Review: Mike Holmes Kitchens & Bathrooms by Mike Holmes

Title: Mike Holmes Kitchens & Bathrooms
Author: Mike Holmes
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Time Home Entertainment
Publish Date: April 2, 2013
Source: I received a copy from the PR; however, this did not affect my review.

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You are a DIY-er.
• You're looking for sound construction advice.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "One of Canada's leading contractors, Holmes provides expert advice in all aspects of planning and completing the most common renovation projects. Packed with color photographs, illustrations, and sidebars, this new book will help ensure homeowners avoid costly mistakes."

My Two Cents:

I absolutely love Mike Holmes so I was very excited to read this book. My husband and I don't agree on a lot when it comes to tv shows but Holmes' shows are some of the few that we can agree on to watch together. My husband is very handy while I am not really but Holmes does a really good job of giving information that is useful to both the handy and the un-handy alike and I definitely appreciate that. His good, no nonsense advice extends to this book.

Out of all of the home renovation projects you could choose to do, I think some of the most difficult are probably kitchens and bathrooms. You have so much to think about besides aesthetics that it can be very overwhelming. Last year, we bought our first house and it's quite old (we have papers on it dating back to 1892) so needless to say, we have a lot of upgrade projects that we want to do in the future, including our kitchen. I know that this book is going to be endlessly helpful for us as my husband is planning to do most of the work himself (a huge undertaking to be sure!).

Holmes breaks down what you need to think about into simple questions that are very accessible to just about anyone. Some of the questions are things that we had already thought about but others are questions that didn't jump out at me right away. Reno projects are often more than just making things pretty. You have to think about everything behind the walls and under the floor too. Holmes goes through things to force the homeowner to think through everything step by step.

This book uses a lot of pictures to show the right way and wrong way to do things. I thought the pictures showing the wrong way to do things were very helpful. On the surface, the pictures look nice until Holmes starts pointing out what he would hone in on. Some of those pictures were incredibly eye opening.

There are a couple sections of the book that were a little repetitive (Holmes' discussion of stove hoods were sprinkled through big sections of the books) but overall, I really liked how this book was laid out.

Overall, I know this book is going to be a great resource for us as we embark on some of our own home reno projects. If only Holmes could tell us how you make money quickly in order to do all of these projects!!!