Here comes another fun-filled issue of ABODE, lovingly edited by yours truly! On the stands now is the story of a fabulous remake of a typical Charlottesville cottage–one of those boxy, built-in-the-’50s places that’s as sturdy as a tank and about as exciting, stylistically….That is, until Trent Coleman came along and transformed it into a quirky, light-filled space featuring such elements as an indoor waterfall, a two-sided fireplace and a bathroom big enough to hold a few dozen potted plants.
I love the creative design embodied in this place, but I also love the idea that our familiar housing stock can truly find new life given enough imagination. Far greener to update existing homes than to keep building new ones, on previously open tracts of land. Check out the story and let us know what you think.
Also in ABODE this month, we’ve got tons of suggestions for local and sustainable holiday shopping, including a new website devoted to Charlottesville-area businesses. And if you’re still trying to eat seasonally, Lisa Reeder has advice on cooking that not-so-flashy but very worthy winter vegetable, collard greens. She explains that collards, eaten on New Year’s Day, represent money (i.e., greenbacks) that will flow toward the eater in the new year.
Which reminds me…One more thing from the new issue: LEAP is offering loans to make your house more efficient at–get this–0 percent. Sounds pretty doable to me.