Growing up in Denmark and being a teenager in the mid-’70s, I remember Lasse Hessel spreading the word about healthy living. The doctor hosted a popular, government-sponsored TV series and wrote books, newspaper columns and articles, all focused on teaching us Danes how to live well—Lev Vel was the title of his health magazine. In […]
Growing up in Denmark and being a teenager in the mid-’70s, I remember Lasse Hessel spreading the word about healthy living. The doctor hosted a popular, government-sponsored TV series and wrote books, newspaper columns and articles, all focused on teaching us Danes how to live well—Lev Vel was the title of his health magazine. In […]
Need to get away from it all? Need a new easy chair? Says we, these goals are entirely compatible. We all know there’s lots of great shopping here in Charlottesville, but sometimes it’s fun to turn home-related quests into mini-adventures. Hop in the minivan, crank up the tunes and venture out to some of the […]
Many of the neighborhoods around town are stately or old or both. Some stretch back a half dozen generations. But the neighborhood of Pantops, a sprawling mass of office parks, shopping strips, car dealerships and 2,100 people is definitely not one of those. It is a neighborhood of changes—land and buildings and people transitioning from […]
Adjusting mortgage rates, national foreclosures on the rise, threats of a looming economic recession…times are tough. Just ask the Georgia man who donned a ski mask and walked into a bank, pointed a gun at the teller and said, “You took my house, now I’m going to take your money.” The FBI is still looking […]
We love a house that’s completely at ease with itself. In the case of this Barracks-area home, that means a modern-as-modern sensibility that makes no apologies. It’s your basic double take: First you think, “Is that an extra-large outbuilding?” Then you notice the path, the bench and the domestic interior through the lofty, minimal glass-block […]
The grate war Going into outdoor cooking season, we all labor under the following maxim: Grilling is great. Cleaning is not. However, if you want to keep grilling, you’ve got to keep cleaning. Damn logic. Most hardware stores will recommend good old barbecue cleaner, steel wool (sold by them) and elbow grease (provided by you), […]
“It was this dark, stinky house.” So says Grier Murphy about her house on Hinton Avenue, back when she and her husband, Kevin, first saw it in 1999. At that point, it had been empty for a dozen years. Grier remembers, “Every square inch of the house—floors, every piece of woodwork, trim—was painted black. …The […]
Line up! Being part of the solution means different things to different people. Money saved, a smaller carbon footprint, and fresh-smelling sheets: Line-dried laundry is the solution that City Councilor David Brown has chosen for over 28 years. Your dryer is second only to the fridge as an energy-loser appliance, consuming 6-10 percent of home […]
COFFEE TABLE LIBRARYEastern standard Unless you plan on relocating to Japan and building a new home, Marcia Iwatate and Geeta K. Mehta’s Japan Houses is unlikely to provide ideas about how to decorate your living room. However the striking, almost alien, re-definition of luxury that it presents is domestic titillation for the minimalist mind. Focusing […]
SECRET INGREDIENTTastemakers Dried spices can sit on supermarket shelves for a long time, growing dimmer all the while—and how long has that cayenne been in your pantry? You know it’s supposed to be spicy, right? To perk up elderly spices, toast them briefly in the oven or fry them in oil at the beginning of […]