Norma Vally's Kitchen Fix-Ups: More Than 30 Projects for Every Skill Level [With DVD]

The DIY trend for women involves more than knitting and sewing: today more women are tending to their homes, and they're not just sewing curtains and arranging flowers. They're installing new toilets, laying ceramic floors in the kitchen, and drywalling the den. With 23 percent of all power tool purchases in 2004 made by women, and the number of unmarried females owning homes climbing by nearly 4 million owners from 1994 to 2002, when it comes to home repair, maintenance, and improvement, these sisters are doing it for themselves.

At the same time, a survey by Home Depot found that 73 percent of women would like to learn more about tackling home improvements. But who has the brains, brawn, and beauty to really understand a woman's perspective and give her the confidence to conquer what had traditionally been men's territory? Norma Vally.

Norma Vally is a rare combination: construction worker, former model, television and radio host. As the host of Discovery Home's Toolbelt Diva, Norma showed women how to throw out the Honey Do lists and Honey, do it yourself. She's beautiful, sassy, confident, and competent, and with a radio show, a line of tools, a website, and her top-rated TV show she is a franchise dedicated to educating women on home repair, maintenance, and improvement. The Norma Vally book series is as sassy as Norma, packed with real-world tips showing women how to take charge of their homes.

This four-color, fully illustrated series provides a basic overview of big-picture renovation. In Norma Vally's Kitchen Fix-Ups, Norma guides the reader through determining not only how to do the work, but how to determine what is right for her: How does she use her kitchen? What features are truly important? Is it the domain of one person or the family hangout? Are there storage considerations? Is plumbing position and function optimal?

Then she provides an overview of the jobs best left to professionals and those the reader can master with Norma's guidance: fixing a leaky faucet, installing a backsplash, building in recessed lighting, resurfacing countertops. Tasks are broken down into three levels of difficulty and cover sinks, countertops, appliances, cabinets, walls, and floors.

The book is written in Norma's trademark can-do, sassy voice and provides confidence to the most nervous renovator, showing readers that Honey-Do lists can truly become a thing of the past.

The book is packaged with a $9.99 value-add DVD of Norma walking the user through three key tasks, one at each level of difficulty: cleaning out a faucet aerator, repairing a leaky faucet, and installing a new faucet. None of the competition contains this multimedia element.

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Author: Norma Vally
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 02/01/2009
Pages: 208
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.24lbs
Size: 9.12h x 7.40w x 0.53d
ISBN: 9780470251577


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 06/01/2009 pg. 118

About the Author
A seasoned veteran of home improvement, both on and off camera, Norma Vally's media career boasts four seasons as host of Discovery Home Channel's Emmy-nominated series Toolbelt Diva and a radio show on Sirius Satellite by the same name. Norma is a published author and sought-after speaker who has appeared on "Today," "NBC Nightly News," "CNN," and "MSNBC"; she has been featured in "Family Circle," "Women's Health," "People," "Woman's Day," "Glamour," the "Los Angeles Times," "USA Today," and the "New York Times." Norma founded Chix Can Fix, a Web site and product line devoted to empowering women to take control of their homes and their lives.