Homestyle fall14

Homestyle Fall 2014

Nautical paradise midwesterner creates beachy home

Hot tips for preparing your house for spring selling season Discover hidden treasures at Alton antique shops

PLUS

Kitchen disaster turns kitchen delight Calhoun County Quilts Displaying your colors

FALL 2014

Homestyle CONTENTS

cover story

n Along the riverfront .....................................................6 Nautical décor creates Midwest beach house

4

features

n Dreamy kitchen ........................................... 4 From flooded to fabulous

n Build it and they will come............................10 Societies are parallel – no matter the age

n The Genehouse Chronicles ...........................12 You can go home again

n Ready, set…plan and organize .......................14 Selling a house takes more than a sign in the yard

n The great debate..........................................16 Vinyl vs. wood windows

n Tales of one city ..........................................18 Alton antiques full of history and beauty

n Profiles on people: Decorating with stained glass..... 20 Artisan produces myriad of designs, teaches others

n Profiles on people: Beauty & function .............22 Art begins in wood turner’s own backyard

n Day trippin’ ................................................26

6

Saint Louis Art Museum

n Five things .................................................27 You may… or may not… know about Thanksgiving

Who’s who in Homestyle Director: Bob Strickley bstrickley@civitasmedia.com (618) 208-6446 Editor-in-chief: Vicki Bennington vbennington@sbcglobal.net (618) 467-1566 Content Manager: Jill Moon jmoon@civitasmedia.com (618) 208-6448

Homestyle ideas and feedback

Our content is reader-driven, and you, the reader, can make a difference on what we bring to each and every issue of Homestyle Magazine. Please send your story ideas, recommendations for Profiles on People, questions and concerns to Editor-in-Chief Vicki Bennington at vbennington@sbcglobal.net.

On the Cover Homestyle Fall 2014

Advertising Manager: Bonnie Markham bmarkham@civitasmedia.com (618) 208-6427 Contributors: Eugene Baldwin Amanda Keefe Janette Lonsdale

14

Nautical paradise midwesterner creates beachy home

Hot tips for preparing your house for spring selling season Discover hidden treasures at Alton antique shops

PLUS

Kitchen disaster turns kitchen delight Calhoun County Quilts Displaying your colors

Shari and Larry Charlston’s river view from Wind Rivers Luxury Condominiums is breathtaking. The nautical decorating style creates the feel of a beach house in the heart of Illinois.

Photo by Vicki Bennington

24

A note from the editor

Charlston, with its breathtaking views of the Mississippi River. In my cover story, “Along the riverfront,” you will have the chance to see the attention to detail and the creativity that makes the Charlston’s nautically-inspired home truly unique.

A new segment, “Profiles on People,” does just that. It profiles people in the Riverbend area who have an amazing talent that will improve or enhance your home. In this issue, we feature incredibly beautiful pieces by stained glass artist Linda Kutter and wood turner Scott Schlapkohl that can beautify your home in many different capacities. Future profiles might include decorators, carpenters, garden pros or closet makers. I’m making a list, so email me your recommendations.

“The great debate” by Amanda Keefe explores the ins and outs of vinyl vs. wood windows.

“Ready, set…plan and organize”

by Janette Lonsdale will help readers prepare for putting their house on the market in the spring – usually considered the best time of year to do so.

“Tales of one city” introduces readers to Alton’s treasure trove of antique

stores, where just about anybody will find at least one thing they can’t wait to bring home.

“You can go home again” is one in a continuing series of “The Genehouse Chronicles” by local writer and naturalist Eugene Baldwin, depicting his walks and observations along the bluffs and Great River Road area.

Take a look and let me know what you think, and please send your ideas, comments and suggestions.

Stay warm!

All the best,

Vicki Vicki Bennington can be reached at vbennington@sbcglobal.net

Fall 2014 Homestyle

OK, I warned you.

In the last issue, I said the summer would be gone before we knew it.

And it was. I was right. Where did it go? The cold weather months never go by that quickly. At least not for me.

But fall certainly has its good points.

The fresh smell that is hard to name when the air is a little crisp; the whiff of neighborhood fireplaces burning wood for the first time of the season; the gorgeous colors as the leaves begin to turn, and the beauty and silence of new fallen snow a one-of-akind experience.

And then there’s the holidays – Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s in fairly quick succession. Those keep us busy and engaged, and give us something to look forward to, visiting with friends, eating good food. So maybe fall and winter aren’t so bad after all.

With this issue of “Homestyle,” like every issue, our purpose is to offer ideas on how to improve your home, your garden, personal space and overall lifestyle, no matter the season or outside temperature.

The cover features the porch at the Grafton home of Larry and Shari

3

Dreamy kitchen

The Keith’s aqua ceiling in the kitchen was inspired by the color of the Le Creuset pans.

4 Homestyle Fall 2014

Story and photos by Janette Lonsdale Phone calls at 4 a.m. rarely bring good news, especially when you are away on an extended business trip. The call Theresa and Ian Keith got while in Texas last January was no exception.

It was their next-door neighbor on the line, and the news was bad.

The neighbor had discovered 18 inches of water in her own basement. Over at the Keith’s house the water was up to her knees. A pipe serving an upstairs’ bathroom had frozen, and it looked like water had been raining into the kitchen for days.

By the time the flood was discovered, the kitchen ceiling had collapsed, and the cabinets were destroyed. In the adjoining room, the wood floor

was severely damaged. Below ground, the basement was flooded, too.

Ian headed for home at once.

“Ian would not let me see it at its worst,” Theresa said. “It was that bad.”

The couple’s historic, Benton Park, Mo. home had been the culmination of Theresa’s lifelong desire to go home. From this house, Theresa can see Freemont Elementary, the school her father attended in a neighborhood that three generations of her family had called home.

Theresa spent the first 12 years of her life in St. Louis and over the years, she had longed to return. From its connection to her family history to the rooftop deck with views across

Two sinks, each fitted with a disposal, make this a kitchen that will accommodate two cooks.

the city and the sparkle of the granite countertops in the kitchen, this house was perfect.

Ian knew the flood damage was going to break his wife’s heart.

After the insurance company was contacted, the first priority was to get the place dried out.

All the kitchen cabinets and their contents, along with the sodden remains of the kitchen ceiling went out first. A two-foot strip of plaster was cut away from the bottom of all walls on the ground floor so that the wall cavities could be dried and mold growth thwarted.

From the basement, two HVAC units and the water heater joined a variety of soggy personal items in the dumpster.

For the next eight weeks, the house hummed a discordant tune of whirring fans and industrial grade dehumidifiers.

Once the initial shock passed, Theresa began to see the enforced kitchen remodel as an opportunity.

“It has been a dream of mine to design a kitchen from

Canned goods and small appliances store nicely in this French-style pantry cabinet.

the ground up,” Theresa said.

“I have been into decorating forever. I have all the books, and I watch all the shows on HGTV.” The old kitchen with its gorgeous, multi-level island and cherry cabinets was the room Theresa fell in love with when she bought the house. But she

had grown tired of it over the years.

“It was the most beautiful, but not the most functional kitchen,” Theresa said.

So for the new kitchen, she had a pretty good idea of what she wanted. The stove and other appliances were salvageable, and she knew she wanted

to keep the second prep sink and the pot filler by the stove.

This time she wanted a kitchen where she could cook with friends, and that meant rethinking the island. She kept the same footprint, but topped it with a single slab of white granite, lightly peppered with black specks. The surface is honed and slightly rough to the touch.

“The granite is from Graniterra, and this is the first house to have that finish installed in St. Louis,” Theresa said.

The perimeter cabinets are dressed black granite that is honed to a smooth but matt finish.

The old kitchen had shakerstyle doors. Theresa decided to go for the same door style in white to give the space a more current look.

For the island, she wanted aqua cabinets – to match her Le Creuset pans – but thinking about resale, she decided to play it safe and picked black cabinets instead.

See KITCHEN | 27

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Fall 2014 Homestyle

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Along the riverfront

6 Homestyle Fall 2014

by Vicki Bennington

Shari and Larry Charlston love the water. Always have.

Originally from Laguna Beach, Calif., Shari knew after spending more than 30 years in the Midwest, one day she wanted to live by the water again. The thing is… she thought she meant beachfront…like next to the ocean.

In 1981, she and Larry moved to Elsah, Ill., to work at Principia College — she as a Christian Science nurse, he as director of media services and videographer.

