Home & Decor 2014

HOME& DECOR Special section, Sunday, August 3, 2014

Edgier designs catching on MICHAEL GALLACHER/Missoulian

2 – Missoulian, Sunday, August 3, 2014

HOME & DECOR

Housing market improves

Many homeowners renovating; new construction up from last year

By AMANDA BRYANT for the Missoulian

W

hether it’s giving a home a facelift or building a new house altogether, household restoration projects are becoming more common in Missoula.

Renovating and updating an older home is a common alternative – one tailored to a family’s individual needs.

In fact, all of the projects Ehli Construction has worked on this year have been restoration projects. Owner Joe Ehli says molding a preexisting house to one’s needs is a practical choice with the current housing market.

“The housing market isn’t the best at the moment and because of this people are also keeping what they have and updating it so when the market does come back around their home is more attractive,” Ehli said.

Most of the renovations were subtle and mainly done to modernize and improve older homes. He says many homeowners are looking for new, updated appliances, while recycling older materials is more common for owners of rental units to keep overhead costs down.

According to Ehli, what homeowners desire in their renovations tends to change every year. His construction crew has mainly worked on decks and roofs this summer as homeowners work to boost their curb appeal.

MICHAEL GALLACHER/Missoulian

David Watt, left, and Lyman Jessop work on a new home on Spanish Peaks Drive in Missoula recently. New housing starts are rebounding with the improvement of the local economy.

“What people want me to build goes through cycles,” Ehli said. “I often notice an influx of doors and windows. Instead of people having an even number of things such as windows in their house, one room could have a larger number compared to the rest of the place.”

The Missoula Housing Index says 67 lots to build new homes were sold in 2013. That’s a small increase from the year before, mainly due to a lower availability of housing. The decision to build often comes after would-be homeowners

cannot find exactly what they want on the market.

Most of the 10 projects Mostad Construction has worked on so far this year are new, single-level houses. According to company president Gene Mostad, the idea of downsizing space has become more appealing in recent years, along with the accessibility of everything on one story. “(Single-level homes) are a lot more energy efficient because of the confined spaces, so a lot less air leaks into the house. It leads to less energy loss over time,” Mostad said.

All of Mostad’s projects shared one commonality desired by the homeowners: an open concept layout. Typically

easier to design and build, open concepts make a space appear to be bigger by combining multiple rooms. The resulting living

areas also are more comfortable for groups of people to congregate. The most common place to center this type of floor plan is the kitchen.

Makeroom Interior Design owner Page Goode says the setup is increasingly popular because of its practicality.

“It just makes sense.

Most people spend a lot of their time in the kitchen anyways, and when people are over, they don’t want to be separated,” Goode said.

Approximately 80 percent of building projects are done alongside an interior designer, Mostad said. Having a solid team of builders and a designer brings a more cohesive construction process and gives way to what Mostad says is the most gratifying part of his job.

“I just like helping people realize their new visions,” he said.

Amanda Bryant is a journalism student at the University of Montana and an intern in the Missoulian newsroom.

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Missoulian, Sunday, August 3, 2014 – 3

HOME & DECOR

Disorganized remotes? 6 creative answers

By KATHERINE ROTH Associated Press

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emote controls, designed to make life easier and more convenient, have become so numerous in many homes that keeping track of them is a challenge all its own.

There are often separate remotes for the TV, DVD player, cable box and sound system. And if you’ve got a more sophisticated set-up, or have retained your old VCR machine, you may well have a few more (gaming consoles, light dimmers, air-conditioning units, etc.).

Remotes tend to be annoyingly similar in size, shape and color, and have a pesky way of slipping between couch cushions, walking to various parts of the house, getting chewed by the dog or just – poof – vanishing.

To help restore order, cable companies and professional organizers offer some suggestions:

JULIE RUBIN/Missoulian

The J-Me Cozy Remote Control Tidy, made of nonskid rubber with voluptuous curves in bright primary colors, is one of a number of remote-control organizers that come in a variety of prices and styles.

