Twelve years ago, David Owen and his family moved from an apartment in New York City to a two-hundred-year-old house in rural Connecticut. Life under a leaky roof has not only made Owen handy with a reciprocating saw, but has also shown him why it isn't necessarily foolish to keep a broken refrigerator in the bathroom. This collection of new essays plus Owen's finest pieces from Home, The Atlantic Monthly, and The New Yorker is the home improvement guide for anyone who knows that the truly important work around any house isn't done with hammer and nails.