Fall Home & Garden

+ +

The Anniston Star Sunday, October 24, 2010 Page 11EFALL HOME IMPROVEMENT

The Anniston StarSunday, October 24, 2010

Fall

Home &Garden

Photo illustration by Jessica Stephens

and Bill Wilson/ The Anniston Star

LIFE 1E

Fall

Home & Garden

Photo illustration by Jessica Stephens

and Bill Wilson/ The Anniston Star

The nights grow longer, and thoughts turn inward, to warmth and comfort • This week’s Life section is devoted to home • Gardening

columnist Shane Harris lists do’s and don’ts for fall (Page 3E) • Local designer amy J. Staples advises we surround ourselves with our

favorite things (Page 8E) • Bestselling author Bill Bryson details the history of the dining room (Page 9E) • Local designer Scott Skinner

predicts that gray and purple are the new brown (Page 10E) • In between are tips for bathrooms, bedrooms, kids’ rooms and more ...

COlORS • TEXTURES • FURNITURE • aCCESSORIES

lISa davIS, SMall TalK aNd CElEBRaTIONS, PaGE 2E

PaGE 6E PaGE 8E PaGE 10E PaGE 5E

1A

+ +

Page 2E Sunday, October 24, 2010 The Anniston Star lifE

NEWS YOU CAN USE

A fall festival is to be 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Oct. 30 at Cane Creek Community Gardens at McClellan. Fall farm-ers market, kid’s activities, hayrides, treasure hunt, quilt show, arts/crafts contest, live music and more are to be available. Admission is to be $1 or wear a Halloween costume and get in free. Call 256-237-1621 or visit www.aces.edu/calhoun for more infor-mation.

•••A Halloween carnival for ages 0-12 is to be 4:30-7

p.m. Oct. 30 at the Oxford Civic Center. Free admis-sion. Games, prizes, costume contest, hay ride, concessions and more are to be available. Costume contest begins at 5 p.m. Call 256-831-2660 for more information.

•••“Downtown Halloween safe trick or treat,”

sponsored by the Piedmont Housing Authority and the Piedmont Police Department, is to be 3-5 p.m. Friday in the downtown Piedmont area. Everyone is asked to come dressed in Halloween attire. Call Keith Work at 256-447-6734 or 256-239-8342 for more information.

•••The American Legion Auxiliary Unit 312 “trick

or trunk” is to be 4-6 p.m. Oct. 30 at the American Legion Post 312, 1330 W. 10th St. Call 256-237-3672 for more information.

•••The annual “Grantee Reception,” sponsored

by the Anniston Community Education Founda-tion, is to be 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursday at Classic on Noble. The event is to recognize the Foundation’s new grant recipients and is opened to the public, but RSVP is required. Call 256-741-1629 or 256-741-1630 for more information.

•••The McClellan Bookworms are to meet at 10 a.m.

Friday in the McClellan Center conference room. Book of the month, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Steig Larson, is to be discussed. Call Melinda Har-vey, Gadsden State Community College librarian, at 256-549-9352 or 256-549-8548.

•••The Cheaha Trail Riders, Inc., 8th annual Make-

A-Wish Foundation event is to be 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Coosa River Storage Annex in Talladega. Everyone is invited. Free lunch is to include hot-dogs, chips and drinks to be served beginning at 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Drawings for prizes to be at 1 p.m. You may enter the drawings by donating $5 or more to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. You will receive a ticket for every $5 donation. All donations go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation Georgia and Alabama Chapter. Visit www.cheahatrailriders.com for more information.

•••The Civil Rights Trail Committee of the Spirit of

Anniston community meeting is to be 5:30-7 p.m. Thursday at the Carver Center. Topics are to include getting feedback on Trail logo design; brochure copy and ideas for murals on West 15th Street that would depict local African American heritage. Refresh-ments will be served. Call the Spirit of Anniston at 256-236-0996 for more information.

•••All proceeds from the sale of jewelry during

October will go to the Steel Magnolia Breast Cancer Support Group as part of Breast Cancer Awareness month. Recycled antique jewelry by Marti may be purchased at Cotton Antiques, 518 Main St., Oxford. Call Marti for donations of old, broken jewelry at 256-239-0855.

•••The Good Shepherd Kindergarten is accepting

enrollment to its 2010-2011 program. It is a church preschool with classes for K-4 and K-5. A Spanish class, computer and field trips are also offered. Call 256-237-2429 for more information.

zhoroscopes

By Bernice Bede OsOl

Do everything that you can in the year ahead to keep in your corner allies that you already have as well as any new ones that you make. Although friends have been fortunate for you in the past, they’ll be even more crucial in the future.

äSCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov.

22) - Check with the group before making any social plans that you think everyone would enjoy. People might have commitments to engage in other activities, and will have to disappoint you.

ãSAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-

Dec. 21) - Bury any foul mood you might be harboring, so that you don’t unintention-ally cloud an involvement that is running smoothly as yet. It’ll help you in the pro-cess, as well.

åCAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan.

19) - Do not compete against the one you love for the atten-tion of your friends, even if you think s/he is hogging the limelight. Events will unfold naturally and even out the score.

çAQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb.

19) - When in a competitive involvement, don’t let your guard down for one minute. Being lackadaisical or indif-ferent would immediately shift the odds in favor of your opposition.

éPISCES (Feb. 20-March

20) - Be careful, if you’re feel-ing a bit left out, that you do not contradict companions for the sake of drawing atten-tion to yourself. Instead, smile and everyone will smile back.

ÉARIES (March 21-April

19) - There is nothing that is quicker to cause a spat than money matters, but if what is occurring is disturbing to you, you’ll have better things to say if you wait until you calm down before responding.

ÑTAURUS (April 20-May

20) - Be mindful of your behavior so that you don’t react harshly to something that disturbs you, and alien-ate a good associate in the process. An explosion on your part could wipe out any cooperation.

ÖGEMINI (May 21-June 20)

- A distasteful task that you and everybody else have been dodging might rear its ugly head and demand immediate attention. Attempting to pass the buck will cause even more trouble.

ÜCANCER (June 21-July 22)

- Instead of trying to appease the majority and yielding to peer pressure when you believe what they ask of you is wrong, have the gumption to stand up to them and show them where they’re mistaken.

áLEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -

Trying to compare your lot in life against another’s is need-lessly asking to be discontent with your situation. Strive to be grateful for what you do have.

àVIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -

If you are an individual who is blessed with seeing life from a humorous perspective, be careful at whom you aim your wit. The wrong person might not appreciate seeing life as funny.

âLIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23)

- You are a fair person who always tries to share with others, but be careful that a selfish manipulator doesn’t coerce you into relinquish-ing more than your practical judgment dictates.

The manager for human resources was making the rounds of the newspaper office recently, signing people up for the flu shots

that are given every year up here.

“Flu shot, Lisa?” she asked.

“No thanks,” I answered. “I’m good.”

“Ah,” said a co-worker standing nearby. “You must be one of those.”

Those being the folks who steadfastly refuse to get flu shots, despite any scientific evidence and

common sense to the contrary.Now, I’ll admit, I used to be one of those.Flu shots hurt, I’d heard. They might

actually give you the flu, I’d heard. They don’t allow your immune system to develop naturally, I’d heard.

For more than 40 years, I never had a flu shot, and I never had the flu. I used to brag about that. I figured I shouldn’t mess with the streak by doing something as silly as actually getting a flu shot.

And then, four years ago, when my daughter was in second grade, she got the flu. And I saw firsthand just how awful it is.

This was in the B.T. era (Before Tami-flu), so my daughter was out of school for a week. Actually, more than half of the entire second grade was out for a week.

My daughter didn’t want to move out of the bed. She felt so bad she actually took naps. She subsisted on chicken soup and Tylenol, and I read aloud all 320 pages of Ginger Pye to keep her entertained.

I had seen the flu, and I did not want it. Ever since, all four members of the family have been forced to get flu shots every year.

This edict has fallen hardest on my son, who hates shots with a purple passion.

One year, it took two nurses to give him his flu shot. They had to chase him around the exam room, and only caught him after they trapped him between the exam table and the wall.

And the flu shots protected us well, until last year’s swine flu outbreak.

It was fall break, and we were having such a lovely time at the beach. There had been a few cases of swine flu at school, but I thought we had skated around it. And then, on the last day of fall break, my daughter woke up with 102-degree fever.