They later moved to St. Louis for 14 years, before choosing to come back to the east side of the Mississippi River when they found the answer to their dream of waterfront property — in Illinois.

Married 39 years, the two were both from California, but met at a camp for Christian Science youth in Colorado while still in high school. When they moved to the St. Louis area, Shari said from the first, it felt

like home, and they satisfied their desire for boating and the water by vacationing and kayaking in Maine every summer.

Then three years ago, they discovered the upscale Wind Rivers Luxury Condominiums in Grafton at the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, in just about the only area of town that wasn’t underwater during the Great Flood of 1993.

Due to its elevation — above, yet close to the riverbank — the development is protected, but still offers all the sights, sounds and benefits of riverfront living.

Moving from a 1900s French country farmhouse, and downsizing from 3,000 square feet to 1,900, Shari and Larry didn’t feel their furniture would gracefully “fit” their new lifestyle, in more ways than one.

Five garage sales later, the quantity was more in tune with the new place, but the style needed a change.

“My husband said, ‘Let’s just start over,’

so that’s basically, what we did,” Shari said.

“But we did it on a tight budget.

“We decided on a nautical, beach house theme with the emphasis on Maine, lobster buoys, paddling and whales,” she said.

The many summers the couple and their four children spent in Maine was the strongest inspiration in the new decorating style, using the river itself as the natural canvas backdrop.

Repurposing much of their old furniture with paint and slipcovers, Shari transformed a leather ottoman into a maritime focal centerpiece that doubles as a cocktail table and foot rest in the living room. Wood furniture that was once black or red, took on a new life in bright white, adding to the cheery, “beachy” feel of the home.

“I’ve always liked being creative, and I can sew, so I figured why not give it a try,” Shari said. “I got a lot of ideas on Pinterest.”

She found most of her fabric at Anatol’s

Vicki Bennington | For Homestyle

A cozy corner desk provides a quiet place to work, while occasionally gazing out the glass doors at the river view.

For Homestyle

even the frozen river in the middle of winter is a beautiful sight from the Charlston’s condominium windows.

Vicki Bennington | For Homestyle

A warm and inviting conversation area nestled around the fireplace is full of nautically-themed fabrics, paintings and accents.

Vicki Bennington | For Homestyle

A birdbath is filled with local shells that shari Charlston found washed up on the riverbank.

Nautical décor creates Midwest beach house hangings, and decorative accents in various parts of their home. Interesting wine bottle shapes were spray painted for just the right shade of aqua to add a burst of color.

Items that Shari has picked up for reasonable prices at the Grafton Riverside Flea Market, held at The Loading Dock once a month, has also inspired many of her creative ideas. In addition to thrift items, Shari accentuated different rooms in the house with pieces she purchased from IKEA, Pottery Barn and Tuesday Morning.

Touches like retractable screen doors that are there when you need them, but won’t obscure the view when you don’t want them to, and heated floors in the bathroom to make cold winter mornings cozy, add to the overall comfort and usability of the home.

About 10 years ago, while her daughter was taking an art class, Shari decided to

try her hand at painting. Now, many of the nautical-based paintings on the walls were created and signed by the homeowner herself.

“I think I got into decorating because of a desire for my home, just like my paintings, to emit qualities of thought that you can tangibly feel. The most obvious would be comfort and soul or beauty,” Shari said.

“And in this home, I wanted a sense of adventure and joy, inspiring a feeling you are on vacation.”

They removed a wall to open up the kitchen to the living area, and the wall of windows allows the river view to be fully enjoyed and appreciated, unhindered by wall coverings.

“I wanted the inside decor to pull the eye outside to take in the inspiring views,” Shari said. “All of the chairs swivel to face either into the room or toward the windows.”

Fall 2014 Homestyle

Fabric Outlet in Brentwood, Mo., which is a suburb on the west side of the Mississippi, and Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft in St. Louis.

And if she couldn’t find the exact pattern she had in mind, she used acrylics to paint the fabric itself.

She made a throw pillow cover for the bed that is accented in anchors, with her father’s U.S. Navy World War II medals pinned along the bottom as a unique way of displaying them.

A former birdbath is filled with shells she picked up along the riverbank, and topped with a piece of glass to serve as a table alongside one of her favorite chairs.

“Found” barge rope encases a cord that Shari pulled through the rope’s center to add the finishing touch on the lamp shade above the table.

On their annual trips to Maine, the Charlstons have brought back buoys (obtained legally) to use for doorstops, wall

7

Vicki Bennington | For Homestyle

White furniture and colorful, maritime accents give the Charlston home a fresh, beachy feel.

Vicki Bennington | For Homestyle

8 Homestyle Fall 2014

The white chest near the front door is the perfect place for the Charlstons to display treasures like the lamp the two made together, using a hammer drill to drill varied colored rocks that they picked up on a rock (no sand) beach in Rockland, Maine. The blue coral was a gift from friends in northern California, and above the chest, is a painting

by Shari featuring one of her favorite subjects — a pastel lighthouse at Cape Elizabeth in Portland, Maine.

Between the barges, pelicans and other birds, boats and weather, there’s constant, daily entertainment just outside the window panes.

“And we have a totally unobstructed view of the sunrise and the sunset,” she said. “I’ve taken thousands of pictures of both. They are breathtaking.”

She loves having a front row seat for all the bird migration.

“Last year, there were so many eagles to watch. I never enjoyed winter until we moved here. And even thunderstorms are amazing — watching them move along the river. It’s like watching a movie,” she said.

“Sometimes I have to make myself stop watching out the window, because there is

Vicki Bennington | For Homestyle

Shari and Larry Charlston moved to Wind Rivers Luxury Condominiums to enjoy their dream of living by the water.

always something going on.”

She’s also become a bit of a scavenger, seeing the beauty and possibilities of items she finds along the river, like rope on the shore that spent time in its first life on one of the huge barges that the Charlstons watch travel along the river.

“I walk on the river bank and when I see something I like, I pick it up,” she said.

She looks for pieces of wood to reuse in her outdoor décor, like the huge piece of driftwood, now home to a large succulent crop on the patio table. She crafted her own fountains to accent the lush front gardens that flank her equally nautical entrance with blue door and buoys.

From top to bottom, inside and out,

she’s faithfully stuck to the seafaring theme.

“Even a large portion of the toys and books we have for our grandchildren are about the beach, lobsters, loons, fish, boats and everything to do with the ocean,” Shari said with a laugh.

When all the Charlston children and grandchildren are visiting, and it gets a bit crowded, the family walks down to the development’s central clubhouse, complete with a workout room and space to spread out inside and around the swimming pool, while taking in the panoramic view of the river.

“We love it here. I don’t think we’ll ever leave,” Shari said. “I really do feel like I’m on vacation.” n

Vicki Bennington | For Homestyle

Vicki Bennington | For Homestyle

shari Charlston stands on her back porch against a river backdrop and displays While decorating, shari Charlston always kept the view in her succulent garden, thriving in a piece of found driftwood. mind, drawing the eye to the beauty of the landscape.

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Fall 2014 Homestyle

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Build it and they will come Story and photos by Eugene Baldwin

10 Homestyle Fall 2014

societies are mostly parallel — no matter the age Retired carpenter Larry Kinsella, 69, from Fairview Heights, who is an amateur archaeologist, became obsessed with American Indians when he was a teenager. He found lots of arrowheads on the family farm, but he had no idea what or whom they represented.

At age 19, Larry traded a box of arrowheads in a simple transaction.

He couldn’t have known this would lead to a lifetime of bartering — for flint, animal skins, cane (arrow shafts) and wood, or that he would come to be recognized by archaeologists as an expert on the City of the Sun, aka Cahokia Mounds, located in Collinsville.

In 1969, he heard about a tour of Cahokia Mounds. Once he attended, he was hooked. Less than six miles from his family farm, one of North America’s great ancient culture’s prehistoric cities had flourished 800 years ago, and few local citizens knew anything about it.

In classic autodidact fashion, everything Larry knows, he learned from working alongside archaeologists on digs, observing flintknappers fashion arrowheads and stone tool replicas, and artisans tanning

hides, sewing, making pottery and carving bows.

Today, Cahokia Mounds is recognized as the largest archaeological site in the United States and as an Illinois State Heritage Site. It was the epicenter of the Mississippian culture, with outposts stretching along the Mississippi River Valley from Wisconsin to Louisiana, and east to Florida. At its peak, more than 20,000 people called it home.

