October 2010: Stuff We Love

Bowled over Made from 100 percent recycled material in a family-owned Cairo workshop, these food-safe bowls incorporate both style and function. $6.50 each at Artifacts. (111 Fourth St., NE, 295-9500)                 Wrap it up   There’s something exciting about unwrapping a new gadget. The perfect hardware, the glossy […]

October 2010: Your Kitchen

 All summer, while humans have been eating, and weeding, and watering gardens and farms, a more subtle and profound transformation has taken place in pastures and hardwood pens across the Old Dominion. Domesticated animals have been working long days harvesting, storing and distributing energy on our behalf.  Cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and poultry are able […]

October 2010: Labor of love

The terrace is one of the thoroughly modern touches on Jobes’ house. Railings are constructed from boat canvas on pipe rails and a shadecloth-and-trellis system overhead blocks 80 percent of the sunlight. Every renovation project hits a snag sooner or later. But Bill Jobes had a problem with his house on King Street that could […]

October 2010: Real Estate

 During the housing boom, sellers spent big on luxe touches like granite countertops, spa bathrooms and walk-in closets—splurges meant to increase the value of a home.   These days, such luxuries are bringing lower returns than they once did. What’s to blame? A glut of new homes on the market, tighter lending and appraisal restrictions […]

October 2010: Rental Rescue

When it comes to fixing up a rental, I believe we have to play more of a magician than master carpenter, opting for a bag of tricks and a magic wand instead of a sledgehammer and chainsaw. Even if you have a landlord who gives you free run of the place and tells you to […]

October 2010: Toolbox

 Nothing is more frustrating than embarking on a home repair or improvement project and discovering you don’t have the right nail, nut or hanger for the job. Having to schlep to the hardware store for one measly 10 cent screw is never satisfying. You can avoid this recurring problem by stocking your toolbox with a […]

October 2010: One of a kind

What happens when two young architects move into a brand-new townhouse, surrounded by dozens of identical townhouses, in a big development where the bulldozers are still at work? If they’re Lowell Morin and Lin Jia, they cheerfully overlook the dust and set to work making their home their own. The pair moved into the Pavilions […]

If The Invisible Hand makes it, how will they get there?

The Invisible Hand is about a month away from releasing its first album, a self-titled, professional effort that rounds the rough edges of the band’s ferocious live show without diminishing the music’s intensity. The album is a 45-minute behemoth that marries the fidgety power pop vision of songwriter Adam Smith with a band eerily suited […]