I did the math. She had been feeling bad the night before. Tamiflu is supposed to be started within 24 hours of the first flu symp-toms. Factoring in a six-hour drive home, there was no way we could make it back to our own doctor in time.

And that’s how we found ourselves spending the last day of fall break in the emergency room of Sacred Heart Hospital in Florida.

When the manager for human resources asked if I wanted a flu shot, and I said no thanks, I didn’t mean that I was one of those.

I just meant that I’d already gotten my flu shot — in September, no less, thank you very much.

Call me smug and self-righteous if you like, but just realize, I’m leaving more Tami-flu for the rest of you.

Contact Lisa Davis at 256-235-3555, [email protected].

shoo f lu, don’t bother me

TIME TRAVELS

Do you have any info about this photograph?

This photo is part of the Banks photography collection housed in the Alabama Room of the Public Library of Anniston and Calhoun County.

In the late 1940s, Mayor Exum D. Banks hired an official city photographer to document city life.

If you have any more information about this photo, contact the Alabama Room at 256-237-8501 or at P.O. Box 308, Anniston, AL 36202.

To browse the photo collection, visit the library’s homepage, www.anniston.lib.al.us and click on “Searching Digital Photos Tutorial.” (It’s a video file; you will need to have Shockwave installed.)

Copies of the photos can be ordered through the website.

When it comes to love, people seek wisdom from all sorts of strange places.

From self-help books about moving cheese to Dr. Phil, Dr. Laura or any of the pseu-do-shrinks in between, few ever find anything more than debit card receipts, frustration and a deepening sense of self-loathing whose voice sounds like Morgan Free-man.

“Have you lost your ever-lovin’ mind?” it

says. “You can learn more about love and happiness from an episode of Good Times than from these quacks.”

That’s your conscience talking. I’m guilty of it, too. When it comes to

unlocking the mysteries of marital bliss, I look to one man: Garth Brooks.

Hold on … just hear me out.True, the country crooner defines

cheesy, but that doesn’t mean his music is without merit, especially when it comes to matters of the heart.

Exhibit A: “Unanswered Prayers.” This little ditty about a happily married man who runs into an old flame during a high school football game speaks volumes about how sometimes love is best when it’s unrequited.

As of Friday, Oct. 22, I have been mar-ried for five years.

Five years! That’s longer than it took for me to quit smoking.

This from the doofus who, as a mis-anthropic college kid, once railed openly about the “fraud of marriage,” while also talking about how “contentment led to spiritual and emotional death.”

For some reason drinking keg beer out of a trash can had turned me into a dark poet the likes of which would’ve gotten Anne Sexton elected Miss Conge-niality.

It was also the voice of the young, dumb, easily wounded and often dis-trustful. Sadly, I believed what I spewed, mainly because I’d loved and lost (and no, it ain’t better), so I decided to give up on the whole thing.

Sure there were other relationships, but everything had an expiration date. I even once proposed to a girl — totally hypothetically and accidentally, only she missed that part of the conversation. We broke up three days later.

Marriage wasn’t something I wanted. It seemed too hard, too old-fashioned, too contrived, lasted too long and getting out of it required signatures and paper-work. The deepest commitment I’d been willing to make was sharing a dresser drawer. Now, that’s romance.

I was a hypocrite-in-training. All it took was one blind date to show me the flaws in my philosophy and set my life on course.

Since that first date and the six-month courtship (including a brief break-up that built the foundation for a strong friend-ship), My Lovely Wife has brought me more joy and happiness than I thought possible back when weekends started on Thursday afternoons and five hours was considered a “full load.”

She is the love of my life. True, it’s not all poetry, champagne

and love songs. Sometimes it’s leftovers, beer and reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but no matter what happens, we face this world together … and that’s what makes life worth living.

While I may have never run into any ex-girlfriends at hometown football games (thanks to those restraining orders and the fear of being pelted with corn dogs), sometimes I still thank God for unanswered prayers … and the one that came true.

Contact Brett Buckner at [email protected].

LisaDavis

FeaturesEditor

happy anniversary to My Lovely Wife

CELEBRATIONS: Weddings, engagements, anniversaries and births

▶ Jernigan, HambyRobin L. Pearce of Yorktown, Va.,

announces the engagement of her daughter, Lindsey W. Jernigan, to Joshua J. Hamby, son of Lynn and Diana Hamby of Bristol, Va. Ms. Jernigan is also the daughter of the late Robert L. Jernigan.

The bride-elect is the granddaughter of Jewel W. Thaxton of Ohatchee and the late Ernest L. Jones, and the late Ora Jean Jernigan, formerly of Suffolk, Va.

Miss Jernigan is a 2005 graduate of Tabb High School in Yorktown, Va. She will be a 2010 graduate of Liberty University in Lynch-burg, Va., with a bachelor’s degree in nursing.

The prospective groom is the grandson of Charles and Nancy Howard of Harri-man, Tenn., and the late Herbert and Louise Hamby, formerly of Harriman, Tenn.

Mr. Hamby is a 2006 graduate of Virginia High School in Bristol, Va. He will be a 2011 graduate of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., with a bachelor’s degree in international cultural studies.

The couple is active in foreign missions. The wedding will be in May 2011, at Liberty

Baptist Church in Hampton, Va.

BrettBucknerThe Dirt

AnnetteMaddox

Small Talk

While Christmas is still a couple of months away (this, despite candy corn and candy canes jostling for shelf space

at your friendly big box retailer), you can “get your merry on” in less than two weeks at the Empty Stock-ing Gala, scheduled for 7 p.m. Nov. 5 at the Annis-ton City Meeting Center.

Empty Stocking began 22 years ago as a way to supply Christmas gifts to foster children in Calhoun and Cleburne counties.

Thanks to the generosity of the com-munity and the growing success of the annual Empty Stocking Gala, the organi-zation has been able to meet the needs of all the foster children every year, and even have a little left over to take necessities to nursing home residents who have no rela-tives to bring gifts for Christmas.

The Gala is the premier Christmas party of the season, with an extraordinary show band — Party Nation — plus an open bar and catering by David Mash-burn’s Classic on Noble.

But all of its sponsors will tell you that their favorite part of Empty Stocking is the day they shop for Christmas gifts for more than 300 children.

This year’s ball chairperson, Sherlyn McWhorter, has her committees busier than Santa’s elves as they prepare for the festive, fun event.

New to the Empty Stocking board this year are Brenda and Melvin Morgan, Karlynn and David McCormack, Tammy

and Gary Wiggington, Kelly and Bill Miller, and Mary Jo and Todd Tripp.

Returning board members include Brenda and Joe Bynum, Donna and Mac Gannon, Betty and Robert Jackson, Toni and Art Hathorn, Tracie and Bobby Fos-ter, Julie and Jeff Hansek, Karen and Mark Lee, Lisa and Mike Askew, Mysti and Chuck Ward, Jennifer and Steve Swafford, Edith and Paul Trammell, Kenny Steppe, Linda McLaughlin, and Sherlyn and Corey McWhorter.

For more information about Empty Stocking, go to www.emptystocking.net or call 256-832-5399.

To share your news with Small Talk, contact Annette Maddox at [email protected].

It’s beginning to look a lot like … christmas?

Save the dateHead to Tyson Art and Frame

(3326 Henry Road, Anniston) at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 28 for a very spe-cial wine tasting with Syndee Isbell of International Wines and Leigh Monroe of Pinnacle Imports. They will be pouring 14 different wines, with a portion of the proceeds going to the local chapter of S.A.V.E. (Saving Ani-mals Volunteer Effort). Tasting fee is only $5! Check out S.A.V.E. at www.alsave.org.

A fall festival is to be 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Oct. 30 at Cane Creek Community Gardens at McClellan. Fall farmers market, kid’s activ-ities, hayrides, treasure hunt, quilt show, arts/crafts contest, live music and more are to be available. Admission is to be $1 or wear a Halloween costume and get in free. Call 256-237-1621 or visit www.aces.edu/calhoun for more information.

•••A Halloween carnival for ages 0-12 is to

be 4:30-7 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Oxford Civic Center. Free admission. Games, prizes,

costume contest, hay ride, concessions and more are to be available. Costume contest begins at 5 p.m. Call 256-831-2660 for more information.

