In a well-designed house, the

drama is in the details.

Architect and author Dennis

Wedlick picks apart dozens of houses in his new book, "Good House

Parts." His purpose is to draw attention to the elements that give

a house character and help his readers embellish their own homes with

details that reflect their personalities.

Wedlick touches on all the

major elements of a home, such as windows, floors, fireplaces, stairways

and roof profiles. He educates readers on the various elements and incorporates

plenty of photos to illustrate his points or to give readers ideas for

unusual treatments.

Wedlick purposely keeps his

focus narrow, so you notice the impact of contrasting window trim or the

graceful punctuation of a hand-carved stair-tread end.

"Good House Parts"

is published by the Taunton Press and sells for $34.95.

Sweeping made easy

Hoover has done the push broom

one better with SpinSweep, a lightweight sweeper designed for use on hard

surfaces outdoors.

SpinSweep has two brushes that

rotate in opposite directions, pulling debris into a self-contained collection

bin that can be detached and emptied. The device is powered manually:

Pushing the sweeper makes the swiveling wheels turn, which in turn causes

the brushes to rotate.

The sweeper has an adjustable

brush height for various surfaces and picks up everything from sand and

grit to leaves, grass clippings, pebbles and empty cans. It weighs 13

pounds and can be stored upright or hung flat on a wall.

SpinSweep is available at hardware

stores and the lawn and garden sections of mass merchandisers. Retail

prices are expected to range from $99 to $129.

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