House To Home June 28 2014 by Rocky Mount Telegram

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HousetoHome

Rocky Mount Telegram n SaTuRday, June 28, 2014

Rocky Mount TELEGRAM

Open HOuses – page 6

Marvelous, spacious home on Marvelle

1620 Marvelle Avenue

This home has more space than you’d imagine – 2,336 square feet of living space! Walk into the living room and you’ll find a spacious area with a fireplace. Off of the living room, you will find a large dining room, kitchen, and breakfast room with built-in shelves. There is even a cozy den with a fireplace. All the hardwood floors downstairs have been refinished. There are two bedrooms and an office downstairs. The full bathroom downstairs has been updated with new tile floors, the tub has been re-glazed and new fixtures installed. You’ll also find a utility room and plenty of closets.

Upstairs, there’s a master bedroom with full bathroom and walk-in closet and a second bedroom with plenty of closet space. You will find additional storage and eve access throughout the upstairs. The large fenced backyard has plenty of room for entertaining, either on the patio or the covered rear porch. This home has been inspected and all repairs have been made. This home is listed for $149,900. To schedule a tour or receive more information, call Kathy Akers at 266-4038 or email at akersbroker@suddenlink.net.

katHy akers

kathy akers | 252.266.4038 | Boone, Hill, allen & ricks real estate | kathyakershomes.com

Stopping to smell the flowers: Behind the scents By LEE REICH Associated Press

GARDEN

Wave after wave of scent has filled the air since my garden awakened in spring. Most prominent have been the aromas from daffodil blossoms, plum, flowering currant, and now dame’s rocket, pinks and roses. Of course, it’s not for us that flowers waft those sometimes delectable aromas. Evolutionarily speaking, we don’t return the favor with anything more than the carbon dioxide that we – and all other animals – breathe out, and that plants use for photosynthesis. Flowers release their aromas to attract pollinators. As such, floral aromas might mimic countless other kinds of aromas, depending on just what creature a particular flower is trying to attract. Some of those floral aromas

are actually unpleasant to us. Skunk cabbage (smelly and inedible) is a good example, but there are worse – or better – examples. The arum lily of South Africa, for example: From its spathe, a spike-like inflorescence of many small flowers rising up from what looks like an upended purple skirt, wafts the smell of rotting flesh. This aroma is perfect for attracting the carrion beetles that pollinate this plant. Heat generated inside the inflorescence heightens the morbid effect and helps pump the aroma out into the atmosphere. But on to more pleasant aromas – for instance, flowers that mimic pheromones, the scents that female animals give off to

signal their readiness to mate. Of course, those ersatz pheromones coming from flowers are directed at insects, because they are the ones flowers want to attract to perform pollination.

FLORAL DECEPTION

More than mere scent may be needed to keep an insect on a flower. The mirror orchid, for example, deceives the male bees that pollinate it by not only smelling like receptive female bees, but also by looking like them. After one or two flowers, any smart bee is going to realize that he’s not dealing with a real female and give up trying. So to keep up the deception, each mirror orchid plant smells slightly different; it takes a half dozen or so before a AP PHOTO bee catches on, and by then the flowers have gotten what they A strong fragrance in addition to beautiful blossoms double the pleasure of Strawberry Hill rose, from rose breeder David Austin, in New Paltz, N.Y. See SCENTS, 2C

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A man and his chainsaw create bear art cut creatures with overalls or fishing poles that look like they could be plotting SALISBURY, N.Y. – Rem- to steal picnic baskets at brandt worked in oils. MiJellystone Park. chelangelo carved marble. Tyoe is more of a naturalMark Tyoe chainsaws big ist. He aims to capture a detree trunks. tailed essence of Northeast At his home just south wildlife, especially bears. of New York’s Adirondack “Bears always fascinate Mountains, Tyoe carves people. I mean, if I could soaring eagles, grizzled have a real bear for a pet, mountain men and wolves even, for a model, for infrom white pine. But he spiration, I would,” he said. mostly carves bears, his “But it wouldn’t be the right specialty. thing to do – for the bear.” Tyoe earns a living as a At age 54, Tyoe has chainsaw artist, turning big Popeye forearms from logs into improbably fluid two decades of chainsaw sculptures with nothing sculpting. He works outside more than a tool that some across the road from the use to cut firewood. log home where he and On a recent day, Tyoe his wife Linda raised their worked on his rural propfamily. erty transforming a phone He prefers to work with booth-sized piece of white white pine, a medium soft pine into a woodland scene wood that resists cracking of a mama bear reaching and rotting. for a honeycomb in a tree The raw material for this trunk with her cub at her his current sculpture was feet. a 19th-century white pine Over the whine of a that towered in the Adtwo-stroke engine, Tyoe irondacks until it was cut carefully zigzagged his saw earlier this year. tip to create the texture of Though always good at the mama bear’s fur. art, Tyoe only started chain“I try to be realistic, saw art in his 30s. a lot of details, correct Intrigued by a chainsaw proportion, anatomy, bone carver he’d watch on family structure, posture,” he said vacations at Lake George in during a break. the Adirondacks, he finally Bears are to chainsaw art tried it himself after a seawhat bowls of fruit are to sonal layoff from welding amateur still-life painters: a had him looking for new lot of people try their hand ways to make money to at it with varying degrees of support his family. success. Many of the bears Tyoe made more than found at state fairs and $1,000 at his first show and roadside stands are rough- soon started racking up By MICHAEL HILL Associated Press