•••“Downtown Halloween safe trick or

treat,” sponsored by the Piedmont Hous-ing Authority and the Piedmont Police Department, is to be 3-5 p.m. Friday in the downtown Piedmont area. Everyone is asked to come dressed in Halloween attire. Call Keith Word at 256-447-6734 or 256-239-8342 for more information.

•••The American Legion

Auxiliary Unit 312 “trick or trunk” is to be 4-6 p.m. Oct. 30 at the American Legion Post 312, 1330 W. 10th St. Call 256-237-3672 for more information.

+ +

The Anniston Star Sunday, October 24, 2010 Page 3ELIFE11A

Of all the seasons, fall ranks next to spring as my favorite time of the year. Being a naturalist by heart, I love spending time outdoors either enjoying the scenery or

just working in the yard. I believe it’s the cooler weather that motivates me to tackle those outdoor chores. Here are some gardening chores to do and not do this fall:

• DO mow the lawn one or two more times. It’s a very good idea to bag those grass clippings at this time. Mowing while bagging is sort of like vacuuming your lawn; it sucks up unwanted weed seeds, picks up any small debris or trash and makes the

lawn nice and neat.• DON’T scalp the lawn. Be careful when you mow that

you don’t cut the lawn too low. Be sure your lawn mower blade is sharp and that you are mowing the grass at the proper height. Scalping your lawn takes off the upper green portions and exposes the brown parts underneath, resulting in a bad-looking lawn. Scalping also stresses the lawn, inviting other problems.

• DO plant spring-flowering bulbs. Although not all flowers are true bulbs, I am referring to all bulb-like structures, including daffodils, narcissus, tulips, lilies, crocuses, hyacinths and irises. Planted in the fall, most bloom the following spring, well before most perenni-als and annuals. In Alabama, spring flowering bulbs can be planted from late October through late December in most areas. Always buy from a reputable dealer. Avoid bulbs that are soft, moldy-looking or discolored. Select large, firm bulbs without blemishes or rotten spots and store them in a cold, dry place until planting time. If you cannot plant the bulbs right away, store them at around 60-65 degrees before planting. Temperatures above 70 degrees may damage the bulbs.

• DON’T burn or throw away those raked-up leaves and pine straw. Yard debris is very valuable and is a great source for organic matter or mulch. Plus it’s free! Place those leaves in your compost pile, scatter them out to cre-ate natural areas, put them in your vegetable garden or use them as mulch.

• DO mulch those leaves onto your lawn. You can rake or bag the leaves off your lawn, but mulching them directly back into the lawn is very beneficial. Shredding grass clippings, leaves or even pine needles into the lawn when mowing breaks them up for faster decomposition. Although not very appealing at first, it requires no rak-ing, and the nutrients and organic matter are returned directly to the soil.

• DO start a compost pile. If you want to improve your soil or need soil for planting, why not grow your own? Through composting, yard and garden waste, plant mate-rials, paper and even some food products can be recycled into an excellent soil conditioner. Once broken down, the composted plant material become a dark, crumbly, soil-like product called humus, which is an ideal soil medium for plants and vegetables because it improves soil struc-ture, drainage and fertility.

• DO replenish the mulch around your plants. A fresh layer of mulch should be added almost every year. No more than 3 inches is best. Mulch helps hold in moisture,

keeps the plant warm in the winter and cooler in the sum-mer, suppresses weeds and gives the landscape a more attractive and formal appearance. The leaves and pine straw that are falling in your yard make great free mulch.

• DO take a soil test. Fall is a good time to apply lime if your lawn, orchard or garden needs it. It will have plenty of time to soak in and take effect by spring. Instead of guessing, refer to a soil test to determine your soil’s pH and appropriate lime and fertilizer recommendations. Many crop failures are a direct result of improper soil pH and wrong fertilize applications. A $7 soil test is such a small investment compared to all other expenses.

• DO plant winter annuals, shrubs and trees. Many winter annuals such as pansies are now available and can be placed in containers and flowerbeds. They will provide much-needed color during most of the winter. Fall is also the ideal time to add new trees and shrubs to your home landscape. Maybe you recently saw a tree with fantastic fall color that you simply must have in your yard. Planting in the fall gives plants more time to get their roots established before the spring growing season arrives. This is critical for surviving the hot dry summers of Alabama. Be sure to water all new plants as needed to ensure survival.

• DON’T prune your shrubs and trees in the fall. Plants that get pruned in the fall may respond by putting on a new flush of growth. This new tender growth is more susceptible to damage during a frost or freezing weather. Most plants should be pruned in January and February, or after they have finished blooming in the spring.

• DO put out a pre-emergence herbicide on your lawn to help prevent those winter weeds from coming up. You must apply the herbicide in the fall if you want no weeds this winter. Once the weeds start sprouting, you will have to look at other control strategies. Always read the herbi-cide label for directions and instructions.

• DON’T fertilize the lawn in the fall. Despite all the TV ads reminding homeowners to winterize their lawns in the fall, such an idea does not work on Alabama turfgrass-es. Winterizing only applies to areas north of Alabama that are able to grow cool season lawns such as fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, bentgrass or ryegrass. Our lawns in east central Alabama do not grow in the winter, but go dormant in the fall. There is absolutely no advantage to fertilizing your lawn in the fall. Doing so only makes your lawn vulnerable to being killed by the first frost or freeze. It is a total waste of fertilizer, unless you enjoy fertilizing those winter weeds.

Shane Harris is a regional extension agent for the Ala-bama Cooperative Exten-sion System serving east central Ala-bama. For help on other home and garden questions, contact your local county Extension office or visit www.aces.edu.

3E

Stormco mfg. co.5395 US Hwy 431 • Alexandria

(256) 820-1412

It’s screen tIme!• custom sIze screens

• sun screens

• screen repaIrs

• rescreen Your Frames

• screen Doors/slIDer screens

• screens rooms

• storm WInDoWs & Doors

securItY storm Doorsover 50 DesIgns

custom sIzes avaIlable

2676

72

X534

WWW.JOHNDEERE.COM

NEXT SPRING’S LAWN THANKS YOU IN ADVANCE.

NO INTEREST FOR 12 MONTHS FOLLOWED

BY 9.9% APR1

$500 off2

all X500 Select Series™ Tractors

X729 SELECT SERIES•$700 off2

•27-hp*•48-in, 54-in or 62-in mower deck•Full-time 4WD•Exclusive 4-wheel steer•4-year/700-hour limited warranty

X360 SELECT SERIES•$300 off2

•22-hp*•48-in mower deck•Power Steering•One-touch hydraulic lift•4-year/300-hour limited warranty

112 months no interest with payments followed by 9.9% APR on Select Series Tractors and EZtrak™ Series Zero-Turn mowers offer available August 31, 2010, through October 29, 2010. Subject to approved credit on John Deere Credit Revolving Plan, a service of FPC Financial, f.s.b. Some restrictions apply. For consumer use only. No interest for 12 months only. Payments of 2.5% of amount fi nanced are required during and after the promotional period. After promotional period, interest charge will begin to accrue at 9.9% APR and is for qualifi ed buyers. Other special rates and terms may be available, including installment fi nancing and fi nancing for commercial use. Available at participating dealers. See your dealer for details. 2Save $300 USD on Select Series X300 Tractors and $500 on Select Series X500 Tractors and $700 on Select Series X700 Tractors offer avail-able August 31, 2010, through October 29, 2010. Prices and models may vary by dealer. Savings based on the purchase of eligible equipment. Offers available on new equipment. See your dealer for details. *Engine horsepower information is provided by the engine manufacturer to be used for comparison purposes only. Actual operating horsepower will be less. John Deere’s green and yellow color scheme, the leaping deer symbol and JOHN DEERE are trademarks of Deere & Company.

AD3JBU1A146760-00335159

PIEDMONT OUTDOOR613 NORTH MAIN, PIEDMONT, AL 36272-1113

(256) 447-7211www.piedmontoutdoor.net

The do’s and don’ts of fall gardeningGardening in the fall

Quality Products - Warranty Workmanship - Windows - Doors

THE WINDOW MAN, INC.Sat i s fy ing A labama Customers s ince 1993

FreeEstimates

(256) 846-0641 or (256) 892-5559www.WindowManAlabama.com

#1 Energy Star Rated - Simonton Windows

274225

Help Reduce Your Heating Bill

The Anniston Star

MONDay recOrDYour guide to Calhoun County’s

public records and vital statistics.

