Month: February 2011

Trees in the garden

Want mulch for your walkways or plantings that’s not only green, but free? How about mulch that contains the ghost of Christmas past? You’re in luck: Albemarle County creates exactly that by chipping discarded Christmas trees. Collection of trees took place until the middle of last month (and by the way, mark your calendar for next year—tree dropoff is free and details are available on the County’s website, www.albemarle.org. No need to landfill your holiday!). 

Those trees did not die in vain: Starting February 1, the free mulch is available for anyone to pick up at Darden Towe Park. We say, someone should come up with an equally useful remake of balled-up wrapping paper.—Erika Howsare

Permaculture on Pantops

Local permaculturists probably know that multi-week courses are often organized locally by the Blue Ridge Permaculture Network (see blueridgepermaculture.net), but if a single weekend is all you’ve got, check out two briefer offerings February 4-6 at the Mountaintop Montessori School. Author and teacher Dave Jacke will give a public talk on Friday night, February 4, 7-9pm, for a $10 suggested donation. The topic? “Gardening like the forest”—in other words, designing a garden to mimic a forest, which naturally fertilizes and renews itself. 

February 5-6 Jacke will expand on those ideas in an intermediate-to-advanced workshop, which costs $250-295 on a sliding scale. If you’re interested, contact Terry Lilley at tygerlilley@gmail.com.—E.H.

Up on green roofs

Thinking of installing one of those nifty vegetated roofs on your house? You can pester an expert with all your questions—in person!—at the Blue Ridge Eco Shop on February 12. Scott Titanish, who sells the LiveRoof modular green roof system, will make a presentation at 11am. 

Green roofs are said to have numerous advantages, including insulation, absorption of rainwater, providing wildlife habitat and—in the city—combating the “heat island” effect.

The workshop is free, but you must register by e-mailing paige@blueridgeecoshop.com. For more info, call the store at 296-0042.—E.H.

Feeling drained

When the kitchen sink drain is clogged, it certainly feels like a minor emergency. The urge to grab the nearest bottle of chemical drain-opener and dump the whole thing down can easily take over. But resist! There is an alternative. Instead of pouring toxins down your plumbing, try a bacterial drain opener. Unique Super Digest-It is one brand.

Here’s how it works: Bacteria of the non-disease-causing type—Bacillus, to be exact—eat through whatever organic material (food, hair, etc.) is causing your problem. They can do this even in anaerobic conditions (i.e., lacking oxygen). If you’re worried that this process might be smelly, the manufacturer says “fear not”—no odor is involved.

The stuff can be used for maintenance too, ideally preventing those minor emergencies. Find it at greendepot.com.—E.H.

Using good scents

I strolled into the office yesterday and my nose was met with the powerful scent of my co-workers’ new cinnamon plug-in air freshener. The scent may be enticing, but many don’t realize that commercially sold air fragrances in aerosols, powders, and foams are unnecessary and sometimes polluting to indoor air quality. Phthalates as well as a plethora of other irritants can be released, not to mention toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs), causing headaches or worse with people sensitive to allergens. 

If you’re using air fresheners, ask yourself, what is your intention—to mask an odor or add a scent? If it’s the former, can you eliminate the offending odor? Does your trash can need cleaning or your bathroom need scrubbing? When was the last time the dog was bathed? Preventatively, sprinkling baking soda at the bottom of your trash cans and on the floor before vacuuming really helps.

Now let’s talk about adding scents naturally. Soy or beeswax candles scented with essential oils are great alternatives to the petroleum variety. Rather than burning incense (the smoke is harmful in large quantities), boil cinnamon sticks and cloves in a pan of H20. Can you get creative by making your own potpourri of dried flowers and spices? Lavender is one of my favorites. I keep a bag of cedar chips from a diseased cedar in my linen drawer. A rosemary plant in your kitchen can double as cooking ingredient. Finally, bamboo sticks dipped in your favorite pure essential oil (try eucalyptus, lemon, or tea tree) look and smell nice.

Check out Better World Betty’s local green living resource list at www.betterworldbetty.com and blog at cvillebettyblog.blogspot.com.

Waiting for the sun

Winter holds us firmly in her cold and bony lap. Although there can be a certain beauty in the bare landscape, anyone who hasn’t utterly succumbed to Seasonal Affective Disorder is looking forward to the spring equinox—that magic day on March 21 when our planet begins to turn back toward the sun. Until then we must soldier on with tasks appropriate to the season. 

