At Home - 2010

At Home 2010

Modern Ranch Home is in tune with the elements

Look Inside...

• Fall is best time to plant • What’s the deal with CFL bulbs?

• Museum looks at American kitchen • There’s a new dogwood on the block • Compost is where it’s at • Change bathroom into a spa

A Publication of the Lewiston Tribune

2E

LEWISTON TRIBUNE

M O N D A Y, O C T O B E R 1 8 , 2 0 1 0

Get your planting shovel ready now Forget spring; fall is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs

By LEE REICH

FOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Fall planting of trees and shrubs might go against your grain.

Fall is when you probably feel like closing down the garden, gathering the final harvests and snuggling plants in for the cold months ahead. Spring is when the urge to plant becomes irresistible, when most of us want to contribute to the symphony of colors and scents of the season.

In fact, though, fall is in many ways a better time for planting from the point of view of a tree or shrub.

Many nurseries dig bare root plants in the fall, then sell some and store the remainder through winter.

Such plants are, obviously, fresher in the fall.

Perhaps most important, fall planting allows trees and shrubs time to establish themselves before winter cold settles into the soil. Roots begin growing as soon as they touch moist earth, and continue to do so as long as the soil temperature stays above about 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Not so for stems. Short days and nippy temperatures at the end of the growing season bring stem growth to a halt, and growth can’t begin again until lengthening days or a sufficient duration of cold

Associated Press

A plum tree is seen about to be planted in New Paltz, N.Y. Fall is when you probably feel like closing down the garden, gathering the ďŹ nal harvests and snuggling plants in for the cold months ahead. In fact, though, fall is in many ways a better time for planting from the point of view of a tree or shrub. signals to dormant buds that winter is truly over.

Growth is then ready to begin as soon as temperatures warm.

Any fall-planted tree or shrub is already in place, its roots growing in the soil, when the first warm breaths of spring coax stems to begin growing. If you plant in spring, though, root growth is only just beginning when

stems begin growing. Or worse. Stems sometimes begin growing before the plant is even in the ground — a real problem with bare root nursery stock.

Even the ground is usually in better condition for digging in fall than in spring. Summer’s warmth still lingers in the soil, long enough to keep it moist — not sodden — and crumbly

for much of the time, just right for digging planting holes.

Contrast this with the slurpy, cold condition of the soil in spring. Digging a soil that is sodden ruins its structure, driving out the air, so one frustration of spring planting is waiting for the soil to dry out somewhat, all the while watching plant buds beginning to

expand and grow.

Frustration doubles when, after waiting for the soil to dry enough to plant, you have to immediately begin a regimen of weekly watering. One thorough soaking is usually all that fall-planted trees and shrubs need; winter rain and snow take care of the rest until later in spring.

A few precautions are

needed with fall planting.

Roots begin growth in fall, but not enough to anchor a plant against shifting, even being lifted, where the soil will be alternately freezing and thawing in the months to come. Prevent plant heaving by insulating the soil with a thick blanket of some organic mulch, such as leaves or straw, which will stop those wide swings in temperature. Avoid rot by piling the material up to but not right against the stems.

That mulch does make a cozy winter home for barkfeeding rodents. So protect the trunks with a cylinder of quarter-inch mesh hardware cloth, or wrap them with paper or plastic wraps sold for this purpose. Trunk wraps make great homes for insects in summer — homes where bugs can hide from hungry birds — so remove the wraps in spring.

Despite the benefits of fall planting, it is not for every kind of bare root tree or shrub. Among the few plants that do not take kindly to fall planting are red maple, birch, hawthorn, tuliptree, poplar, oak, willow, plum and cherry. However, potted plants of any of these species will benefit from fall planting just as other species do.

With these cautions and constraints, go ahead and plan for fall planting.

In contrast to planting in spring, when stem growth threatens and you’re distracted by colorful flowers after winter’s browns and grays, fall planting can proceed with a leisurely pace and a rational mind.

Will the real perennials stand up? Are CFLs really

By LEE REICH

FOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Now is a good time of year to think “perennial�: which plants really are, and which ones could be.

The word perennial, among gardeners, usually refers to an herbaceous (non-woody) flowering plant — that is, one whose roots live year after year but whose top dies down to the ground each winter.

That sometimes reflects wishful thinking. For instance, lavender is a perennial.

But winters in northern regions are often too frigid and wet for it, in which case lavender is not a perennial.

If the plant is not done in by the end of its first winter, it’s surely done in by the end of its second.

Delphinium and lupine are another two perennials that, in many areas, are not very perennial, often dying out in gardens after a few years.

The problem is not winter cold but summer heat. Delphinium and lupine thrive in coastal, far northern and mountain gardens where summer temperatures never get searingly hot.

Making A Perennial Behave Like One

There are ways to eke additional years from plants like lavender, delphinium and lupine. For starters, give them sites and soils to their liking.

Delphinium and lupine want a bit of summer shade to cool their heads (except where summers remain cool), and plenty of mulch around their roots.

Lavender is happiest basking in sun in perfectly drained soil. Plant it on a wide mound, if necessary, for better drainage. Back the plant up against a southfacing wall, preferably a heat-retaining one of brick or stone, and you further increase its chances of survival where winters are frigid.

Lavender likes soil high in lime; delphinium prefers just slightly alkaline soil; and lupine likes its soil acidic.

Care for these sometimes-perennials doesn’t end with getting the site and soil just right. In areas with cold winters, further protect lavender by covering it with a loose mulch such as pine boughs or straw as soon as the surface of the ground has frozen about an inch deep. Delphinium

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and lupine also appreciate a bit of protection in cold winters — in this case, with mulch around, but not on top, of the plants.

In spite of your efforts, don’t be surprised to see the plants eventually die out. All is not lost even then.

You could take stem cuttings and make young, new plants of any old plants that you want to keep going.

In some cases, especially lupines, plants might drop seed and, if the site is to their liking, grow new plants themselves. Those baby seedlings will not necessarily grow up to give flowers exactly the same as the parent plant, though.

They may be prettier, less pretty or about the same.

windows, even sputtering forth a few red blooms in winter, attest to geraniums’ perennial nature.