ShaneHarris

On Gardening

+ +

Page 4E Sunday, October 24, 2010 The Anniston Star LIFE

4E

Introducing the compact track loaders only Kubota could build. Call today for your Kubota SVL Series demo.

www.kubota.com��

��

Talladega International Tractor35450 Alabama Hwy. 21 North

Talladega, AL 35160(256) 362-6113

Using recycled materials in the garden is hardly new, but few do it with Matthew Levesque’s flair.

Levesque creates custom artwork, furniture and light-ing for garden designers and has had his work featured on national TV.

Now he shares ideas and techniques for creating your own garden accents from castoffs in The Revolutionary Yardscape: Ideas for Repurposing Local Materials to Cre-ate Containers, Pathways, Lighting, and More.

The book is geared toward gardens with a contempo-rary style. Some of the projects depend on serendipitous

finds, but many feature items that are widely available. Among them are a railing for an outdoor stairway

made from free-form copper tubing, a tool shed made from louvered shutters and a patio assembled from scrap granite and other stone.

His ideas can be copied literally, but he also helps readers look at old junk with fresh eyes and come up with their own reuses.

The Revolutionary Yardscape is published by Timber Press and sells for $22.95 in softcover.

— Akron Beacon Journal

ON THe SHeLf: Garden designer recycles castoffs

By NormaN WINtErMcClatchy Newspapers

Without question the best yard art I see in gar-dens comes from recycling. Mention recycling and the first thing that comes to mind is waste materials like plastic and paper or cardboard. But what about weathered rusty old tin for the garden?

That is precisely what one gardener searched for, found and then used in making the roof of a rustic gazebo. In the hot Missis-sippi Delta farmland, it was picture perfect. There was a wall in the gazebo made of recycled shutters in combi-nation with giant bamboo.

The landscape also fea-tured white columns from an historic old home.

The columns set an imaginary boundary between the garden and a huge sea of cotton. The columns certainly gave an almost archaeological feel to the garden.

Somewhere near you,

perhaps on the other side of town, there is an old house either being torn down or waiting for the next big wind or spark to bring it to its final demise.

Whether it is some col-umns, an ornate front door, a stately fireplace mantel, windows or a pick-up load of bricks, there is treasure waiting for you to use in creating the finishing touches to your garden.

A great way to start your own recycling project is with a bottle tree. Your first thought might be, “how tacky,” but I assure you with a little thought and plan-ning on your part you can turn these into picturesque objects of art.

The Delta garden had one of my favorite touches — several recycled bottles echoed the colors found on the trim of the house. Another garden featured bottles that were predomi-nantly orange and yellow, complementing color for the nearby blue-blooming vitex tree.

Recycling in the garden

enhance your gardenMCT photo

+ +

The Anniston Star Sunday, October 24, 2010 Page 5ELIFE11A5E

Dare to Compare!Free Delivery & 2 Free Memory

Foam Pillows with $599 or more purchase from the BED

BOSS Kiosk at Quintard Mall.

275235

Memory Foam with natural and renewable

materials.

Why is this person crying?

Because she came by the Bed Boss Kiosk At Quintard Mall too late and found out she spent 3 times more money

for a similar quality memory foam mattress after the 90 day money back guarantee

expired. If you bought theirs – don’t despair, take comfort - you bought a great mattress

– you just spent too much.

Don’t Cry! Compare Before

You Buy!

Confi dencein TextilesCertifi ed

Toxin-Free

GRIZZARD LIVING AIDSImproving lives through better mobility since 1993

1227 Noble Street, Anniston, AL • 256-237-2006www.glalifts.com

By KIm CooKAssociated Press

You may have sensed, pardon the pun, that there are hundreds of new home fragrance products in stores. The industry has sniffed out a trend: We’re spending more time at home, and we want our rooms to smell good.

Always wanted to visit a Moroc-can bazaar? Craving a spa day? Comforted by the waft of a fresh-baked cookie? Whatever your pref-erence, chances are there’s a spray for that. Or a luminary, plug-in or diffuser.

Among the newest products are scent “stories” that cycle through a timed series of fragrances; wooden wicks that evoke crackling fires; flameless candles; and no-spill dif-fusers.

“I want my house to smell like the great outdoors even if all the windows are shut,” says Holly Bohn, founder of online retailer See Jane Work.

Her go-to product is Good Home Co.’s Beach Days. It’s part of a cat-egory known as the “ozones” — scents that are considered refreshing and evocative of fresh air and water. There are half a dozen versions of crisp, clean linen alone. Citrus-based scents are similar; many find them a finishing touch to a newly

cleaned house. And they’ll provide a temporary freshening-up for clos-ets or bathrooms without laying on heavy fragrance.

“Over the past couple of years, gourmand fragrances — like vanilla and pumpkin — have become very popular,” says Mei Xe, founder of Chesapeake Bay Candles. “Generally speaking, these scents help bring back happy memories. They make you feel safe and warm, and in these times people are longing for a sense of security.”

Pier 1 has also focused on “cozy,” with scents such as Spiced Cake and Fall Fireside.

Glade and Febreze, mass market leaders in home fragrances, recently launched an array of products in attractive containers to accent home decor; scents for fall include Cran-berry Pear, Pumpkin Pie and Cash-mere Woods.

To avoid fragrance overload, Xe recommends “staying within the same category, whether it’s florals, fruity notes, woodsy fragrances, whatever. Don’t mix fragrances that are too different from each other.”

Not sure what you like? Take the fragrance profile quiz on the Chesa-peake Bay Candle website.

Christopher Brosius was the first artist to have fragrances showcased by the Cooper Hewitt Museum. His 1999 concoction, “Snow,” won two

Fragrance Foundation awards. His perfumes and home sprays carry names such as Gathering Apples and Burning Leaves. Others capture his interpretation of Russian cara-vans (smoky black tea and berga-mot) and gardens (hyacinth, green shoots, moss).

For those who prefer to go com-pletely natural, essential oils such as citrus, rose, lavender and others can work well as air fresheners. Mix 4 ounces of distilled water, 2 ounces of rubbing alcohol and 30 drops of essential oil (or blend fragrances such as 15 drops of orange and 15 drops of clove for a win-ter holiday air freshener) and put in a careful-ly labeled spray bottle.

In the home

Fragrances can awaken a room

Creating a beautiful bathroomBy mELIssa RaywoRth

For The Associated Press

Five years ago, the ideal master bathroom was supposed to be large and lavish, with a huge Jacuzzi tub and a mile-long marble vanity.

Times have changed, of course, and so have budgets. “Everyone’s scal-ing down in every single room,” says Sabrina Soto, a real estate agent and host of HGTV’s Real Estate Intervention and Get It Sold.

And yet, Soto says, people still want their bathroom to be something special. It’s where their day begins and ends, “so it’s really a destination for them within their homes.”

How can you create a fabulous bathroom with-out overspending?

Soto, decordemon.com founder Brian Patrick Flynn and Los Angeles-based interior designer Betsy Burnham weigh in on the best ways to create an extraordinary, truly per-sonalized bathroom:

CUSTOM CREATIONS

Burnham often makes medicine cabinets for clients. It’s surprisingly simple: “The contractor or builder creates a box for me, and I pick a wonder-ful frame at my framer and have a mirror made. We use a big hinge on the side that opens 180 degrees.

“In a bathroom, you want to use every bit of space you have for stor-age,” she says.

“So it’s a great way to have an original piece over your sink” and also create ample shelf space.

Rather than buying a complete sink and vanity, Flynn suggests choosing a cabinet or dresser at a flea market and then having a sink fitted into the top. Choose a cabinet with legs if you want the illusion of more floor space.

You’ll just need a car-penter to cut holes in the top and back. Then a plumber can attach the sink and install the whole thing.

Vessel sinks, where the

bowl rests above the van-ity, can work well with this kind of design.

They come in a huge array of colors and materi-als. But Burnham cautions that they are very trendy right now and might feel dated as time passes.

THE RIGHT MATERIALS

Consider the overall design of your home as you choose the permanent ele-ments of the bathroom.

“A more classic bath in a classic, traditional house really does ask for ceramic tile” in crisp white or a soft cream, Burnham says.

