spring home & garden

InsideKeep an eye on decorating trends .......................3CIs it about time to replace your shingles? ............5CFamily fun begins with planning a garden ..........6CStart spring lawn care off on the right foot.........7CSpring decor has a bold, optimistic face .............9CHow to care for window screens .........................9C

SpringHome & Garden

May 2, 2013 •Special Section C

C — Addison Independent, Thursday, May 2, 2013

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Home & GardenSpring

Addison Independent, Thursday, May 2, 2013 — PAGE 3C

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By CHRISTY LYNNIf you’re planning a sprucing-up

or renovation of your home this spring, you may be pleasantly sur-prised by some of the fun, resur-facing trends that home designers are seeing for 2013.

World-renown designers at Pan-tone LLC are seeing a revival of bold, saturated colors, which fill a room with brightness and posi-tive energy and balance the still-relevant earth tones and gentler colors. Emerald, poppy, Morocco blue, and nectarine pop in the pal-ette, complementing more sub-dued dusk blues, jade, and linen tones.

Balancing of old and new items, colors, patterns, and materials is a common thread in home design, borrowed from trends on the run-way, in clothing and throughout graphic design themes.

Antique furniture paired with thin modern lines, metals, and ex-posed industrial materials trans-late these trends into the house, coming together for a fun and funky twist.

Locally, designers say Vermont-ers are following suit, fitting or-ganically into the classic Green Mountain aesthetic.

Pam Carter and Chelsea Audy are a mother-daughter design team who own Keeping Good Compa-ny, a floor-to-ceiling interior de-sign firm run out of Vergennes.

Vermonters are “moving toward a more organic modernism using worn modern materials that look vintage,” says Carter. The industry is seeing a lot of slate, weathered concrete, natural tile, and warn or vintage materials, she adds.

Furthermore, local trends seem to be toward user-friendly, invit-ing space that is designed for function and utility over excessive maintenance and fashion. Gone

are the days of precious spaces with delicate décor reserved for special occasions; instead the modern aesthetic is for high-use — worn items are as trendy as they are practical, which is good news for many.

As for the bold colors, patterns, and textures, Carter and Audy are finding that their clientele are more and more willing to take risks with their interior decorat-ing.

“We like to encourage our cli-

ents to try things for a little while, even if they don’t think it’s go-ing to last forever,” Carter says. “Paint is the biggest bang for your buck — there’s little risk and it can really make a large impres-sion.”

Of course, a safe decision is to follow trends through relatively inexpensive items such as paint, throw pillows, tablecloths, or curtains, rather than committing to buying an expensive sectional couch or replace other major fur-

niture or décor. Introducing trendy lamps, vas-

es, picture frames, and even art, plants and flowers can also help transform the character of the room and refresh the feel without

Natural and worn materials are popular in home design this year

KEEPING GOOD COMPANY is an interior design company run by a mother-daughter team out of Vergennes. They specialize in managing every detail of home design, from large building and renovation projects to color consulting and second home management.

Home & GardenSpring

(See Trends, Page 11C)


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Use these tips togauge when it is time to deal with exterior features

AMBLER, Pa. — Quickly-emerg-ing springtime weather means it’s time to evaluate your home’s exterior. Owning a home means giving con-stant attention to the building products that go into protecting the structure of your house. While we’d like to be-lieve items like our roof, siding and windows will last forever, that’s not the case. Mark Clement, co-host of the national home improvement radio show MyFixitUpLife, offers a variety of tips for knowing when it’s time to replace products on your home.

“The first thing any homeowner needs to understand is that every el-ement of your home’s exterior, from the top of the roof down to the front entry door, will eventually need to be replaced,” says Clement, a pro-fessional contractor in Pennsylvania. “The key is to know when the time is right to invest in new products for your home. This means an ongoing evaluation of your home’s current products, researching new product options and contacting professionals for support.”