A common mistake this time of year is to cut back azaleas, lilacs or blue/pink hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla varieties). Early bloomers like these (including quince, forsythia and the white spireas, Spirea prunifolia, S. x vanhouttei, S. nipponica) are trying to nurse their flower buds through winter. Help them. In contrast, holly and boxwood respond well to mid-winter pruning, as do late summer flowering shrubs like butterfly bush, Russian sage, white hydrangeas (H. paniculata, H. arborescens) and the pink and red spireas (S. japonica). Know your plant before you cut it.

Another error is over-mulching. It’s an easy way to make the grounds look neat and tended, but Tracy Disabato-Aust, author of the classic The Well-Tended Perennial Garden, got it right when she said, “We have become a nation of over mulchers, feeling compelled to go out…and mulch whether it’s needed or not.”

It is indeed possible to have too much of a good thing. Mulch deeper than 2-3”—especially the popular shredded hardwood which is heavy and takes longer to decompose—can be very bad for plants, smothering roots, rotting crowns and shedding water and fertilizers off into the gutters to pollute the waterways. Give this organic matter a chance to break down, amending the soil and absorbing water and oxygen. 

Instead of piling it on, take a fork or hard rake and fluff up existing mulch 1-2” in perennial beds and 2-3” on trees and shrubs, keeping it well back from crowns and trunk flares. Mounded up on trunks and perennials, mulch causes rot and entices mice and the dreaded vole. Add more only if you need it and thoroughly loosen existing mulch first. 

If you have problems with scale insects or mites on roses, euonymous, holly, boxwood, or hemlock, look for a mild day above 45 degrees, with no freeze for 24 hours, to spray horticultural (not dormant) oil. This will smother, not poison, overwintering eggs of these pests. Where you’ve had such infestations, clean up old debris, especially mulch, before spraying the shrubs. Burn or thoroughly compost it. 

To break out of a February funk, visit the camellias at UVA. Large specimens shelter against the west ranges and in Garden VII: gaudy flowers of white-gold, vermillion and pink. Look also for the wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) blooming in the back of Pavilion V. 

Here in the country I look out the window with a good fire to my back, contemplate a blue gazing globe at the edge of the broom-sedge meadow and plan to plant snowdrops next fall beneath the beech.—Cathy Clary

 

$1,044, Kane Furniture 1200 W. Main St., 296-5594

Like Sunday morning

…Or Thursday evening, Saturday afternoon, or sleepless Tuesday nights. If it’s going to be the seat that calls to you anytime you need comfort, it’ll have to be easy indeed. Look for one you can spend hours in; one roomy enough to hold deep thoughts as well as lazy zone-outs. Our easy-chair suggestion? Start with these favorites from local shops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

$1,400, And George 3465 Ivy Rd., 244-2800

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

$989, The Second Yard 307 E. Market St., 295-6054

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

$795, Quince 126 Garrett St., 296-0062

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

$1,458, The Artful Lodger 218 W. Market St., 970-1900

 Treasures and unusual nooks are hidden behind a secret door (that doubles as a bookcase) on the top floor of Nana and BoBana’s North Downtown house. Greta, Collette, Harper and Holden, ages 3 months to 6 years, are the bright-eyed grandchildren who visit Jackie and John Binder (Nana and BoBana, respectively) in their cozy and quirky home. 

A sleeping nook is built and outfitted for grandkids. Jackie and John Binder have devoted a special place to their four little visitors, ages 3 months to 6 years.

Jackie is the owner of local antiques shop Circa and, as such, owns an eclectic array of objects and furniture that delight and inspire. John, a contractor, is responsible for the bookcase/door and most of the structural eccentricities of the house. Together, they’ve created a space that is unique to their passions, interests and lifestyle.

Surprisingly few adjustments need to be made when the grandkids descend. Accommodating sticky fingers and guests of smaller stature is all part of the job of being grandparents. 

In one room, collections abound. Delicate shells, sculpture, globes and art glass are all on display and many are accessible for curious visitors. “With the [collection] of glass paperweights, [the kids] were all allowed to hold them and touch them…And once that was behind us, it took a lot of the attractiveness out of it,” explains Jackie. “You always have to have something more interesting that they are allowed to touch.” 

