Arlington House sits high above the National Cemetery in Virginia as an imposing witness to historic events. Once the home of Robert E. Lee, it survives today under the watchful care of the National Park Service and is brimming with antiques of the Civil War era. Historic records prove that, at one time, the estate owned 63 slaves, some of whom worked in the kitchen. Lots of the tools and everyday objects they would have used still take up residence in the house, including a painted Old Pine Dry Sink. Norm notices it immediately and decides to build one himself out of recycled pine. However, the only water Norm’s dry sink will ever see is from tending the houseplants he intends to display on its copper top.

Taking his cue from a pool house he finds on Nantucket, Norm creates a relatively simple, multipurpose structure so coveted by today’s homeowners. It could be a garden shed, a place to store the outdoor furniture for the winter, a pool house, or a home for the family bicycles and yard machines. This 96-square foot building is the perfect size for many backyards and features low-maintenance materials that are expected to hold paint and resist weather. Best of all, it is attractive to look at and relatively easy to build.

8' W X 12' H X 12' L

Here is a place to organize your horticultural life. Meant to go outdoors or in, this hard working bench provides a place to work on plants, repot them, and to store the numerous items plant lovers use. It’s built of cypress for resistance to decay and is finished with a dry sink lined with copper.

The flower stand is a woodworker’s interpretation of the flower vendor’s classic three-tiered display shelf. Norm built his version with hard-wearing medium density overlay plywood, a material favored by highway sign makers, and edged with decay resistant cypress. A twocoat paint job results in a handsome “black/green” garden finish, perfect for displaying a varied collection of plants and flowers.

Norm designs a clever outdoor cupboard that's versatile enough to be prized by everyone from the backyard barbecue chef and gardener to the handyman and would-be flower arranger. This attractive storage piece has everything under one roof and then some, including a divided interior with adjustable shelves on one side, a chamber for storing tall garden tools on the other, and plenty of hooks for outdoor gear. Its exterior is sheathed with weather resistant cedar paneling and features a garden trellis and hinged work shelf that can be pulled out and used as a potting bench as needed.

See Note below

Norm adds to his growing collection of outdoor furniture a handsome garden armchair that has generously-sized arms for resting a glass of ice tea while lounging with a book or enjoying garden views. Built of sturdy and beautiful recycled cypress, this comfortable chair promises to withstand all weather conditions for decades.

N.B. We discovered that the back leg measurements did not print on the measured drawing. On the back leg, the measurement from the top of the back leg to the mortise is 2" and the mortise height is 2 3/4"

Norm adds to his growing collection of outdoor furniture projects when he builds this round, teak patio table that is big enough to for six to enjoy a summer lunch. Measuring 51-inches across, the table seems like a big project but it can easily be built in any home workshop.

This handsome trolley is just the thing to roll around the patio when there are beverages and food to serve. Norm builds this useful outside dining accessory of long lasting mahogany.

Norm discovers a beautiful antique porch swing that has been delighting fans for generations and decides we must have one too. His is made from plantation grown teak and looks like it will quickly become an heirloom.

Following a trip to Newport, Rhode Island to learn the finer points of the game, Norm builds his own special croquet mallet and a benchin which to store all the equipment. Sad to say his game is not good.

Norm crafts modular outdoor planters and a bench that are so versatile, they can be used to transform any deck or patio. Crafted out of river-recovered antique cypress wood, the planters and benches can be joined together and configured in a variety of ways to create a different effects and outdoor living spaces.

For the outdoor chef, Norm offers a solution to the shortcomings of modern barbecue grills-extra counter space-with a rolling grill cart made of weather-friendly redwood and cedar. Cart also features a pullout drawer, towel racks, hooks for utensils, and a large bottom shelf.

Norm takes viewers on an adventure to Utah to witness the dismantling of a twelve-mile long railway trestle which was built at the turn of the century. Eventually progress and better engineering in the 1950s replaced this causeway, and the massive trestlewood pilings which once provided the means by which Southern Pacific was able to cross the Great Salt Lake were all but abandoned. Over years of disuse, the trestlewood, which is comprised of Douglas fir and redwood, eventually became so pickled by lake brine that its grain began to develop an unusual array of colors. Norm acquires some of this trestlewood to build his own outdoor chaise lounge design and in the process, learns quite a bit about current initiatives to harvest this unusual building material.

On a recent sojourn to Nantucket, Norm is invited to view a local antique dealer's private collection of children's toys and whimsical whirligigs. Inspired by their endearing humor, Norm decides to build his own mechanized version of The New Yankee Workshop's logo, featuring Norm, himself, working at the table saw.

He may be America's favorite master carpenter, but Norm readily admits that he's a "brown thumb," when it comes to gardening. This greenhouse is the perfect project for the serious backyard gardener (or someone who knows one) who is "workshop bound" for the winter. Norm fabricates this design out of redwood and polycarbonate panels. Built to withstand even the toughest weather conditions, this greenhouse provides enough insulation and light to sustain plants during the long winter months.

Norm couldn't resist bringing the romantic design of this garden gateway back from a recent visit to a charming New England seaside community. This ambitious outdoor project features a spindled gateway and is complemented by a pergola and a trellis that frames the garden view. Norm builds this outdoor project out of common, pressure-treated pine to ensure that it will last through years of sunshine, rain, and snow. In the process, he demonstrates how to join wood segments together with splines to form the elegant archway.

