Home&Real Estate
OPEN HOME GUIDE 63 Also online at PaloAltoOnline.com
Home Front MID-SUMMER PLANT CLINIC ... UCCE Master Gardeners will offer one-on-one consultations on mid-summer garden and landscape planting from 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 9, at Gamble Garden, 1431 Waverley St., Palo Alto. Topics include pest problems, tomato care, managing water during the drought, soil types and plant nutrition. Information: Master Gardeners at 408-282-3105, between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, or mastergardeners.org
A Fresh Look
Decorating with baskets
TREE WALK ... Arborist Ellyn Shea will lead a free tree walk through the Downtown North neighborhood from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Aug. 9, meeting at Johnson Park, corner of Hawthorne Avenue and Kipling Street, Palo Alto. Expect to see incense cedar, Norway maple, liquidambar, Hollywood juniper and more. Information: canopy. org VEGGIE GARDEN BASICS ... Mimi Clarke of Fiddle Fern Landscaping will teach two sessions of “Veggie Garden Basics” from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 9, or Wednesday, Aug. 13, at Filoli, 86 Cañada Road, Woodside. The class, designed for the novice or just someone looking for extra tips, will cover planning and designing for a year-round harvest. Clarke will also teach a class on “Dividing Garden Perennials” from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 9. Cost for each class is $45 for nonmembers, $37 for members. Information: 650-364-8300 or filoli.org GROWING GARLIC ... UCCE Master Gardener Marcia Fein will offer a free workshop on “Growing Gourmet Garlic (and a Few Relatives)” from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 9, at the Mountain View Library, 585 Franklin St., Mountain View. Information: Master Gardeners at 408-282-3105, between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, or mastergardeners.org
ot baskets? Most of us have a closet full of baskets we don’t know what to do with. Don’t let them gather dust — put them to use in new ways! Here are a few ideas for using them throughout your home:
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• Use several to hold silverware and paper napkins during your next picnic. Line the baskets with napkins or brightly colored tissue paper. Serve popcorn, chips, sliced bread or cookies the same way.
In the garden:
In the kitchen:
• Nail flower-pot-sized baskets along your fence and put blooming plants in lightweight plastic pots in them. Before using baskets outdoors you might want to spray them with several coats of clear acrylic paint to protect them from water and sun damage. • Store your trowel, gloves and hand rake in a basket with a handle. Nail a big hook in the fence and on the wall in your garage so you can hang it up when not in use. • Assemble a gift basket for a gardening friend. Fill it with seed packets, a gardening book, a jar with cuttings from your yard, along with a new pair of garden gloves.
• Use a rectangular-shaped basket as an inbasket for your mail. • Are you forever misplacing your car keys? Place a small basket on the counter top where you can drop your keys the moment you come home. • Use a small plant basket to hold pens by your telephone. • Roll up several colorful dish towels, nestle them in a basket and store them on your counter top. • Put a clay pot inside a basket and fill it with cooking utensils. • Use a large basket with handles to hold newspapers to be recycled. The handles make it easy to carry out to the recycling bin. • Make a pleasing arrangement of unusual baskets and hang them on the wall or arrange them on top of your refrigerator. • Install a series of hooks in the ceiling over the window and hang baskets with handles from them. Put a bundle of herbs or dried flowers in several of the baskets. • Need a place to store wine bottle corks? Put a basket on top of your fridge and after opening your dinner wine, drop the cork in the basket.
GARDEN SHARE ... Anyone with extra goodies from their garden, home-cooked food, books or recipes may participate in a free Garden Share event from 11 a.m. to noon on Sunday, Aug. 10, in the parking lot at Common Ground, 559 College Ave., Palo Alto. The event is co-sponsored by Common Ground and Transition Palo Alto. Information: 650493-6072 or commongroundinpaloalto.org Q Send notices of news and events related to real estate, interior design, home improvement and gardening to Home Front, Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302, or email cblitzer@ paweekly.com. Deadline is one week before publication.
Page 44 • August 8, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com
In the bathroom: • Does clutter get you down? Why not store beauty and grooming supplies in lidded baskets on the vanity top? • Use a plastic-lined plant basket as a trash can. • Roll up hand towels or washcloths and store them in a basket on top of the toilet. • Place reading materials in one by the tank.
• Fill a small basket with potpourri or soaps and display on the vanity top.
In the bedroom: • Use a decorative, lidded basket as a jewelry box. • Store books and magazines in a basket by your bed or reading chair. • Does your cat or dog sleep in your bedroom with you? An old-fashioned laundry basket equipped with a pillow or folded blanket makes a pretty pet bed. • Big baskets make great lightweight storage bins for toys in kid’s rooms. • Hang handled basket from the ceiling and store dolls, stuffed animals or action figures in them.
In the family or living room: • Store knitting or stitchery projects in one. Balls of yarn heaped in a bowl-shaped basket makes an attractive coffee-table accessory. • Fill the fireplace with dried hydrangeas arranged in a long, low basket. • Store TV and stereo remote controls in a lidded basket. • Assemble a sewing kit consisting of a few needles, spools of thread and an assortment of buttons. Keep it handy in a lidded basket so you can do your mending while listening to music or watching TV. (continued on page 46)