Clement points out that replacing older products with newer, more en-ergy efficient and longer-lasting prod-ucts is a sound investment for home-owners. “We have a 100-year-old home and just replaced the original decaying wood door with a fiberglass door and trimmed it out with long-lasting PVC millwork,” says Clem-ent. “We also replaced older windows with ENERGY STAR qualified vinyl windows and added a new polymer slate roof. These are all man-made products that add more life to our house. Plus, we’re saving more on

our daily energy bills because of the incredible features of these products.

“Another important aspect to con-sider when it does become time to re-place key products on the home’s ex-terior is to look at upgrading and tak-ing advantage of newer, more aesthet-ically pleasing products that are on the market. That’s what we did with the high-performance, low-maintenance products we selected. Our product choices not only make our home more livable right now, but also more add value to the home and make it more ‘sellable’ when it comes time for us to put the house on the market.”

TIPS FOR EVALUATING YOUR ROOF

Using either a ladder or binoculars from across the streaet, look for prob-lem areas, such as missing or broken shingles, along with roofing tiles that may be “flapping” in the wind. These are all indications that a new roof may be in your future.

Check the sides of your roof. The southern exposure weathers signifi-cantly faster than the other sides of the roof, so make sure to carefully exam-ine this area. Also, shallower pitches weather faster than steeper pitches. So again, if your roof has a shallow pitch — like a shed dormer — make certain you can clearly see it to get a true in-dication of the condition of your roof.

If you have a real cedar roof, con-sider your geographic location. Many West Coast homeowners are proac-tively replacing these wooden roofs with fire- and impact-resistant poly-mer shake roofs. Along with helping protect the home from potential wild-fires, these roofs oftentimes come with a homeowner insurance discount.

TIPS FOR ASSESSING YOUR WINDOWS

Evaluate the functionality of your current windows. If you have conden-sation between glass panes, the win-dows are hard to open or close, your

energy bills are soaring, or if there are drafts coming in around the window units, then it’s time to seriously con-sider replacement windows.

Determine how many panes of glass are in your windows. Single-paned windows are the least energy efficient. You can replace them with double- or triple-paned windows to enhance energy efficiency and make your home more comfortable during all seasons.

Look at the frames of your win-dows. If they’re made of a product that needs constant maintenance like wood, you’re probably spending a good deal of time scraping paint and repainting every year or so. An invest-ment in vinyl-framed windows would be smart since these low-maintenance frames eliminate maintenance hassles.

TIPS FOR KNOWING WHEN TO REPLACE A FRONT DOOR

If you can see light around your main entry door from the inside, the door is hard to close or lock, or the door itself is warped, it’s time to con-sider a new door.

Even if you can’t see light, air may be moving through gaps in the weath-er stripping at a surprising rate. On a very cold or hot day, hold the back of your hand an inch or so away from the bottom and perimeter of your door. If you can feel air moving or a signifi-cant cold spot, that’s a signal your ex-isting door could benefit from better sealing.

Think about the weather conditions your home’s door faces along with your energy bills. If either run to the extreme, consider replacing your entry door with a high-performance fiber-glass door (which can have four times more insulation than wood doors). Look for a door with enhanced weath-erstripping, corner seal pad, door bot-tom sweep and profiled sill that all work together to provide strength and stability in your entry door.

TIPS FOR EVALUATING TRIM FEATURES OF THE HOME

Take a top-down look at your home. Most houses have louvers placed high above the attic or garage space to al-low ventilation in those areas. And, most houses have wooden lou-vers that can rot with time. Re-placing louvers with insect-re-sistant and rot-resistant syn-thetic louvers can improve the home’s appearance and functionality.

Wrap it up. Clement recommends that if you have unsightly porch posts you can easily transform them into showpiece parts of your home by us-ing Column Wrap Kits. The decorative PVC or urethane pieces can gener-ally be installed in less than 30 min-utes around exist-ing structural posts and columns to give an upgraded look to any home.

If you have the opportunity to re-place your entry door or windows, make sure to fin-ish off the job with stylish window and door trim. Light-weight and easy to install, weather-resistant synthetic mouldings, shut-ters and entryway surrounds made of durable urethane or PVC are a defi-nite do-it-yourself project for any homeowner.