Another tactic that Nana employs is the use of standard, cafeteria-issue lunch trays. The little ones are offered snacks on trays instead of directly on the coffee table. Jackie says, “The trays were a good idea because they have a [raised edge]; they control any spill, if there is one.”

That’s about it for downstairs childproofing. Upstairs, the kids have a special place that is, essentially, all their own. The third floor holds the guest bedroom and bath, John’s home office and the hidden room behind the bookcase/door. In one sunny corner, low shelves hold a collection of new and vintage toys and books. Neatly organized plastic bins hold the tiny animals, crayons and characters, corralling the strays in the mix of playthings. 

Hidden along a wall, with its own small window, is the sleeping nook. A snug spot built with the grandchildren in mind, it has a custom mattress (one side is vinyl, “for little bed-wetters,” as Jackie refers to them) and a sweet striped curtain for peeking behind. Greta, 6, the eldest grandchild, has already grown out of this “Secret Bed” and is now tucked in on the pull-out trundle on the opposite side of the room. 

As the little ones grow, the space will continue to accommodate their maturing tastes. With a flat-screen television and plenty of seating, the big kids will surely maintain their claim on this special room.

By thoughtfully equipping their otherwise empty nest, Nana and BoBana have created an inviting and unique home for even the most curious toddler while maintaining a sense of ownership, tidiness and comfort for the whole family.—Christy Baker

 

Tray-La-La

Take a tip from Nana and keep snacks and spills contained by using one of these stylish fabric-laminated trays ($41.95, Seasonal Cook). Choose from a colorful and stylish in-stock selection or send in fabric and have one custom-made. Use them for snacks, craft projects or even to display your own “please touch” collection.—C.B.

There is no more pedestrian vegetable than the potato. It is the tuber, or root, of the Solanum tuberosum plant, which is a member of the nightshade family that is native to South America. Indigenous populations in Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador have cultivated potatoes for several thousand years. The potato has taken root most famously in Ireland, but indeed appears in most cuisines as a staple starch and a fresh vegetable.

Potatoes are challenging to grow in Central Virginia for at least two reasons. Firstly, the potato prefers a loose, loamier soil than the standard compact, red clay of our fields. Soil can be amended and fluffed over time—but the harvest of potatoes requires digging them up and washing them off, so there goes your loam. Secondly, potatoes thrive in moderate temperatures of around 60 degrees, which is a very pleasant temperature at which our mercury rarely hovers. And if those challenges aren’t enough, a potato harvest can number in the thousands of pounds, putting physical and financial pressure on the grower to bring the product to market all at once.

True potato season is late spring—as the summer solstice approaches at the end of June, potato foliage matures and blooms white, indicating that the tubers are probably ready for harvest. These early summer potatoes, or “new” potatoes, have thin feathery skins and will cook rather quickly because their sugars have not yet converted to starch.

On the autumn end of the spectrum, storage potatoes are harvested before the ground freezes, and in avoidance of heavy precipitation, which can cause them to rot in the ground. Fortunately skewer season has passed, because these mature spuds look more like rocks than food.  However, they have just what it takes to hold steady in a root cellar—a thick skin and a lot of starch.—Lisa Reeder

Potato salad basics

 

Any potato can make a good potato salad, but most potato salads are so drenched in mayonnaise-y dressing that the potato flavor is absent. If it’s the potato flavor and texture that you want, follow these guidelines.

TUBER SHOPPING AND STORAGE   Ideally, a storage potato will have “cured” in a cool, dark place just after harvest, which dries the potato and thickens its skin. At home, potatoes can be stored still bearing some dirt as long as it is nice and dry. Sunshine and warmth will cause a potato to sprout, making it bitter and mildly poisonous, so find the coolest, driest, darkest spot and try to convince them they are still safe underground. If you bring home a bushel of variously-sized potatoes, don’t be dismayed—just sort them into two sizes as you clean them, and begin cooking the larger ones before slipping the smaller ones into the pot or pan.–—L.R.

Select similarly-sized potatoes, and scrub skins just before cooking to remove any dirt and leathery spots.

Cook potatoes whole in a pot large enough to give them some room to jiggle. Start them in cold water, and bring them up to a gentle boil and then turn down the heat so that they are simmering. Keep an eye on them—no lid, please.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare your dressing and other vegetables. Consider macerating raw onion in vinegar and oil, along with other thin-sliced veggies (carrot, celery, sweet pepper, cucumber). Mustard is welcome; add mayonnaise if you must, but a little bit will go a long way when combined with the starchy potato.