SCENTS From Page 1C

wanted. Even more intricate in its deception is the bucket orchid of Central America, which splays out little “buckets” filled with a quarter-inch of perfumed liquid.

awards in regional carving competitions. He never looked back. His chainsaws are not much different from the ones used by weekend warriors. They’re stripped down to cut down on weight and the metal bar the chain whizzes around comes to a rounded point to accommodate detailed carving. Chainsaw art has been growing in popularity and Tyoe is among more than 100 artists nationwide who make it a full-time occupation, said Milton Lowden, who runs the chainsawsculptors.com website from Iron River, Michigan. Lowden, whose site lists artists who take commissions from Arkansas to Azerbaijan, said Tyoe is the rare artist who sculpts solely with chainsaws, avoiding other tools for detail work (afterward, his wife will burn off splintery bits, buff the char into the wood grain and help with the finish). “He and a few others are purists that way, and that’s what sets them aside,” Lowden said. Tyoe can turn out hundreds of thigh-high bear statues a year that sell for $225 and up. He doesn’t even need to plan them out. “I just use my imagination,” he said. “No sketching. Stand up a piece of wood and visualize what I want and start on the tip of the nose.”

Each of the 20 or so species of this plant has a slightly different perfume – although the differences are undetectable to us – according to the species of iridescent bee it means to attract. In the flurry of activity around a bucket, an occasional bee falls in. As the bee squeezes out through a narrow tube, it incidentally pollinates the orchid flower.

AP Photo

Mark Tyoe uses a chainsaw as he carves a bear sculpture from white pine in Salisbury, N.Y. The upstate New York artist’s detailed renderings of curious bears, soaring eagles and other wildlife scenes have won him acclaim and earned him a living for many years.

Larger, commissioned “masterpiece” sculptures like the woodland scene of

AROMAS THAT PLEASE HUMANS

the mama bear and her cub headed for a private home take weeks to complete not far from the forest and cost around $3,500. It is where the tree once stood.

rose, was bottled by the Arabian physician Avicenna about 1,000 years ago. Two hundred years What makes a scent pleasing to later, Eleanor of Aquitaine had humans? Perhaps, as with bees, 2,500 pounds of violets crushed to some aromas conjure up pleasmake 1 pound of violet attar. ant primeval associations. At any Humans soon learned to prerate, we like them enough to put serve a scent better by combingreat effort into capturing and ing it with a fixative. Fixatives bottling them. originally were musk extracted The first essential oil, attar of from the genital area of deer and

ambergris from sperm whales, but now synthetics are also used. As an alternative to the elaborate extraction and fixing of floral aromas, consider planting a rose outside your back door, then stepping outside and putting your nose to it. Even better, plant a spectrum of scented blossoms for sensory thrills from late winter to late fall.

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DeeDs The following deeds were recorded with the Nash County Register of Deeds from June 11-17. Each $2 in revenue stamps is equal to $1,000 in valuation. (* No fee required.)