Streamline Can you retire some of these remotes?

“When it comes to organizing anything, whether it’s shoes or china or remotes, you need to evaluate how many things you have and how many you really need. Are you using all of these machines? If not, the remotes don’t all need to be there,” Jenkins said.

Go Universal If arranging your

Get smart (phone) For the technologically savvy, new apps have been created to turn your smartphone into a remote.

Popular apps include Dijit, Roomie, Re, iRule, Zsmart, Commandfusion and Openremote.

In addition, many TV manufacturers and cable providers (including Sony, Comcast, Optimum and Verizon) have created their own apps, some voiceactivated, to replace remotes. Comcast says its Xfinity TV Remote app has been downloaded 10 million times.

“Many of my clients have designated iPads or smart phones that function as a universal

remote,” Jenkins said.

Buy a replacement If you’ve lost a remote, ask your cable provider to come to the rescue.

Providers are accustomed to requests for additional remotes, and replacements are ubiquitous online and in stores.

Go back to the future Television existed years before remotes became commonplace. An oldfashioned TV with an actual channel button, if you’re lucky enough to find one, bypasses the need for remotes by forcing you to get up, cross the room and change the channels. This is cumbersome and unpleasant, to be sure, but provides some exercise.

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remote, and keep the board by where you usually sit,” he said.

He also suggests putting color-coordinated dots on each remote and its corresponding device, and urges clients to keep any directions and customer numbers in a clear plastic sleeve in the room where they watch TV.

though, that’s too much technology to deal with.”

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bag style over a chair or sofa armrest (Ikea).

“Whatever you get, make sure it’s not the type of thing that will get tipped over by a stretching cat. Trays or low baskets are perfect, and drawers are terrific if you have a Find a container grabby toddler. Oh, and Caddies made for definitely don’t store it remote controls come in a beside the TV,” said Liz huge range of prices and Jenkins, a professional styles. There are clear organizer in Franklin, Acrylic organizing cubes Tennessee. “As with (US Acrylic), non-skid everything in your house, rubber with voluptuous you should store it closest curves in impossible-toto where you’ll be using it. miss primary colors (J-Me So it really has to have a Cozy Remote Control home near your couch or Tidy), faux-leather chair.” organizers in staid brown Kevin Hall of Clutter No and black that rotate for More, Inc. in San Diego convenience (Cosmos) and says that keeping track of wooden organizing boxes remotes is a chronic with NFL team logos. For problem. those loathe to park one “Our top idea is putting more thing on an a strip of Velcro on the overworked coffee table, back of a clipboard, then some caddies hang saddle- on the back of each

collection of black and gray remotes in a monotone high-tech bouquet doesn’t appeal, a well-chosen universal remote can narrow it down to one. Universal remotes are designed to work with all your technological gizmos, and range in price from around $10 to several hundred dollars.

“When you have a big pile of remotes, my top advice is to get a universal remote and find a 12-yearold to program it,” said Jenkins.

Hall cautions, however, that programming a universal remote “often just leads to more frustration. That’s why we go to the clipboard. If the person is a techie, a universal remote would work. For most people

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4 – Missoulian, Sunday, August 3, 2014

HOME & DECOR

MICHAEL GALLACHER/Missoulian

The units at Water’s Edge condominiums have a Montana meets Hawaii feel to them, using bamboo and stone to create a warm and inviting living space.

Edgy design gains favor

ome H s ’ la nter! sou Mis are Ce C

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Missoulian, Sunday, August 3, 2014 – 5

HOME & DECOR

Clean lines and large windows are a hallmark of the Water’s Edge Condominiums.

MICHAEL GALLACHER/Missoulian

Water’s Edge Condos boast spacious rooms, contemporary facade

By AMANDA BRYANT for the Missoulian

cutting-edge look, and a wider appreciation for that style is apparent more and he sleek, more in Missoula. appealing look of “More people in the Water’s Edge Missoula want current and Condominiums contemporary looks. They begins at the see it on HGTV; they see it bamboo fences enclosing in the magazines.