Petunia is another garden perennial usually treated as an annual. You occasionally hear of some gardener who digs up her petunia plants every fall, pots them up and sets them indoors in a sunny window to bloom all winter. Out the plants go again in spring, and so on, year after year.

With a bit of help, many garden annuals that really are perennials can survive even frigid winters outdoors. Petunias are one, and the same can be said for snapdragons and pansies. In cold-winter regions, these plants have the best chance of survival when backed against a south-facing wall and given Some Annuals Are additional protection with mulch after the ground has Perennial frozen a bit. If snow accuMany plants usually con- mulates where the plants sidered annuals over much sit, so much the better. of the country are actually Pansies, like lupines, perennials in warmer re- are especially good at selfgions. Tomatoes and pep- seeding, so a portion of next pers are two. Given eternal year’s plants might not be warmth, they would just over-wintering plants but keep growing and growing. new, self-sown seedlings.

And you probably know Like those lupine seedthat geraniums also can lings, each pansy seedling be perennial. They usually will look different from its are grown as annuals, but parents. Perhaps better, the craggy, old plants often perhaps worse — in any staring out from sunny shop case, different.

By AL HEAVENS

THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

After an expensive air-conditioning season, more than a few of us have been seeking ways to reduce energy costs.

For the last few years, one of the most touted ways has been to change all of our incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescents, or CFLs. I receive — although not lately, for some reason — endless pitches heralding the advantages of CFLs. Among them: They use two-thirds less energy than incandescent bulbs and last 10 times longer.

They are available in different sizes and shapes, including minispiral, spiral, and A-line, that fit almost any fixture.

On average, each bulb can save more than $30 in electricity costs over its lifetime and prevent more than 450 pounds of greenhouse-gas emissions.

CFLs and fixtures using them that have earned the EPA’s Energy Star rating produce about 70 percent less heat, so they’re safer to use and can help cut energy costs associated with home cooling.

Let me preface this exercise by saying that I have no opinion, nor have I ever had the time or inclination to prove or disprove any of this, but I’d appreciate it if you would send me your experiences with CFLs for subsequent columns.

No academic treatises or corporate pitches accepted. Real experiences from real homeowners only.

It was reader Steve Cioeta who piqued my

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interest in the subject.

Here are his experiences: “I renovated a bathroom in the winter of 2009, and installed a typical overhead light fixture with a globe that’s rated for two bulbs with a maximum of 60 watts each,� he said.

When he first started using the fixture in May 2009, he installed two new 13-watt CFLs instead of the 60-watt incandescents. Over that short period, he’s already had to replace both of the CFLs. “So instead of the seven years estimated, I got less than 18 months for each bulb,� Cioeta said. “There are five people in my house, and maybe each day the light is on for two hours max. So it’s not constant use, and I can’t believe the on-off cycles are excessive.�

The fixture is on the top floor of the house, so there’s no vibration from above, and there are no moisture problems. The fixture appears to be in fine shape, he said.

In his finished basement, there are 11 high hat fixtures in a dropped ceiling that each have R30 floodlights of 65 watts each.

In 2009, he saw that the CFL manufacturers were making these types of bulbs, and the packages all say “same as a 65-watt bulb.� “They have the squiggly CFL bulb inside of a cover to look about the same as the floodlights,� he said. “The CFLs produce a lot less heat, but again durability is an issue.�

He started replacing them one by one when the

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3E

l e w i s ton tr i b u ne

Kitchen design mirrors a century of change

By SUSAN ZEVON

> On the Net

For The Associated Press

NEW YORK — The kitchen, once tucked away in the basement or a back annex, became a laboratory of modern design in the 20th century. It became a showcase for consumer culture and a symbol of changing gender roles.

The changing kitchen is the focus of an exhibit that opened this month at the Museum of Modern Art called “Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen.”

It comprises almost 300 works, all from the museum’s collection, including design objects, architectural plans, posters, photographs, archival films, prints and paintings.

The inspiration was the acquisition last year of the “Frankfurt Kitchen,” on view for the first time at the Modern. Designed by German modernist architect Margarete Schutte-Lihotzky from 1926-1927, it was one of about 10,000 kitchens built as part of an affordable housing initiative in Frankfurt after World War I. The Frankfurt Kitchen exemplifies the early 20th century belief in the transformative power of design, particularly as a way to transform the lives of working people. Compact and ergonomic, it integrated appliances, work and storage space in a new way.

“The design embodies the concerns of the modern movement: efficiency, hygiene, standardization and social concerns,” says the show’s curator, Juliet Kinchin. It also is the museum’s earliest work by a woman architect.

Another example of standardization on display: Associated Press the brown paper bag. The This undated photo released by The Museum of Modern Art shows Austrian architect flat-bottomed paper groMargarete Schutte-Lihotzky’s Frankfurt Kitchen, from the Ginnheim-Höhenblick cery bag was developed Housing Estate, Frankfurt, Germany (reconstruction). 1926-27. Gift of Joan R. Brews- by Charles Stillwell for the Paper Bag Machine ter in memory of her Husband George W.W. Brewster, by exchange and the Architec- Union Company in Philadelphia, ture & Design Purchase Fund. This display is part of the “Counter Space: Design and and was first patented in the Modern Kitchen,” exhibit at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. the United States in 1883.

www.moma.org/visit/ calendar/exhibitions/1062 The show also features a lithograph from Frank Lloyd Wright’s “American System-Built Houses,” a folio in which he illustrated different ways to configure factory-produced, standardized building components.

After World War II, a burgeoning consumer culture in the United States was fed by corporations that capitalized on wartime research into new materials and technologies.

Kitchen products such as the Tupper Corporation’s nesting refrigerator bowls and the Chemex Coffee Maker were symbols of an economic boom that contrasted with the postwar deprivations in Europe.

Photographs of the 1959 “Kitchen Debate” between President Nixon and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev exemplify the political implications of the sleek, 20th century American kitchen.

In the 1950s, kitchens were still considered the domain of women, but there was interest in making the work easier. An article on display titled “New Kitchen Built to Fit Your Wife” (Popular Science, September 1953) describes a test kitchen developed at Cornell University’s Housing Research Center in 1952 to ease work based on timemotion studies.