O Federal National Mortgage Association to John Edward Berlinski Jr.; 7469 S. N.C. 58, Elm City* O Thomas B. Dickens to Diane W. Craddock; 1208 West Mount Drive, Rocky Mount; $182. O James Lee Cone to Pamela L. Cone; 210 S. White St., Whitakers* O Pamela L. Cone to Teri L. Cone; 210 S. White St., Whitakers* O James Lee Cone to Pamela L. Cone; 12.5 acre part of lot 1; J.B. Reidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Store Farm* O Calvin M. Horne and Annie L. Horne to Calvin M. Horne and Annie L. Horne; 1.99 acres; 5686 Hornes Road, Elm City and 6693 E. N.C. 97, Elm City* O Rogers Townsend & Thomas PC to Federal National Mortgage Association; lot 23; Cypress Landing Subdivision* O Rogers Townsend & Thomas PC to Federal National Mortgage Association; lot 22; White Oak Hill* O Grady I. Ingle or Elizabeth B. Ells to JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A.; 417 Baker St., Nashville; $202. O Marvin Lee Stone and Bonnie E. Stone to Sandra Darlene Koch and Rodney Wayne Charlton; 8516 Forest Cove Road, Elm City; $460. O William T. Stutler to Johnna W. Swiger; lot 10; 0.50 acres; Birchwood Acres* O Kevin T. Ferguson and Judy Siguaw to Roy Lee Dunn Jr. and Tammy L. Dunn; lot 12; 6.59 acres; Pie Meadow Farms; Bailey Township; $112. O Roy Lee Allen and Deborah P. Allen to Orlando Martinez; 1240 Ford Road, Nashville; $318. O Antionette Leonard to Clifton Evans; lot 3; .71 of an acre* O Inez M. Carter and Tim Carter to Timothy R. Wolfe and Patricia K. Wolfe; tract B; 5.519 acres; Drywells Township; $45. O Stephanie Renee Silk and Terrence M. Silk to Stephanie Renee Silk and Terrence M. Silk, Ana C. Joyner, John B. Joyner, Jo Ellen Reams and Joe Reams; lots 9 and 10; H.C. Mason Place; $121.

O Randy Oris Stallings and Emily W. Stallings to Zachary Stevenson Stallings; tract 3; 8.78 acres; Drywells Township* O Michael R. Warren and Deanne M. Warren to Tamala Whitaker; 125 Juniper Court, Rocky Mount; $190. O Federal National Mortgage Association to Joseph Shields Jr. and Sherree Lynch Shields; lot 14, block B, section 1; Beaver Pond* O Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. to Brian Wood and James Wood; 2368 Duke Road, Nashville* O Ronald Lee Smith and Ryan Lee Smith to June E. Gardner; lot 4; 10.0 acres; $35. O Rogers Townsend & Thomas PC to Bank of America N.A.; lot 2, phase 3; Baker Place Subdivision; $147. O Douglas K. Martin and Elizabeth F. Martin to Roy Lee Allen and Deborah P. Allen; 6689 Mill Pond Road, Battleboro; $870. O Marsha Manning Jeffreys, Robert Nelson Jeffreys and Deborah A. Jeffreys to Richard R. Gardner Jr.; 1237 Benbrook Drive, Nashville; $266. O James Marvin Watson and Mary W. Watson to Roy A. Cooper Jr.; lot; 0.055 acre* O Lou Ellen Lynch to James E. Jones and Elvira Jones; 212 Kingston Ave., Rocky Mount; $13. O William C. George and Pola George to David William Roberts and Anita Leanne Roberts; tract 1, 6367 Windchase Drive. Rocky Mount; and tract 2; $640. O Lauren A. Batchelor Barnes, Cody D. Barnes and Justin M. Batchelor to Susan A. Batchelor; lot; Nashville Township* O J. Michael Weeks to Walters Team Inc.; 2947 Taylors Store Road, Nashville* O Michael W. Phillips and Misti M. Phillips to Alicia M. Slaughter and Jason I. Slaughter; 308 Hearthstone Drive, Nashville; $355. O Four Seasons Contractors LLC to Michael W. Phillips and Misti M. Phillips; lot 19; Asheboro West Subdivision; $460. O Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. to Catherine G. Bullock; 104 Opossum Trot Court, Rocky Mount* O Thomas J. Jaeger and Susan A. Jaeger to Paradise Homes of Johnston County of NC Inc.; lot 12; 2.680 acres; Spring Creek Subdivision; $39.

