Here are eight great places to get decorative holiday trinkets and trees, each with a unique draw.
So maybe you’re still in the stuffing-and-pumpkin-pie zone, but no sooner have you put away that silver turkey platter than it will be time to switch gears and get into serious bauble-buying mode.
But before you head to some big-box store for the usual tree and trimmings, check out our roundup of Greater Baltimore’s hottest sources of holiday trinkets. Whether you’re looking for a towering tree,...
Healing a chaste tree, bringing the mandevilla in from the cold, and forcing crocus blooms.
Q: A couple of months ago, I bought a neglected chaste tree in a 10-gallon container that was understandably on sale. Could you give me information on this tree, its growth habit, and whether it needs sun or shade?
A: You have a winner there. This species is called Vitex agnus-castus in Latin, but it’s also known as Vitex, chasteberry, or monk’s pepper. It grows to a height of up to 15 feet with...
Paula A. Henry, home stager and interior designer, on how to quickly spruce up your decor.
There are lots of things that might motivate homeowners to remake their interiors: Maybe the colors are all wrong or the furniture is outdated. Maybe they’re just sick of it. Maybe accumulated clutter is rearing its ugly head. Most often, though, it’s because they’re trying to sell their house and want to make the décor more universally appealing.
Time for all-new furniture and paint and the...
Shingle Sensation
Chris and Jim Peterson’s first home together as newlyweds was a modernist fantasy—white leather couches, black lacquer furniture, and wraparound decks set in seclusion along
Annapolis’s Severn River. But in 1996, when baby made three, the couple decided they wanted to be in a neighborhood where their daughter, Alex (now 14), would be able to walk out the front door and find playmates. So the...
The Greatest Show in Guilford
From the moment Sandye Sirota opens the door to her three-bedroom unit in Guilford’s Carrollton condominiums, it is clear that she could charge an admission fee.
“Welcome to the circus,” she says cheerfully. “I feel like I need a barker standing here, saying, ‘Step right up!’” With its 7-by-4-foot folk art re-creation of a circus sideshow suspended on the foyer wall (complete with a knife thrower...
For restaurateur John Shields, there’s no place like his retro Atomic Rancher.
John Shields and his partner John Gilligan were on vacation in Cape Cod in 2008 when a Realtor friend, Bill Magruder, called to tell them they needed to return to Maryland to see a house.
“We weren’t even looking for a house,” recalls Gilligan. “But Bill said, ‘There’s a house coming on the market that has belonged to my friend’s mother for 45 years—and you have to see it immediately.’”
For...
In intensely private Guilford, three homeowners on the spring House and Garden Pilgrimage share stories of their very cool stuff.
Guilford.
For nearly a century, its name has remained a synonym in Baltimore for high prices, closely guarded privacy, and social power. So followers of the annual Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage last spring felt fortunate to get a peek into a handful of the grand homes in this leafy, exclusive neighborhood with its elegant—and sometimes ecclectic—architecture from the early 19th century....
Think of a custom conservatory as a sunroom on steroids.
Who can forget the images of last winter's double-whammy record snowstorms? Now imagine watching a phenomenon like that from inside an all-glass conservatory.
"When it starts to snow, it's magical," says Janet Plum. "All the environment is out there, and you're snug in here."
The Plums—she's a retired school teacher and her husband Jeff is an attorney who practices in Bel Air—had their...
Interior designers need not apply: Fred and Jonna Lazarus have it covered with a wealth of personal treasures.
When Maryland Institute College of Art President Fred Lazarus IV and his wife, Jonna, moved into their home in 1979, it was far from a work of art. The five bedroom, 3 ½-bath, center-hall colonial had leaky plumbing, cracked plaster ceilings, an outdated electrical system, and cramped closets. To make matters worse, key rooms were in serious need of salvage.
"The kitchen was three little rooms...
Striking central light fixtures should serve as the jewel of any room.
At a recent show house, interior designer Patrick Sutton created a rustic, yet sophisticated, room by pairing a Tuscan farm table with plush, slip-covered chairs. The room has a decidedly timeless, Mediterranean feel. But it isn't the beautifully worn table, impeccably crafted chairs, or whimsical draping that give the room its character—it's set by the chandelier, a slim, hand-forged, wrought-...