“If you’ve got a more modern house, and you’re putting in metal windows, then I love stone” for floors, countertops and even walls.

Other possibilities: “People are now going into the eco-friendly options, like bamboos or recycled glass,” says Soto. “And recy-cled tires and paper are being used for countertops — it’s really durable.”

If the walls are a solid, neutral color, Burnham

likes to go “a bit crazier on the floors, like a black-and-white pattern or a stone mosaic.”

A wooden bathroom floor is also a possibility. The wood can be treated to resist moisture and can be painted any color.

What about wallpaper? It’s hugely popular right now, though it’s more common in small pow-der rooms than in master baths.

“Can you do wallpaper in a bath you use daily? Yes,” says Burnham.

“My wallpaper guy told me abut this wonderful fin-ish-coat that your painter can paint over the wall-paper” to protect it from moisture over time.

If you don’t want to commit to an entire room of wallpaper, Soto suggests papering one wall in a large, bold pattern.

CHOOSING HUESLike Burnham, Flynn

favors baths done in all white or black and white. These choices “never get old,” he says, “and then any single color you mix in will go great.”

Flynn also likes white in contrast with charcoal or black/brown (which he describes as “basically a mix of super-dark brown and charcoal, richer than black and not as harsh”).

You can bring in a bold accent color by painting one wall, or just through towels and accessories. In choosing accent colors, Soto says, pick something that works well with the decor of the master bed-room.

Also, Flynn says, consid-er how a given color makes you look in the bathroom light. This is a place where “you spend a lot of time looking at yourself,” he says, and if the walls give off a greenish hue you may not feel very attractive first thing in the morning.

Another color tip, this one from Soto: Use darker shades of grout, because they’re easier to keep look-ing clean.

POPULAR SPLURGES

“Instead of a big Jacuzzi tub, people want a soak-ing tub. Or they’re getting rid of the tub altogether,” says Soto. “People would rather have a huge shower that maybe has two show-erheads, or do the steam-room shower.”

Rain and waterfall showerheads come in many styles, and some units have sprays that run head-to-toe.

If you want a tub, con-sider a freestanding model. They are modern versions of old clawfoot tubs, but with a base that goes all the way to the floor.

They feel more like a distinctive piece of furni-ture than a built-in part of the bathroom.

Heated floors are a splurge that some people consider well worth it. Heated towel racks, which are less expensive, offer some of the same luxury.

And some of Burnham’s clients say they must have a TV in the bathrooom for watching news in the morning.

One last fabulous touch? Flynn loves using a chandelier in place of a basic ceiling light.

Special to The Star

Brian Patrick Flynn, founder of decordemon.com, suggests using a chandelier in a bathroom instead of a standard ceiling light.

Special to The Star

For the latest in local news, visit www.AnnistonStar.com

+ +


A Partnership of Statewide News Organizations

BamaFactCheck.com★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Keeping Alabama’s Politicians Honest★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

THE ANNISTON STAR’S NEW PARTNERSHIP with some of Alabama’s premier news organizations

Fact checks on Alabama politicians and political organizations

Log on to BamaFactCheck.com so that you can be prepared to vote

on November 2.

• Find out the truth about the latest political ads

• Get information on state and local candidates for offi ce

• See if the latest campaign statements are accurate

• Keep track of the campaign stops by Bentley and Sparks.

In the gardenGet great fall color in pots

By Kathy Van MuLLEKoMDaily Press (Newport News, Va.)

When the weather cools and pump-kins color the landscape, it’s time to create pretty fall containers for your outdoor spaces. Place the pots on porches and patios, or tuck them into beds among evergreens.

Autumn containers are enjoyable and relatively carefree because tem-perate weather means disease and pest problems are fewer, and watering needs are less.

Use these fall container gardening tips and “recipes” from Joan Mazat of Ball Horticultural Co.

• Fill them full. In the fall, a short-ened day-length means plants in con-tainers won’t fill out as vigorously, so add extra plants to create a lush look.

• Mix it up. Lettuce and spinach varieties like the cooler temperatures of fall. Don’t be afraid to mix edibles with flowers.

• Add in texture. Perennial grasses and sedum varieties (nice alternatives to mums) offer a lot of texture options, and are great choices for low-main-tenance containers that don’t need frequent watering.

• Pansies are perfect. Colors in the fall are enhanced with the cool weath-er. The extensive color range of pansies and violas really lets you get creative.

• Perennials play well, too. Peren-nials like asters and goldenrod are not just for the landscape; go ahead and mix them in containers as well.

MCT photo

When the weather cools and pump-kins color the landscape, it’s time to create pretty fall containers. Here, WhiteFire dianthus, Matrix rose pansy and Silver Falls dichondra mix with Blue Dart juncus.

By norMan WIntErMcClatchy Newspapers

Cool crisp mornings are a clear signal that it’s pansy planting time just about everywhere.

A trip to the garden center will shock you with how many pansies are on the market. Even though the choices are staggering, I assure you that what you will see is only a tiny sampling of this cool season, tough-as-nails flower. Since it can seem overwhelming, I decided to share my top choices.

Classifying prettiness is subjective to say the least, depending on favorite colors, clear or blotch. To this humble admirer of the pansy, the most beautiful one ever created is the Ultima Morpho.

Though it is considered a mid-sized pansy, the Ultima Morpho offers rare contrasting color, with upper petals that are medium blue and lower petals that are bright lemon-yellow, with rays or whiskers that radiate from the center. Ultima Morpho is named after the tropical Morpho butterfly, which is also blue and yellow.

If you want a dazzling mix or array of colors, then by all means consider the Matrix Coastal Sunrise mix. The Matrix is a large pansy, and the series has taken a large share of the market because of performance.

When you look at the Coastal Sunrise mix, you’ll believe an artist, perhaps a modern-day Monet, hand-painted the blossoms and lovingly chose the colors. You will first see

shades of blue that remind you of that time when you were in a boat and went from clear, shallow water to the deep blue.

Then you see the rose that reminds you of the beginning of a new day as night gives way. Then come the creams, yellows and what appears to be a rusty rose of the sunrise.

Though the Matrix is large, I give the ‘Monolithic’ award to the pansy series called Colossus. If you want giant-sized pansies, this series will not disappoint. There are 17 colors and mixes available, with Colossus Neon Violet an abso-lute stunner.

The longevity or ‘Perseverance’ award goes to the medi-um-sized pansy known as Panola. Like its name suggests, it offers the best traits of both its parents: the pansy and the viola.

There are 15 colors and nine mixes in the series. This is the series that commercial landscapers choose when they need to be guaranteed autumn-though-spring per-formance. The Panola Deep Blue with Blotch and Panola True Blue are two of my favorites.

As with almost any other flower, the key to success lies in bed preparation. Pansies do not perform well in tight, heavy soil. Amending the planting area is one of the best ways to have success over these conditions. Add organic matter such as fine pine bark (pieces less than one-half inch), leaf mold, compost, peat and sand. Incorporating a 3- to 4-inch layer of organic matter with the native soil allows the bed to be built up and provides excellent drainage.

Many gardeners do not realize that pansies are heavy feeders. Feed with a light application of a slow-release fertilizer monthly or a dilute, water-soluble 20-20-20 every other week. Pay attention to soil moisture levels as cold fronts often drastically dry out the bed.

———(Norman Winter is

vice president for college advancement, Brewton Parker College, Mount Ver-non, Ga., and author of the highly acclaimed “Tough-as-Nails Flowers for the South” and his release “Captivating Combinations Color and Style in the Gar-den”. Contact him at [email protected].)

———(c) 2010, Norman Win-

ter.Distributed by

McClatchy-Tribune Infor-mation Services.

—————PHOTOS (from MCT

Photo Service, 202-383-6099): ongardening

The Associated Press10/14/10 07:02

MCT photo

The award-winning Ultima Morpho pansy is considered to be among the prettiest pansies on the market.