O The Frank P. Philips Jr. Family Trust and Burt T. Philips to Stewart Arrington Philips; tracts A, B, C and D; 369.16 acres; Powell Farm; North Whitakers Township* O James T. Boone and Janice Marie Boone to Bruce J. Baker and Patrice R. Baker; 404 Taylor Drive, Sharpsburg; $60. O Justine Torres to Paul N. Seng and Lalune Seng; 11959 W. Finch Ave., Middlesex; $44. O John C. Barnes and Lisa S. Barnes to Vanessa Salazar Gonzalez; lot 1; 0.92 acre; $32. O Jerry W. Womack to James L. Gordon and Sherry M. Gordon; lot; 0.161 acres; Ferrells Township; $3. O Elizabeth S. Zaliagiris, Stephen David Smith, Donna W. Smith, Sally H. Barnhardt and Boyd L. Barnhardt to Stephanie O. Lawrence; lot; 42.29 acres; $51. O Stephen David Smith to Stephen David Smith Jr.; lot; 50.0 acres* O Stephen David Smith Jr. to Stephanie O. Lawrence; lot; 50.0 acres; Griffins Township; $60. O Megan Dian Haggerty and Leo Patrick Toye II to Bryan Rawls Shaw; 12225 Oak Ave., Bailey; $150. O Terrence M. Silk and Stephanie Renee Silk to Sharon Toffton Wood; lot A; $256. O Trustee Services of Carolina LLC to Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.; 1616 Winterberry Drive, Rocky Mount* O Trustee Services of Carolina LLC to Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.; 1041 Kinchen Drive, Rocky Mount* O Trustee Services of Carolina LLC to Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.; 1521 Winterberry Drive and 1523 Winterberry Drive, Rocky Mount* O Hemant R. Bhagwat and shweta P. Patil to Hemchand A. Ramauter; 220 Timberlane Drive, Rocky Mount* O Toni P. Denton to Michael A. Denton; 5166 Bend of The River Road, Elm City* O Branch Banking & Trust Co. to Ryszard Tabaka; 1534 West Thomas St., Rocky Mount; $44. O Thomas Scott Lewis and Amy Daniels Lewis to John Serraino and Elisabetta Serraino; 2020 Joelene Drive, Rocky Mount; $654. O Citibank N.A. to Walter Lee Perry and Letecia Perry;

3196 Scarborough Lane, Rocky Mount; $574. O Bobby M. Connie and Robin C. Connie to James Preston Phillis and Monica Jean Phillis; 7600 Mattie Road, Rocky Mount; $46. The following deeds were recorded with the Edgecombe County Register of Deeds from June 11-17. Each $2 in revenue stamps is equal to $1,000 in valuation. (* No fee required.) O Ann L. Davis to Lisa N. Knight; 706 Edgecombe St.; $44. O Hazel W. Andrews to William Sherman Andrews and Douglas Earl Andrews; 402 Country Road, Tarboro* O First South Bank to Charles E. Alford and Kimberly A. Alford; 2512 Beechwood Drive, Tarboro; $39. O Mahlon W. Deloatch Jr. to J&W Inc.; 700 Ward Drive, Tarboro* O Federal National Mortgage Association to Nicholas A. Fenner; 1201 Centipede Drive, Rocky Mount* O Erasto Garcia and Maricela Garcia to Tarboro/Edgecombe Habitat for Humanity Inc.; lot 30; Fox Hollow Subdivision; No. 11 Township* O Sylvia V. Williams to Sylvia P. Williams; lots 100, 101 and 102; No. 10 Township* O Larry B. Viverette and Jackie C. Viverette to Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance Inc.; 1776 Edgewood Church Road, Macclesfield; $347. O Jerry Davis Apple to 3MR Limited Partnership and CARJR Limited Partnership; tract; 644.63 acres more or less; No. 1 and 2 Townships; $3,370. O George Bennie Corbett Jr. and Vicky Davis Corbett to Dennis Ray Corbett; lot 81; West Hills* O Grady I. Ingle or Elizabeth B. Ells to Christiana Trust; 5117 Gainor Ave., Battleboro; $180. O Melanie McKeel to Amanda Jo Waters; 110 Batchelor Road, Sharpsburg; $58. O Mecie B. McHone to Krystle M. Shifflett; being a portion of lot 7 and a portion of lot 8 in block H; Lyndale Acres; No. 1 Township; $235. O Ruby C. Stroup, Marlin T. Stroup, Sue C. Joines, Hilda Faye Heath, Lynwood Edgar Heath, Jean C. Allen, David Lee Chapman, Sue B. Chapman and Patricia Jefferson to Barbara R. Phillips; 305 W. Cobb St., Pinetops; $117. O Alison L. Boyette to Charles Alford and Kimberly Alford; 7378 N.C. 33 N.W., Leggett; $19. O Alison L. Boyette to Charles