This season's only two-part project moves the series away from the vineyards of Northern California and back into viewers' backyards when Norm builds a handsome and practical storage shed outside The New Yankee Workshop. The 12-by-8-foot shed with an attached recycling and rubbish center has plenty of room for the lawn mower, snow blower and other lawn and garden tools. Four windows let in the light, and a large door welcomes oversized equipment. The recycling center has enough covered space for sorting and for holding rubbish barrels. The building is finished with Western red cedar clapboards, shingles and galvanized hardware to resist the elements.

Norm begins work on one of the most ambitious projects ever attempted at The New Yankee Workshop. Brilliantly conceived and executed, Norm's intimate octagonal, screened gazebo reflects several popular Victorian styles and features a cedar deck, clever, collar-tied rafters, and a unusual tapered, cedar-shingled roof, the project's most challenging element. Norm offers useful tips on how to build screens as he creates the screen door and panels for his gazebo. The final decorative touches are applied as the Victorian latticework is assembled and mounted and the copper finial takes its place atop this storybook garden pavilion.

Norm finds his inspiration for this piece in the garden furniture designed by renowned English architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. Constructed entirely of teak, this faithful reproduction is built to last and age gracefully.

It's been next to impossible to find an outdoor side or coffee table - until now. Norm builds a low round, slat-topped model out of durable teak that fits the bill perfectly.

What better way to enjoy a hot summer day than from the shade of a graceful arbor? A perfect complement to any garden or deck, Norm's elegant pergola will look great draped in wisteria and is constructed of durable pressure-treated southern yellow pine.

Although Norm researched arbors in old England, the one that he builds is inspired by versions from the New England island of Nantucket. Norm's arbor, meant for sitting and enjoying the beauty of the garden, is built from redwood and presents the challenge of fashioning an arch out of segments of wood fixed together with a new water-resistant glue. Norm also tackles making diamond-shaped lattice panels for this project

Norm creates two outdoor planters: one that's square with raised panels and a second that's simpler, larger and rectangular, with vertical slats. The master woodworker demonstrates how to craft the small planter's raised panels on a table saw and turn its finials on a lathe. (Both planters are "sinker" cypress, an excellent outdoor wood that weathers to an attentive silver-gray.)

The villagers of Colonial Williamsburg might not be called bird lovers today, at least not in the conventional sense. Norm learns this first hand as he inspects the inner recesses of an elaborate dovecote in the backyard of one of Williamsburg's historic homes. With space for up to 48 nesting birds, the dovecote housed tethered squabs until they were ready to be plucked from the nest for the family meal. Norm's version of the dovecote is smaller and is actually a perfect accessory to a garden or country landscape.

Norm travels to the Eric Sloane Museum in Rent, Connecticut, to examine the $2.69 list price Montgomery-Ward wheelbarrow that was the subject of one of Sloane's most famous drawings. This, along with other historic examples, provides Norm with design clues as to what makes a good old-fashioned wheelbarrow. Bowing to modernity in its use of a pneumatic tire, Norm's oak wheelbarrow features removable sides for greater versatility and medium-density overlay plywood for a smooth and durable bed.

This project is the first real Victory Garden/New Yankee collaborative piece. Constructed of redwood, it features open shelves for storing pots, a moisture-resistant medium-density overlay top for the potting surface, and storage for stakes, markers, and gardening tools.

Cypress, the perfect wood for this simple project is also one of the hardest to find. The search for cypress takes Norm to a river in rural Georgia, where a lumber company specializes in retrieving - by wet-suited divers - 200-year-old "sinkers," logs that were lost as they were floated downstream from forest to mill.

Turning to the more playful side of county life, Norm resurrects the old fashioned, two-seat swing that used to sit on grandma's lawn or porch. Self-supporting and made of durable redwood, Norm's version features a swinging mechanism made with common off-the-shelf hardware items.

Inspired by a design he examines at the Shaker settlement in Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, Norm's wood box stores kindling in an upper box, firewood in a lower box and fireplace tools off Shaker pegs mounted on all sides. Norm seals the pine box with milk paint, a time-honored finish available today.

A beginner's project, the basic sawhorse features simple construction techniques and materials, including 2x6's, spruce boards and plywood. As he did with last season's Adirondack chair, Norm draws the best elements from several examples to present his version of the classic one-piece picnic table. Built with basic home-center materials, Norm's table won't tip, is easy to get into and out of and is simple to build.

Norm leaves his trademark plaid shirt and jeans at home and dons a stylish suit and derby when he visits London for a look at an authentic English garden bench. Norm constructs his version from teak. The bench is assembled entirely with mortise and tenon joinery and pegs to ensure its strength and durability. Norm shows how to shape the bench's many curved pieces on the band saw, demonstrates how to create tenons with a tenoning jig mounted on the table saw, and reveals a trick for cutting angled mortises on the drill press.

Arlington House sits high above the National Cemetery in Virginia as an imposing witness to historic events. Once the home of Robert E. Lee, it survives today under the watchful care of the National Park Service and is brimming with antiques of the Civil War era. Historic records prove that, at one time, the estate owned 63 slaves, some of whom worked in the kitchen. Lots of the tools and everyday objects they would have used still take up residence in the house, including a painted Old Pine Dry Sink. Norm notices it immediately and decides to build one himself out of recycled pine. However, the only water Norm’s dry sink will ever see is from tending the houseplants he intends to display on its copper top.