It’s each of the six homes, but carries far beyond the curb appealing to them and it’s starting to turn that way,” appeal. Each of the six Goode said. “They have a units in one of East much more contemporary Missoula’s newest look than their neighbors.” developments is defined Homebuying in 2013 by its spacious rooms, increased by a steady unique tile and overall 20 percent, according to contemporary facade. the 2014 Missoula Housing Page Goode of Index. Condominium and Makeroom Design townhouse sales also went accredits her background in architectural design for up from 2012 numbers.

Deciding how to utilize her predilection for the

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and decorate rooms is constantly evolving, regardless of taste. People are leaning toward a natural look for key pieces of furniture, then bringing contrast through the accompaniments.

Goode said by seeing new possibilities and opening up your mind, interior design looks are moving further from what’s available at Pottery Barn and heading more toward individual, practical staples.

“With access to the Internet and travel to more urban areas, people see a lot more things they’re attracted to,” she said.

“People are moving more towards an edgier look with more interesting materials and a more simple approach to their uses.”

For Missoula, trends are moving far from ranch, cowboy style and transitioning to a slightly more contemporary look using cleaner lines to catch

the eye. Wall staples, especially large paintings, are successful at both bringing contrast and See EDGE, Page 6

6 – Missoulian, Sunday, August 3, 2014

HOME & DECOR

It doesn’t matter to me what the national fads are. You have to look at your clientele and your area.

– Jennifer Kuehn, owner of Hunting and Gathering

MICHAEL GALLACHR/Missoulian

The open floor design creates a bright and airy kitchen and dining area, perfect for entertaining.

Edge

heavily used spaces. As opposed to tables with shinier finishes, the Continued from Page 5 reclaimed wood’s durability makes it able to creating distinct viewpoints within a room. stand the tests of time.

To Kuehn, the joy of this type of furniture is that it’s Drastic patterns, easier to live with. mainly ethnic and florals, “You don’t have to are becoming more worry about the kids commonplace in homes wearing it down; every through rugs, drapes and scratch or ding just looks throw pillows. like it belongs,” the store However, when it owner said. “So whenever comes down to what’s in we have wood, I want to and what’s not, Hunting make sure it has a real and Gathering owner sturdy finish on it – or it’s Jennifer Kuehn says the so rustic that nobody cares.” trends don’t matter and Certain classics dating shouldn’t be a concern as far back to 30 years are when deciding how to now making their return to decorate. the retail world. Draperies “It doesn’t matter to me are becoming increasingly what the national fads are. popular over blinds.

You have to look at your Furniture such as swivel clientele and your area,” tub chairs and ceiling light Kuehn said. fixtures from the 1970s are Both Goode and Kuehn starting to be preferred by agree that rustic woods are customers, according to popular at the moment Goode.

“When I started out in among their customers for

this business, there were certain trends we saw that faded away and now they’re finally starting to make a comeback,” she said.

The biggest key to redecorating a home, to Kuehn, is to not do it all at once. Taking time to choose what you like rather than buying what’s there makes it less likely to tire of things down the road.

“It’s my philosophy to buy a new piece now, and buy another one later. That way you always have something fresh coming into the rooms,” Kuehn said. “Waiting a long time to buy again is such a big jump that people tend to buy cheaper items that won’t last as long.”

Amanda Bryant is a journalism student at the University of Montana and an intern in the Missoulian newsroom.

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Missoulian, Sunday, August 3, 2014 – 7

HOME & DECOR

MICHAEL GALLACHR/Missoulian

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Contemporary design and comfort are the guiding principles behind the Water’s Edge development. The Water’s Edge consists of six units with large lawns sloping to the Clark Fork River. Bamboo seems to work in this cozy Missoula development.