The culture made heavy use of pottery (water jugs), mussel and conch shells (ladles, spoons, hoes), copper (flintknapping) and introduced agriculture as we know it, including the cultivation of corn.

The annual Archaeology Day at Cahokia Mounds features artisans demonstrating how its citizens might have subsisted.

Potter Chris Dunn piled ropes of clay mixed with ground mussel shells to build water jars, plates and other domestic items. He used stone implements to style the pieces and fabric weaves to impress designs into the objects. He explained how he fired the pieces, which burns off the fabric and strengthens the molecular structure.

Mississippian versus modern

Pictured is a replica of a Mississippian scepter adorned with great white shark teeth.

the City of the Sun was constructed.

We may infer a connection between the celestial event and the building of what would become one of the largest cities in the world.

Family groups in the City of the Sun lived in small houses with golden thatched roofs. The “King’s” house, atop the big mound known as Monk’s Mound, located in present-day Collinsville at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, is the largest earthen structure in either North or South America, afforded a view encompassing miles in all directions. Enormous public plazas served as meeting and gathering places, and venues for games and sport.

There is evidence that humans were sacrificed, possibly when a king died. Chemical remnants of “black drink,” a concoction that included poisonous holly, have been discovered.

One such king’s burial mound was discovered to contain the remains of 53 people in one pit, with other human remains nearby.

The reach of the Mississippian culture extended as far east as Florida.

Many artifacts fashioned of whelk and conch shells have been found at Cahokia. And there is the ultimate “bling,” ceremonial wooden paddles studded with the teeth of great white sharks.

How did they attain those items from the sea?

“They walked,” Larry said. “If you’re an artisan making something with sharks teeth, you can’t order that.”

The city was built and sustained by tool makers, carpenters, hunters,

See BUILD | 13

A knapped flint knife blade set in a carved wooden handle and a stainless steel paring knife set in a plastic handle.

Photos Page 10, TOP: This is an illustration of an artist’s rendering of the City of the Sun, which was located in present day Collinsville at the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. In the background, to the far left (west), is Woodhenge; directly to the right, adjacent (north) to Woodhenge is ‘King’s’ Mound and individual dwellings. In the foreground, is an illustration of a conical mound, family houses, the stockade and a plaza.

Page 10, BOTTOM: Larry Kinsella demonstrates the use of a lighter version of the ‘Big Mama’ celt. Both large and small celt tools were used for chopping and cutting logs.

11

The annual Archaeology Day at Cahokia Mounds features artisans demonstrating how its citizens might have subsisted

A ground granite hammerstone and a steel hammerhead with milled wood handle.

Fall 2014 Homestyle

Tanner and bowyer Paul Jarvis displayed his bows fashioned from Osage orange and basswood, using stone tools to plane the wood. Jarvismade leather clothing hung from a tent pole. The hides were tanned using deer brains to cure the raw hide, then smoked to strengthen the resultant products, including shirts that would “last forever.”

Larry displayed his masterful replicas of stone hoes, knives, arrowheads, spear points, and axes (celts), all mounted in wood handles and wrapped in deer sinew. Using his 20-pound “Big Mama” axe, he chopped a log in half against the grain, and used a stone adze to cut with the grain. He showed a group of mostly children how to flintknap using copper implements. By mid-day, the table was piled high with newly made arrowheads.

“Everything I’m about to tell you is how we think the city was organized,” Larry said. “Archaeology is some facts and a lot of theories. How I make things from stone proves it can be done, or how it was likely done. Can we know for sure? No.” On July 4, AD 1054, a supernova occurred in the Milky Way galaxy.

The event in outer space was seen around the world, recorded by a Chinese astrologer and interpreted by, among others, Anasazi Indian artists who drew pictures of the event on rocks. Indigenous people’s rock drawings, rather than rock surface carvings, are known as pictographs in the archaeological world; petroglyphs are rock carvings depicting images that create pictures of an experience.

Over the next several hundred years,

In the foreground is a stone celt set in carved wooden handle next to a steel-hand axe set in milled wooden handle; in the background is a decorated fired clay pipe and a traditional wooden pipe bowl set in plastic handle.

The Genehouse Chronicles

You can go home again

Eugene Baldwin

12 Homestyle Fall 2014

The Genehouse Chronicles

A pragmatic friend of mine just returned from Hawaii. He was grousing about the leis.

“They more or less force you to wear one. I didn’t want to wear one — it was unseemly.” That’s a Midwesterner for you. He’d rather die than wear flowers around his neck. I can see his wife being approached at the airport, “Lei, lady, lei?”

I wonder — do Hawaiians take their home for granted? Could we lure them here to our paradise? Our lei equivalent might be a necklace of Calhoun peaches or acorns or wild dandelions. If I lost you at the phrase “our paradise,” brother, sister woman, you are blind.

Three groups of friends from Chicago have visited Genehouse recently. Two of them camped in my 19-acre backyard. My friend, Rich, and his wife and kids and cousins visited for a day. And my old student, Kim (I taught music to her when she was in eighth grade), and her sons and husband came by. All of them got the same fall tour.

Cahokia Mounds, a mere 30 miles from here, and The Pueblo, in Taos, N.M., are the oldest evidences of cities (A.D. 1000) in the country. Both communities witnessed — though they didn’t know it — a supernova in the Milky Way, which obliterated the god star Venus for months, and both responded with profound artistic interpretations.

Less than 40 percent of Altonians and Godfreyites (Godfreyites?) have visited Cahokia, a World Heritage site, the largest city in the world in its time. There is a world-class museum with amazing artifact displays and mounds, mounds, mounds of all shapes and sizes.

Cahokia isn’t a cemetery. Only a few of the mounds contain human remains. The rest are platforms for ancient houses, community centers, plazas and the King’s mound, the largest earthen structure in North America. Escaping slaves saw the deserted city. Lewis and Clark rode through it and didn’t know what to make of it.

Confluence Park, winter home to thousands of bald eagles and trumpeter swans and snow geese,

and a summer hiker’s dream, offers sights and sounds that can be found nowhere else. You can stand in the Mississippi and Missouri rivers at the same time. (OK, why would you, I have, but why would you?)

See the tall grass and short grass prairies as they would have looked in the early 19th century. Stand in the American Bottom, the most fertile soil in the country. Behold the cottonmouth snake in its habitat — never mind.

If you want your hike wilder and with less people around, visit the Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. The entire drive from Missouri Route 367 is a narrow, winding road hemmed in by farms on stilts. The view is forest and bluffs to the south, and Alton’s historic riverfront with its awe-inspiring Lovejoy Monument and Lincoln sites to the north. Park and walk the wild.

Lewis and Clark went by here, as did Mark Twain and Marquette and Joliet and the first people, 10,000 years ago. Stand in the fields and listen to the whoop of the sandhill cranes and the fierce screams of falcons and hawks. At sunset, watch bats swoop, and great horned and barred owls. If you’re lucky, if you’re quiet, the bobcats will pad by.

What local loop is better by far than Chicago’s Loop? The Great River Road to Hardin, across the Illinois River and south along the spine of the Mississippi River bluffs, all the way to the Grafton ferry and east to our towns.

Visit Elsah, the town that time forgot (take away the electric wires and you can imagine Tom Sawyer whitewashing an Elsah fence); the majestic Mississippi Palisades; stunning Pere Marquette State Park; the ribbon of two-lane country road back to the ferry, hard against Mississippi River bluffs, the roller coaster drive up and down the hills.

Warning! If you stop anywhere along the way, if you drink some local wine, eat the local smoked brisket or a peach or apple or a homemade rhubarb pie; if you pick a pumpkin, if you roll your pants up and dip your toe in the water, if you smell the falling leaves (do not smell the goldenrod) and the fecund soil…

you might never leave.

Walk with me down Clifton Terrace Road. Thrill to the speeders nearly crashing on the S-curve located halfway up (or down) the hill.

Be ready to leap into the tall grass in case of a swerving, texting driver (I once saw a woman driver applying her makeup as she negotiated the curves).

Turn right on the Great River Road trail. Marvel at limestone cathedrals — aka bluffs — and the American white pelicans and great and snowy egrets and blue herons that fish along the Scotch Jimmy Island shore.

Attend the daily concert of wrens and house finches and scarlet tanagers and chickadees, which perch along the way.

Turn right again onto Stanka Lane, headed toward Stroke Hill.

