Magazines

The first time she saw her house, no one lived there and the doors were not even locked. For years, its previous owner had held onto it, not yet ready […]

Agarden’s appearance depends on its purpose, says Marlene Condon, and sometimes messier is better. “Aesthetics for me are secondary,” she says. “The most important thing is the quality of the […]

There are as many ways to garden as there are ways to cook. Some folks plant neat rows of vegetables; others create geometric arrangements of herbs. Traditional ornamental gardens in […]

Each season has its sounds and smells. In the quiet of late winter stinky skunk cabbage entices winged insects hungry for carrion. Spring brings birdsong and sweeter breezes although nature […]

Though they’ve been around since the 18th century, painted floors (when done right) can be nostalgic, practical and surprisingly modern, says designer Franny Hurt. Back then, they were used in […]

When your property overlooks the Moorman’s River, miles of verdant fields and finally the Blue Ridge Mountains, it seems obvious that the view is a primary attraction. Yet when one […]

Three decades in one house makes some people set in their ways, but, for others, it ends with an abrupt change. Tom and Carolyn Frazier had lived in Northern Virginia […]

“The pleasantest smell in the world,” wrote natural historian Robert Beverly of the Sweetbay magnolia in 1705, and its large, creamy white flowers are just as striking. Associated with nobility […]