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8 – Missoulian, Sunday, August 3, 2014

HOME & DECOR

Cooking up a color-happy kitchen

By KIM COOK Associated Press

pretty peppy, according to Deborah Baldwin, editor of This Old House magazine. itchens in “Pastel greens, blues, traditional and creams and peaches vintage homes often reigned until the early are dressed in conservative 1930s, when casual, builtgarb: neutral hues, in eating areas were stainless steel, white-onpainted Kelly green, red white or beige-on-beige. and even black,” she says.

Historically, however, “We have readers who kitchens were actually are introducing brightly

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colored cabinets and appliances in tomato, pumpkin and daisy,” she adds.

At this spring’s Architectural Digest Home Design Show in New York, manufacturers were showing lots of vibrantly hued kitchen equipment.

See COLOR, Page 9

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Missoulian, Sunday, August 3, 2014 – 9

HOME & DECOR

Photos by Big Chll/Associated Press

FACING PAGE, FROM LEFT: An oven in the color of pink lemonade. An oven in the color of buttercup yellow. A Pro range in orange. s a pop of color in an otherwise low key kitchen, or as part of an overall exuberant space, appliances like these, particularly with some retro details, stand out from the standard stainless offerings.

THIS PAGE: A range hood, above, in the color of cherry red. A beach blue large refrigerator. A Pro refrigerator in cherry red from the new Pro line that offers contemporary style with 12 standard color options. With strong color trending in kitchens, Big Chill’s vibrant hues in fridges, ovens and range hoods hit the style mark.

Color

midcentury walnut.

Or consider the ceiling.

In a small galley kitchen, Continued from Page 8 bold color on the ceiling creates a “jewel box” Bertazzoni’s Arancio effect. Deep hues like range came in orange, eggplant, navy, magenta or burgundy and yellow. Big carmine compliment white Chill displayed a wall full cabinetry in a large of paint-box hues kitchen, and look great in including jadite (a milky both natural and artificial green), cherry and pink. light.

AGA’s Signature line of New York designer beefy, professional-grade ranges comes in intriguing Gideon Mendelson applied a pea-green gingham colors like aubergine, canvas cloth to the ceiling duck-egg blue, heather, of a country house kitchen, pistachio, claret and and painted the island in a British racing green. similar shade. With a (bertazzoni.com; collection of vintage bigchill.com; agabaskets displayed along ranges.com) Fans of metallics might the tops of snowy wood go for Blue Star’s dramatic cabinetry, the vibe is relaxed, fresh and collection of ranges, wall ovens and hoods in copper, contemporary. (mendelsongroupinc.com) gold and a chocolate-y Meg Caswell, a designer ginger, as well as several and host on HGTV’s hundred other colors and “Great Rooms,” loves to finishes. add color to kitchens. She (bluestarcooking.com) Kitchens of any vintage used a backsplash of crisp, blue and green fused-glass can look great with tiles as a counterpoint to a colorful walls. Pumpkin, rustic, Old World-style cobalt and deep Prussian metal and wood kitchen blue enhance all kinds of island, glossy black woods, whether you’re working with 19th century cabinetry and citrine pine, Craftsman-era oak or wallpaper in an Art Deco-

era home. In another home, she mixed sleek teal-and-white glass with farmhouse blue cabinets. (megcaswell.com; hgtv.com) Baldwin, of This Old House, advises painting upper and base cabinets different colors, or painting an island or hutch in a contrasting shade.

“This helps reinforce their freestanding furniture look, which harks back to 18th- and 19th-century kitchens,” she says. (thisoldhouse.com) “Painting the floor – either one color or in a pattern like checkerboard

– can reinforce the vintage look too,” she notes.

Options include graphic designs or stencils, or illustrated rug motifs.

Better Homes & Gardens’ website has lots of ideas. (bhg.com/kitchen) If you’re in a rental with limited decorating options,

go for color accents like Fiesta ware, rag rugs, a couple of snazzy stools, and counter appliances in candy hues.

