Living

In the fateful year of 1993, Tony and Trew Bennett had already put 21 years of sweat, tears and living into their Nelson County property. They’d bought it in 1972, two young potters from Northern Virginia, and they’d built a yurt for housing, as well as a two-story building with a studio and an efficiency […]

  Simply slip it on Question for John Floyd, designer at The Second Yard: How do you pick the right slip cover for your couch? Answer: “You know you’ve got the perfect slip cover when it looks like upholstery,” Floyd says. Whether you choose to have a slip cover custom made for your sofa or […]

  Virginia is for tomato lovers If there were a seasonal state slogan, in late summer Virginia would be for tomato lovers. Can’t you see the heart on the t-shirt replaced with a hunky heirloom?  Hot, humid summers and acidic, red clay soil combine to produce a jungle of hairy vines and a staggering array […]

  Do no harm You can make a lot of mistakes in the garden this time of year: broadcasting 10-10-10 fertilizer over a parched lawn, chopping back hydrangeas from a walkway along with next summer’s bloom, whisking away valuable leaves, weeds and clippings during fall clean-up as though they were dirt on a carpet.   […]

Ah, old houses! How do we love your handmade cornices, your characterful proportions, your charmingly slanted floors! Your size, not so much. An addition by STOA Design + Construction makes a decisive stylistic break with the 1930 brick house it expands. Plenty of local homeowners, given the abundance in Charlottesville and Albemarle of well-seasoned housing […]

After William O’Shaughnessy’s eight-and-a half-hour shift in the MRI section of Martha Jefferson Hospital, it is 11:30 at night, and O’Shaughnessy is happy that home—the quieter portion of Ridge Street south of Cherry Avenue— is less than two miles away. “Convenience is critical, I have to admit,” he says. “Being home from work in less […]

  A façade of wood shingles and white siding makes this Dairy Road home stand apart in its brick-laden neighborhood. A rock wall traces the steep driveway, which leads up to a gorgeous Japanese maple tree. And it may be close to busy Rte. 250, but you wouldn’t know it thanks to huge shade trees […]

I was recently in the Post Office mailing some wine-related mail, when the postal worker behind the counter stopped me and said, “Hey, you might be able to help me.” After looking him in the eye and finding no discernable signs of psychosis, I smiled and asked what he needed. “How do you guys,” he […]

There are no more excuses not to step up HIV prevention efforts, especially in the black and gay male population, after a new study has found that the incidence of new HIV cases in the U.S. may be much higher than previously thought.