Is it about time to replace your shingles?


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By ROSANNE DOMBEKFor the Associated Press

Now’s the perfect time for dream-ing about your spring and summer garden. Gather up your seed and gar-den catalogs, take some notes, visit a garden center, let your imagination loose and put a plan on paper.

Choosing one style, though, can be difficult. Do you want a formal gar-den, a cottage garden, perhaps herbs mixed in with vegetables and flow-ers? Will you grow only culinary herbs, or a combination of culinary, aromatic and decorative?

Well, why not a little of them all?Consider planting a number of

smaller, themed gardens. I did that at my home in Maine, and came to see each one as a room:

There was a beautiful knot bench in the “tea garden” where I grew chamomile, lemon thyme, sage, yar-row, lemon balm, roses, calendula, bee balm, mint, lemon verbena and several scented geraniums. The bees loved this garden, and it was a great stress-reliever to sit on the bench in the warm sun and listen to the buzz of their activity, inhale the fragranc-es, and enjoy the garden’s peace and beauty. In the middle of winter, it was possible to sit and recall the warmer days of summer; the bee balm seed heads were as fragrant then as in mid-summer, and you had only to crush one to be taken back.

The “culinary garden” was cir-cular with a birdbath in the center. The walks around the beds were of crushed rock, and bricks outlined the circular shape. In the winter, the snow would melt off the rocks first and

leave the herb beds covered, making an interesting pattern. I grew tarra-gon, marjoram, curled onion, chives, sage, winter savory, Welsh bunching onion, garlic chives, thyme, oregano, nasturtium, parsley, coriander, cher-vil, basil and borage here. It was my habit to pick a bouquet of these herbs to chop and toss into a salad. If there were any left over, I would put them in a basket to dry for winter use, or freeze them in a little water to add to a winter soup. As soon as the snow melted, the chives and bunch-ing onions were there to har-vest for the first taste of spring. The blue jays and mourning doves that frequented the birdbath were great company on an after-noon spent cultivating and harvest-ing.

The “rose g a r d e n ” was next; it had two e n t r a n c e trellises and a third trel-lis with a bench un-de rnea th . In the be-ginning, I planted 14 o l d - f a s h -ioned roses, but some didn’t sur-

vive the cold winter. I replaced them with the more vigorous rugosa rose. This garden was also circular, but with a larger center then the culinary garden. I edged the center with sweet alyssum; placed a lovely old clay pot in the middle filled with scented gera-niums; then planted double pink pe-tunias around it. The effect was of a huge tussie mussie. I planted creeping thyme between the bricks in the path. The aroma was out of this world. When the thyme was in bloom, the bees were busy at the blossoms so it was necessary to step carefully. The trellises made interesting shadows in the snow for a pleasing winter effect. Garden structures can be important for a winter garden.

The next garden was the “everlast-ing gar-

den,” where I planted herbs and flow-ers that dry for decorative use: liatris, strawflowers, statice, echinops, xe-ranthemum, acroclinium, feverfew and salvia horminium, to name a few. Everlastings are generally easy to grow, and in most cases the annuals can withstand a light frost. I planted this garden first in the spring and simply covered the rows with Remay cloth until the days became warmer. A huge number of strawflowers can be harvested from just a dozen plants; I picked them every sunny day. This garden provided me with bouquets to carry to friends, fresh flowers in sum-mer and dried bouquets in the winter. The pleasure of giving and getting was twofold — between the garden

and me,

and between my friends and me.I had never heard of a “libation gar-

den” until one day I realized I had in-advertently planted hops, grapes and elderberries together in one corner of the main garden, and that all are used to make alcoholic drinks. I decided to expand on the idea, did some research and discovered that heathers were once used as a substitute for hops in making beer. So I added heathers to this garden. I planted sweet woodruff for May wine, and a quince bush, rose bush, mint, wormwood and lemon balm for making cordials. A friend would occasionally harvest hops for beer, but I didn’t try it. I did, how-ever, harvest the hop cones each year for use in sleep pillows, an old-time remedy for insomnia. And the heath-ers were a marvelous addition for

year-round pleasure. The reds, greens and golds of the

leaves and the pink, rose and white

f l o w e r s make a

garden t ap -

estry to be enjoyed even on a winter walk. I harvested bunches to use in wreaths and winter bouquets. There was a low bench in this garden that was a wonderful place to hide away and sit quietly. The mint crept out into the path, and its refreshing fragrance would linger long after it was touched.