When a knife easily pierces the largest potato, turn off the heat and let them begin to cool in the pan. Gently scoop or dump them into a colander to drain. Dump remaining water from the pot, and return the potatoes to the pot and the cooling burner so that they steam dry until cool enough to handle.

Peel the whole potatoes, or leave their peels on, as you prefer. Cut into bite-sized pieces, and drop (ideally still warm) into the dressing you have prepared. Warm potatoes will absorb the dressing and release some starch into it, creating a clingy effect and making for a delicious salad. Stir gently to combine ingredients, adding salt as necessary, then let the potatoes sit and cool.

Before serving, loosen up the salad with a bit of olive oil, and stir in any additional seasoning (like fresh dill, thyme, parsley, chervil, and more salt and black pepper). Thin the salad with oil, thicken it with mayonnaise, and give it more zip with spicy mustard.—L.R.

Our kitchen columnist, Lisa Reeder, is a chef and local foods consultant and advocate. Read more about her at http://alocalnotion.word press.com.

 

 “I don’t throw away things that still have life in them.” With that simple credo, Peggy Mucklo explains why she chose her house. The 1825 log cabin—moved from Milam, West Virginia, and reconstructed on her land near Lovingston—was in remarkably good shape when she found it nearly 20 years ago. But more than that, it breathes the history of the many people who lived in it before her. In this lovingly restored building, you can sense the presence of decades.

RUSTIC BY NATURE. Architect Bahlmann Abbot helped move and restore a 1840s-era cabin in Western Albemarle.

That’s true despite modernizations like a kitchen, closets, and central air. Mucklo called on architect Russell Skinner to help her update the cabin for modern living while respecting its past. The result is a thoroughly liveable home that clearly preserves the craftsmanship and pioneer spirit of its origins. 

Five years later, Skinner’s business partner, Bahlmann Abbot, would undertake a cabin project of his own, this one with a different history and goals. Together, the two cabins—one a full-time home and the other a rustic retreat—illustrate a range of ways to honor an Appalachian icon.

The texture of time

 

“I was really fascinated by frontier life when I was a kid, and read a lot about it,” says Mucklo. In 1992, she owned part of a wooded mountainside in Nelson County and felt it called out for an old-fashioned house. She considered building a new cabin until she saw an ad in the Daily Progress listing this one for sale by a company called Latchstring Corporation. Its owner, Tom Thorpe, “would see [cabins] falling into ruin in the middle of fields, and would buy them,” she says.

Mucklo drove out to West Virginia to see the place, expecting something quite humble, and was surprised by the cabin’s size: 20’x30′, two stories plus an attic, with ceilings much higher than the usual 7′. The house had been inhabited until the 1950s and was electrified. “It had always had a good roof,” Mucklo says—key to its excellent condition. 

She planned to make one big change: adding a basement level to contain a modern kitchen, bathroom and utility room. Since her site is sloped, this floor would be half underground. “My role was getting some light in the basement,” says Skinner, who put French doors along the east wall and laid out the kitchen so that when Mucklo stands at her sink, she can take in the view. 

Cabinets are made of fir and designed in a simple, timeless style; Mucklo found a large soapstone laundry sink which Skinner complemented with soapstone countertops. The floor is made of brick salvaged from a building with the same vintage as the cabin, 1825, and it continues outside onto a patio, linking indoors and out. “I like a lot of natural textures,” Mucklo says, “so I love this kitchen.”

A steward of her house

 

She has an unerring eye for objects with which to adorn the space, both new (a bathroom sink, for example, made by local ceramic artist Janice Arone) and old. A collection of antique ladles lines one kitchen wall, and framed needlework pieces hang upstairs. 

MOBILE HOME. Peggy Mucklo shows a photo of her cabin in its original site in Milam, West Virginia (its summer kitchen found a different destination in Albemarle County).

Each room has a fireplace or woodstove, which not only serve a function but make a palpable connection to the past. Mucklo imagines all the fires—for cooking and heat—that must have burned in the main room upstairs. “1825” is carved into chimney stones and logs here and there.

The intervening years are visible in the lathe marks where previous owners added plaster rather than rechinking between the huge white pine timbers. But overwhelmingly, this cabin is original: walls, floors, stonework, even door hardware. 

