Connect four Here, the cheese factor’s a good thing: A set of four serving plates from The Happy Cook brings vintage labels from European cheeses to your table. Are you daring enough to serve Gruyere on the Emmenthaler plate? Hyper-local food When times get tough, get foraging. Edible: […]
Connect four Here, the cheese factor’s a good thing: A set of four serving plates from The Happy Cook brings vintage labels from European cheeses to your table. Are you daring enough to serve Gruyere on the Emmenthaler plate? Hyper-local food When times get tough, get foraging. Edible: […]
Fred Oesch and Debbie Davis in the 1,200-square-foot, octagonal house he designed for her in North Garden. Davis and her sister laid the Buckingham slate floor; her Murphy bed folds out of the wall behind the easy chair. It’s an overcast day, and inside a small clearing on Debbie Davis’ 26-acre property, the sunlight is […]
It’s easy to talk about getting off the grid, but how many of us would actually do it? As Fred Oesch’s first residential client who wanted to live completely disconnected from utility systems, Debbie Davis is unusually committed to her green goals. “In general principle, she wanted to be off the grid,” says Oesch. “That […]
If you’ve done any reading about straw-bale construction, you know that the epicenter of American straw-bale enthusiasm is far away, in states like Arizona and Utah. But there are a number of straw-bale houses in Central Virginia, including those that Fred Oesch has designed. Skeptics might question the use of a moisture-sensitive material in this […]
In today’s buyers’ market, you hear stories of $500,000 homes selling for as little as $250,000—a buyer’s jackpot by any standard. Price reductions are everywhere—so how can a savvy homebuyer make the most of them? Searching for discounted properties is easy enough. Log on to realcentralva.com for an up-to-date list of price-reduced or foreclosure […]
Moving day One of the more ridiculous projects we’ve ever done at our house: moving an old wooden shed to a new spot, 30 feet or so uphill. Why? you ask. Well, we were supposed to tear it down altogether for insurance reasons—its stone foundation was beyond precarious—but we liked the building, knew we’d make […]
Measure for measure Tape measure: The simplest, most idiot-proof tool in the universe, right? Well, yes and no. Yes, because any schmoe can take a measurement for a couch or a rug. No, because if your numbers have to be at all precise, a little quality makes a big difference in a seemingly very basic […]
Your name here This clay pot project might look simple (and it is!), but it’s so much more than that. Think kitschy organizational tool (Crayons? Fruit? Pens?). Think thoughtful gift made more special with a personalized note written directly on it. In fact, think about it a little longer, and you can probably come […]
Anita Gupta Lots of people look for a big kitchen when they’re house-shopping—sometimes more because of looks than function. Not so with Anita Gupta. The enormous granite-topped island in her kitchen is an essential feature, because she runs a business making custom cakes for weddings and birthdays. “This was the thing I needed the most,” […]
If last Sunday’s auction at the former Gravity Lounge venue was the final spring cleaning of the year, then this week rang in the glut of summertime, a belt-buckling binge after so much purging. Don’t fill up on rolls, people, until you get the rock from these two new albums. Heavens! Hurry for Devon! From […]