Pass Hummingbird Man’s house and watch the ruby-throated parade. Marvel at the stately Osage orange trees that line the widower Bob’s property (“Take my Osage oranges—please!”). Hear the rain of acorns and falling, varicolored leaves and watch the annual woolly caterpillar and grasshopper races across the road.

In the spring, the view was of color gone mad—forsythia and dogwood and redbuds and weeping willows and irises—I swear Van Gogh must have visited here. Now it is hollyhocks higher than my head, and rose of Sharon and crispness and trees taking off their clothes, and it’s rated “PG,” and you can take the kids.

Turn right on Illinois Route 3, for the short walk back to Clifton Terrace. Farmer Orville’s tomatoes and pick your own blackberries are now but memories. As Orville himself would say, “Don’t get me started.”

All this, did my Chicago friends see. How to describe their reactions?

They were prayerful, awestruck, besotted, contemplative. They muttered, “This can’t be Illinois.” My teenaged friend, Jackson, wept, “Gene, it’s what you do when you see something greater than yourself.”

Do you take your home for granted? Walk with me.

Additional essays on nature, fiction and poetry, and interviews with local people can be found in writer Eugene Baldwin’s “The Genehouse Chronicles” at www.eugenebaldwin.com.

Build From page 11 fishermen and farmers. Anything now bought at places like Ace Hardware today, they made: hammers, chisels, knives, adzes, etc. The main crops were corn and squash. Tobacco also was cultivated. Ancient burned seeds revealed that tobacco’s nicotine content then was many times more potent than today’s cigarettes. It may have been used as a narcotic.

Tool makers used native flints of the region. Flint, in the silica family, is easily pressure-flaked using deer antlers. The blades were made by shaping the edges with copper. Handles were fashioned from antlers, bone and wood.

The changing seasons were tracked by “Woodhenge,” an enormous wooden wheel of posts aligned to denote special events. If one stands at Woodhenge and watches eastward, the rising sun at the spring solstice and fall equinox appears to nest on the lower platform of Monk’s Mound. It is an astounding sight.

No written language has been discovered — yet.

“People think Cahokia was dug up

years ago,” Larry said. “The city is so vast, only 100th of 1 percent of the site has been excavated. It will take thousands of years to know the truth.”

Large swaths of the original City of the Sun — outside of Cahokia Mounds — have been destroyed during Metro East development over the years.

The City of the Sun flourished for only a few hundred years. Its people might have dispersed to become the historical tribes of the east. Perhaps famine overcame them. A corn-based diet without dentistry presumably can lead to tooth and bone infections. And certainly, in a city of tens of thousands of people, the sheer volume of its sewage alone would be overwhelming, and with the populace dependent on a steady supply of wood, stone, clean water and game, they might simply have outstripped their resources.

“Take away modern technology, we are the same,” Larry said.

“Humans are humans. It all comes down to man adapting to his environment. They were as smart as us, far better hunters and more self-sufficient that we ever could be. My mission is to know the sense of them.”

There might be a lesson here for a new age. n

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selling a house takes more than a sign in the yard

14 Homestyle Fall 2014

By Janette Lonsdale Prepare, and then — prepare some more.

That is the key to success for home sellers aiming for the spring market, and it’s not too early to start.

Despite encouraging real estate news from across the country, the Metro East remains a buyers’ market. In August, there were more than 5,000 homes for sale — the equivalent of 10 months of housing inventory in the past.

With such fierce competition for buyers’ attentions, homeowners need to do a lot more than vacuum and hang out a “For Sale” sign.

To compete, your home needs to be at its best. Depending on its condition and your budget, it may take several months to get your house sale-ready.

Do all your windows work correctly?

Is the carpet looking shabby? Is the basement stuffed to the joists?

Before you embark on any improvements, talk to a qualified realtor, who can give you a feel for your home’s value and provide insights into what updates will give you the best return.

“It is all about price,” said Andy Hannigan, a Keller Williams realtor since 2007. “Then, it is about condition.”

Some agents recommend a pre-sale appraisal, but Andy says a qualified real-

tor should be able to find the right price.

Appraisers look at past data, whereas a realtor knows more about buyers and the things that put them off.

“If your yard isn’t well manicured, it very well may lead buyers to think the interior is most likely not well attended to either,” said Karen Prinster, a Keller Williams realtor specializing in luxury property. “You have to deep clean everything, inside and outside.”

A fresh coat of paint will give your home a pristine and clean feel. Andy advises sticking to a neutral pallet with white ceilings, and what he calls realtorbeige on the walls.

Karen instructs sellers to re-paint all painted interior doors, windows and trim. Outside, she said, a coat of paint on the mailbox and the front door improves curb appeal.

“Red is a very powerful color,” Karen said. “It is fashionable for front doors at the moment.”

Andy likes red, too, but thinks any bold color that works with the look and style of your home and your neighborhood will do the job. He said yellow or purple can look great, and burnt orange is a growing trend.

If you are hiring a painting contractor, don’t wait till the last minute. Good painters are in demand, and you will want all the painting done early enough for the

smell to dissipate.

After painting, many realtors recommend getting carpets cleaned or replaced. While the first should be done shortly before going on the market, allow at least a month for new carpet delivery and install.

Remember, replacement windows, granite countertops and other products have lead times too. During a busy period, you might need to allow up to 12 weeks from ordering to installation.

“If your countertops are not chipped or ugly, don’t invest in upgrading,” Andy said. “In the kitchen, for every $10,000 you spend, you only get $7,000 back.”

Another expense where early preparation can pay off is a pre-listing home inspection.

Getting your own report allows you to anticipate buyer’s demands and find contractors who can do the work at the price you want to pay.

As an added bonus, you can watch out for coupons, after-holiday discounts, and special offers at stores like Home Depot or other big-box stores, and good deals on sites, such as Angie’s List.

If there is something that you think a buyer will try to use to reduce your price, but you don’t wish to fix it up front, get a quote for the work. Knowing the true risk will put you in a stronger negotiating position.

Janette Lonsdale | For Homestyle

A brightly-colored front door can make a house visually ‘pop,’ adding to its curb appeal.

Marlo Ann Myers | For Homestyle

Keep countertops junk free to show off the beauty of your kitchen.

Marlo Ann Myers | For Homestyle

Have a clean desk policy for your home office while your house is on the market.

Janette Lonsdale | For Homestyle

Clutter makes this garage seem small and gives the impression that it takes a lot to maintain this home.

probably lost that sale.

Even family photos should be put away, according to Andy. For example, if a buyer sees a recent wedding photo and thinks you need space to start a family, they may think you will be open to negotiating a discount. Plus, photos can make the house seem more personal to the current owners, rather than a place potential buyers can see as their own.

Selling your home is stressful. Giving you and your family the time to get the house ready and investing your time and energy in the right updates, repairs, changes and “tweaks,” will help you attract the best buyer and price. n

15

refinancing and have your home for sale simultaneously,” Karen said.

“Refinancing can take as much as six to 12 weeks.”

One of the most challenging things most homeowners face during the preparation period is dealing with clutter.

You are selling the house, not your stuff.

Andy advises tackling one room or closet at a time. Remove anything the buyer might find distracting, and keep taking things away until the space feels large and open.

If buyers leave your home talking about your beautiful furniture, or if they bump into your coffee table, you have

Fall 2014 Homestyle

In addition, some municipalities, like Alton and Godfrey, have mandatory home inspections, generally related to health and safety standards that can sometimes lead to the selling homeowner making repairs before closing.

“If municipal inspections exist, I always encourage my sellers to get these inspections done up front,” Karen said.

The cost of all the repairs can add up fast, and leveraging the equity in your home may be one way to pay the bills, but again, success depends on planning ahead.

“You cannot be in the midst of

Janette Lonsdale | For Homestyle

Remove excess furniture to make rooms look large and spacious.

The great debate

by Amanda Keefe

Vinyl versus Wood Windows

Vinyl Cost of vinyl window: $350 to $800

n Vinyl comes in a wide variety of designs and styles, some that even match the look of wood. n Vinyl has the highest Energy Star rating of any replacement window on the market. n Vinyl is lower maintenance than wood. n Vinyl boasts quicker installation than wood.

this two-story brick home is located in Alton’s historic district. the windows, installed by twin-Co, Inc. of Godfrey, are insulated, vinyl replacement windows, custom-built to resemble the original wood windows installed more than a century ago.

