With school back in and summer going out, empty nesters who arelooking to spend their time doing home improvements have manydo-it-yourself options to keep their schedule and their pocketbooksfull.

While big chains like Home Depot offer education and literaturefor aspiring homebuilders, other venues are open for advice andconsultation, from television to sitting down with an expert andasking questions.

Outside salesman Eddie Cagle of Home Hardware Center inBrookhaven said television networks like HGTV and DIY are great forpeople who need a step-by-step illustration of different projects.He said HGTV is his personal favorite as it deals with all sorts ofprojects around the house and yard.

“I like the variety,” he said. “It’s just basically anything andeverything to do with the home. HGTV is a blend of the building andfinessing and cleaning and organization – the hows and whys.”

He said DIY is a better option for more manual projects.

“With DIY everything is involved with do-it-yourself projects,”he said. “Like if you want to know how to build a fence, it cantell you how to do that.”

Cagle said the television shows can teach you everything fromfencing to much larger projects that may not be as practical.

“There was one on tree houses that I loved because they werereally just like smaller houses and I’d love to do that,” he said.”But I don’t have $30,000 to spend on a tree house that’s just acondo in the trees.”

Independent carpenter Ray Allen said the most important thing isto have a plan for your project and to gather the information andsupplies needed to carry it out.

“The first thing is to have a good idea of what you’re doing,”he said, adding that there are projects that are sometimes bestleft to the professionals. “Like when you get in a bathroom, you’rein a whole other world. But tiles or flooring or paneling are greatprojects to take on.”

Home Depot offers “Do It Herself” classes, a concept which wasinitially aimed at helping women to learn to do things around thehouse.

“Women are more liberated now,” said flooring specialist JeanieWalker. “They don’t always want a man to do all the work forthem.”

The Do It Herself classes end up attracting not only women, butmen and children sometimes, too. Walker said the classes helppeople not only save money on expert labor, but gives them aproject.

“A lot of things requiring work around the house can be quickand easy,” she said. “Sometime people come in and they want it donetoday. They want to know what they need from start to finish.”

Charity Turnage is a good example. After watching one ofWalker’s tiling classes, she caught the tiling bug and undertooksome projects in her own home.

“It’s addictive,” she said. “I was tired of looking at the sameslate blue counters and after I watched, I thought, ‘That looks soeasy.'”

After Turnage completed the initial counter tiling project, sherealized she wanted to do it again.

“The more I looked at it every morning as I brushed my teeth,the more in love with it I fell,” she said, adding that after herbathroom counters she did her kitchen and the backsplash above herstove.

Walker said Home Depot offers different instructional seminarsthroughout the day each Saturday. Some of them are published in thepaper ahead of time, but they’re also listed on a board near thefront of the store and announced on the loudspeaker for customersto stop by as they’re shopping.

“If you know what you’re doing, you’ll come back and do more,”she said. “We’ve got classes from painting and different techniquesto roofing and electrical and gardening projects.”

Walker said a must-have for home improvers is a book, whether itis one of the ones sold by Home Depot or not.

“We have a lot of do-it-yourself books and magazines,” she said.”They’re step-by-step, and the pictures are wonderful.”

Allen agreed, saying the best ideas sometimes come from projectsfeatured in books and magazines.

“I’ve had people bring me things they’ve seen in magazines, andif you can get me a picture or a drawing, I can make it,” he said,adding that’s why the project books with the detailed pictures canbe such a help. “If I were giving advice to someone who wanted totake on a project themselves, I’d tell them to go to Home Depot orLowe’s or somewhere else and get one of the books. Not only do theyhave great information, but you can get ideas about designs andcolors from the pictures, too.”