This book was provided by the publisher to facilitate this review.  I received no other compensation.  As always, all opinions are my own.

My husband, Derek, is a do-it-yourself kind of guy.  His grandfather began carpentry work as a hobby upon retiring.  (At 90 he continues to work with wood as you'll see in a moment.)  Derek appreciates all the work Grandpa puts into projects for our family and looks forward to someday doing more projects himself.  (He has tackled a lot around our home already.)  Grandpa has made our family four bookcases, living room furniture, and many other things.  Though Derek doesn't have a lot of woodworking tools, he has the basics and looks forward to his own "shop" some day.  (He does have enough tools and know-how to have built our swing set using a plan and purchased lumber.)

With all that in mind, I was eager to review Basic Carpentry and Interior Design: Projects for the Home and Garden.  This is a beautiful book, full of large and colorful photographs.  Even my nearly five year old son enjoys looking at the photos "maps" (schematic drawings) inside.  Both of my older children quickly discovered some fun things they thought we needed.  When Grandpa recently visited, Big Sister showed him exactly what she wanted.  He borrowed the book, and a week later provided my children each with a set of cute bookends that look like beds based on a small project within this book using just scrap wood.  (These bookends are unfinished.  We will eventually paint them, though they are made from a bit of cherry and another scrap.  The children all have bookshelves of the cherry wood from Grandpa.)
Basic Carpentry and Interior Design is rather interesting.  Anna and Anders Jeppsson have written the book all based on carpentry projects that they have made to enhance their own home (and possibly your home).  Some projects are quite practical like a bench that collapses for easy storage.  Others are rather fun like a pirate ship teeter totter.  Other projects are something that works well for the Jeppsson family, but may only work for a few other families.

I sought my husband's opinion of Basic Carpentry.  He says the book is not meant for a beginner carpenter with specialized tools required for many of the projects.  The instructions will give you a good idea on how to create the project, but they lack specific details (which is fine for a carpenter with experience).  We all enjoyed looking through this book and look forward to my husband tackling another project someday.  Thank you, Schiffer Publishing for sending this book our way!

~ Annette {This Simple Mom}