Alford and Kimberly Alford; 707 Howard Ave., Tarboro; $17. O Benjamin Franklin Evans to Keith S. Evans; 116 Chase Court, Rocky Mount* O Barbara Webb Edwards to Melanie L. McKeel and Jason R. Weston II; lot 11; Pine Acres; No. 10 Township; $35. O Mary Smith Williams to James Earl Williams; lots J, K and L, square 21; No. 10 Township* O Conifer Investment Holdings LLC to Hugh Brent Wooten; one-half of Lot B and all of lot C in square 8; $21. O Cornish Law PLLC to Secretary of Veterans Affairs; 699 Fillmore Road, Tarboro* O Hamilton D. Moore Jr. to Jose Luis Vazquez Ramirez and Maria D. Moncerrat Pimentel; 5865 Morning Star Church Road, Battleboro; $19. O Johnnie L. Whitehead and Patsy M. Whitehead to Bread of Life Christian Church and Community Center Inc.; 326 Coleman Ave., Rocky Mount; $5. O JoAnn W. Gay, Amanda G. Hayes and Brian M. Hayes and Melanie G. Thomas to Christopher E. Gay and Anna A. Gay; tract 4; 19.85 acres; No. 14 Township; $70. O David W. Combs and Catherine P. Combs to Emily Miller; 700 Marigold St., Rocky Mount; $32. O Secretary of Housing and Urban Development of Washington D.C. to Ashton L. Bradley; 603 Hill St., Rocky Mount* O Trustee Services of Carolina LLC to Andre Dale Hedgepeth; 3420 Cokey Road, Rocky Mount; $139. O Branch Banking and Trust Co. to Michael Anthony Moody; 272 Red Barn Lane, Rocky Mount; $9. O Jan G. Overman, Lou Ann O. Kernodle and Michael Wayne Kernodle to Linwood Jett Webb; lot 2 and lot 6 and the northern portion of lot 3; No. 8 Township; $340. O Inez Dixon James and Frankie A. James to Billy Ray James; lot; No. 3 Township* O Margaret Lucille Card to Joseph Lee Cherry; lot 301; No. 12 Township* O Clara Sue Corbett Powell to Oliver Curtis Powell; lot 3; 1.732 acres; No. 12 Township; $60. O B&A Investments Inc. to Billy Wayne Alphin; lot 4; B&A Hills; No. 10 Township; $39. O Rick Williams Auto Mart LLC to Fredrick Britt West; lot 2, 0.264 acres; lot 3, 0.731 acres and lot 4, 0.881 acre; No. 1 Township; $30.

U.S. mortgage rate goes down to 4.14 percent The Associated Press

WASHINGTON â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages declined this week, hovering near historically low levels. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate for a 30-year loan eased to 4.14 percent from 4.17 percent last week. The average for the 15-year mortgage fell to 3.22 percent from 3.30 percent. Rising prices and higher interest rates beginning in mid-2013 have made homes less affordable for would-be buyers. At the same time, a limited supply of homes is available to buy. Sales of new homes are running about half the

rate of a healthy housing market. Home prices rose in April from a year ago at the slowest pace in 13 months, reflecting the recent dropoff in sales, according to the latest Standard & Poorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index released Tuesday. Mortgage rates are about a quarter of a percentage point higher than they were at the same time last year. The increase in rates over the past year or so was driven in part by speculation that the Federal Reserve would reduce its bond purchases, which have helped keep longterm interest rates low. Indeed, the Fed has announced five declines in its

monthly bond purchases since December because the economy appears to be steadily healing. But the Fed has no plans to raise its benchmark short-term rate from record lows. After the central bank ended a two-day policy meeting last week, Fed Chair Janet Yellen sent the message that the economy still isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t healthy enough to grow at a consistently strong pace without the Fedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s help. Yellen said that despite a steadily improving job market and signs of creeping inflation, the Fed sees no need to raise shortterm interest rates from record lows anytime soon. To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across

the country between Monday and Wednesday each week. The average doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount. The average fee for a 30-year mortgage fell to 0.5 point from 0.6 point a week

earlier. The fee for a 15year loan was unchanged at 0.5 point. The average rate on a one-year adjustable-rate loan slipped to 2.40 percent from 2.41 percent. The average fee remained at 0.4 point. The average rate on a five-year adjustable mortgage fell to 2.98 percent.

