DasHaus OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
SERENE SANCTUARY Logan home preserves historic church roots
RUSTIC TOUCH
Pumpkins, scarecrows usher in fall decor
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Winter squash season ripe for the picking
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CONTENTS
Food for thought....4 Winter squash provide color, succulent recipe options for fall
Simple fixes.........6
At home8
Updating a bathroom doesn’t have to drain the bank account
Church tradition still prevalent in remodeled home
Das Haus is published and distributed by The Hays Daily News, 507 Main, Hays, KS 67601. Find it online at www.HDNews.net/DasHaus. Copyright Š 2013 Harris Enterprises. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Das Haus is a registered trademark of The Hays Daily News. Printed by Northwestern Printers, 114 W. Ninth, Hays, KS 67601, northwesternprinters.com. Publisher, Patrick Lowry, plowry@dailynews.net Advertising Director, Mary Karst, maryk_ads@dailynews.net
Decorating for fall....14 Crafter uses pumpkins, scarecrows to spruce up the season
Designer, Gayle Weber, gweber@dailynews.net Account Executives: Joleen Fisher, Sandra Harder, Eric Rathke Creative Services: Juno Ogle, Tiffany Reddig
DAS HAUS 3 October/November 2013
FOOD FOR THOUGHT Linda Beech is a family and consumer science Extension agent in Ellis County who loves food and the science behind it.
Squash season by linda beech
F
all brings the return of a colorful favorite — winter squash. Winter squashes have thicker skin and meatier flesh than their summer squash cousins. They keep three to four months or longer, unrefrigerated, in a cool dry place. Winter squash make beautiful autumn decorations, and then slowly can be eaten throughout the winter. Winter squash are packed with vitamin A, healthful antioxidants and plenty of fiber. Add low cost, moderate calories and easy preparation, and you have an almost unbeatable food that can be served in a variety of ways. When selecting winter squash, look for a hard, tough rind and a squash that is heavy for its size. Avoid squash with cuts, punctures, sunken or soft spots on the rind, as these indicate signs of decay. A tender rind is a sign of immaturity and means poor keeping and eating quality.
Delicata are smallish and oblong. They have thin, creamy yellow skin speckled with orange and greenish stripes and inside are golden yellow. They cook quickly, making them ideal for quick meals.
Common varieties
Hubbard squash tend to be large, lumpy and bluish-gray with a pointy stem end. The Hubbards have sweet, dry flesh and are nice in soups and stews.
Dumpling squash are small, round and sweet. They make fast and delicious accompaniments to roasted meats. Split them in half, remove the seeds and cook them in the same roasting pan.
Kabocha squash, also known as Japanese pumpkins, look like small, rough green pumpkins and are good for soups and purees.
Acorn squash are, yes, acornshaped. They are usually deep green outside and yellow-orange inside. Orange and multi-colored varieties are also available.
4 DAS HAUS October/November 2013
Butternut are creamy brown and an elongated bell shape. Inside is deep orange, dense flesh that is creamy in texture when cooked.
Pumpkins are the best known and most popular of all the winter squash. While the big Halloween pumpkins are too stringy for good cooking quality, the smaller ones have sweet, dense flesh that make wonderful pies, as well as soups and purees.
Spaghetti squash are bright yellow and shaped like a football. Their flesh cooks into strands like spaghetti and is delicious with tomato sauce or tossed with butter and herbs.
Cooking it Dumpling, or more than an hour for a Hubbard or pumpkin. Serve the squash in chunks, or scoop out the flesh and mash until soft and smooth. Use the squash puree in your favorite recipe, or serve as you would mashed potatoes. Cooked squash also can be frozen for later use. Bake as directed above, then cube or puree the squash and freeze in meal- or recipe-sized amounts in sealed freezer containers. The next time you’re strolling through the produce section looking for something different to feed your family, choose winter squash. You’ll find many varieties to add interest and vital nutrients to family meals.
Nearly every winter squash is delicious roasted and simply served with a bit of butter and a sprinkling of salt and pepper or herbs.
Instructions
Turban squash are lovely shades of green, yellow and red-orange, and have a characteristic “hat” or turban on top. Popular with decorators, this squash can be cooked as usual — or for something special, hollow out a raw turban and use as a spectacular soup tureen or container for dips, spreads or even flowers.