Wood Cost of wood window: $650 to $1,000

16 Homestyle Fall 2014

n Wood often suffers in the elements - expands in the summer and shrinks in winter, allowing for cold air to seep through. n Wood is the preferred choice for older homes, specifically for its aesthetics.

J

this Alton home, owned by Phil embree and Claudia Harju, received a window makeover in 2011, when the couple opted for new wood windows. they purchased the home in 2010 with the intent to open a bed and breakfast, which they are still considering.

ust as eyes are the windows to the soul, windows are the soul of a home.

While their detail and composition are often overlooked, a lot goes in to ensuring a home’s windows not only fit perfectly, but are a perfect fit for the owner.

And according to local experts, determining the type of window makes all the difference. In today’s market, vinyl and wood are the main

treatments available, and it appears contractors lean toward one in particular.

“With vinyl windows, we generally can save the customer money and get the job done much quicker,” said Gene Hand, owner of Twin-Co Inc., a home improvement contracting firm based in Godfrey.

An advocate for vinyl, Gene also acknowledged the wide array of

While their detail and composition are often overlooked, a lot goes in to ensuring a home’s windows not only fit perfectly, but are a perfect fit for the owner.

designs and styles accompanied with the replacement window. Further, vinyl windows have the highest Energy Star rating of any replacement window on the market.

Gene, who boasts more than 30 years of experience, said in the old days, homeowners didn’t really have a choice but to install wood windows.

As times and technology changed, however, so did window treatment

options.

“I haven’t seen a window in years that’s wood on the inside and wood on the outside,” said Scot Lehr, owner of Quality Installation and Home Improvement Co. in Swansea.

“Wood won’t stand up to the elements.”

But both contractors feel that at the end of the day, it’s whatever the customer desires.

“If the customer’s needs are satisfied more by wood, we’ll install wood,” Gene said.

Thus was the decision of Phil Embree and Claudia Harju of Alton.

The couple purchased a century-old home in 2010 with the intent of transforming it into a bed and breakfast.

Replacing the old home’s original wood windows was among its many renovations, mainly because the structure reached chilly temperatures in the winter.

They reviewed bids from a handful of different companies, one of which offered a vinyl window frame the company claimed looked like wood.

“If you have poor vision and a big imagination, then yes, it looked like wood,” Phil joked, noting that real wood windows was the kind chosen in the end. “Yes, they cost a little more, but we decided it was worth

it.”

The couple said the wood windows, installed by Quality Installation, maintain the home’s integrity.

Trent McDaniel and his family, on the other hand, had vinyl windows installed in their Glen Carbon home.

“I think we considered wood windows, but when we were looking for a combination of what looked good, what was high-quality and economically friendly, for us vinyl made so much more sense,” Trent said. “It’s inexpensive but still looks good and is a good product.”

Regardless, the experts agree aesthetics of wood often surpass that of vinyl. However, wood windows can come with caveats: higher cost, more maintenance, unfavorable in the elements and possible deterioration.

But as history proves, wood was the first and only available window treatment for some time, and people liked it that way, Scot said.

Also in the business for roughly three decades, Scot said he was among the area’s first to install vinyl windows when the product hit the market in the 1980s. While he was an immediate advocate, some weren’t thrilled.

“Vinyl windows were hard to get off the ground,” he recalled with

a laugh. “Folks would say, ‘We’re gonna’ put plastic windows in my house? I don’t think so, sonny!’”

Today, Scot finds benefits in both wood and vinyl, but also recognizes the choice heavily depends on a client’s financial situation.

Gene follows the same train of thought, and says a wood replacement window costs roughly two-anda-half times more than a vinyl one.

The cost of a quality vinyl window can run anywhere from $350 to $800, while a decent wood replacement window can run from $650 to $1,000.

Gene said he prefers vinyl so much that he used it on his own house.

“For the price, and for maintenance-free interior and exterior, and even for the aesthetics – especially since you can get vinyl with all the bells and whistles – I think for the money, vinyl is it,” he said.

Scot recognizes that as a salesman, he should probably urge customers to buy the more expensive product, but he doesn’t.

“I should be trying to sell people fries with their burger, but I think people can see through that pretty quickly, so I try to go the most economical route to gain what my customers are trying to accomplish,” he said. n

scot recognizes that as a salesman, he should probably urge customers to buy the more expensive product, but he doesn’t.

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17

Tales of one city Alton antiques full of history and beauty

A circa 1950s to 1960s cottage kitchen set with unusually-shaped china cabinet at Country meadows Antiques.

18 Homestyle Fall 2014

An antique desk chair in lindy Jorges’ Alton home was originally purchased from steve’s lighting and Antiques, also in Alton. lindy found the chair while shopping in a salt lake City, Utah, antique shop and was surprised to find out she was actually taking it back to where it had come from.

Country meadows Antiques features many unusual pieces, like this ice chest, circa early 1900s, that held huge blocks of ice and kept things cool within its galvanized walls.

Every antique shop, every flea market or home full of antique furniture, collectibles, knick-knacks, vintage art or jewelry is full of stories of lives once lived, dreams fulfilled, hearts broken and mended.

And besides that, they’re often beautiful and just down right interesting.

Take the cabinet at Country Meadows Antiques. It was sold to the owners, Gary and Pam Voyles, by a former owner of the historic Olin mansion, where it had been in the wine cellar. As the story goes it is believed to have originally been installed as a workbench in the late 1800s at the Olin Corp. plant.

And at Country Meadows, with its 5,000 square feet of showroom space, the stories behind the merchandise go on and on. Gary and Pam, along with 10 other dealers who rent portions of the space, offer a little of everything under the sun. From little to big; low dollar to high; country, casual, formal, there’s truly a treasure to be found for just about everybody.

Country Meadows has been part of Alton’s antique scene for 29 years, and Pam said there are trends that come and go, even in the world of antiques.

“Young couples in town are really into the retro 1950s furniture, like chrome table and chair sets for lofts and apartments,” she said. “Sometimes parents will buy that type of thing and ship them to their kids who have apartments at college.”

Surprisingly, in a town with Victorianstyle houses, Pam said Victorian antiques are not as hot as you might think.

“People are really into recycling and ‘upcycling’ things like doors, columns and other architectural pieces,” Gary said. “They buy and paint them and install them in new and older homes.

“Old store and commercial pieces like counters and wall units are hard to keep in the store — they’re popular with people who are building large new homes,” he added.

And even antique shops are seasonal. The Voyles sell galvanized and metal chairs for gardens in the summer and vintage wicker pieces are quick to go in the warmer months. Antique sleds don’t keep long in the winter.

Most of the pieces in the shop are from estates or have come from calls they receive from individual sellers.

Gary does repair and refinishing if needed because Pam said now, most people do not want rough furniture that needs work (like they used to), because they don’t have the time, desire or know-how to refinish it.

“They want to be able to take it home and use it in their house immediately,” Pam said.

Folk art pieces — some that Pam said are not always appealing to everybody — are still hot commodities. Gary crafts yardstick art, using standard yardsticks to resurface table tops, sides of blocks, benches and other items, creating newer “folk” items.

The two have travelled the country, participating in antique shows in Texas, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri and other spots around the country, where they trade, sell and talk to other dealers.

“And different things are popular in different parts of the country,” Pam said.

“People in Texas like tarnished silverplate; in Nashville, they want it polished.

Blonde furniture is not really popular here in the Midwest, but it’s extremely popular in Texas and California.”

The Voyles’ true love is the store and building relationships with customers who come back time and again.

“We’ve been all over the country, and we’ve never really seen an antique district like Alton’s,” Pam said. “It’s unique. And there is a real assortment of shops — each with its own personality — different types of merchandise, different pricing. It’s a nice mix — that’s part of the draw.”

Antiques 101 — to be a true antique, the piece must be at least 100 years old. If it’s 50 years old, it’s a collectible, according to Gary.

“We buy things we love, and if you love something, you can talk about it,” Gary said. “A piece comes in, we repair it or paint it and we get excited about it.”

The Voyles, married 40 years, have both loved antiques since they were in their 20s, going to sales with Gary’s grandparents. So they have naturally filled their own home with antiques.

“I love quilts and toys, and I have an 1890 blue painted cupboard from

Story and photos by Vicki Bennington

An American empire gentleman’s chest at Alton Antique Center with Boston sandwich glass knobs.

terry Vaughn, owner of Alton Antique Center, arranges a 1930s handmade folk art miniature house, complete with electric lights. A vintage hand-hooked American floor runner adorns the wall behind.