Mucklo is very choosy about making changes. Contractor Leroy Yancey imitated original doors, for example, when making new ones for the basement. And when he asked Mucklo if she wanted a closet in her bedroom, she saw it as “a big decision.” Ultimately, she did opt to carve a closet and bathroom from the large second-floor space, also adding a spacious front porch.

She and Skinner share a sense of delight at the whole project. “You’re a steward,” he says, and she responds with a story about the first night she spent here, on the floor by the fireplace, sleepless with excitement. “How did this happen to me?” she remembers thinking. “The idea that I might be the one to keep this cabin going…” Skinner recalls his first glimpse of the cabin after reconstruction. “I was amazed,” he says. “They had just finished it and it looked like it had been here for 100 years.”

Uphill move

 

Abbot-Skinner Architects are not cabin specialists—primarily, they design contemporary dwellings—but it’s clear that Bahlmann Abbot, like Skinner, takes deep pleasure in working with a building that brings its own history to the table. 

NEW HORIZON. The cabin in Bahlmann Abbot’s family now commands a western view that can extend to West Virginia. 4: The cabin sits inside a simple yard marked out by a split-rail fence.

On a mountaintop in Western Albemarle, in 1997, Abbot oversaw a cabin move much shorter than the journey made by Peggy Mucklo’s house—in this case, only a quarter-mile. His father-in-law, Bob Buford, had bought a piece of property on the mountain that included an 1840s-era cabin. “It was [on] a good site beside a spring,” he says, “somewhat sheltered. It faced the southwest, so it wasn’t the dark holler that everybody talks about. It had this natural protection to it, but we had a field just a quarter-mile away. Then you would have a 270-degree view”: on a good day, all the way to West Virginia.

The family agreed to move the cabin and restore it as a special place for gatherings and quiet retreats. It would have no electricity or plumbing, and its small size and simple layout would be preserved. The goal, Abbot says, was “to make it look not unlike something that people would have lived in.” 

Walls (made from oak and chestnut timbers) and chimney were in good enough shape to reuse, but the cabin needed a new floor system and roof. The team—including builder Peter Hunter and mason Shelton Sprouse—looked for ways to repurpose old materials that could no longer serve their original functions. For example, one timber that wasn’t structurally sound anymore became a mantelpiece. “We tried not to use anything out of place, like pressure-treated wood,” says Abbot.

Changes for the better

 

Still, Abbot and his partners weren’t overly precious about preservation: They enlarged a window, raised ceilings and eliminated half the second floor to create a loft. All these moves make the cabin more comfortable for modern occupants (though one still has to cook outside, build a fire to stay warm, and use an outhouse). 

Abbot created a loft by removing half the second floor and added a rhododendron-branch railing. He also enlarged a window somewhat to take advantage of the new view. The family agreed to keep the cabin very rustic, with no plumbing or electricity, and decorated it with antiques.

Adding a porch on the west side must have been a no-brainer: The view here is enormous. In the distance are the Shenandoah Valley and Skyline Drive. In the foreground is the sloping ground of an open meadow, populated by one formidable oak and a number of old apple trees where bears and deer like to forage. A split-rail fence marks out a rectangular yard, and furnishings are sparse indoor and out, keeping the focus on the setting. 

Creativity blends with an appreciation for history, as in the railing made of rhododendron branches that Abbot built for the loft. “It’s probably a little bit out of place in that cabin but it’s in keeping with the rustic nature of it,” he says. Another family member made a book for invited guests to sign, along with “anybody who happened to walk along and discover the cabin,” Abbot says. “We’re on the third book now and people from all over the world.”

The family calls the place “Pa’s Folly,” but the effort to dismantle and restore this little house has clearly paid off. “There have been three weddings up there,” says Abbot. “More often than not it’s a place to hike to, hang out and watch the wildlife. A lot of times we’ll go over an hour before dark and sit quietly and watch it get dark, and the animals come out. It’s a retreat.”

 

 

 

 

 

 One of the main dilemmas if you’re in the market for a home is whether to build a new home or buy an existing one. The choice depends on what is important to the buyer—and on finances—but the good news is that either has some advantages, even in this economy. 

Building a home from scratch is the perfect solution for someone who wants to design a house’s layout, pick fixtures and cabinets, and, ultimately, be the first to live in it. 

Greg Slater, 2010 president of the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors (CAAR), says that many people choose to build so that they can install energy efficient appliances and sustainable materials. 