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Open and shut case: Choosing shutters of the house, which means they break the rule about looking functional, Taylor says. Although glass and screens He prefers wood, which looks have eliminated the practical the most authentic but does need for shutters, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re still require regular maintenance, or popular for decoration. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They add composite products, a low-mainanother layer of thoughtful detail- tenance alternative. ing to a house,â&#x20AC;? says Ted Cleary, a STyLES landscape architect in Charlotte, N.C. Louvered shutters, made with But to get the right look, you horizontally slated boards, are still have to consider function probably the most common style when choosing and hanging shut- in America, Cleary says. When ters, experts say. shutters served as the primary â&#x20AC;&#x153;Beauty in architecture, as with window covering, people in hotmany objects, often stems from ter climates used louvered ones seeing a detail that illustrates its to allow fresh air into the house. purpose,â&#x20AC;? Cleary says. Panel shutters have a tradiA pair of shutters can cost tional look. They are solid pieces anywhere from $100 to more than that resemble small doors, and $1,000. Some tips on choosing the are often inset with square or right ones for your home: rectangle patterns. They were regularly used on Colonial-era SIZE homes in New England and were Originally, shutters were used a good defense against snow and to keep out weather, noise and rain. animals; when closed, they had to Board and batten shutters are cover the whole window. made with three or four vertical So shutter size is the most boards of the same size connectimportant thing to consider, ed with narrow horizontal boards. says Lindsay Daniel, a Charlotte They have a rustic appearance architect, who agrees with Cleary and were often used on country that homeowners must â&#x20AC;&#x153;think houses or barns. They are the function first, not decoration.â&#x20AC;? easiest style for do-it-yourselfers Make sure the shutters meet to make at home, Cleary says. and completely cover the window HARDWARE opening. Otherwise, she says, the shutter â&#x20AC;&#x153;looks like a stupid Shutters look best when they afterthought.â&#x20AC;? are hung as though they are going This means that shutters donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t to be opened and closed, Cleary work on double-width or picture says. That means using hinges windows, says Richard Taylor, an and mounting them onto the winarchitect and president of RTA dow casing â&#x20AC;&#x201C; not attaching them Studio in Dublin, Ohio. â&#x20AC;&#x153;To my to the house. eye anyway, it looks ridiculous,â&#x20AC;? Cleary also recommends addhe says. ing metal tiebacks, sometimes And take care about their called shutter dogs, to hold open shape when hanging shutters on shutters in place. The hardware, arched windows, Cleary adds. including shutter dogs and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shutters are perfectly legitimate hinges, can cost up to $100 for a on arched windows as long as pair of shuttters. the (closed) shutter covers it,â&#x20AC;? he â&#x20AC;&#x153;It looks a lot richer. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s says. more depth to them when they are not pasted to the (house),â&#x20AC;? he MATERIAL says. Shutters are primarily made BE CONSISTENT of wood, composite material or vinyl. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel you have to put shutVinyl shutters are typically ters on every window. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s better mounted directly onto the side to have some windows without By MELISSA KOSSLER DUTTON Associated Press

It is not necessary to use shutters on every window, per the experts, particularly close to the edge of the house where two shutters might not fit.

AP Photos

Panel shutters often have a pattern that complements the front door. In Colonial times, these shutters protected homes from cold and rain.

Board and batten shutters, one of the three most popular styles of shutters,, give a home a country look.

shutters than to put them on windows that are too wide for them. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t use a shutter on one side of a window where a door or the corner of the house prevents you from adding its mate. Louvered shutters are very popular in American architecture. The Do consider painting shutters shutters, which originally had movable slats, allowed air to circulate the same color as your front door. in the home.

Kid-friendly crafts for Fourth of July holiday By JENNIFER FORKER Associated Press

The Fourth of July typically is the first holiday during kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; summer vacation. And by now, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re bored. Here are three simple crafts that can involve them in preparations for the holidayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fireworks and picnics. Not only do you keep them busy, but you get decorations to reuse year after year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so much enthusiasm around this holiday,â&#x20AC;? says Amanda Kingloff of New York City, author of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Project Kid: 100 Ingenious Crafts for Family Funâ&#x20AC;? (Artisan, 2014), who appreciates the inflexible color palette: Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s red, white and blue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; or nothing. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Christmas has morphed into any color combination. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trending in Christmas this year? It might be silver and gold,â&#x20AC;? says Kingloff. â&#x20AC;&#x153;With July Fourth, you do not leave the path of red, white and blue.â&#x20AC;? Her book helps kids stay busy all summer â&#x20AC;&#x201C; some projects are intentionally complicated. Like the yarn birdcage, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll take time and patience to complete. For Independence Day, she recommends two simple crafts: firework flowers and stars and stripes bunting. The flowers take minutes to make, and the essential supplies are just cupcake liners and straws. Directions are below. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Once a kid can use scissors they can do this project,â&#x20AC;?