Carefully halve the squash lengthwise — it might take a large knife or cleaver for big squash. Scoop out the seeds and discard, or roast to enjoy separately. Place the squash halves, cut side down, in a shallow baking dish. Add a little water to the pan to create steam and prevent burning. Bake at 350 degrees until you can easily pierce the squash with a paring knife. This might be as little as 20 to 30 minutes for a
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The Look
While a lot of focus is given to the trendy and the new, some design principles are timeless — especially when it comes to your home. These principles should guide your decision making throughout any project. 1. It’s your home and you need to love it. While every piece of furniture should have a function, it’s important that the pieces work together to create a welcoming atmosphere for YOU. The color palette needs to make you happy and the furniture must meet your needs. 2. Neutrals are bigger than brown/ white/black. You can create classic, timeless looks which can be easily updated by using a variety of colors as a foundation. Red, green, gray and gold can provide great color which can be updated through trend-based accents. 3. Your furniture needs to change as your needs change. The layout and design which worked so well
when you were raising small children may be burdensome as they grow. Changing your flooring may call for a change in furniture to provide balance in texture and color. As we age, our demands for comfort and support change significantly. Care should be taken to accommodate these changes. 4. If your furniture meets the first 3 criteria and it still feels unfinished, it probably is. The accessories and lighting in the room can change a house into a home. The right lighting creates warmth and improves function. Art and accent pieces complete a room as they pull together furniture you may have collected over time. Our design team at The Furniture Look is here to help you build a roomscape which meets your needs and reflects your taste. We would love an opportunity to create a whole new space or simply add the finishing touches. Come on in and see us: WE HAVE THE QUALITY, WE HAVE THE STYLE AND WE HAVE THE LOOK.
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SIMPLE FIXES
s s e A better for l
bathroom Y
By Michelle Locke for the Associated Press
ou want a better bathroom, sana and Sprite. but don’t want to put a drain If you’re feeling handy, one of the on your finances? Worry not. cheapest ways to transform a bathThis is one room in the house room — or any room — is color. where little things mean a lot. “You can always very quickly Often small and poorly lit bathchange the aesthetics of a room with rooms can end up neglected. But a can of paint,” said David Alhadeff, they’re probably the easiinterior designer.. est room to make over, Is the room white? How said Ingrid Abramovitch, might it look in bright yelsenior editor and writer at low with towels and bath Elle Decor magazine and mat to match? Shopping list: author of “Restoring a Look for the new • Towels House in the City.” humidity-resistant paints • Lighting A basic change is to that come in flat finishes • Shower head buy a new shower curtain for a refined look. and good quality towels. Another way to make a • Candles Is this a kids’ bathbig change is to re-evaluate • Shower curtain room? Think bright colors the lighting. A lot of bathand fun patterns. Or, to rooms still have a single create a spa-like retreat, look for fluffy overhead light fixture, which casts towels in serene neutrals, and maybe unflattering shadows. add accessories such as new soap “Lighting is everything in the bathdishes and towel rails in elegant materoom, and there are a lot of tricks to rials. If you want to up the luxe factor, how we want to illuminate ourselves think about installing a towel warmer. within that space to make ourselves Another easy change is to swap look best,” Alhadeff said. “If you’re out your shower head for a new, mulgetting only overhead lighting, you’re tifunction model. If your water presnot getting the clear picture of what sure isn’t all it could be, shower heads you look like.” designed to boost spray power can If you already have lighting around help. You also might try a shower filter your mirror, a change of bulbs can to see if you notice an improvement; work wonders, and lighting along the basic models can be found from less side of the mirrors is preferable, Alhadthan $30 from brands such as Aquaeff said.
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AT HOME IN LOGAN Carol Bales transformed a 1900s church into one of the largest onebedroom homes in the area.