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10 – Missoulian, Sunday, August 3, 2014

HOME & DECOR

Simple imagination Too many toys a no-no for ideal child’s playroom

By BETH WHITEHOUSE Newsday

Evaluate each toy you have and keep the ones appropriate to your child’s ow can a parent age and interests. improve a child’s Designate a space for playroom? each toy, so it’s easier for “The Number One kids to clean up after problem we see in people’s themselves. “Our favorite homes is that families have storage items are clear too many toys,” says Karri containers with lids. Label Bowen-Poole, founder and each with a photograph co-owner of Smart and words,” she Playrooms, a company recommends. based in Rye, N.Y., that Don’t have a TV in the designs, builds and playroom; keep it in the organizes play areas in living room instead. homes and businesses.

Although there are When parents buy toy after educational programs, toy, the clutter makes it your kids could end up difficult for children to glued to the tube instead find what they are looking of taking advantage of for or play productively. other developmental toys

H

Dream

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Courtesy of FamilyFun magazine

Set the stage for imagination to play using this simple idea for a playroom or family room.

you’ve provided.

“The easier option is to flick on the TV,” BowenPoole says. Same goes for the iPad and other electronic gadgets.

Don’t decorate the playroom with adult furniture. Look for tables and chairs that are close to the floor, which will help children play independently. Keep hooks for hanging up dress-up clothes close to your children’s height so they can reach costumes without help. Also make sure any drawers are within reach to encourage children to put things away, she says.

Distinctive Missoula-area homes available for sale will be featured in the Missoulian & Ravalli Republic, coming

this fall

If you are in the market to purchase a new home, you won’t want to miss this

Missoulian, Sunday, August 3, 2014 – 11

HOME & DECOR

Bedroom desk may not be the answer School-age children need a dedicated workspace to study at home

By DIANA MARSZALEK Associated Press

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lyssa Kimble, a soon-to-be fourthgrader in White Plains, New York, says she uses the desk in her bedroom for “everything” – creating lesson plans for her make-believe school, writing stories and storing stuff.

Everything, that is, except homework.

“Usually, my desk is covered with things, a computer isn’t nearby and my mom isn’t there to help me,” Alyssa says.

So she prefers doing homework at the kitchen table.

Although bedroom desks remain common, many kids don’t use them for their intended purpose. Thanks to laptop computers and more casual living spaces, they often opt to do homework in kitchens and family rooms, on couches or on beds, turning their desks into depositories for books, toys and crafts.

What that means for study habits depends on who’s doing the work, educators and parents say.

“I could always get my homework done wherever I was. But some kids, especially if they have ADHD or another disability, can benefit from doing homework at a specified location like a desk because it tells them, ‘This is the spot where I focus,’ ” says Ellen Pape, a La Grange, Illinois, school reading specialist.

“Separating it from other locations gives kids more of a straightforward

MICHAEL KAUFMAN/Missoulian

Although her parents bought Rebekah the desk so she would have a place to study, she instead uses it as “a repository for the four outfits she tried on earlier that day and rejected,” her mother Melissa says. Rebekah prefers doing homework on her bed. definition of expectations,” she says.

Melissa Kaufman of Santa Clara, California, says that where her daughters – Rebekah, 14, and Sarah, 11 – do their homework reflects their different needs and study habits.

Kaufman bought Rebekah a desk several years ago because letting her work at the kitchen table in their small house became too hard on the rest of the family. “It meant nobody could do anything in the kitchen or living room until homework was done because it would be

distracting,” she says.

But having “a nice big desk surface” did little to change that. “I don’t think she did her homework at her desk more than once,” Kaufman says. Initially, Rebekah resisted being isolated from the rest of the family. And although today Rebekah does do homework in her room, it is usually on her bed. The desk is where she puts “the four outfits she tried on earlier that day and rejected.”