says Kingloff. The bunting requires no measuring: Cut out triangles from paper or fabric; Kingloff cuts 5-by-6-inch triangles from canvas drop cloth. Punch large or small stars out of thick, plastic-coated freezer paper, and either iron them on or the freezer-paper stencil to the fabric. Then paint it. Use painterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tape to mark out and paint thick and thin stripes. After the paint has dried, glue string or cord to the top back edge of each triangle, leaving at least 2 inches of string on either end for hanging. The freezer paper provides crisper lines than a storebought stencil, Kingloff says. Cristin Drewes of Provo, Utah, recommends a flag craft that sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s done with all six of her children. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s simple enough: Use little kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; hands to paint blue â&#x20AC;&#x153;starsâ&#x20AC;? and their feet to paint red stripes, using acrylic paint and white craft paper found at teacher supply stores. Drewes recalls making her first flag with friends in the early 1990s. She wanted to make a memorable gift for her parents; the framed painting still hangs in their home. She also has her own flag, which she hangs over her fireplace during this and other holidays, such as Memorial Day. Her craft is featured on Pinterest, the online site ParentMap and her own blog, Serendipity.

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Cristin Drewes commemorated Independence Day with a family memento in the shape of a flag made out of her childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s painted hands and feet: Hands provide blue â&#x20AC;&#x153;starsâ&#x20AC;? and little feet stamp out red stripes in acrylic paint on white craft paper. Drewes, of Provo, Utah, has made three of these flags in 20 years and pulls out a framed one for each flag-flying holiday.

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Rocky Mount Telegram n SaTuRday, June 28, 2014

U.S. new home sales rocket 18.6 percent higher in May

3051 Sunset Avenue â&#x20AC;˘ Rocky Mount, NC 27804 252-937-2121 â&#x20AC;˘ 800-849-8630 Tarboro Office â&#x20AC;˘ 252-823-1113 Email: C21Combs@aol.com

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sales of new U.S. homes rose in May to the highest level in six years, providing the strongest signal yet that housing is recovering from a recent slowdown. New home sales jumped 18.6 percent last month following a 3.7 percent increase in April, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. The gains followed declines in February and March that were blamed in part on harsh winter weather. The big May increase pushed the seasonally adjusted annual sales rate to 504,000, the highest level since May 2008. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is the strongest level since the end of the recession and is an encouraging sign that housing activity improved in the second quarter,â&#x20AC;? Cooper Howes, an economist at Barclays Research, said in an analyst note. Home sales peaked last year at an annual rate of 459,000 in June, but then lost altitude. The decline reflected an increase in mortgage rates that occurred after the Federal Reserve began discussing pulling back on its monthly bond purchases that were keeping long-term interest rates low. The inventory of unsold new homes was unchanged at 189,000 homes at the end of May, the same as April. That inventory level would

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BELMONT LAKE PRESERVE AP Photo

A sign sits in front of a home for sale in West Des Moines, Iowa. New home sales statistics for May were released last week and showed big gains.

be depleted in 4.5 months at the May sales pace, an extremely low level that underscored the fact that the supply of new homes remains well below historic averages. Sales were up in all regions of the country in May, led by a 54.5 percent surge in sales in the Northeast. New home sales rose 34 percent in the West and 14.2 percent in the South. The Midwest had the smallest month-over-month sales gain of just 1.4 percent. Even with the big overall gain, sales of new homes are still running at just about half the pace of a healthy real estate market. But there have been some encouraging signs of a spring rebound in housing. The National Association of Realtors reported last week that sales of previously owned homes jumped 4.9 percent in May, the biggest one-month gain

in nearly three years. That increase pushed the sales rate to 4.89 million homes, the strongest showing since last October. While economists were encouraged by the second straight monthly gain in existing home sales, they noted that the sales rate is still below the recent peak of 5.38 million sales hit last July. Higher mortgage rates and the bad weather weighed on sales of both existing and new homes in late 2013 and early 2014. But sales seem to be staging a rebound, helped by solid job growth and growing inventories of homes for sale, a development that has helped to hold down price increases. Economists say there is significant pent-up demand for homes as many potential buyers put off purchases over the past few years because of concerns about the economy.

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6336 Saddlehorn Drive

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was really just a matter of holding the little foot out and stepping it down,â&#x20AC;? Drewes says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve cherished these a long time.â&#x20AC;?