Alton Antique Center features a French pastry table that was once used in an 1870s French patisserie, topped with faux pastries and vintage floral arrangements.

19

“It’s just a different way to use and incorporate antiques into modern living.

It can be eclectic and reflect your personality,” he noted.

Terry carries new rugs as well as vintage hand woven Persians. All price ranges attract local buyers and out of towners — some who do look for a particular period, but many more who want a mix.

Phil Barboro does most of the decorating in the shop, taking care to display pieces in arrangements that reflect where they might be used. A vintage walnut desk sits amongst an office environment. A Victorian metal vase holds a bottle of champagne atop a dining room table, and an 1870s French pastry table holds an array of faux pastries and vintage flower arrangements.

“Some buyers come in looking for function only — others specifically want something different,” Terry said.

And with antiques and collectibles, you never know the connections that have been broken that can be brought together again. The items that were lost can come back home.

Like Lindy Jorges, who owns a large Alton mansion, who was shopping at an antique shop in Salt Lake City, Utah. She found a desk chair she liked and asked the shop owner about its history. It turns out, someone had sold the chair to the man in Salt Lake City, but had originally purchased it at Steve’s Lighting and Antiques in Alton, the town where the chair now resides again.

Lindy purchased a massive breakdown wardrobe at the now closed Tootie’s Antiques, and was waiting for renovations to her house to be completed before picking it up. The Great Flood of 1993 prompted the Alton store owner to call Lindy and tell her, “You need to get this out of the shop. I’m afraid we’re going to be flooded.”

Another wardrobe that Lindy and her ex-husband bought at a shop in Mineral Springs Mall in Alton was hauled home — tied atop a Volkswagen.

There are a number of antique shops along Broadway and the immediate vicinity in Alton, Ill., near the Mississippi riverfront. Most are within walking distance of each other. Other nearby antique shops can be found in other parts of Alton, Godfrey and Edwardsville. Days and hours that shops are open vary; some are open weekends only. n

Fall 2014 Homestyle

Pennsylvania that is my favorite piece,” Pam said.

Gary’s pick is an 1862 needlepoint sampler, handmade by a 14-year-old girl who used intricate detail, including a serpent with Adam and Eve at its center.

They both love big farm tables, and buyers from Polo Ralph Lauren evidently feel the same way, having bought about a dozen from the Voyles (while at a show) to use for store props, most recently a green harvest table.

Photographers also buy tables and other items to use as props in their studios.

Pam said that there are many young people interested in antiques now, a young bride-to-be recently made Country Meadows part of her bridal gift registry.

“Vintage clothing is popular with young people, too,” she said.

Postcards and magazines sell fast, along with unusual things, like the folk art dog that sported a nail in place of his missing leg.

“It was the weirdest thing I ever sold, but it was also the first thing sold that day,” Pam said.

“In the Midwest, there are pieces from the 1900s, back to 1880s and even 1860s,” Gary said. “But in New England, you can find things from 1600. They’re pricey, but you can find them.”

Terry Vaughn, owner of Alton Antique Center for 29 years, concurred.

“In the northeastern United States, especially Maine, it’s amazing what you can find, because of the early settlers in that part of the country,” Terry said.

Terry’s upscale shop is full of European, Asian and American antiques. His oldest piece is a small, 400-year-old cabinet from Portugal.

Shabby chic and loft style living has prompted many young people to buy antiques for their living spaces, mismatching finishes. The anything goes attitudes has buyers using a chest of drawers in the living room or entry hall; a pastry table might become a kitchen island. The possibilities are limitless.

“There are no strict rules about where or how pieces can be used like there used to be,” Terry said. “People want usable, multi-purpose pieces.”

At one time, people would buy a Victorian bedroom “set,” now they buy individual pieces to mix and match themselves, he added.

Profiles of people Improving and enhancing the home

e used ins the design sh linda Kutter expla ows in maeva’s Coffee nd for the bank of wi olhouse in Alton. ho sc n lto in the mi

g n i t a r o c e D d e n i a t s with glass

20 Homestyle Fall 2014

Story and photos

gton

by Vicki Bennin

artisan produces myriad of designs, teaches others Stained glass dates back to the ancient Egyptians and Romans who used it to create cups, bowls and other ornaments and baubles, and of course, it’s been used to form fabulous windows in churches and cathedrals for centuries.

Linda Kutter remembers sitting in church as a child and marveling at the huge stained glass windows.

All the colors that filtered the light, yet created a nice warm glow as the sun shone through kept her mesmerized. They still do. That interest spurred a hobby to create some stained glass of her own more than 25 years ago, and eventually grew into a business.

Owner of Creative Stained Glass, Linda not only creates beautiful, decorative pieces, she teaches classes to help others learn the craft themselves.

There are thousands of types of glass and many techniques that can be used to produce 3-D items, functional jewelry boxes, lampshades, beveled and plain sun catchers, crosses, yard ornaments, cabinet door insets, candle holders, and window panes.

Projects start with either cathedral (see-through) or opalescent (opaque) glass that both come in every color of the rainbow. Linda frames many of her pieces to hang on the wall, letting the style of the stained glass determine the type of frame – whether it be black lacquer, barn wood, oak or metal.

Colors of the solder-finish dividers also can be adapted to fit the character of the piece.

As an artisan, Linda creates pieces for her own use – which is why she started working in the art in the first place – and also fulfills custom orders and works with customer restorations.

She also works in hot glass, which many people are gravitating toward. Hot glass involves processes such as slumping and fusing at high temperatures when the glass can then be manipulated into various shapes.

She works out of a home stu-

dio, where she teaches several classes a week.

“Some of my students have been taking classes for years,” Linda said. “It’s a nice social time, it’s relaxing, and everyone has the opportunity to make something beautiful for themselves or to give as gifts.”

As for window panels, round portal windows are a nice size and shape for adding stained glass, which blocks unwanted views, yet lets the sunlight shine through the design.

Windows flanking fireplaces also are a good spot to add matching stained-glass panes.

“They give privacy, but yet don’t close in the area, and they can serve as a nice backdrop,” Linda said.

The bank of windows that Linda created in Maeva’s Coffee in The Milton Schoolhouse in Alton definitely provide a colorful backdrop to the space.

“I used three to five panes of the dominant colors in different textures to give them continuity and add interest,” Linda said.

The vertical panels also

small jewelry boxes are functional, as well as beautiful.

coincide with the book shelves and their vertically-shelved books that flank the windows, continuing the theme of the schoolhouse.

Stained glass is everywhere, Linda said, and if you stop and think about it, you see it in many commercial applications

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every day. Even dividers at restaurants are often made of I pick up a piece of glass,” a stained, etched glass.

Linda said. “I let the glass ‘talk’ She still loves stained glass to me.”

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Profiles of people

Improving and enhancing the home

&

22 Homestyle Fall 2014

Beauty After growing up in Minnesota, Scott Schlapkohl attended the U.S. Air Force Academy and spent 23 years in the Air Force as a pilot and officer.

When he was 28, while stationed in Dayton, Ohio, he bought a multi-purpose Shopsmith so he could finish his basement.

He took a few classes, dabbled with woodworking and carpentry finish work, created and remodeled furniture, cabinets, hardwood flooring and trim, but didn’t get serious about woodworking until a few years later.

Meanwhile he moved to Texas, then Virginia, where he worked at the Pentagon, retired from the service while at Scott Air Force Base, and made the Riverbend his permanent home.

Not quite sure of what he wanted to do, he bought a copy of “What Color is Your Parachute?” to help figure out his next career move.

He had been a teacher in the Air Force, a Boy Scout leader, and was good in math and science. Teaching seemed like a good option.

Scott returned to school, earned a master’s degree in education, and landed a job as head of the science department at Alton High School, teaching chemistry, physics, engineering and computer programming.

His interest and expertise in woodworking had grown along the way, too. He upgraded his tools, and read every book he could find on the subject.

“At first, it started as a hobby, making bowls and vessels for my own home and to give as gifts,” Scott said.

But word spread, orders came in, and two years ago, it became a business — Scott Schlapkohl Creations.

Each bowl, box, vase, platter or form is made from hand-turned domestic wood and is a unique functional piece of art.

“My pieces highlight the wood’s natural beauty and are as much a joy to hold as they are to see,” Scott said.