Pansies: T he cool season favorite

+ +


R R&Duraplush

Mocharockerrecliner

by

$32499

GalaxyBurgundy

rockerrecliner

by

$32499

DuraplushMocharecliner

by

$20499

CooperCocoarockerrecliner

by

$37499

DurablendBrindle

Low Leg recliner

by

$37499

MatineeDurablend

Eclipseby

$44499

Motivation Chocolate reclining sofa by $62999

San Lucas Harness reclining sofa by $61499

1730 Quintard Ave. AnnistonMon-Sat 9-6 / 256-236-2642

1119 Hwy. 78 OxfordMon-Sat 10-6 / 256-831-7868

ROOM BY ROOM

MIDTOWN OUTLET

You Will Never Have To Worry About Falling In Or

Out Of Your Old Tub Again.

If you’ve been missing the comfort of a bath simply because it’s too hard to get in and out, our American Standard Walk-In Tub is perfect for you. Simply walk

in, sit down, and enjoy a warm, comfortable, and therapeutic bath, relieving your aches and pains!

What Else We Do:

Transform your old worn our tub to a beautiful walk-in shower.

Replace your fi berglass unit with a brand new shower or tub and shower system.

Turn your unbearable old worn out tub into a new tub with our custom liner and wall system!

Call NewBath NOW for our FREE In-Home Estimate! Let NewBath assist you with ALL your bath needs.

Mention this ad and receive:

50% OFF INSTALLATION FREE LUXURY TOWEL PACKAGE WITH

PURCHASE.WITH PURCHASE, 50% OFF INSTALLATION CHARGES.

NOT VALID WITH PRIOR PURCHASES. CANNOT BE COMBINED WITH OTHER OFFERS. EXPIRES 11/4/10.

256-399-43221-866-920-7219

www.MyNextBath.com

For the kids

Kids rooms that aren’t ‘kiddie’By MELIssa RaywoRth

Associated Press

Betsy Burnham loves designing bed-rooms for young children. But before she can begin, she sometimes has to steer cli-ents away from painfully cute design ideas.

“I don’t like cutesy things — the murals, the Disney things,” says Burnham, an inte-rior designer based in Los Angeles.

“Why give them a really babyish room, when it’s so expensive to change every-thing” as the kids grow older?

A child’s room can be wonderfully whimsical, she says, “but it can also fit in with the rest of your decor.”

Many parents feel obligated to stick with colors and imagery commonly asso-ciated with little kids. “But when you do that,” says designer Brian Patrick Flynn, founder of decordemon.com, “you create a powder keg, because then you have to redecorate when they get bigger.”

How do you create a space that is kid-friendly, but will also grow with your child and mesh with the rest of your home?

Flynn, Burnham and HGTV’s latest Design Star winner, Emily Henderson, share their advice:

BREAK THE RULESForget the typical pastels and primary

colors. Flynn loves vibrant oranges and greens for kids’ bedrooms: “They’re high energy, but totally gender-neutral.”

White and brown are also a great com-bination, he says, because you can acces-sorize them with a range of other colors as the child’s taste changes.

If you’re set on pink, Burnham suggests using a shade like salmon or watermelon instead of a more predictable bubblegum pink. And rather than a basic royal blue, consider a deep navy for a look that’s crisp and a bit more grown-up.

Consider painting stripes on kids’ ceil-ings, or wallpapering the ceiling to bring in a pop of texture and color. “Especially for a baby,” says Henderson, decorating the ceiling “is kind of going to wake up their imagination.”

Flynn likes using geometric print wallpaper that evokes ‘60s or ‘70s style, perhaps in black and white or olive and taupe. He also likes using indoor/outdoor fabric in children’s rooms, because of the impressive durability.

SKIP THE KIDDIE FURNITUREBurnham says a dresser with a chang-

ing pad on top can be a functional and stylish alternative to a traditional chang-

ing table. And rather than buying a prefab kids’ table and chairs set, Henderson recommends hunting at flea markets for vintage school chairs and desks. No need to buy a toddler bed: Your child doesn’t need one.

“If you invest in a couple of really nice twin beds, or just one twin bed,” Burnham says, “you can probably turn that bed into a daybed once the child moves on to a full- or queen-size bed.”

CREATIVE SPACELet the room be a canvas for self-

expression. Frame some of the child’s favorite artwork and make it a changing gallery. Or affix a row of cork tiles floor-to-ceiling for tacking up their latest creations. For babies, decorate one wall of the nurs-ery with framed artwork done by older siblings.

Henderson suggests creating a simple stage for impromptu performances or stringing up some vibrant fabric to create a secret fort.

Chalkboard paint and dry-erase wall paint can be used to delineate an ample area for scribbling and drawing.

“Say you happen to have a kid who loves to read and has books everywhere,” Flynn says. “Do a built-in bookshelf,” and let the child know you’re investing in something special.

Sarah Dorio/ Decor Demon/Associated Press

Instead of pink and blue, consider green and orange for kids’ rooms, as in this one designed by Betsy Burnham.

+ +


+ +

By LIsa [email protected]

If you’re trying to find your design groove, Anniston designer Amy J. Staples has two pieces of advice: Your home should be comfortable, and it should reflect your personality.

“To me, the biggest compliment is when somebody comes in the house and says, ‘I feel very comfortable here.’ To me, that’s what good design is. Not just elegant or pretty or distinguished — it can be all those things — as long as you’re comfortable in it.”

Staples has worked for 18 years in com-mercial and residential design. Her spe-cialty is lighting; she did the lighting design at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, and helped with the lighting design at the Bir-mingham Civil Rights Institute.

Here are some of her other tips for mak-ing personal, comfortable rooms:

• Discover your style: Having a hard time deciding what you want in your house? Look in your closet. “A lot of time I’ll ask to look in clients’ closets, to see what colors their clothes are, and the type of textures,” Staples said. “Is it a comfort-able style? A sophisticated style? More tra-ditional, or modern?” Another clue to your personal style is the type of car you drive.

• Showcase the things you love: “If the client just loves something, we find a place for it. I like for each room or item to tell a story, be a conversation piece,” Staples said. Even if you’d never see those things in the pages of a design magazine.

For instance, in her home, she has found a prominent place for a painting she has dubbed “Warrior Pig.” “It’s a pig, it’s got a grin on its face, it has an Indian warrior headdress on it. It’s framed beautifully, and the colors are gorgeous, but you either love it or you hate it,” Staples said. “I love it, it’s my house, it’s one of those things that make me happy.”

She also found a tasteful way to show-case her husband’s grandfather’s collec-tion of old Schlitz beer lights, and they have become another conversation piece.

• Don’t be afraid of color: You can put a different color on each wall in a room if you want to. But be consistent. If you use a warm color in one room, then use warm tones in the rest of the house, as well.

• Compare and contrast: Use contrast to make things stand out. It can be a con-trast between colors, or between light and dark, or between modern and traditional. Staples has a Middle Eastern camel stool — used for mounting and dismounting camels — that is covered in blue leather and bells. She has it sitting near a tradi-tional antique table.

• The little black lamp: “I always put something black in every room, to anchor the room,” Staples said. It could be as small as a pillow, a lampshade or a piece of pot-tery — or as big as a sofa.

• Reuse and recycle: You don’t have to buy all new things. You can recover the furniture you already have. Staples likes to shop at antiques auctions and estate sales. She’ll take vintage pieces and refurbish them with modern or funky fabrics.

RESOURCES• Contact Amy J. Staples at 256-453-3021.

By stacy DownsMcClatchy Newspapers

Things are finally looking up for ceilings. As we’re staying put in our homes, the fifth wall is getting atten-tion.

For decades, ceilings have been ignored blank can-vases and missed opportunities. But that’s never been the case in Sally Hilkene’s Mission Hills, Kan., home.

The interior designer’s music room already had ceiling details, but Hilkene darkened and distressed the corbels to really play them up. And then there’s her dining room, inspired by an Italian monastery’s ver-sion of the heavens, with hand-painted Latin terms for sunsets and her three sons’ birthdates.

But the piece de resistance is the family room Hilkene added to the home. Wooden beams accentu-ate the cathedral ceiling. The focal point of the room is a salvaged 15th century Italian ceiling as wall art with eyebrow windows to let in light.

“Don’t we spend most of our lives sitting or lying down?” asks Hilkene. “So why shouldn’t ceilings be interesting? They can tell our personal stories, our family histories and even our fantasies, taking us away and bringing us peace.”

Hilkene’s story is clearly about her love of Europe. With clients, she plays therapist to project their inter-ests and dreams through design. And that isn’t limited to the walls, furniture and decor. Using overhead space, one client’s ceiling creates the feeling of sitting under a cherry blossom tree.