The “fragrant garden” was just what the name implies. On warm summer afternoons, its heady aroma could be overpowering. Lavender was of course a part of this garden. Old-fash-ioned cinnamon pinks, though not as attractive as the new hybrids, smelled beautiful. I planted several dwarf li-lacs and a half dozen peonies, along with several fragrant rugosa roses and garden phlox. There was a succession of aromatic blooms all summer, from the early spring peonies to the late summer phlox. I harvested huge bas-kets of peony petals for potpourri, and added rose petals from the rose gar-den. I enjoyed strolling in the gardens just at dusk and picking a bouquet of fragrant herbs to infuse for use in the bathtub. I would put some sprigs in a pan of water, simmer for a few minutes and then strain the infusion into the bath water. The whole house would smell sweet.

With all this talk of fragrant baths, meditative teas and secret hiding cor-ners, you might get the wrong im-pression of what it is like to cultivate more than an acre of garden space.

My knees were permanently stained brown.

It was difficult at times to really enjoy the gardens — or get away for any length of time — because there was always something that needed attention.

Summer was an intense time of planting, weeding, harvesting and processing.

But I loved it.

Editor’s Note: Rosanne Dombek is a Master Gardener who owned and operated an herb and garden shop in Blue Hill, Maine, for more than 15 years.

Family fun begins with the planning of a garden for all


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Editor’s note: This piece was con-tributed by Leonard Perry, Univer-sity of Vermont Extension professor.

Your lawn has just survived anoth-er long winter. In order to restore it to its former green glory, it will need to be raked, renovated, repaired, fertil-ized, and then mowed properly.

First, if starting a new lawn, make sure there is good drainage. You cannot grow grass in standing wa-ter. Drainage may consist of ditches or, if underground, drainage pipe or tiles. Then rough grade the area.

Add six inches of topsoil, if need-ed, for new lawns and depressions in established ones. A normal, well-drained soil may be adequate if fer-tilized appropriately. If not a fertile or well-drained soil, add organic matter. Figure on three bales of peat moss per 1,000 square feet, or the equivalent of other product such as compost. Then mix it thoroughly into the top six inches of soil. If poorly drained, you may need to add sand or even bury perforated plastic drain pipes.

You may need to add limestone if the soil acidity or pH is below 6.0. To find out, you can do a soil test either with inexpensive kits from garden stores, or a more in-depth test from your state university. Kits for the latter are available at many garden outlets, and Extension offices. These university results are much more ac-curate than the home kits, and give you results on various fertility needs as well as recommendations. Soil testing can save you money by not

applying fertil-

izer that’s not needed, which in turn can help prevent any runoff pollu-tion.

Prepare a smooth seedbed free of stones, hollows and ridges for new lawns. Raking off the old leaves, sticks, and other winter debris gives your existing lawn a chance to breathe, as well as makes it easier to repair and reseed worn or dead spots (or those areas scraped by winter snow plowing).

Broadcast a complete fertilizer, or one of the commercially mixed fer-tilizers specific to lawns. Use enough to supply two pounds of actual ni-trogen per 1,000 square feet. This translates, for example, to 10 pounds of 20-0-12 (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium) or 20 pounds of 10-0-10. Or use 15 to 20 pounds of the organic 6-0-6. Since phosphorus (the middle number) is often present in sufficient amounts, and restricted for lawn ap-plication in some areas due to water pollution concerns, many lawn fertil-izers no longer contain it.