The reemergence of European design during the 1960s and ’70s is highlighted by “Spazio Viva,” a hinged, mobile kitchen on castors that incorporates a stove, small refrigerator, pullout cutting board and storage space. It was designed in 1968 by Virgilio Forchiassin for the Italian company Snaidero, and is “a kind of Frankfurt Kitchen for a younger, more affluent generation. And you can take it with you when you move,” Kinchin says.

Downsizing? Here’s how to live large in a small space It’s a constant battle: Small versus big.

Less or more? There are arguments to support both sides.

Having just downsized to the smallest apartment I have ever lived in, I was intrigued by the idea of small being the new big.

The challenge of storage and saving space is usually the No. 1 problem for most small-home dwellers. Organization is key, as is making the space work for your lifestyle.

I have been racking my brain for months over how to make my new 656-square-foot apartment work best for me. I have found some great new ideas to integrate with some of my old tricks of the trade.

Creative use of furniture is essential in small spaces or even in larger spaces that might need to be multifunctional. Take, for instance, a guest bedroom that doubles as an office.

Instead of crowding the room on a daily basis with a bed that only gets used a few times a year, why not use a sleeper sofa or a chair and a half with a twin sleeper sofa? This will free so much space for day-today activities in the office.

A daybed is another good-looking piece of furniture that multitasks.

A daybed is a great way to divide a large space, but in a small space, if positioned against the wall, it doubles as a sofa with pillows across the back and an extra sleeping spot when the pillows are removed.

Lots of furniture pieces are known for their great

BRIGHT

“It’s really tough to keep track From page 2 — I did. ... It gets kind of hard to old bulbs burned out, and do your environalready has had to replace a couple of burned-out mental share.”

CFLs with new ones.

— HOMEOWNER STEVE CIOETA

He can live with that, but then it seems that you can never get two bulbs that give off the same light unless you replace them all at once.

“It’s really tough to keep track — I did,” Cioeta said.

While the “greenness” of using CFLs is appealing, and the cost of the bulbs is coming down, “it’s a little annoying to not get the promised performance and have to deal with some of the inconsistencies in using these bulbs,” he said.

“It gets kind of hard to do your environmental share,” he said.

have to do is pull the table out for dinner parties. And don’t forget, an old or unattractive table can always be put to use and instantly jazzed up with a custom table skirt in a fabulous fabric. Voila, another spot for hidden storage!

One of my recent favorite small-space solutions is installing built-in top-to-bottom mirrors on the inset of closet doors.

How brilliant! No longer are you taking up precious wall space in the room with a floor-length mirror.

As for the actual layout and decoration of a small space, conflicting theories abound. Some say not to fill a small room with over-scaled furniture, as it eats up the space and feels cramped. Others say big furniture makes a small room seem grander.

I gravitate toward the middle. In general, I stay away from large, overstuffed furniture and do find that too many small pieces can feel cluttered.

But I need enough seating for entertaining and recently purchased a set

of Lucite folding chairs (clear furniture is another small-space trick) that can be stowed when not in use.

I have never subscribed to pure minimalism, although I admire those who can. I find it almost impossible to not surround myself with lovely items that I find along my travels, antiquing or shopping. The key is rigorous editing. I have seen many small, successful spaces that have a plethora of mementos or objets d’art.

But once you get to a certain point, it becomes necessary to do the practice of one thing in, one thing out. After all, no matter what size your space is, you need the room to enjoy it.

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Everyone has a story. David Johnson proves it every Friday. In the Tribune.

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So while Cioeta doesn’t recall specific dates, these have also lasted less than 18 months. These bulbs are probably on four to five hours each day, but still the life has been much shorter than claimed.

I don’t know if the vibration from walking on the first floor above is causing a problem here, but I don’t notice any excessive bounce in the floor in my 1973 suburban tract house.

There’s no insulation between the floors, so he doubts that heat buildup is a concern.

Another complaint: The complexity in choosing the CFLs for the color that they give off.

His family has complained about the bulbs’ slowness in getting up to the maximum brightness.

multipurpose and spacesaving qualities. The everpopular pouf, for example, can double as an ottoman, become a small table for books, computers and drinks to rest upon or even turn into extra seating.

Nesting tables also provide options for tiny spaces because they are small and easily moved. Storage ottomans are an obvious choice for doubling as a bench or coffee table that can house toys, blankets and extra bedding.

In dining room/eating areas, a custom-built bench/banquette with storage underneath is a great option for tight spaces. If your budget does not allow for custom, then good-looking storage boxes fit nicely under most pre-made banquettes. If you are not looking for more storage but are just short on space, a breakfast nook can be created with a small table and stools that can tuck underneath when not in use.

Simply by pushing a dining table against a wall or window you can save at least three feet. All you

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By Jaclyn Banash

of The Kansas City Star

The “Counter Space” exhibit ends with examples of how contemporary artists have used the kitchen as a backdrop for statements about gender, economics and politics. Those include Cindy Sherman’s film stills with groceries in a kitchen, William Eggleston’s photographs of the inside of an oven and freezer, and Laurie Simmons’ photos of dollhouse scenes, which she has said express feelings about domestic life.

“It’s interesting for me that a picture can be so colorful and so bright and so vivacious and so lonely at the same time,” Simmons has said.

“Counter Space” runs through March 14.

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4E

LEWISTON TRIBUNE

M O N D A Y, O C T O B E R 1 8 , 2 0 1 0

Consider the other dogwood, Kousa

By LEE REICH

FOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The soft, pinkish red of Kousa dogwood fruits, some still hanging on trees, does hint at luscious flavor. Some people see their shape as something like a combination of strawberry and raspberry, which adds to the appeal.

But doesn’t that shape — a studded sphere — look more like a medieval weapon than a strawberry or raspberry?

Yes, the fruits are edible, but they aren’t very palatable. They have a rubbery skin over mealy, just slightly sweet flesh.

I suggest enjoying the fruits only with thine eyes.

In fact, enjoy the whole tree with thine eyes, for it is among the prettiest of trees.

