This month’s artisan: Painter and textile artist Maria Pace

Somewhere between painter and textile artist, Maria Pace is an Orange County original who makes a variety of lovely objects for the abode. And she’s an artisan with a conscience: Besides designing her own textile patterns, she likes to repurpose secondhand fabrics and uses only American-made materials. “It might be a lot cheaper to get […]

Object of my affection: the wedding chapel

“This painting was a wedding present from my husband’s uncle and aunt, who commissioned it for us. The church shown is Chapel of the Cross, the church in Chapel Hill where we were married. The church is so special to us, aside from the fact that we were married there: We actually met each other […]

In historic Louisa County home, the past lives in layers

“How do we touch this and not mess it up?” That was the question that Tim Burgess asked himself in 2010 as he and Sharon Shapiro considered buying an 1860 Louisa County farmhouse. The house wasn’t a museum piece; previous owners had installed a modern kitchen and loft. But the historic nature of the property […]

June ABODE: The Scene

(Photo by John Robinson) ABODE NEWS I’m your density Plenty of people live on the Downtown Mall, but for the entire month of May, Stephen Balut took that notion to an extreme when he took up residence in the front window of Chroma Projects. A painter who’s been represented by the gallery since shortly after […]

June ABODE: My other kitchen: Tara Koenig

As the owner of Sweethaus, the old-fashioned bakery on West Main Street, Tara Koenig gets to satisfy both her sweet tooth and her love for design. Before opening her cupcake and candy shop last September, she fed her design habit by renovating the kitchen in her 90-year-old home in the Fifeville neighborhood. Not knowing whether or not […]

June ABODE: Got cash? The lowdown on buying a house loan-free

(File photo) Buying a home with cash. The phrase evokes images of lugging a large suitcase stuffed with bills to closing. What does it really mean and what’s involved? Buying with cash means the buyer has the money available to purchase the house outright; he or she doesn’t have to secure financing from a lender […]

June ABODE: Tracey Love’s pared-down Greenwood retreat

(Photo by Andrea Hubbell) A year ago, Tracey Love and her boyfriend, Bridge, decided to buy a Greenwood farmhouse that was built in 1925. “It was a lifestyle change for sure; it was a commitment. Friends that drive out treat it as if it’s so remote, so rural—when in fact I’m five minutes from Crozet, […]

May ABODE: Needing extra space, local families discover the yurt

 Christine Gyovai and Reed Muehlman built an extra-big deck to support their yurt, so that they’d have outdoor hangout space around it. (Photo by Andrea Hubbell) It’s a moment familiar to countless homeowners: You look around the house and think If only we had a bit more space. More room for storage, a place to […]