Uniform fertilizer application at the proper rate is essential for good end results. If you are using a spread-er, follow the setting on the fertilizer bag or ask your lawn and garden dealer for the proper setting.

If you are reseeding or sodding the lawn, the earlier you do it in the spring the better. Remember to pre-pare the seedbed well, and water the lawn thoroughly. A less frequent, heavy soaking of the lawn is better than frequent, light watering, but don’t let the germinating seeds dry out initially.

When reseeding, choose the

right mix for your growing condi-tions. Zoysia, for example, is not a good choice for northern New Eng-land as it will turn brown in cool weather. A common good mix may have Kentucky bluegrass, a fine fes-cue such as red fescue, and a peren-nial ryegrass. The last grows quickly, so is good to overseed worn areas or to use in areas with lots of wear, as are the newer tall fescues. Kentucky bluegrass prefers sunny lawns in good soil, while fine fescues tolerate some shade.

Broadcast seeds with a mechanical spreader using three or four pounds per 1,000 square feet. Any more than that is wasteful. Rake the seedbed lightly, using just the tips of the rake teeth. Go over the area with a lawn roller if convenient. Sprinkle the soil gently, and keep it moist until the seeds germinate.

Mow once the grass starts to grow. Grass kept at a height of two to three inches can withstand heat stress bet-ter than closely cropped grass. This mowing height encourages deep rooting, so you don’t have to water or fertilize as often.

Be aware that if you are using a combination fertilizer and herbicide, this may be taken up by any tree and shrub roots under the lawn, and in-jure them, too. If you use residual weed killers that linger in the soil to prevent future weed growth, these may kill many soil microorgan-isms. This sometimes results in poorer soil, and thus, poorer lawn growth and vigor.

If applying weed killers, be sure to prop-

erly identify your weed problem before you select an herbicide. Then select the least toxic product for the job, looking at application rates and potential toxicity to plants, animals, and humans. Read and follow all la-bel directions carefully. Always use these products judiciously to avoid contamination of water supplies and lakes, streams, and other surface wa-ters.

Lawn pests, such as chinch bugs and Japanese beetle grubs, can be a problem in northern New England. The often-advertised milky spore product is not very effective on soil grubs in cool climates. Instead, you should check into beneficial nema-tode products for these pests, or seeds enhanced with “endophytes” — beneficial fungi that help provide some pest resistance.

A healthy lawn is the best cure for weeds and pests. If problems occur, such as insects and diseases, check with your local garden center for answers. Also check with your lo-cal Extension Master Gardeners, as some states have hotlines for ques-tions (1-800-639-2230 in Vermont, or [email protected]). For special lawn treatments such as ver-tical cutting, dethatching, or coring to reduce soil compaction, you might consult a lawn care professional.

Start spring lawn care off on the right foot


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By KIM COOKFor The Associated Press

In home decor, there’s some-thing about the start of spring. When life’s renewing itself out-doors, we feel the urge to revive our interiors too.

This season, decor offerings are especially upbeat.

Start with the palette. “Satu-rated” is a word being used a lot; it means ripe plum hues, intense tangerines, rich indigos, verdant greens, zingy turquoises, hot reds and peppy yellows.

Dee Schlotter, a color expert with PPG Pittsburgh Paints, says exuberant orange is No. 1 on her trend radar.

“It’s full of joy and playful,” says Schlotter, who also cites ge-ranium pink as a hot hue. “It goes really well with orange, and it’s a happy, girly color.”

Teal and turquoise are back af-ter a lengthy retirement, and with experience in mid-century modern and traditional decor, they’ve got legs that will carry them into fall.

Erin Olson loved the color fam-ily enough to devote a blog to it; the House of Turquoise follows all things blue-green.

“What I love about turquoise is that it can be paired with any other color, since it has both warm and cool undertones,” she says.

“My personal favorite is using turquoise as a fun punch of color to an otherwise neutral space. A turquoise throw pillow, lamp or rug will instantly bring new life to your room, and can easily be switched out,” she says.