The Kousa dogwood has something to offer in every season. Now, it is the fruits; soon it will be the color of the leaves as they turn a deep red. Then, winter will highlight the neat form of the plant, upright when young and more spreading with age, in all growth stages branching down to ground level. Age also brings on a pleasant mot-

tling of the bark, a jigsaw pattern of gray, tan and brown.

Spring finds Kousa dogwood at its most dramatically beautiful. It is then that the large, white blossoms — each up to 4 inches across — unfold in profusion from branches at the top of the tree right down to those near the ground.

Kousa’s blossoms resemble those of its cousin, our native flowering dogwood.

The four “petals” — botanically, they are bracts rather than petals — open creamy white, tapering to a point at their ends and, in the case of Kousa, turning pinkish as they age.

The main difference in flowering between Kousa dogwood and our native flowering dogwood is timing. Kousa dogwood’s blossoms unfold two to three weeks after those of flowering dogwood, during that period of calm that follows the springtime burst of bloom from many trees and shrubs. The whole effect is different beyond mere timing, though, because Kousa’s leaves have also come out by the time the blossoms appear, so they lend a soft backdrop to the profuse show.

Associated Press

A Kousa dogwood fruit is seen in New Paltz, N.Y. The soft, pinkish red color of Kousa dogwood fruits, some of them still hanging on the trees and others fallen to the ground, does hint at luscious flavor. Some people see their shape as something like a combination of strawberry and raspberry, which adds to the appeal.

In many ways, Kousa dogwoods, which come from Asia, have it over our native flowering dogwoods.

While both trees enjoy similar acidic, moist, welldrained soils, Kousa dogwoods are more tolerant of less-than-perfect conditions. For best flowering, they do need a bit more sun than flowering dogwoods,

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Kousa dogwoods also are resistant to the anthracnose disease that plagues flowering dogwoods. And Kousa dogwoods stay in bloom longer, with their flowering season often stretching on for six weeks.

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within this species, there are many varieties from which to choose.

For instance, the variety Dwarf Pink sports pink blossoms on a tree growing only 9 feet tall. Branches of Elizabeth Lustgarten weep to the ground, while upright branches give Fanfare a narrow profile. A band of golden yellow is painted down the center of each leaf of Gold Star.

And sure, you might even plant a variety of Kousa notable for its fruits. The variety National has particularly large ones, and those of Xanthocarpa are yellow.

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Kousa dogwoods and flowering dogwoods each had good things going for them, so he initiated a breeding program to combine the best qualities of both. What resulted was the Stellar Series of dogwoods, hybrids with characteristics intermediate between the parents. Some of those varieties include early blooming Ruth Ellen, dwarf Star Dust and pink-flowered Stellar Pink.

Of course, if what you want is later bloom, excellent disease resistance, a tree that branches right down to the ground, and a plant generally better adapted to cultivation, then go ahead and stick with pure Kousa dogwood. Even

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LEWISTON TRIBUNE

Interior designer offers decor tips for huge rooms

By JEAN PATTESON

THE ORLANDO SENTINEL

ORLANDO, Fla. — Vast rooms with soaring ceilings, extra-tall doors and towering windows are designed to look grand. But how do you make such vast spaces feel warm and inviting — without minimizing their grandeur?

Not-so-big homes may be the current trend, but luxury mansions are still being built or remodeled. And even smaller homes often feature open-plan living areas with lofty ceilings.

It takes all the decorating tricks in a designer’s bag to bring human scale to giant spaces, says Jeanne Archer, who recently designed the interiors for the 16,700-square-foot home of the Patrick Tubbs family on Lake Mabel in southwest Orlando, Fla. Color, texture and the arrangement of furniture all contribute to making a house “feel like a home, not a mansion,” says Archer.

“Even the grandest living room shouldn’t have that ’can’t touch, can’t sit on’ feeling.”

A key element in the imposing living room of the Lake Mabel house is a huge, chocolate-brown sofa covered in cushy, top-quality chenille.

“The sofa talks to you.

It says, ’Come, have a seat, make yourself comfortable,”’ says Archer, owner of Interior Motives Design Group in Lake Mary, Fla. She selected pale gold for the walls, deep green (the homeowner’s favorite color) for the full-length draperies, and fabrics in red, green and gold for the

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black, neoclassical furniture. The same colors are featured in the mural she designed for the cut-out ceiling, and pattern of jadegreen and dark-gray granite is set into the off-white

marble floor.

“If the walls, floor and ceiling were all off-white, the room would come off cold and stark,” she says.

The living-room colors are repeated throughout the

house, creating continuity between rooms. Textured, copper-colored Venetian plaster brings warmth to the 43-foot-high foyer. And decorative moldings and chandeliers make the ceil-

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Wood beams provide overhead interest in the kitchen and breakfast nook.

The game room is finished with chunky timbers and dark, tongue-in-groove

5E

boards. And the ceiling of the master bedroom is adorned with vermiculite wallpaper made from crushed green and silver

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6E

lewiston tribune

M ON D A Y, O C TOBER 1 8 , 2 0 1 0

Tribune/Barry Kough

The U-shape of Jason and Deanna Speck’s house faces east with a large courtyard in the middle for entertaining. The back of the house takes the brunt of the weather.

Where the wind blows free Contemporary ranch-style house shrugs off the weather

By Robert C. Johnson Of Target Publications

Openness is the first thing a visitor notices at the Clarkston Heights home of Jason and Deanna Speck.

First, there’s the landscape itself, the Peola Road nearby and the hills sloping toward the Snake River and the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley.

And then there’s the house, a one-level, 3,000square-foot home shaped like a horseshoe with a flat base.

Between the two wings of the house is a partially covered patio that looks out on the valley. Each wing has its own heating and cooling unit.

Jason’s brother Mike Speck designed the home.

Britton Rogers and his father, Tim, co-owners of Britton’s Custom Homes, did all the work, from framing, flooring and windows to painting and cabinetry, finishing in 2008. This is Brandon’s first home, but Tim has been building houses since he was 19, and he owned a cabinet shop in Portland, Ore. The Specks have lived here since November 2009.