8 DAS HAUS October/November 2013
S
erene anctuary
story by Diane Gasper-O’Brien photos by Jolie Green
L
OGAN — Carol Bales says she loves to renovate. She loves collecting things. She loves art. And how. Bales’ latest project is the former St. Peter Lutheran Church in Logan, which she has transformed into what is probably one of the largest onebedroom residences around. Her love for old churches drew her to the building, which now is 108 years old. The stability of the structure put her on a mission to turn it into a 3,500-square-foot home. After the church closed its doors approximately 15 years ago, the church board of directors put it on the Internet for $50,000. Bales heard about it and approached the board, which decided to sell it to a local buyer at a much lower price. Several years and a few hundred thousand dollars later, Bales now has an elaborate show home to match her show cars next door. “The roof leaked, it needed a lot of work,” she said of the building that was begun in 1902 and completed three years later. “Just about everything needed replaced or redone. There was even talk about tearing it down.” However, Bales knew there was hope to save the building because of its solid foundation. “This place is built like a fortress, with cinder block, concrete and brick,” she said. >>>>>
DAS HAUS 9 October/November 2013
The barrel ceiling draws people’s attention, both from the inside and out. Bales gets a good view of the enormous sanctuary-turned-great room each morning from the former choir area above. The living room itself measures 35 by 50 feet. The ceiling, which won an architectural award for its structure in 1952, also is special to Bales. “When it rains, you can hear the very first three sprinkles that hit,” she said. “... Awesome.” Bales originally had planned for the choir loft to be her bedroom. But she later decided she wanted more room, as well as a bathroom, so she built a second story that stretches the entire length of a one-story addition that had been built onto the back of the church at one point. Down a few steps from the 10 DAS HAUS October/November 2013
bedroom area is the choir loft, now a sitting room that can be accessed by two directions — the original steps now called the “back” staircase and one that leads up from the main area of the church. Bales also added an entry area and
a deck on the back side of the home, as well as a three-car garage. While the interior virtually was gutted, Bales still had construction workers preserve a lot of the ambiance of church-going days. >>>>>
“This place is built like a fortress, with cinder block, concrete and brick.”
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The church arch beams that ran along the outside walls still stand, and some of Bales’ art pieces are framed with wood from the church pews. Also still in use are the church restrooms, with the original doors; the “hers” still serves as a restroom, while the “his” has been converted into a shower room. The church’s baptismal font sits in a prominent place in a corner just inside the front entryway, and the original altar top now is a counter top in the master bath. Many of Bales collectibles are from other countries, including France, Italy, England, and she even has a hammered copper bathtub from India. Outside, the original cross that hung on the south side of the church has been cut down and hangs near a door just above a time capsule parishioners placed in a brick wall during its 50th anniversary celebration in 1952. >>>>> 12 DAS HAUS October/November 2013
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A Little Stone adds a lot • • • • • • • • • • In spite of all the artwork and other historical pieces one might find in a museum, overstuffed chairs and couches still provide the feeling of home. Bales had lived in a ranch-style house two lots to the east of the church, and could see the barrel roof over a car shop that separated her home and the church. The car shop was owned by her husband, Dane Bales Jr., who died in 1998. Carol Bales still owns the car shop, which houses numerous show cars, including the last vehicle owned by Dane G. Hansen — the uncle of Dane Bales Sr. — which is a spiffy 1961 Cadillac Fleetwood. When Carol Bales first informed family and friends of her intentions about her new home, they told her she would never be able to fill it. Bales knew otherwise. “I knew where all my furniture was going to sit before we even started,” she said, adding she did a lot of the remodeling work such as painting and tearing out old materials herself. “It just kind of grew with what made sense at the time,” Bales said. “My first picture evolved from the first time I saw it. Now, there’s nothing I would change at all. I love it.” DAS HAUS 13 October/November 2013
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A DECORATOR’S TOUCH Cheryl Reeves is a rustic craftswoman who especially loves the fall and Halloween seasons.
story by gayle weber photos by jolie green
Rustic charm F
all decorating can run the gamut — from the leaves and colors that signify the changing of the seasons to the pumpkins, witches and scarecrows that usher in Halloween. Cheryl Reeves loves every bit of the fall decorating season — starting in late August and lasting well into the month of November. As a crafter, she uses a variety of objects and methods to create unique, personalized items to give as gifts, keep to decorate her own home or sell on her website, primkeepsakes.com. She uses flannel, muslin and felt to craft witches, ghosts, sunflowers and more. She likes the primitive, rustic look she can create with those materials. “The grandkids come over, and it’s a homey feeling to me,” Reeves said of the rustic look.
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“Fall is fun to decorate. Everything blends together.” Colors of fall include maroons, browns, burnt oranges, blacks and Reeves’ favorite — cinnamon. She said her decoration style reflects what she really likes — being a Kansas girl, she loves sunflowers. “Fall is fun to decorate. Everything blends together,” she said. Reeves said she gets bored easily, so she sews some projects, paints others and handwrites all the lettering on her projects. This year, she has begun to add harvest moons to her designs for more variety. Reeves doesn’t remember a time when she wasn’t crafting something. She learned to crochet at age 5 or 6. Her mother taught her to sew at a young age, though she didn’t like it then. And though she has no formal art training, she credits Bob Channell’s art classes at Hays High for inspiring her to continue to create new things. “There’s lots of things that make them my own,” she said of her designs. “No one does tags like I do. ... Everything is handwritten onto muslin, and then I go back and dry brush everything. It makes it different, makes it mine.” DAS HAUS 15 October/November 2013