Crisp clean white’s a common counterpoint, but you’ll see black as a foil as well.

Graphic prints pop in these bold colors: Zigzags and stripes are all over the home accessories mar-ketplace. So are lattice and iron-work prints; big and little florals; and abstracts. African handblock, Moroccan and Silk Road patterns have crossed over from last sea-son.

Not a fan of bright? Look for a whole world of calming neutrals such as soft putty, grellow (a gray/yellow blend), greige (a gray/beige), aqua, pewter, copper, va-nilla and shell pink.

You’ll see lots of texture in this category: weathered wood, ani-mal hide, burnished metals, burlap and gauzy cottons. Honeycomb patterns, naturalistic motifs like twigs, leaves and birds, watery Impressionist prints and airy flo-rals soothe the soul.

Neutrals are “taking the popular gray trend and moving it forward, by adding warmth with natural materials like jute and linen, and then giving it a real punch by add-ing a sunny pop of yellow,” says Sherwin-Williams’ color market-ing director, Jackie Jordan.

Repainting walls in a fresh spring hue is one way to update a room, but if you’re not ready to commit in a major way, small changes can also alter a room’s mood. Try a lemony throw, clean white paint trim, a teal rug or san-dy-toned drapery.

Go for a bright, candy-hued lamp base, and pick the color up again in a big fruit bowl. In the kitchen, replace cooking tools with new ones in luscious tomato red.

New designs for spring decor are showing a bold, optimistic face

By AMY LORENTZENFor The Associated Press

For many of us, spring cleaning in-cludes washing winter dirt and debris off of windows and window screens. Paying extra attention to screens now can end up saving homeowners mon-ey, as well as ensuring better views and keeping out bugs.

Here’s the lowdown on screens and screen care:

CLEANING IS KEYThe average home has 12 to 15

window screens, usually made of aluminum or fiberglass with a vinyl coating. Experts recommend washing them twice a year, but at least once in the spring to rid them of winter grime.

“We’ve had the rain and the snow all winter and the dirt builds up on them,” says Scott Walker, president and owner of Screenmobile, a mo-bile window and door screening company with close to 100 locations throughout the country. “If you think of them as a filter, you wouldn’t want to breathe all the dust and the dirt that builds up.”

The easiest way to start is by mark-ing screens so you’ll remember which window they fit, says Colleen Maiura, a spokeswoman with Lowe’s Home Improvement stores. You can use a marker or a small piece of tape that’s strong enough not to be washed away by the garden hose. She suggests a cleaning solution of 1 cup ammonia, 3 cups of water and a squirt of dish detergent.

Lay the screens on a flat surface, thoroughly wet them with a hose and use a squirt bottle to apply the clean-ing mix. Leave it on for about 10 minutes, use a soft-bristled brush to remove stubborn grime, then rinse. Don’t scrub aluminum screens too hard; you could dent them.

Maiura suggests shaking screens to remove excess water. If you’ve got fiberglass ones, you can gently snap them with a towel to send water drops

flying and prevent hard water stains.If you pay someone to wash your

windows, it’s a good idea to inspect the screens beforehand. That way you won’t blame washers for tears already there, and you can ask them to pay for any damages that occur during their work.

REPAIRS FOR A REASONThe point of having window

screens is to let you open up your home to fresh air while keeping bugs and debris out. Rips and tears in the mesh, or bent screen frames, defeat that purpose.

Walker says you can do some mi-nor repairs on your own. Inexpensive patch kits available at home improve-ment stores include small pieces of mesh that grab around holes and close them up. Pieces of household tape can cover up tiny tears. Neither option is attractive, Walker adds, but they can serve as quick fixes in otherwise good screens.

Homeowners can attempt to fix slight bends in aluminum screens, but should know that the frame may crack under the stress.

Spring cleaning is also the time to repaint wooden screen frames if needed. Painting helps seal the wood and keep it from warping.