“Maybe my need to make the ceilings pretty comes from growing up in a four-poster tester bed with drap-eries, and I’d stare at the fabrics and folds above me,” she said. “I use thick crown molding to play ceilings up. It doesn’t have to be super expensive; you can put together two trim pieces.”

Interior designer Becky Mosby of Edgevale Interi-ors also appreciates ceilings with charm and character. Her store’s powder room ceiling is papered with a red Jaima Brown wallpaper, adding a rich layer to an already opulent room with gold-and-silver cabinetry and black draperies.

“It’s comforting while still adding a pop of color,” Mosby said. Still, she concedes that when you wall-paper or paint the ceiling in a dark color, you’ll need more lighting. The tiny-but-tall bathroom contains four light fixtures.

Mosby, an architectural history buff, has worked on homes that were among some of Kansas City’s first showpieces, including Janssen Place in Hyde Park. She loves the fish-scale plaster ceilings made by master craftsmen in the late 1800s.

Artist Devon Himes of Kansas City, who works with paint and plaster, creates interesting ceilings using old and new methods. One coffered ceiling in a Colorado project featured rosettes made of barn wood accented with lichen, silvering and baked-off paint. Another ceiling project featured a tortoise-shell pattern.

“People have been coming around from the plain white ceiling because they do really complete the space,” Himes said. “But they’re tricky. They reflect everything around them.”

Modern furniture maker Jason Milford of S(Lab) in Kansas City wanted the interior character of his Mid-town brick over-under duplex, built in 1905, to live up to its interesting exterior, featuring a terracotta roof. He started with the ceilings.

In the dining room, Milford used Lincrusta, a Brit-ish wall covering invented in 1877, heralded as the first washable wall covering. It appealed to Victorians who liked its durability and ornate effects. The name comes from Lin for linum (flax, from which linseed oil is made) and Crusta (relief).

Before choosing Lincrusta, Milford also considered Anaglypta, invented in the 1880s as a flexible alterna-tive to Lincrusta . Anaglypta is made of wood pulp and cotton, and like Lincrusta, the textured pattern can be painted.

Working with the deeply embossed Lincrusta was challenging. Each of the four rolls weighed 40 pounds. It also required more trimming and cutting than he expected.

“Next time, I’d definitely hire a professional wall-paper hanger,” said Milford, who estimates he spent $800 in materials. “Still, people love it. When they see it, they say ‘Oh, my.’”

Milfrord’s bedroom ceiling, which he installed with his wife, Amy Bhesania, uses wooden ship lap in ran-dom widths. The effect is modern and interesting.

“I like the idea of living in a space,” Milford said. “Not a box.”

CEILING STYLES• Coffered: Sally Hilkene designed a stencil of her

family crest and had it painted on a ceiling. “It per-sonalizes the space,” Hilkene says.

• Painted: Talk about a conversation starter in the dining room: Sally Hilkene had her three sons’ birth-days painted on the ceiling in Latin. “Ceilings can be whatever you wan them to be,” she says.

• Wallpapered: A powder room is an opportunity to wallpaper walls and the ceiling. Becky Mosby of Edgevale Interiors chose a red wallpaper with chan-deliers to play up her powder room.

• Textured: Modern furniture maker Jason Mil-ford wanted a ceiling with more architectural detail for his dining room. He searched the Internet and found Lincrusta, a paintable embossed wall covering. Painted in Sealskin by Sherwin-Williams, a grayed brown hue, it resembles leather.

• Planked: The 1905 home of Jason Milford and Amy Bhesania contains a strange soffit in the bed-room. Using random widths of ship lap, the couple planked the ceiling, which not only added interest to the ceiling but camouflaged the odd detail.

• Stenciled: A trend in ceilings is paint stenciling, a modern spin on classic plaster medallions, says Sonu Mathew, senior interior designer for Benjamin Moore Paints.

CEILING PAINT TIPSStart with good tools: a strong ladder, the right

tape and ergonomic brushes.Popcorn ceilings? No problem. You don’t have to

scrape and skim coat them if your time and budget won’t allow. A matte finish in a deep shade will mini-mize the textured effect.

Don’t use gloss paints unless your ceiling is in excellent condition. If it is, it’s an excellent look.

A lighter color than the walls makes them look taller. That includes tinted whites and cool blues and greens. Black and near black also create a more expansive effect. Warm colors make the room come down, like a hug.

A trick for making a tall room feel cozier: Paint the ceiling a different color than the walls, and bring that ceiling color down 3 feet or so into the walls.

Use a color that varies from the walls and trim. Martha Stewart Living for Home Depot takes away guesswork by suggesting ceiling and trim colors for its wall-color paint chips.

Timid about a ceiling color outside of white? Try a yellow-tinted white such as Niveous, which adds warmth to the room, or Sonnet, which contains a touch of pink, flattering to all skin tones. Both are Benjamin Moore. Sky Blue is a classic.

Color-confident? Benjamin Moore’s Caribbean Azure is deep turquoise. Benjamin Moore senior interior designer Sonu Mathew used Sesame, a greenish-yellow, for the ceiling in her recently repainted Gray Owl home office.

In the home

Tips for giving a home some

personality

Photos special to The Star

Anniston designer Amy J. Staples added personality to her home by showcasing quirky, ethnic objects.

Photos David Eulitt/MCT

ABOVE, BELOW: The fifth wall, the ceiling, is getting attention from decorators. A textured wall-covering gives texture to the dining room ceiling at a home in Kansas City, Mo.

PSST … UP HERE! IF CEILINGS COULD TALK …

LOCAL DESIGNER

+ +


By JacLyn BanashMcClatchy Newspapers

It’s a constant battle: Small versus big. Less or more? There are argu-ments 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 chal-lenge 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 essen-tial in small spaces, or even in larger spaces that might need to be multi-functional.

Take, for instance, a guest bed-room 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-to-day 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 posi-tioned 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 multipurpose and space-saving qualities. The ever-pop-ular 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 have to do is pull the table out for dinner parties. And don’t for-get, 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.

9E

Thinking about replacing your existing windows?

Do you want to:Call or come in to Oxford Lumber and let our friendly and knowledgeable staff assist you in choosing the best product to fi t your needs.

We can help you here at our store or will be glad to comeout to your home to give you a free estimate.

Ask about the ENERGY TAX CREDIT program. You mayqualify for up to $1,500 tax credit. Offer expires on 12/31/10.

Do you feel uncomfortable using an out of town companyyou don’t know? Buy local from people you know and trust.

Oxford Lumber has been serving this area since 1958.

1400 Barry Street, Oxford, AL

(256) 831-0540

•Lower your energy bills?•Eliminate drafts and increase room comfort?•Increase the value of your home?•Beautify your home?

www.oxfordlumber.com

OPENMon. – Fri. 7am - 6pm

Sat. 7am - 5pm

We have windowsstarting

as low as$100.00

Room by room

Quick f ixes for the bedroom

By DEBBIE arrIngtonMcClatchy Newspapers

Some rooms scream — “Help!”Others say nothing, and that’s a problem, too.Take the typical bedroom. Michael Payne has seen

thousands, just this month.“The bedroom tends to get forgotten — you spend

all your money elsewhere in the house,” said Payne, a celebrity interior designer and makeover specialist best known for his Designing For The Sexes series on HGTV.

“You end up with a totally forgettable room that you don’t want your best friend to see.”

Based in Los Angeles, Payne served as a judge of the Big Bad Bedroom Break-Up contest.

More than 6,200 people entered to win a $10,000 makeover of their bedroom.

Here are Payne’s tips for a quick bedroom makeover:1. Less is more. An uncluttered bedroom makes for a more restful

space. Make use of area under the bed for storage.2. Remember: It’s a bedroom. The bed should be the dominant feature. Other fur-

nishings are secondary, but look better if they match in style, wood and stain.

3. Start with the right bedspread or comforter. Use that to pick up colors for paint and carpeting.

The result will be more harmonious.

Downsizing? How to live

large in a small space

Kansas City Star/MCT

A closet was converted into a media and book case with custom shelves. Clear acrylic nesting tables and small, movable storage otto-mans are some of the small space solutions used in this room.