An additional perk, if you build a new home, is the one-year warranty the state gives the homeowner. “It covers everything, bumper to bumper, if you will,” says Slater. 

Although the real estate market crash and the timid economy have contributed to the slowing down of construction nationwide, interest is picking up again. 

“There was a real quiet spell for building homes for a while,” says Sasha Farmer, local Realtor with Montague, Miller and Company. In her experience, builders became cautious as they focused on trying to survive a tough market. Those who made it are ready for business. “I found that lately, lots of people are going after building their own homes just because they can get exactly what they want,” she says.  

That may not be true in Charlottesville proper. “You don’t see it really as much in the city, because there is not much left to build on,” says Farmer, who is currently working with three individuals who are taking the build-your-own route. Crozet, Louisa, and Zions Crossroads, on the other hand, are hotbeds of residential construction.  

In terms of lending, building a home can present some challenges. If the builder carries the cost for the actual construction, the future homeowner can apply for a standard mortgage, with normal Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac underwriting guidelines. But if the builder does not finance the construction, things get a bit more complex. In that case, the homeowner will need a construction loan, says Bill Bader of Greenwood Lending. 

“[Construction loans] are a lot tougher to get in this market,” he says, adding that many banks that used to issue risky construction loans before the market crash are now out of business. “The government didn’t really change their guidelines; the market dynamics happened and nobody wanted to risk anymore,” he says. 

If you’re going to apply for a construction loan, be ready to have a 20-25 percent down payment, an excellent credit score and money in the bank. If you own the land, you can use it as the down payment. “That’s where it makes a lot of sense to go after a construction loan,” says Bader, who says that most area builders will, in fact, carry their own construction cost. 

What are the perks of buying instead of building? The greatest advantage now of buying an existing home is inventory. “There are many, many more homes for sale than there are buyers that would buy right now,” says Farmer. According to CAAR, there are currently 2,721 existing homes on the market. 

Aside from that number, buying an existing home comes with a few pluses: an established neighborhood, known property values and resale potential. 

“I think it’s easier now than it might have been a couple of years ago to find your exact home,” says Farmer. “There is a lot of selection, both with existing and with what you can build, and I know people who are facing some very hard decisions trying to figure out which route to go.”

 When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. When life hands you a small living room, make do. 

Highlight a room’s focal points, like a fireplace, and bring furniture into the center of the room, anchored by an area rug. Even a small or narrow space (below) can have a sense of openness if large pieces are opposite each other for balance.

As a renter, it’s easy to feel literally boxed in when it comes to home improvement. However, the inability to knock down walls and tear up old tiles doesn’t mean you can’t easily make a space look brand new, at least to you. Furniture placement and arrangement is an easy and often overlooked way to give your home a makeover. Here are a few simple rules for arranging furniture. 

1. Make a new plan. Careful planning can not only help you maximize your space, but can save you and your back a lot of pain. Measure your space and create a scale diagram (the graph paper you hated in high school geometry is perfect for this—easy conversion is one square on the graph paper equals one square foot in your space). Be sure to include features like windows, built-ins, radiators, outlets, etc. Measure your furniture and create replicas using craft paper. If your dining table is 6′ long, it should span the length of 6 squares on your graph paper. Creating this model will help you see if furniture will fit, try multiple arrangements, and easily “move” heavy furniture without the leg work. If you aren’t feeling crafty, several websites offer free, online room builder software (try bhg.com).

2. Focus. Before you start to play musical chairs, find the focal point for your space. The focal point could be a prominent architectural feature like a large window, a fireplace, or a set of built-ins. Or it could be the elephant in the room…the television. It’s O.K., I promise I won’t judge. If the focal point is not easily discernable, look for the part of the room that naturally draws your attention and consider how the room is going to be used. If its primary use is to watch television, it makes no sense to arrange the room as a library and have all of your seating at uncomfortable viewing angles. 

3. Size matters. Start by placing the largest pieces (sofas, beds, tables) in the room and work in the smaller pieces. Whenever possible, place your large pieces opposite each other to create balance in a space. Placing all your large pieces on one side of the room can create a feeling of heaviness on that side. Be flexible and honest. If your new bedroom is on the small side, it might be time to craigslist that California King. Consider reworking pieces in different rooms. Try your night stands as end tables, or the old foot chest at the foot of your bed as a coffee table.