The back, or west side of the home, the direction of the prevailing wind, is built of dark brown brick and stone. The metal roof angles up 2¾ inches for every foot in a compound miter at the back and drops at the front, letting the wind blow easily on.

The roof on the two wings has a simple 1-in-12 pitch, which means the roof rises 1 inch for every foot of run.

The house has 37 windows, with transom windows at the back of the house and awning windows at ground level at the front,

The east side of the main house affords a commanding view of the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley from the outdoor courtyard.

Tribune/Barry Kough

or north, side. This lets the Specks control the movement of air through the house, getting as much or as little flow as they prefer.

Mike Speck describes it as a contemporary ranchstyle home.

The design and materials are a response to the site and the owners’ lifestyle.

The tough stone and brick at the back of the house take the abuse of wind and sun, while the softer materials, tongue-and-groove cedar

 See WIND, Page 7

Tribune/Barry Kough

Tribune/Barry Kough

Marble countertops and wood cabinets are highlight- Three rooms in one: The kitchen, dining area and living area are wide open, with a large expanse of glass along the east wall. ed by the bright daylight.

M O N D A Y, O C T O B E R 1 8 , 2 0 1 0

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Tribune/Barry Kough

The bathroom repeats the theme of dark marble countertops, dark wood and stainless steel pulls on the cabinets.

WIND

From page 6

siding, are on the sheltered sides.

Deanna Speck says she likes the openness of the design and the fact it allows two separate living areas.

From the back of the house, a short stone entryway leads to the main room, which holds the kitchen, dining room and living room. The floor is dark bamboo hardwood, and the walls are painted an off-white. The ceiling is stained tongueand-groove cedar between exposed beams, and the kitchen cabinets are mahogany with stainless steel vertical pulls. The kitchen features all black appliances. Custom Rock and Stone installed the marble island, which has room for four and is made of petrified tree roots from the Amazon. The stone, called Rainforest, is either brown or green, and the Specks chose brown for the kitchen and green for the two bathrooms.

The kitchen looks out through a wall of windows to the patio, and a sliding glass door allows easy access.

All doors in the house are mahogany.

A walk-in pantry and laundry room are just off the kitchen on the left, and a short hallway leads to the master bedroom. The bedroom has a walk-in closet with his-and-her sides. One corner of the bedroom is windows, and a door leads to the patio. The large master bath has two sinks, a shower and a whirlpool bath. A strip of green tile around the whirlpool bath and in the shower matches

Tribune/Barry Kough

Many other local companies were involved in the project, too: Marvel Construction Co. did the roofing, Lazer Heating installed the heating and cooling units, Central Idaho Systems took care of the insulation and McCall Classic Construction did the excavation and paving. Cannon’s Building Materials and Yochum Plumbing contributed as well. the green of the counter tops. The walls are painted a light sage green, and the cabinets are the same mahogany with stainless steel vertical pulls as in the kitchen.

To the right of the living room is the other wing of the house, with the children’s rooms and family room.

The family room has a domed ceiling and the same low-napped carpet as in the master bedroom. Here, too, a door opens onto the patio.

A pocket door separates the living room and this part of the house, which, when the children have gone off to college, will allow the Specks to close that portion and not have to worry about heating or cooling.

The front of the house is the same tongue-andgroove cedar, stained a dark brown. Deanna did all the staining herself.

Joe Weber Concrete Finishing of Clarkston poured a stamped ribbon of dark concrete around the house and patio, like a frame around a photograph.

Tribune/Barry Kough

A long hallway leads past bedrooms into the family room, and has large spaces for wall and countertop displays. A large tiled walk-in shower is next to a whirlpool bath The floor is bamboo. in the colorful master bathroom.

If you would like to see your house featured in our next issue of

Home and Garden, March 2011 or At Home, Octobter 2011

call Sally Imel at (208) 848-2246

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lewiston tribune

M ON D A Y, O C TOBER 1 8 , 2 0 1 0

One man’s brick house is another man’s castle

By Kathy Van Mullekom

dome home that not even the Big Bad Wolf can blow down.

Of the Daily Press “I told my wife many (Newport News, Va.) years ago that I was going NEWPORT NEWS, Va. to build her a brick igloo,” — After years of reading he says, jokingly.

“No need for a carpenter the “Three Little Pigs” to his kids, brick mason Joel or a roofer.”

It used to be a brick Emerson built his own storybook structure — a brick house was a brick house,

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simply living.

according to Emerson, 52, a bricklayer for his father for two decades and a self-employed masonry contractor for the past 10 years in southeastern Virginia.

“Not just veneer, but the framework or structure itself was brick,” he says.

Emerson’s goal to build a solid brick and concrete house that no one or nothing — not even a hurricane — can destroy comes from a personal life and career filled with ups and downs.

He was tired of tearing out rotten or bug-infested wood from customers’ brick homes so he could make repairs. He was weary of living in a 150-year-old farmhouse and then an old house trailer that always needed something. Then, there was the heart-wrenching time when he helplessly watched his van burn, all his tools melting inside.

On Saturday, you can tour Emerson’s dome home in Gloucester, Va., and talk to him about the design and construction during the 10th annual nationwide Fall Dome Home Tour sponsored by the Monolithic Institute in Texas.

Emerson’s residence is 52 feet in diameter and 22 feet high; a living area of 2,000 square feet includes a cen-

MCT

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12-foot-high brick walls, inflated air form for the dome shape, sprayed foam insulation and rebar-reinforcements encased in sprayedon concrete, a product known as shotcrete. Because the dome’s air form is supposed to last only five years, Emerson covered it with chain link fence and 2 inches of shotcrete, all painted with a protective rubbery pool sealant.

“I hope the basic lesson people get from seeing this house is to not be afraid to venture outside the box,” he says.

“It bugs me to go into subdivision and see all the houses basically the same.

Variety is the spice of life.”

Emerson’s drive to build a strong, maintenance structure didn’t come easy.

He credits his father, Herbert, who recently died from a brain tumor, and his faith for helping him get to the finish line “I would have given up many times if not for his help,” Emerson says of his father. “He taught me the trade and taught me how to do it properly. That was his gift to me.

“Arranging brick and stone a certain way, it’s like you and God are doing something together.”