HinkleChimneySweep Service

Dale Hinkle(256) 832-0205

Serving local customers for 17 years with experience in

• cleaning

• inspections

• chimney caps

• repairs of all types

AnnistonStar.com

A brief history of the dining roomWhat caused dining rooms to come

into being wasn’t a sudden universal urge to dine in a space exclusively dedicated to the purpose, but rather, by and large, a simple desire on the part of the mistress of the house to save her lovely new uphol-stered furniture from greasy desecration. Upholstered furniture was expensive, and the last thing a proud owner wanted was to have anyone wiping fingers on it.

The arrival of the dining room marked a change not only in where the food was served but also in how it was eaten and when. For one thing, forks were now sud-denly becom-ing common. Forks had been around for a long time but took forever to gain acceptance. Fork origi-nally signified an agricultural implement and nothing more; it didn’t take on a food sense until the mid-15th century, and then it described a large implement used to pin down a bird or joint for carving.

The person credited with introducing the eating form to England was Thomas Coryate, an author and traveler from the time of Shakespeare who was famous for walking huge distances — including once to India. In 1611, he produced his magnum opus, Coryate’s Crudities, in which he gave

much praise to the dinner fork, which he had first encountered in Italy. The same book was also notable for introducing English readers to the Swiss folk hero Wil-liam Tell and to a new device called the umbrella.

Eating forks were thought comically dainty and unmanly — and dangerous, too, come to that. Since they had only two sharp tines, the scope for spearing one’s lip or tongue was great, particularly if one’s aim was impaired by wine and jollity.

Manufacturers experimented with additional numbers of tines — sometimes as many as six — before settling, late in the 19th century, on four as the number that people seemed to be most comfortable with. Why four should induce the opti-mum sense of security isn’t easy to say, but it does seem to be a fundamental fact of flatware psychology.

The 19th century also marked a time of change for the way food was served. Before the 1850s, nearly all the dishes of the meal were placed on the table at the outset. Guests would arrive to find the food wait-ing. They would help themselves to what-ever was nearby and ask for other dishes to be passed or call a servant over to fetch one for them.

This style of dining was knows as ser-vice a la francaise, but now a new practice came in known as service a la russe in which food was delivered to the table in courses.

A lot of people hated the new practice because it meant everyone had to eat everything in the same order and at the same pace. If one person was slow, it held up the next course for everyone else, and meant that food lost heat. Dinners now sometimes dragged on for hours, putting a severe strain on many peoples sobriety and nearly everyone’s bladders.

Federal tax credits for buying an energy-efficient product or renew-able energy system for your home are available.

Here are some examples of what’s covered by the various credits. For more information, go to www.energystar.gov.

the tax credit gives you 30% of the cost up to $1,500 for:

• biomass stoves• heating, ventilating,air-conditioning• insulation• roofs (metal and asphalt)• water heaters (non solar)• windows and doors

The credit expires Dec. 31 and applies only to existing homes and principal residences.

a tax credit of 30% with no up-per limit is for:

• geothermal heat pumps• small wind turbines• solar energy systems

The credit expires Dec. 31, 2016, and applies to new and existing homes.

Principal residences and second homes qualify, but not rental prop-erties.

— Detroit Free Press

TAX CREDITS FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY

BOOk EXCERPT

Bestselling author Bill Bryson (A Short History of Nearly Everything, A Walk in the Woods) turns his uncanny eye and sense of humor on that most familiar of places in his newest book, At Home: A Short His-tory of Private Life (Doubleday, $28.95). Bryson examines homelife, room by room. What follows is an excerpt from the chapter on dining rooms:

WWW.BAMAESCAPES.COM

+ +


10E

NATIONAL FLOORING SALE

FREEINSTALLATION

ON ALL FLOORING!

Offer excludes Tile. • Offer Expires 10.31.10

NO Down Payment!NO Interest!Until 2012!With approved credit.

Includesmoving furniture!Includes removal

of old carpet & pad!

We are a locally owned

family business. The dollars you spend

with us stay in our community.

GET PEACE OF MIND

Exclusive Lifetime WarrantyStain • Soil • Wear

Alexander Smith • American Showcase Premier Stainmaster® Carpet Collections

Ask a sales associate for details.

Rug Market

We’ll help you select the ideal rug for your décor and lifestyle.Before you go anywhere else, come check us out.

Chances are, we have exactly what you’re looking for!

All Area Rugs25% OFF

From a local designer

By LIsa [email protected]

Shades of gray. Pops of pink. And pur-ple, purple, purple. Those are the colors of fall, according to Anniston designer Scott Skinner.

“Purple is the new brown,” Skinner said, and it’s showing up everywhere, from kitchens to bedrooms. “It’s not kids’ purple. It’s not Mardi Gras purple. It’s Eng-lish-period royalty purple,” Skinner clari-fied. Pair that royal purple with a gleam of antiqued gold, and suddenly your rooms take on a sumptuous air.

Skinner, of STS Decorating Consult-ing, has been designing for more than 12 years. His residential work stretches from Alabama to Florida, Memphis to Atlanta. His commercial work includes the Purohit Pediatric Clinic and the recently revamped clubhouse at Cider Ridge Golf Course.

Here are Skinner’s other essentials for Fall 2010:

COLORS• Dark gray — a rich, slate gray — is

taking the place of dark brown. Skinner recently redid a Jacksonville home, paint-ing the walls dark gray with black trim. He and the homeowners went through about two dozen shades of gray before finding the right one. “They were all either too blue, or too cement,” Skinner said.

• While gray walls with black trim is striking, Skinner also said “there’s nothing prettier than gray with white trim.”

• Another trend, which was popular back in the 1940s and ‘50s, is to paint the walls and the trim the same color. “People like that unified look,” Skinner said.

• At the lighter end of the spectrum, blue-gray is a popular color. It’s a subtler,

softer, moodier blue than robin’s-egg blue.• Rule of thumb for walls: The color on

the wall is the color you see first, followed by furniture and accessories. If you want your furniture to be noticed, then don’t overdo the walls.

• Pink is also hot, especially when paired with brown. It’s easy to add a pop of pink with a pillow, a throw or a candle. You don’t have to go overboard. “Just like in clothing,” Skinner said, “if pink is in, you don’t go out and buy a whole new pink wardrobe.”

TEXTURES• Natural fibers such as jute or silk are

another way to add richness. Although they’re not necessarily practical. You don’t really want to recover that sofa in silk if you have three children, now do you? Con-

sider a silk pillow, instead.• Large-scale floral and geometric

patterns — sort of an ‘80s feel — are also becoming popular.

• Wallpaper can add depth and texture, especially if your house has become all paint. Consider wallpaper for bathrooms, hallways — even ceilings.

• Reclaimed wood — rough-hewn wood reclaimed from old barns or houses, bearing the marks of history — has become a high-priced commodity. It’s used for flooring and paneling. Restora-tion Hardware has a line of reclaimed wood furniture, in which imperfect planks are paired with distressed metal.

FURNITURE• Think clean, sophisticated lines.

Draw attention to furniture by adding

piping or nail-head trim to upholstery.• Add a gleam of antiqued, matte-fin-

ish gold, in a chandelier, a lamp, a pic-ture frame, a mirror frame or furniture trim. It’s especially nice with that royal purple.

• Mix up styles. “No matchy-matchy,” Skinner declared.

• Antiques and reproductions are making a comeback, but more as accent pieces. Folks are reluctant to do the whole place in antiques, Skinner said. Looks too much like Grandmother’s house.

• Instead, mix in a few crucial pieces or accessories with more modern fur-nishings. “You can always have a few pieces and not become an antiques shop,” Skinner said. For instance, that may be a beautiful antique dining table, but those antique dining chairs are probably not very practical. So bring in modern chairs, instead.

ACCESSORIES• Wood objects with brass accents

play well with dark colors and gleaming accents.

• Oil paintings are beginning to edge out prints, Skinner said. More of that opulence at play.

• Skinner has also added picture molding to walls to highlight works of art. In one long hallway, Skinner created an “art area” by attaching stained mold-ing to the wall to create a large “frame.” The wall inside the frame was painted a darker shade, then framed photographs were grouped within the space.

RESOURCES• Contact Scott Skinner at 256-591-

7148.

What’s in for fall? Rich colors and textures

Special to The Star

Local designer Scott Skinner created custom bedding using royal purple, the most popular color for fall.

Documents

Fall Home & Garden