4. Leave walking space. Forcing too much furniture into a room will only overwhelm you and your space. Moving between your furniture and around your room should not feel like climbing over a row of people at a matinee of Les Miserables. 

5. It’s not a show room; it’s your living room. Make sure the space meets your practical needs. Check to see if you can pull all of the dining room chairs out from the table without hitting the walls or sideboard. Make sure the TV is visible from the appropriate seating without doing backbends. Can people have conversations at comfortable distances? Is there somewhere to put your beer down while you’re sitting on the sofa?

6. Float on. Don’t force all of your furniture against the walls unless you plan on hosting dance classes in the center of the room. Bring your pieces out into the room and anchor them with an area rug. Floating furniture is an easy way to create great division within a space and make smaller “rooms” within a room. A sofa placed in the middle of a rectangular space can create a half wall, leaving the perfect space for a dining area behind. Don’t be defined by a square room. Try angling your bed on a corner to potentially create more usable space. The possibilities are really endless.

 

Tools you already own

 

Make MacGyver proud: use items you already have in your home in lieu of a trip to the hardware store.

Creaky, wobbly chair? Matchsticks can do the trick: shove in the wooden end of the stick and snap or snip off the end that sticks out. Use as many as necessary to fill the gap in the joint.

A nutmeg or zester can be used as a rasp. A butter knife doubles as a flathead screwdriver, in a pinch. Use a rolling pin as a mallet to tap wooden furniture tighter. A fork can act as an awl: pop out a hinge pin, create a tap hole for a drill. 

Need a clamp? Use the weight of your cast iron skillet. 

A plate can act as a palette. A mixing bowl: a bucket.

Empty glass jars are perfect for leftover oil paints or solvents. Yogurt tubs can serve as containers for small batches of latex or acrylic paints and soaking small brushes.

Even index cards can act as shims or mixing palettes for glue (I use them to push glue into cracks that I otherwise can’t get to). 

Last but not least, using cornstarch and hot water, you can mix up a batch of glue that works well on paper and other small, porous repair projects!

Oh, and I think there’s a way to make a reciprocating saw out of a couple of chopsticks and a potato, but I’ll have to double-check…—Christy Baker

 

 Ernest Hemingway once said, “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you.” This is especially true for Toan Nguyen. 

A French citizen until he was 18, the C’ville Coffee owner feels a special connection to France’s capital city, which he’s incorporated in his North Downtown home.

The hub of his home’s activity, the living room is a kind of shrine to Paris. A map of the Metro system hangs on the wall; a metal replica of the Eiffel Tower sits next to the computer; nearly 50 books on the city take up two shelves on the room’s massive bookcase. Then there are the 70 albums of photos Nguyen has compiled, documenting his family’s trips to places like Hawaii, Maine, Quebec, Italy and, of course, the City of Light. His prized possession—a large-scale 3D map of Paris, framed behind plexiglass, with multicolored lines drawn on its surface to indicate the streets he’s traveled—hangs on a northern-facing wall. Nguyen estimates he’s walked nearly 600 miles of the city. 

“To me, I love walking there because it’s like a little village,” he says. “Each quartier, each quarter, has its own feeling.” 

It’s a feeling Nguyen one day hopes to experience daily. His 10-year goal is to own an apartment in Paris. “It has to have an incredible view of the Eiffel Tower and have a terrace,” he says. “That’s one way…I can give a perpetual gift to kids and grandkids. You know, my love for Paris.”

•

 

“My father was ambassador to Laos. He was educated at the Sorbonne and my mother was educated at the University of Paris. So, they met in Paris, they got married in Paris. And my oldest brother was born in Paris. So, there’s a lot of connection.

“Paris is so on a human scale. When you walk around New York, you feel dwarfed by these big, massive buildings, whereas Paris is very human. You can relate to the architecture.

“Paris is 21 miles by 21 miles, so it’s like 440 square miles and they managed to cram in 6,000 miles of street. That’s like from here to Los Angeles and back.

“A lot of people love Paris, but it’s still a foreign place. To me, it’s always been the center of our family’s universe because of all the history we’ve had with it. 

“I grew up in Brussels (in Belgium), which is like a mini-Paris. So, when I go back [to Paris], it’s like going back to home.

“My daughter is a UVA first year and she’s majoring in French. So, you know, her living in Paris and back have made her love the language and the culture.

“Paris is like the ultimate city when a city grows up.”