When Emerson’s vision of a dome house emerged in his mind more than 10 years ago, he first experimented with wooden tem-

plates to build arched brick walls. He also considered using AAC blocks for the dome but found each unit had to be cut wedge-shape horizontally and vertically, which was far too labor intensive. Finally, someone suggested he check out dome structures online, which is when he found the Monolithic Dome Institute in Texas where he attended a seminar in 2003.

“Two weeks later, Hurricane Isabel hit,” he says. “Although I personally didn’t get much damage after the storm, I saw the problems other people encountered, which helped increase my determination.”

Construction on the house started in 2006 and Emerson and his wife, Debbie, and daughter, Elizabeth, 17, moved in spring 2009. There are still some finishing touches to do, but Emerson will get those done during winter when he can’t work outdoors.

Of course, a unique house deserves a special name, so Emerson christened it Sty Manor, in honor of his business name, the Third Pig. The words “Sty Manor” are etched in a round stone set within intricate brickwork at the home’s entrance.

To Emerson, the dome home is a far cry from a pigsty.

“This thing feels like a castle,” he says.

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M O N D A Y, O C T O B E R 1 8 , 2 0 1 0

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LEWISTON TRIBUNE

Make feathered friends with a backyard feeder

MCT

Birds explore various bird feeders in the backyard of Sarah Bryan Miller in Des Peres, Mo.

By SARAH BRYAN MILLER

It started innocently enough. One day last fall in the gift shop at the Missouri Botanical Garden, I spotted a hanging bird feeder and thought it would be nice to add to my backyard.

That impulse purchase has turned into ... not an obsession, exactly, but certainly an enjoyable focus of my daily life. The lone feeder has been supplemented by three more. My old copy of Peterson’s “A Field Guide to the Birds East of the Rockies” now lives on a shelf near the kitchen window, and I find myself contemplating the merits of competing brands of suet block with the same kind of concern I expended in shopping for a new HVAC system.

I bought a double “shepherd’s hook,” a long, thin pole with two curving arms from which to hang feeders.

I got another, larger hanging feeder, a bag of nyjer seed (to attract finches) and its specialized feeder, and a bag of black oil sunflower seed, and set them up just outside a big bay window.

The first bird to find us was a bold little chickadee, followed closely by a curious tufted titmouse. Before long, the regulars included sooty juncos, pert wrens, tiny goldfinches in their winter olive drab, redstreaked house finches and enough cardinals to populate the infield, outfield and most of the bench.

Adding a suet cage drew nuthatches and little downy woodpeckers, clinging at all angles to the wires, along with a stair-stepping series of bigger ones, from middle-sized hairy (looking like the downies’ older siblings) and red-bellied woodpeckers, up to a flicker, looking enormous next to the smaller birds.

The setup also drew an enormous hawk, which swooped down on an unwary sparrow and then coldly sized me up through the window before flapping off to a nearby branch to eat its lunch. (”Well, it IS a bird feeder,” wrote one of my Facebook friends.)

My 16-year-old daughter has taken charge of refills; our avian visitors provide a good starting point for conversations, and we recognize our regulars as they come zinging in.

The mix of seeds and hanging feeders seem to draw only “good” birds, who knock enough food to the ground to support a tribe of mourning doves and sparrows. There are a few downsides: starlings go after the suet, I’m engaged in open warfare with the squirrels and there’s a litter of shells piling up that is unattractive, if biodegradable.

The next step? I’ll switch out one of the sunflower seed feeders with a hummingbird feeder and consider adding a water source once things warm up. This is clearly an interest that can take over.

Sometimes I worry a little that I’ve set up a welfare state for birds; what did

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Some naturalists, after all, condemn any feeding of wild creatures, which gets in the way of the survival of the fittest.

But we shape the world with every choice we make,

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10E

lewiston tribune

M ON D A Y, O C TOBER 1 8 , 2 0 1 0

(Compost) power to the people Groups help spread the green for gardeners

By SEAN O’DRISCOLL

For The Associated Press

NEW YORK — In her Brooklyn apartment, Kate Zider holds up a pot of basil she has grown with the remains of her neighbors’ dinners.

“I can’t understand why anyone buys basil.

You throw it in a pot with some soil and compost and it grows. You almost can’t stop it,” she says. She also shows off an avocado tree that grew from an avocado stone that refused to decompose.

“It was in our compost pile but it refused to break down and it began to sprout.

So I put it in a pot and now its 5 feet tall,” she says.

Zider is a founder of the North Brooklyn Compost Project, one of a number of volunteer compost groups shooting up across the country in response to the demand for locally grown produce.

The group’s more than a hundred members take shopping bags and cardboard boxes full of their leftover lettuce, tomatoes, coffee grounds and potatoes to a compost heap in a park, and in exchange they get an unlimited amount of compost for their apartments or back gardens.

“We have one member who has a beautiful garden on his roof. Another had shelves full of lettuce growing on the side of his house this summer, and another member was using the compost to grow plants as artwork. Some people just give the compost to their favorite neighborhood tree,” says Zider, who also has an “all you can pick” rule on the worms that burrow through the group’s com-

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post heap, in case people want to do their own composting at home.

“Personally, I recommend ordering the worms from a supplier, but if you want the worms for a home compost bin, you are more than welcome,” she says.

“If you can catch them, you can keep them.”

Red wiggler worms have emerged as the heroes of the compost cooperatives after years of experimentation with various species.

Wigglers quickly eat and break down the food, excreting it as valuable garden fertilizer and helping to convert vegetation into humus.

“Wigglers make great pets. They don’t rebel by climbing out. Also, they are good eaters and can move side to side in a container, which makes them idea for shallower containers,” says Zider. “As long as it’s not too hot or wet, they will stay in there.”

New York has become a center for compost coops, especially after cutbacks two years ago forced the city sanitation department to drastically cut back on a program that had offered the public free compost.

In its place, gardeners have come together to share each other’s decomposing waste.