The large bowls make beautiful center-

function

By Vicki Bennington

Scott Schlapkohl works with multiple types of wood to create beautiful, functional pieces that can be used throughout the home.

pieces, smaller ones serve as catch-alls for keys and change. Chips or bread find a beautiful home in the medium and large bowls, which can also be used on the coffee table to store television remotes.

Basically, their uses are only limited by the imagination.

His work is available in the Artist’s Shop at Jacoby Arts Center in Alton; The White Pelican in Grafton and a gallery near Rend Lake, among others, and he sets up shop at various arts and crafts festivals around the region.

He estimates that about 80 percent of his art is functional, and all is food safe, though not all woods are conducive to washing in soap and water. Oak is not as good for washing and serving, he said. Walnut and cherry do well, and Scott recommends rubbing each piece down with walnut oil after every use.

“Detergent takes away the oils,” Scott said. “I hand wash each piece — I don’t put them in the dishwasher — then re-oil them with walnut oil that can be found at the grocery store.”

During the school year, he spends whatever free time he has in his workshop.

“But school work always comes first,” he said. “If I have papers to grade or preparations to make, then the woodworking has to wait.”

Summer and Christmas vacations provide large blocks of time to spend at his lathe.

He uses 99.9 percent found wood from trees that fall down on his own property, or from friends who have a downed or damaged tree or are removing one.

“I don’t take the whole tree like a tree removal service, but I come with my chainsaw and take sections of the tree,” Scott said.

One of his favorite woods to turn are walnut, with three tones that go from black to white to dark brown, and he likes the nice look of oak and cherry. He has worked with many different types of wood, and the harder the wood, the easier it is to turn.

“Elm is gorgeous, but is difficult to cut cleanly,” he said.

White pine is soft; maple offers a nice color.

Cracks or imperfections do not disqualify a piece of wood from becoming a beautiful piece of art.

“Years ago, I didn’t use pieces with imperfections, but now I incorporate them into the piece,” Scott said. “Not all of my work has them, some people don’t like cracks or flaws, but for many people, that’s one of the things they like best.”

If he has a specific idea in mind, or a custom order, he searches through his stockpile of wood to find a piece that is just right.

“The piece of wood itself dictates what I make with it,” Scott said. “Sometimes, I start at one end of the woodpile and make something from every piece in the pile.

I look at the wood and visualize the art inside.”

Visit www.scottschlapkohlcreations.com for more information.

Scott Schlapkohl’s ‘Wooden Wine and Cheese’ received an Award of Excellence at Art Saint Louis’, ‘Food, Glorious Food.’

Walnut crotch platter

Medium oak natural edge platter

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Fall 2014 Homestyle

Small oak plate

23

Trail of quilts

By Vicki Bennington

24 Homestyle Fall 2014

Colorful squares pretty up barns and buildings across the country A folk art movement that is quickly becoming a part of American culture provides a burst of color that brightens up the landscape, a barn or other outbuilding, proclaims a beloved quilt pattern or honors a family member.

In fact, that’s how it all started. Donna Sue Groves came up with the idea of a barn quilt square to honor her mother, Nina Maxine Groves, an avid quilter, who is now 86 – and jazz up a gray, boring tobacco barn in the process.

“At first I said it as a joke,” Donna Sue recalled. “I said I was going to paint a big quilt square on the barn. Then friends kept bringing it up, asking if I was going to do it, but it didn’t actually happen until 12 years later.”

While working for the Ohio Arts Council, Donna Sue began to realize the importance and benefits of community art, and decided to apply her barn quilt idea and take it to the next level.

“My friends offered to help, and I thought we could do several to create a driving trail of barn quilts for people to see, and thereby increase

tourism in the community,” Donna Sue said.

Little did she know that she was planting the first seeds for what has become the American Quilt Trail.

In October 2001, the first quilt square was hung – the Ohio Star on a greenhouse in Adams County, Ohio.

“Then the cat was out of the bag,” Donna Sue said.

“I received calls from other people in the county; then the neighboring county; then calls from Tennessee, Illinois and Iowa. It spread fast.”

Her mother didn’t get her quilt until three years into the project. But she did get it, choosing the Snail’s Trail pattern, which Donna Sue said appropriately fit with the original idea of the slow drive through the country looking at quilt squares.

The quilts are not sewn, but painted on pieces of plywood in a size appropriate for the building, then hung in a spot that can be viewed from the road.

Donna Sue has worked with various organizations and served as advisor for people creating a quilt or organizing

a county quilt trail.

Suzi Parron, author, along with Donna Sue, of “Barn Quilts and the American Quilt Trail Movement,” said the trails themselves are created by quilt guilds, civic groups, local arts councils, 4-H clubs, school groups and other organizations. Most are a countywide effort, which allows for a distinct trail in a single area and creates local pride in the project.

A documentary, “Pieced Together,” is currently in production by director and producer Julianne Donofrio, which tells the story of how Donna Sue’s love for her mother changed the American landscape, and her trials and tribulations along the way.

“Julianne followed me around for three years and across the U.S., much like Suzi did for the book, talking to people about the movement and looking at the quilts,” Donna Sue said.

And the quilt squares are not always on barns.

One county displays its quilts on planter boxes in downtown areas. In a South Carolina county, there are no

barns, so they display their quilt squares freestanding at historical homes. But most often, quilt trails take visitors on a drive through the countryside where barn quilts are mounted on farm buildings, on homes, along fences, and sometimes mounted on posts.

Interestingly enough, thousands of quilts later, Donna Sue’s favorite is in Calhoun County, near Hardin, Ill. The barn itself, where her favorite quilt hangs, dates back to 1870, with some of the original logs visible inside.

Jane Herter is the co-chair of the Calhoun County Barn Quilt Project, which was started in 2008 as a community-based effort to promote and preserve the agricultural and rural heritage of Calhoun County. Her husband, Fred, is a lifelong resident of Calhoun, and Jane can trace her family roots in the county back to the 1840s.

Robbie and Terry Strauch hung the first quilt square in Calhoun. Now there are 86.

“All were done with private money, and were hung by the Illinois Rural Electric Cooperative,” Jane said.

he loved, and was killed. A “Some of the quilts are on square was hung on that same businesses or other outbuildbarn in his honor. ings, but most of them are on “There are so many stories barns, some that have been and so many cool reasons that on a family farm for multiple people have chosen the patgenerations.” terns and why they decided to Jane’s own compass-patterned quilt is black and white hang a square,” Suzi said.

The pattern for a particuon a turquoise background lar barn quilt may be chosen and hangs in the gable of her because of its name; “Corn gray metal-clad barn. and Beans” is popular among “For many of the residents, farmers. Sometimes, the ownthe squares are on a barn that ers choose a pattern they simthey’ve looked at all of their ply find appealing. lives; and maybe their daddy Suzi said most squares and granddaddy looked at it are simple geometric shapes all of their lives,” Jane said. with large blocks of color that In the winter, when trees are easy to spot and enjoy and foliage don’t block the while driving along the road. way, Jane said there is an Intricate calico prints result even better view of the quilts.

“It’s a nice time to take hol- in a painted quilt that closely resembles a stitched quilt. iday visitors on an adventure “In Kankakee, Illinois, a to drive through the county group of students added a and find all the quilts,” Jane three-dimensional effect, said. “It’s a marvelous colleccreating barn quilts that look tion.” like draped fabric,” Suzi said.

Suzi is now working on a second book with the working “Some are custom patterns variations on classic blocks, title, “Farther Along the Quilt with an added element such Trail.” as an animal or a logo.”

“There are now more than Also in Illinois are quilt 200 trails and more than 7,000 trails in Greene County quilts that we have document(which also has a porthole ed,” Suzi said. “There are probably at least 2,000 more.” barn trail), DeWitt, Kankakee, McLean, Stephenson and Suzi became involved with McHenry counties. the project when she saw Quilt trail tours are yeara barn quilt in Kentucky in round and self-guided.

2008. She went to buy a book For more information on about them, and there wasn’t the quilt trail book and trails one. She and Donna Sue got in general, visit www.barntogether and decided to crequiltinfo.com. An interactive ate one together. map depicts trails across the Suzi said the Calhoun United States. For more inforCounty trail is full of historic 48has mo.@ - - Payments 2015 mationstart on theApril Calhoun County barns and such0% a long 48 mo.@ 0% Payments start April 2015 agricultural history that makes Quilt Trail, visit www.visitcalhoun.com. it all the more interesting.

