Monday, March 30th, 2015
Between You Tube videos and workshops at local home improvement stores, the highly motivated, budget-conscious homeowner can learn to tackle projects from repairing drywall to installing toilets. But which home improvement tasks are good do-it-yourself (DIY) projects for the hardly skilled? The super skilled? The willing learner? And which ones are best left to the
Monday, March 30th, 2015
“There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort,” Jane Austen once wrote. Home is where we want to be at the end of the work day or even for the budget-conscious, relaxing and fun staycation....
Sunday, March 29th, 2015
Being from Vermont and my husband from Wisconsin, we were somewhat enamored with the stencil cows in the kitchen when we purchased this house, one of the first built by Shelter Alternatives in 1990, give or take...
Friday, January 9th, 2015
Not every line drawn in the sand washes away forever with the tides. Not finding the perfect home on the market, Jim Westwood and Brenda Winkel purchased five acres with a single pear tree near the Prices...
Monday, September 15th, 2014
When Victoria and Steve Cochran bought their mountainside home in the New River Valley in 2001, it had at least 10 gables, but no shelties or fairies. Along with a classy, renovated kitchen, incredibly beautiful and functional...
Friday, August 1st, 2014
Jimmy and Joann Hammons were relaxing one day in the rockers on the front porch of their personal, circa 1950s, store building. A car went by on the 2-lane, back country road, slowed down, backed up slowly...
Friday, August 1st, 2014
I knew of growing vegetables in straw bales and using them to create raised beds or cold frame space, but the recipe for creating a straw bale garden was just recently shared with me. I’ve been working...
Monday, June 16th, 2014
By Joanne M. Anderson Backyard firepits are hot ~ literally and figuratively. They can toast marshmallows, cook a hotdog and melt the soles of your shoes. Dancing flames create a relaxing atmosphere for people to enjoy the...
Monday, March 17th, 2014
Part of loving the beach is that seemingly endless view over salt water to the horizon in the distance. Part of loving their Blacksburg home and location is looking some 20 to 30 miles over forests and...
Monday, March 17th, 2014
Whitethorn shrubs grow well in Virginia and provide refuge for birds year-round. Lovely, off-white, bell-shaped flowers emit a lovely fragrance from evergreen bushes which can grow as high as 15 feet. It was from these attractive plants...