“There is a huge demand from the public to grow their food,” said Barbara Finnin, executive director of City Slicker Farms in Oakland, Calif., which is given compost by the Oakland sanitation department and distributes it to fami-

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AT LEFT AND ABOVE: Theresa Frey, a member of a compost group in Bedford Stuyvesant, dumps her freezer garbage in the Green Acres Community Garden deposit near her home in the Brooklyn borough of New York. New York has become a center for compost coops, especially after cutbacks two years ago forced the city sanitation department to drastically cut back on a program that had offered the public free compost. lected organic waste for compost at a festival two weeks ago in Milwaukee.

“We collected all the waste in carts towed by bicycle.

Some of the bikes were donated by the public, others were owned by members.

It was a lot of hard work and a lot of compost,” says Tashijan.

By the spring planting season, she says, Milwaukee residents should have lots of compost.

“This is our first year,

and we all have jobs outside of this, so we’re really rethinking things each day,” says Tashijan. “The important thing is that we’re learning and having fun at the same time.”

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lies. “We’re lucky in Oakland, but if a city doesn’t help, more and more local groups jump up to take its place.”

Many compost co-op members have a separate bin or box at home for organic waste. Some store it in the freezer until it can be delivered to the compost heap, which might be in a vacant lot, a tucked-away corner of a park, or maybe a volunteer’s yard.

In the Bedford Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, the Green Acres Community Garden has more than 50 members who pay $5 a year to get compost, rising to $10 a year for those who want to help grow crops in the garden, a formerly vacant lot where the composting takes place.

Member Theresa Frey keeps her vegetables in her apartment bathroom, “between the toilet and a surf board”.

Plants that require more light grow in her living room. “I live in a brownstone building, so it has deep-set windowsills.

That’s ideal for growing, so I’m lucky. People use whatever space is available, it’s not hard work and it brings people together,” she says.

In Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Compost Collective is only a year old and will not have its first bed of compost until October.

“The response has completely blown me away,” says organizer Melissa Tashijan. “We started sending out fliers around the neighborhood and people were coming from all over to drop off their waste. I’ve even had city aldermen call me because their voters were demanding somewhere they could compost.”

The group, which has a few dozen members, col-

By Debbie Arrington

of The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.)

In The Garden Pull out the summer garden and get started on cool-weather vegetables and flowers.

Now is the time to plant seeds for many flowers directly into the garden, including cornflower, nasturtium, nigella, poppy, portulaca and sweet pea.

In the vegetable garden, seed bok choy, mustard,

spinach, radishes and peas.

Plant garlic and onion sets.

Set out cool-weather bedding plants including calendula, pansy, snapdragon, primrose and viola.

Around The House It’s time to get alarmed.

Oct. 9 began National Fire Prevention Week.

According to a new survey, most American homes don’t have enough smoke or carbon monoxide detectors.

About two-thirds of homes don’t meet the national recommendation for the number of smoke alarms set by the National Fire Protection Association, said the nationwide

survey conducted by First Alert. Only one in 10 homes meets the recommendations for carbon monoxide monitors.

The association recommends at least one carbon monoxide alarm on each level of a house and one in or near every bedroom or sleeping area. For smoke alarms, one should be installed at the top of each staircase, and one in every bedroom or sleeping area, under the guidelines.

For an average two-story, three-bedroom house, that adds up to four smoke alarms and five carbon monoxide alarms. (For details, see www.nfpa.org.)

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 See CHECKLIST, Page 11

HUGE

From page 5

stones.

When furnishing large spaces, “Cluster your seating arrangements,” says Hattie Wolfe, a designer with Wolfe Rizor Interiors in Winter Park, Fla. “Clusters create intimacy, so you don’t feel like you’re floating in the middle of an ocean of space.”

Each cluster should have a function, she says.

A media-center cluster for watching TV, a cluster of armchairs for conversing, club chairs clustered around game tables.

Break up extra-long rooms with three rugs instead of one gigantic carpet, she says. “And make drapery very abundant to add warmth and softness.”

Troy Beasley, a designer with Beasley & Henley Interior Design in Winter Park, suggests using darker paint colors and architectural detailing to “bring the walls in visually.”

Use tall wainscoting and extra-wide chair rails stained a different color to the walls to break up the “vast emptiness” of high, white rooms, he says. And choose higher-back sofas, larger art work and taller lamps to match their oversize scale.

M O N D A Y, O C T O B E R 1 8 , 2 0 1 0

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l e w i s ton tr i b u ne

Transforming a bathroom into a spa can be easy

By MICHELE KEITH

For The Associated Press

There’s nothing like some me-time in a luxurious spa after a long day.

And it takes just a little effort to transform your own bathroom into just such a place, an oasis in which to relax and rejuvenate.

Some simple fixes and inexpensive accessories can do the trick, designers say.

Associated Press

This product image provided by Kallista shows the For Country by Michael S Smith Showerhead.

Begin With A Clean Slate “Rooms feel calmer without clutter. So before doing anything else, clear off surfaces, walls and floors,” says New York City designer Eve Robinson. “And while you’re at it, toss out anything past its prime or that you really don’t want or need.”

Robinson favors light color palettes — seafoam green and white, for instance — and uses very few accessories, perhaps “simple black-and-white photographs of ocean waves for a sense of relaxation and comfort.”

She adores the classic spa feel of terry cloth, and suggests “crisp, white towels and bath mats to brighten and freshen a bathroom.”

Robinson also likes upholstering stools on wheels with terry to provide seating or space to pile extra towels. Often, she embroiders them with such words as “splish” and “splash.”

While Dallas designer John Phifer Marrs is equally keen on soft hues, “Sometimes the most relaxing baths are no-color,” he says. For one client, he used varying shades of white and off-white, and added some

Associated Press

This undated photo provided by Molly Luetkemeyer shows a bathroom designed by Molly Luetkemeyer. There’s nothing like some me-time in a luxurious spa after a long day. And it takes just a little effort to transform your own bathroom into just such a place, an oasis in which to relax and rejuvenate. baroque sconces and a neoclassical, tole-topped table for elegance and oomph. As with many furnishings, he says, “You can often replicate such high-end pieces with reproductions and flea-market finds.”

“Make a play list of music that helps you unwind, or download some ambient nature sounds — ocean waves, a bubbling brook, forest breezes. Turn it on when you enter the room and almost immediately you’ll feel more serene.”