404 Englewood Drive

4922 Plantation Drive

MLS#96476 $243,900 Call Bill Lumpp 908-5300

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MLS# 96462 $212,500 Call Michelle Vick 813-6505

128 Beth Eden Court

MLS#96482 $159,900 Call Jane Snow 813-1562

370 Maybelle Lane

MLS#96477 $139,900 Call Doug Bullock 903-9516

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1515 Brake Road

MLS#96491 $125,000 Call Hal Fryar 883-2883

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From Page 4C

NEW LISTINGS

2517 Sexton Road

MLS#96455 $99,900 Call Michelle James 314-8990

213 Sebastian Way

MLS#96495 $89,900 Call Daphnne Wooten 903-5133

MAY 2014 Listing Agent of the Month

Sales Agent of the Month

Agent of the Month

JoE ENgRASSiA Broker / Realtor 458-5881

DoNNA DEW Broker / Realtor 883-3515

ToNyA BLALoCK Broker / Realtor 813-1667

David Combs Broker, GRI, CCIM 813-9621

Max Avent Broker / Realtor 450-9417

Tonya Blalock Broker / Realtor 813-1667

Diane Box Broker / Realtor 450-5657

Joey Bullard Broker / Realtor, ABR 883-7121

Doug Bullock Broker / Realtor 903-9516

Donna Dew Broker / Realtor 883-3515

Joe Engrassia Broker / Realtor, GRI, CRS, SFR

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Brenda Eskridge Broker / Realtor, ABR 904-9241

Marie Fisher Broker / Realtor 908-5304

Hal Fryar Broker / Realtor 883-2883

Mary Fryar Broker / Realtor 883-8889

Roslyn Haynes Broker / Realtor 220-2187

Michelle James Broker / Realtor 314-8990

Mildred Johnson Broker / Realtor 903-0754

Suzan King-Ritchie Broker / Realtor 883-9900

James Kelly Broker / Realtor 314-5414

Janice King Broker / Realtor 903-1434

Crystal Lane Broker / Realtor 813-6883

Bill Lumpp Broker / Realtor 908-5300

Niki McAdams Broker / Realtor 883-5001

Dee Porter Broker / Realtor, CDPE 366-2518

Verona Powers Broker / Realtor 382-7656

DeeAnn Seymour Broker / Realtor 266-5009

Ken Sikes Broker / Realtor 904-0375

Jane Snow Broker / Realtor 813-1562

Michelle Vick Broker / Realtor 813-6505

Carole Wilber Broker / Realtor 903-7158

Daphnne Wooten Broker / Realtor 903-5133

Firework Flowers Adapted from â&#x20AC;&#x153;Project Kidâ&#x20AC;? by Amanda Kingloff Supplies (all in red, white and blue): 2 cupcake liners Scissors 1 drinking straw Colored craft tape, such as washi Glue (optional) Assembly: 1. Place the flattened cupcake liners face to face, with the color or pattern on the outside. Fringe only the ruffled part of the liners about every 1/8 inch to Âź inch, stopping when you reach the center flat circle. 2. Fold the liners in half, then in half again. Roll this â&#x20AC;&#x153;quarter circleâ&#x20AC;? from the bottom and push the point youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve created snugly into the straw. (If the flower tends to pop out of the

SOLD AP Photo

An easy craft, Firework Flowers, is adapted from Amanda Kingloffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s book, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Project Kid.â&#x20AC;?

straw, squeeze a dab of glue into the straw.) 3. Tear off a 2-inch piece of tape and center it on the shaft of the straw, folding it

back across the straw and itself. (This is the leaf.) 4. Bend the neck of the straw to angle your flowers slightly outward.

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ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS

XXX SPDLZNPVOUODIPNFT PSH

june 17, 2014 through june 23, 2014 - reSIDentIAL

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happening in our Market? New Listings Closed Pending Average Sales Price Highest New Listing Lowest New Listing Highest Sales Price Lowest Sales Price

24 16 21 $111,669 $668,000 $29,000 $349,000 $22,000

4978 Wollett Mill Road MLS#96346 $279,900 Call Marie Fisher 908-5304

101 Gloucester Court

MLS#94193 $178,000 Call Tonya Blalock 813-1667

3583 Woodbrook Drive MLS#96206 $159,900 Call Bill Lumpp 908-5300

REDUCED

2613 Shire Lane

MLS#95741 $122,000 Call Michelle Vick 813-6505

REDUCED

108 Rum Barrell Cove

MLS#95740 $115,000 Call Tonya Blalock 813-1667

909 Jason Court

MLS#95227 $99,900 Call Marie Fisher 908-5304

FEATURED

DAYS ON MARKET FOR LAST WEEKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SALES:

LOW 2

HIGH 1179