These homeowners took the heat-pump plunge to save the planet—and a lot of money, too.
He'd been putting off the big moment for years, but Bill Davidson finally decided enough was enough. The carbon cycle, he says, "is a bad problem to be a part of"—it was heat-pump time.
Last year, Davidson decided to temporarily destroy his backyard (which, he points out, had long needed a makeover anyway) in order to dig four 200-foot-deep holes in the ground. The idea is to install water pipes...
Primers on forcing blooms indoors, the season's first roses, and container gardening.
Q: Buying flowers at the store is expensive. Is it possible to bring twigs and branches indoors for early blooming?
A: It's a great idea, but there are certain trees and shrubs that are more suitable to forcing into bloom than others. It takes two to six weeks for cuttings to bloom indoors. Stems should be split at the base and then placed in vases, filled with warm water, and a 1/2-teaspoon of...
The latest bathroom designs blend function and fantasy on a livable scale.
When award-winning interior designer Patrick Sutton was commissioned to design a North Baltimore family's home, the master bath presented a unique challenge. "This was part of an upgrade to an existing, older home where the bathrooms were tiny," Sutton explains. "The client wanted something current, modern, yet comfortable."
The renovated bathroom is certainly comfortable, with separate bathing,...
Boyhood games creating furniture vignettes in the basement have led Jay Jenkins to the top of his field in Baltimore.
Wearing perfectly polished black Gucci loafers, a black cashmere sweater, and gray corduroy trousers, designer Jay Jenkins strides across the Portuguese slate and French limestone foyer of his apartment to decant two bottles of Evian water into a pair of embossed Christian Lacroix carafes. Even when Jenkins is doing something mundane—such as offering a guest a glass of water—he is impossibly chic...
You've heard of green roofs, green cars—even green car washes. But green kitchens?
Polly Bart wants me to take a whiff.
I'm sitting in a kitchen, and no, there's no stew simmering on the stove or tray of cookies in the oven. In fact, I don't smell much of anything. And that's a good thing, I'm told.
It's a smallish kitchen with freshly painted yellow walls in a 1940s Colonial in Catonsville. Bart's contracting company, Greenbuilders, has just completed renovations—a project...
You couldn't find two more different canvases for holiday decorating, but the message of celebration and hope is the same.
At first glance, the two houses would seem about as dissimilar as they could possibly be. One is a wide, square, Federal-style manse with a grand entry and a wraparound porch in a small town surrounded by farm country. The other is a looming four-story Queen Anne row house in a city neighborhood creeping towards revitalization.
The circa-1847 country house is filled with tradition: gilt-framed...
The Choptank River home of Easton's Jamie Merida showcases the keen eye that has propelled this self-made design and decor expert to national renown.
When Jamie Merida opened his home décor store in Easton, his father gave him some business advice. "He said to make sure I named it something people could pronounce," says Merida with a laugh. "And really, how many stores are there out there that you couldn't even begin to say right?" The advice was obviously sound. Bountiful, Merida's 18,000-square-foot store, has become a destination for...
We go in search of 10 very different emporiums you might have overlooked.
All summer you gardened. And you mowed.
Then came fall, and there was the raking (and a little more mowing). Now winter is finally upon us, and with it, a chance to take a deep breath and evaluate what's inside our homes instead of outside of them.
For some of us, a trip to IKEA will do. For others, a trip back in time is the only way to go. If you love antiques, Baltimore's a great place to be,...
Going green for Christmas, harvesting for decorations, and winter houseplant triage.
Q: Our family has decided to get a live blue spruce for Christmas. We'll decorate it for the holidays and then plant it somewhere in our garden. Can you offer any advice on how to make this work?
A: When buying trees with root balls that are wrapped in burlap, the most important thing is to keep the entire root ball moist, but not soaked. Once you bring your tree home, let it sit outside as long...
10 favorite personal services that come to your home!
So you say you need an extra 8.7 hours in your average day just to get halfway down your to-do list? And that most of the personal services you need are hanging out the "closed" sign just when you're finally getting off work? No sweat: We went in search of all the myriad mobile services that do house calls, from tailors and personal chefs to pedicurists and personal trainers, and found a wealth...
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