She travels around the country, documenting new quilts and trails and speaking at various venues and events, spreading her knowledge with a sprinkling of stories and Page 24 anecdotes about quilt maktop left: The quilt on this Calhoun ers and owners, like the quilt County, Ill. barn is one of Donna Sue called “spizerinktum.”

Groves’ favorites. Donna Sue came “That always gets a laugh. up with the idea of a quilt trail in 1989.

It means vitality or energy, Photo by Ed Williams and one man remembers his top right: A Scott County, Ky., barn grandma using the word, so quilt. Photo by Suzi Parron that’s what he named his quilt middle right: A bright yellow barn square,” Suzi said. quilt in Vicksburg, Mich. Photo by Suzi Then there are stories Parron about squares that are in memory of someone, like a Bottom right: An interesting horse man who fell while he was pattern adorns a barn in Calhoun painting the family barn that County, Ill.. Photo by Ed Williams

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Day trippin’

The Saint Louis Art Museum

26 Homestyle Fall 2014

By Vicki Bennington

Ever want to get away for just a little bit? Not spend a lot of money, but still have a good time for a day or two when the pressure of laundry, meals, the dog, the cat, are out of sight — and hopefully, out of mind?

There are many ways to do just that — take a little “staycation,” with no need to fork out a lot of cash on airline tickets or make it necessary to pad a day or two on to each end of your time off just to get there and back. Even setting aside just the day to go and explore history, take a hike, or relax and enjoy something of interest is enough to rejuvenate.

Illinois and Missouri — just across that great divide, the “Mighty Mississip’,” both offer history, art, nature, beauty, culture, theater, shopping, hiking, great cuisine and awesome, as well as quaint, and elegant places to stay.

The Saint Louis Art Museum is a rare jewel in the heart of Forest Park, which offers beauty and pleasure in its own right, with walking trails, beautiful landscaping, fountains, waterfalls, and various buildings — all with architectural interest.

Greeting visitors in front of the art museum is the huge and impressive statue known as “The Apotheosis of St. Louis”

by Charles Henry Niehaus.

The Saint Louis Art Museum started in 1881, but was known as the Saint Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts, an entity of Washington University, and housed in a building in Downtown St. Louis.

After the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis (known as The Louisiana Purchase Exposition), the museum relocated to the Forest Park building, which was built especially for the fair to serve as the main building of the Palace of Fine Arts. It was designed by architect Cass Gilbert, who was inspired by the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, Italy. In 2005, British architect Sir David Chipperfield designed a major addition to the building, adding underground parking and additional gallery space above ground.

Inside, the museum has more than 30,000 works of art in its permanent collection, divided into 11 areas — African, American, Ancient and Islamic, Asian, Contemporary, Decorative Arts and Design, European, Modern, Oceanic, Mesoamerican and American Indian Prints, Drawings and Photographs — so there’s enough variety to have something that appeals to everyone.

European masters like Matisse, Gauguin, Monet,

Picasso and Van Gogh are represented with some of their works, along with Edgar Degas’ sculpture, “Little Dancer of Fourteen Years,” among others. The museum even holds mummies — the Egyptian mummy AmenNestawy-Nakht, and two mummies on loan from Washington University.

There’s also art classes for children, adults and teachers in a range of prices.

The museum’s Richardson Memorial Library is one of the largest centers in the Midwest for the history and documentation of art. It holds more than 100,000 volumes and the museum’s archives. Both can be searched online.

Current specialty exhibitions, at the museum for a limited time, include Brett Weston: Photographs; Facets of the Three Jewels: Tibetan Buddhist Art from the Collections of George E. Hibbard and the Saint Louis Art Museum; Calligraphy in Chinese and Japanese Art; Atua: Sacred Gods from Polynesia; Currents 109: Nick Cave; and Scenic Wonder: The Hudson River Portfolio.

Even those who don’t consider themselves art lovers should give the museum a try.

It might make a convert of you,

or you just might find something to enjoy along the way.

The shop features interesting replicas and other items for purchase, and when you need a break, stop at the restaurant, Panorama, offering fresh food and a spacious view.

People travel hundreds or thousands of miles to see what is literally in our own backyards. Nearly a half a million people visit the Saint Louis Art Museum each year.

For some reason, locals don’t always take advantage of – or realize the significance of – things they’ve grown up with, or think, “I’ll go there someday” (this is true everywhere not just in St. Louis and the Riverbend). Make that someday, today. Admission to the museum is free! Admission to featured exhibitions is free on Friday.

Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Friday it stays open until 9 p.m. Closed Monday, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. It is open on New Year’s Day. Please let us know about your experiences with one- to three-day getaways in and around the area that you would like to share with our readers. Send an email to vbennington@ sbcglobal.net and your exciting staycation might just end up on the pages of “Homestyle.”

Pictures left to right: Statue of Saint Louis, Saint Louis Art Museum, and Edgar Degas, ‘Little Dancer of Fourteen Years,’ bronze, gauze, and satin

5 THINGS

Alcatraz Island

you may… or may not… know about Thanksgiving

1. Another one bites the dust

2. National tradition

You may know a lot of turkey is consumed on Thanksgiving, but you may not know that Americans eat roughly 535 million pounds of it on the holiday.

Kitchen From page 5

You may know that President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving to the next-tolast Thursday in November (one week earlier than it was previously) to prolong the holiday shopping season, but you may not know that many Republicans rebelled. The holiday was temporarily celebrated on different dates by different states in the early 1940s.

November 30 became what some called the “Republican Thanksgiving” and November 23 was “Franksgiving” or “Democrat Thanksgiving.”

You may know the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was started in 1924, but you may not know it is watched on television by more than 44 million people each year, and three million attend in person. The Snoopy balloon has appeared in the parade more than any other character.

5. Celebration at Alcatraz

You may know that most Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, but you may not know that since 1975, “Unthanksgiving Day” (or The Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Ceremony) has been celebrated the same day as Thanksgiving on the island of Alcatraz to commemorate the survival of Native Americans following the arrival and settlement of Europeans in the Americas.

snoopy as the Red Baron at the macy’s thanksgiving Day parade.

how to prevent frozen pipes When water freezes, it expands and may cause pipes to burst.

Here are some tips to help prevent pipes bursting through the winter months.

GettING ReADy FoR WINteR

WHeN tHe temPeRAtURe DRoPs

• Remove hoses attached to exterior bibs. If you have a shut-off valve inside the house, turn off the supply and leave the faucet turned on. This allows any residual water space to expand.

• Set your heating thermostat no lower than 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Insulate hot and cold pipes that run through unheated areas such as basements and crawl spaces. A plumber may be able to reroute at-risk pipes.

• Seal gaps around dryer vents, cables and places where cold air can enter the home, especially if the air leak is near pipework.

• Open cabinet doors to allow heat to circulate around pipes.

• Allow a hot and a cold faucet to drip during cold snaps. A trickle of water may stop pipes from freezing.

• If you are going to be away for an extended period, shut off and drain the entire water system.

27

right dish, a breeze.

Even the extra-large serving platters have a cupboard, and a 30-inch-wide cutlery drawer keeps all the flatware in one place.

The initial designs for the kitchen called for a pantry… until on an impromptu trip to Arhaus in Brentwood, Theresa discovered the perfect Provence-style armoire.

Semi-transparent mesh doors turn boxes of cereal and other ingredients into enigmatic blocks of color.

Another find, this time at an architectural salvage yard in the old Lemp Brewery complex, is an old heating vent cover. It hangs behind the stove and looks like an ancient pot trivet.

Theresa and Ian are thrilled with the new kitchen. It is a creative cooking space where friends and family gather, cook together, and tuck away delicious dishes.

4. Red baron strikes again

Fall 2014 Homestyle

But she did not give up on aqua. Just look at the ceiling. To add a bit of spice and drama to the room, she painted an accent wall the color of burnt butternut squash.

Working with a kitchen planner, the couple discovered that with better space planning they could have all the storage they needed using fewer cabinets.

“We did not use as many cabinets, and that opened it up a lot and made the kitchen even bigger,” Theresa said.

“Now everything has its place.”

There is a 15-inch deep wall cabinet for extra large dinner plates. Other dishes and bowls are stored in a deep drawer opposite the dishwasher making cleanup and finding the

You may know that Thanksgiving is a national holiday, but you may not know that Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it to be so in 1863.

3. Make up your mind

ENJOY A BETTER NIGHT’S SLEEP! 6

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