PREVENTING DAMAGEChildren and pets can be especially

tough on screens and screen doors because sometimes they just don’t see them. Consider using decorative stickers to remind them that a screen is there. Pet screens can be mounted on sliding screen doors for easy ac-cess for pets that enjoy the outdoors.

For those who might have used an elbow to keep a swinging screen door from closing too quickly, there’s a better option that won’t cost you a repair. Check the top of your door for a piston mechanism that you can turn and increase the pressure, to make the door close more slowly.

To keep window screens and doors

sliding smoothly, Walker suggests skipping oil-based lubricants such as WD-40 and instead using a silicone-based lubricant, such as furniture pol-ish.

If you have the storage space, cleaning screens in the fall and then storing them away during the winter can extend their life, experts say.

REPLACE AS NEEDEDIf a screen has large or multiple

holes, or if its frame is bent or broken, then it’s time for a new one.

“Our rule of thumb is that if the frame doesn’t seal up against the win-dow, then the bugs can come around there, so you’d need to replace it,” Walker says.

Fiberglass screens, which have a vinyl coating, will begin to show white strands, which means “there is virtually no integrity” left in the screen, he adds.

NEW PROD-UCTS

Maiura says that if you’re switching screens, consider a charcoal color for better visibility. She and Walker both touted new fine-mesh screens that can block small bugs and im-prove your view. The screens are made of super-fine strands so homeowners see less screen and more scenery.

“It’s almost like an invisible screen,” Walker says of his company’s BetterVue prod-

uct.Other new products include strong

pet screens that cats can climb with-out tearing and retractable screen doors that are mounted on door jambs so they’re hidden when homeown-ers don’t need them. Walker, who is based in Thousand Palms, Calif., says entire patio enclosures are being built with retractable screens that are mo-torized for easy use.

Homeowners will also start seeing strong, stainless steel screens on the market that offer some security.

“You get the look of a screen door, but the benefits of a security door,” says Walker.

Cleaning up your mesh: how to care for window screens

Home & GardenSpring


359 South St., New Haven. VT 05472 (802) 453-5549www.starkmountain.com


breaking the bank or risking regret when the trend passes.

If that all sounds great but not worth your time or energy, work-ing with an interior design team can help make the updates you want for your home.

“We work with any project, from clients who just need a little help

putting together a color palette for their home to full project manage-ment,” Carter says of their eight-year-old firm. Keeping Good Com-pany acts as a project management firm, she says, working with local craftspeople and architects to en-sure a home is ready and comfort-able down to the last detail when the homeowner opens the door.

“We cover the details right down to making sure there are Q-Tips in the bathroom,” Carter says. “One time we even set up a client’s

Christmas tree.”Keeping up with fashion trends

is obviously not everyone’s pas-sion. However, for many people

springtime marks an opportunity to renew the tired decorations in your home, move plants outdoors and welcome cut flowers inside again,

refreshing your living space for another year. Embracing this op-portunity can help keep you happy and satisfied in your home.

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Trends(Continued from Page 3C)

VERMONT HOME DESIGN trends are moving toward an “organic modernism,” says Keeping Good Company co-owner Pam Carter, who enjoys using textured, natural materials like wood, glass and stone to achieve this modern aesthetic.

PAM CARTER RUNS the interior design business Keeping Good Company out of Vergennes with her daughter, Chelsea Audy.


May flowersTHE YARD OF a Middlebury home is graced by perennial spring flowers called “Sanguinaria

canadensis,” more commonly known as bloodroot.

Home energy challengeTHIS IS ONE of series of signs along Middlebury’s Washington Street Extension promoting the Vermont

Home Energy Challenge. Middlebury Home Energy Challenge Coordinator Laura Asermily says that weatherization is viral in her neighborhood as a result of visits she did in 2010 and 2013. At least three neighbors are completing energy audits to see if buttoning up their homes will save energy and save on energy bills.

Independent photo/John McCright


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From left to right: Christopher Andres. Ph. D.; Jared Moats, President SEC, Inc.& Rick Shappy, PBI Certified Energy Auditor

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