One of Luetkemeyer’s favorite parts about visiting Scents And Sounds spas is “being enveloped The right music can make by delicious aromas,” not a difference, according to only essential oils and bubLos Angeles-based design- ble bath, but “candles that er Molly Luetkemeyer. make you go ‘ahh.’ ” “Get the smallest iPod dock possible,” she says.

“Try short, chubby ones along the bathtub rim, several candlesticks grouped together or a candelabrum — and be sure to dim the lights before stepping into the tub,” she says.

Pay attention to the little things: Luetkemeyer always has a pretty container of matches near her candles.

And getting back to good smells, she counsels, “Push the spent end of the wick into the warm wax to extinguish the candle. If you blow it out, the beautiful aroma will be covered by a smoky odor.”

Island Breezes Alex Jordan, co-president of the Chicago de-

sign firm Gregga Jordan Smieszny, likes to create an island mood with accessories that exude a “tropical feel.” Among them are teak flooring and, “if the room is well-ventilated, a large, hanging, paper light fixture a la Noguchi,” he says.

“Glass garden lanterns work well, too.”

Two other easy tricks he uses to bring the outside in: Cover the walls in grass cloth. Or either paint a trellis on one or more walls, or mount a real one.

On a smaller scale, but as effective, would be to replace the linen-closet door with latticework. “Of course,” Jordan adds with a laugh, “that means you have to keep the contents

tidy.”

Don’t limit yourself to the bath sections of stores, Jordan advises: “Broaden your vision. Investigate stores’ living-room departments and boutiques carrying foreign products.”

Think about glass cylinders filled with seashells and river rocks, wood receptacles for makeup and hair brushes, baskets for rolled towels, cleaning equipment and the kids’ toys.

One final suggestion Jordan shares is “parachute cloth for the shower curtain or to surround the tub. It’s reminiscent of a spa’s massage area and looks like it would gently rustle in an ocean breeze.”

Several other items that can complete a home spa: l An inflatable, terrycloth-covered pillow for the tub. (Some contain built-in neck massagers.) l Book holders. (Also handy for a glass of wine or pitcher of water pepped up with lemon slices.) l A big, round, “rainforest” showerhead. l A detachable device that turns the tub into a whirlpool bath. l Heated towel racks.

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Grandma’s old-fashioned hooked rugs are back in style Cameron says, and were usually quite colorful.

Strips of fabric were cut Hooked rugs evoke a from worn-out or stained feeling of yesteryear, of clothing or leftover cloth.

Grandma’s house and sim- A special hook was used to pler times. No wonder that form loops with the strips in this period of economic in a backing of woven cloth, uncertainty, hooked rugs which could be burlap, linen or another material. are making a comeback.

The strips were dyed in What’s not to like?

They’re attractive, long- various colors and used to lasting and feel nice on the make patterns, often flofeet, say decorators and ral or geometric designs.

Those colors and patterns textiles experts.

They’re part of a “won- are still part of the appeal.

“Hooked rugs are very derful tradition,” says Larchmont, N.Y.-based colorful, and they’re good decorator Libby Cameron, rugs,” says Michael Richco-author of “Sister Parish ardson, co-owner of J’adore Design: On Decorating” Home and Garden in Kansas City. “They’re much (St. Martin’s Press, $35).

“Hooked rugs were generally handmade by women and designed by women,”

'

Keep alert to invisible gas

By DEBBIE ARRINGTON

OF THE SACRAMENTO BEE SACRAMENTO, CALIF.

A hidden danger may be making you sick.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that exposure to radon, a tasteless, odorless gas, may linked to 20,000 lung cancer deaths a year.

Naturally radioactive, radon gas forms underground as uranium decays and filters into the air we breathe.

Radon can seep into homes through loose-fitting pipes, drains or cracks in concrete foundations.

Small amounts of radon can be controlled by sealing cracks with caulking or patching compound. According to experts, higher radon levels might require the installation of an exhaust system to disperse concentrated amounts into outdoor air.

First Alert developed a new radon home test kit — — priced under $25 at major hardware retailers or via amazon.com —— that allows consumers to measure their home’s radon levels. (Results are sent to a lab for processing.) Other home test kits are available, too, such as Jensen’s Pro-Lab Professional Radon Gas Test Kit ($14.99).

For more details: www.

FireAlert.com or www.epa. gov/radon/NRAM.

“It’s a great way to use up wool.” — JO RANDOLPH, INTERIOR DESIGN INSTRUCTOR

more fun.”

He adds that certain patterns will pair with any style of decorating. “It’s all personal preference.” The Tapestry rug from Company C is their biggest seller, he says.

Today’s rugs are sometimes made with leftover fabric from the apparel and upholstery industries, says Jo Randolph, adjunct

professor of textiles in the interior design department at Johnson County Community College.

“It’s a great way to use up wool,” Randolph says. Today’s rug hookers continue that tradition by using wool clothing that would otherwise end up in a landfill.

Commercially made rugs are available in more sizes — even as large as 10 feet by 14 feet — than their antique counterparts, which were often small throw rugs. Most are made of wool or sometimes cotton.

“Cotton is more fragile and not as stain-resistant,” Cameron says.

Wool will last longer.

“Wool is a forgiving fiber,” Randolph adds.

The thickness of the rugs makes them comfortable as well. “They feel soft under your feet,” Cameron points

out.

Hooked rugs are a practical choice, too, “able to withstand traffic, kids and dogs,” Cameron says.

“They last and last.”

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Coffee can perk up dirty kitchen AKRON BEACON JOURNAL

Coffee can do more than wake you in the morning.

Here are some other uses suggested by online retailer Coffee.org:  Remove odors from your hands from cooking with foods such as garlic or fish by washing your hands and then rubbing a few coffee beans in them.  Freshen kitchen drains by pouring in a mixture of used coffee grounds and boiling water.  Combine used coffee grounds with a little water to create a cleaning paste for stain-resistant surfaces such as greasy kitchen surfaces.  Sprinkle used coffee grounds on the soil around acid-loving plants, or add the grounds to your compost pile.  Suck on a coffee bean to freshen your breath.

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OF THE KANSAS CITY STAR