful, well constructed, and made primarily from wood, using appropriate species to ensure that your labors will pay off for a long time.

In some cases, all this beautiful woodwork is offset with some lovely stone work. Don't worry, we're not trying to convert our woodworking friends to masonry here, but just check out the platform of paving stones on the cover. Nice, huh' Well, it turns out it's not hard to make one yourself. You'll learn how to create a long-lasting deck without mixing a speck of mortar, by laying the stones over a proper bed of earth, gravel, and sand, and tamping them into place.

So maybe it's time you finally made those yard dreams come true. If you've been looking for some ideas or incentive, you'll want to check out this book. It's sure to get the creative juices flowing and the sawdust flying.