But Kaufman says she doesn’t fight it. “She has still managed to get excellent grades, despite what I would consider less

than stellar study habits and environment, so we have to let her go with what she is comfortable with,” she says.

Sarah, on the other hand, “needs much more help and encouragement to get her homework done, so doing it in isolation in her

room is not really an option” – meaning she’s back at the kitchen table, Kaufman said. Sarah’s desk has suffered a fate similar to her sister’s; it’s covered with piles of books, art supplies and knickknacks.

Tami Mount, a New York-area educational consultant, says it’s important for children to have a quiet, dedicated workspace, but it doesn’t matter where that is.

“All the tools they need to do their homework, like scissors, rulers, erasers and pencils, should be organized in a place they can be easily retrieved. You don’t want to spend 15 minutes looking for tape,” she says.

But some kids work better in an environment where there is, say, music playing or a parent nearby, than isolated at a desk, Mount says.

“A quiet desk, a busy kitchen, Starbucks or the living room floor. Like adults, kids find a place that is comfortable and productive,” she says. “And if the living room floor is not proving productive, try something else.”

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HOME & DECOR

Stunning blue bog sage lures birds, bees

By NORMAN WINTER McClatchy-Tribune News Service

and hummingbirds flying around but also their predators, the dragonfly. great purple hairstreak, So many dragonflies are in one of the most beautiful these gardens it helps to have a butterflies in the United pocket guide for ID. But their States, created quite a stir as he predators are there, too. The feasted on the nectar-rich sky- ones most talked about are the blue flowers of the bog sage.

Mississippi Kites that come This sage, the tallest plant in swooping down at warp speed our new pollinator gardens, at only to leave dragonfly wings the Coastal Georgia Botanical fluttering in the air. A couple of Gardens, is doing their part in times I have hysterically done a bringing in visitors, those that duck and cover as the kites fly and those that drive. swooshed by me.

Every day I watch visitors The garden becomes pure with cameras, many with enjoyment when you choose to tripods, setting up near these grow a great pollinator plant two gardens. It truly seems the like the bog sage. More would hosts of bees, wasps, butterflies experience this no doubt if it and hummingbirds are had a different name. You see, providing buzzing safari-like you don’t have to have a bog, moments. just fertile well drained soil You never really know what with plenty of sun. will be flying in, and it seems to Unfortunately the bog sage has change by the minute. It’s not a botanical name that isn’t any just the bees, wasps, butterflies better: Salvia uliginosa. At first

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McClatchy-Tribune

This Great Purple Hairstreak butterfly and bumblebee find the bog sage to be the perfect place for an abundance of flowers.

look you might think Salvia ugly-a-nosa, but it is really Salvia u-lig-a-nosa.

The bog sage is native to the South American countries of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina and will look at home in your garden. It is a cold hardy perennial in zones 6-10 and a worthy annual in colder areas.

One of the taller salvias for the garden, the bog sage can reach 6 to 7 feet and produces rare, sky-blue flowers. Though it is in full bloom now, it will keep up this flower production until frost. Despite the name that makes it sound like it will grow in water, you should plant in well-drained, fertile soil.

While preparing the soil, incorporate 2 pounds of a slowrelease, 12-6-6 fertilizer per 100 square feet of planting area. You’ll want to space these plants 20 to 42 inches apart and place them to the back of the

border. Our pollinator beds are actually islands, so we have them in the middle and then layered shorter plants outward.

The bog sage is as much at home in an old-fashioned cottage garden in front of a white picket fence draped with David Austin English roses, as it is the backyard wildlife habitat. We have ours partnered with Blue Fortune agastache, Silky Gold asclepias, fall blooming senna and splashes of chartreuse from Wasabi coleus and Gold Mound duranta.

Don’t let the name throw you — this is an outstanding perennial. Because finding the bog sage likely will take some searching on your part, make the hunting really pay off by looking for other great plants with troubling names like Joe Pye weed, Swamp Milkweed, and Rattlesnake Master.