August 08: News and ideas for sustainable living

  Max out your miles Yeah, this is a house and home publication, and your car isn’t part of your house. But, for one thing, lots of us practically live in our cars, and for another thing, most household budgets have been getting heavier in the “gasoline” column lately, and therefore lighter in the “cool […]

August 08: Hot house

  Nestled in the woods east of Charlottesville, this stone house says sweet relaxation. Check out that wide front porch (complete with rocking chair) and that lush wooded view. Any double-wide might boast those goodies, but this place has style too, in the brick accents hugging the windows and the substantial flared porch columns.

August 08: Room to grow

At 8:30 on a Sunday morning, the road is quiet. Bunnies hop across gravel driveways as a flock of geese waits to cross the street into an open meadow that’s already hot from the strong summer sun. A woman in a sunhat completes her morning stroll down the tree-lined road, and a little boy holding […]

August 08: Plugged in

Talk about full circle: Megan Huddleston now lives in a house near Crozet where, as a 15-year-old, she fed dogs for a neighbor and had permission to walk through the nearby fields whenever she wanted. A year ago, she and her boyfriend Ferd Moyse—he’s a member of the Hackensaw Boys and they both play in […]

August 08: Your Garden

Summer afternoon Henry James once said that these—“summer afternoon”—were the two most beautiful words in the English language, and with the weather we’ve been having, who could disagree? Timely rains since February have produced “significant improvement in drought conditions throughout the Commonwealth,” according to the U.S. Geological Service. The skies have been powder puff pictures […]

August 08: Your Kitchen

  Cucumber Salad This summery salad recipe, courtesy of the Indian restaurant Milan, has one possibly hard-to-find ingredient: the Indian spice powder Chat Masala. If you can’t find it to buy, directions are available online for mixing your own.   1 cucumber, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces 1/2 small onion, cut into bite-sized pieces […]

August 08: Your Living Space

Small bath blues Question for Kelly Pfeffer, partner and senior designer at Fifth Wall Design Group: How do you make a small bathroom feel bigger? Answer: Less is definitely more, says Pfeffer: “Keeping out the clutter by limiting the amount of stuff that is around your vanity top or on the back of the toilet […]

We Ate Here

We hesitate to call the fare at The Flat slow food (as opposed to fast food), but we don’t mind a bit waiting on one of the benches outside the diminutive crêperie, sucking in the exhaust fumes from Water Street, because we know that whatever we’ve ordered is lovingly prepared and fresh. Take the spinach, […]

Milano’s in the pink

When espresso and gelato shop Milano and Italian homewares shop Verity Blue moved from the Main Street Market to the “pink building” at 100 South St. earlier this month, we wondered: Would Milano make an impact among all the other Downtown clatter and caffeine?

Big screen, small screen

YouTube proper may primarily be the domain of lowbrow workplace procrastination outlets along the lines of “Obama Girl” or “My Son Is Gay,” but a little bird just alerted me to the VIP section of YouTube and, as in the real world, a little selectivity goes a long way. The YouTube Screening Room may not […]