April 1979

How to cope after a house fire

Even though a fire in your home can be one of the most distressing experiences your family has ever had, you can't afford to panic. Here are some suggestions to help you get your family's life back to normal as quickly as possible and collect on your insurance claim.

YOUR CHILD'S SCHOOL AND THE "BACK TO BASICS" MOVEMENT

One of the hottest topics in public education today is "back to basics." PTA meetings resound with debates on the subject. School board elections often hinge on the issue. In our "What's happening to the American family?" survey, Better Homes and Gardens readers also demonstrated their concern.

Planning for Foolproof Flower Beds

It takes more than a green thumb to grow a great flower bed that's alive with color month after month. For a steady show of blooms, you need to plan before you plant your garden, juggling flowering times, heights, widths, and colors until you get the right groupings.

Fresh-as-Spring Tableware

This spring you can celebrate the new season and brighten your table with delectable fruit and flower tableware that echoes nature's bounty. Look through our marketplace of charming patterns and transform your table into a garden delight.

INSTALLING A SKYLIGHT

Every now and then the ready, willing, and reasonably able editors of the Better Homes and Gardens building department band together for a carpentry project. You saw us build a garage in the 1977 August issue and re-roof a house in April of 1978.

Spray lubricant

Speaking speller

Palm-size phone

Hang-up microwave oven

Pogo stick planter

Sweeter sweet corn

Tissue paper collage

If you're looking for an easy and inexpensive craft, try tissue paper collage. It's an amazingly versatile medium that can be used to decorate everyday items around the house.

Tongue-in-cheek touches

When it comes to decorating, don't hesitate to let your sense of humor take over every so often. A little imagination and a touch of whimsy can add unexpected personality to a room scheme. Here are three examples of fanciful and fun decorative effects.

How to cook a whole lobster

Complaint letters with CLOUT

At one time or another you've probably wanted to write a complaint letter about a faulty product or unsatisfactory service. If you fired off a letter without first collecting your thoughts and setting your objectives, the results were probably less than satisfactory.

GARDENING IN APRIL

In many parts of the country, April signifies the beginning of another vegetable gardening year. Cool-season crops like potatoes, peas, onions, and Swiss chard can be planted now for big harvests later in the season. But before you start to plant any of these crops, check out our planting tips.

FURNISHING A FIRST HOME

Furnishing a house "from scratch" without blowing your budget can seem like an impossible assignment. Where do you start? How can you tell the "good buys" from the lemons? How much will it all cost? Of course you want to make your new home comfortable and attractive as quickly as possible, but this is no time to rush.

How to order material from the magazine

Driving small cars safely: Special handling required

Making the fuel-saving switch from a full-size car to one of the new subcompacts might not be as simple as climbing in the new car and driving away. You'll instantly find out that the little cars are handling and parking wonders. ...

INVESTING abc's: MUTUAL FUNDS

Is your knowledge of finance limited? Are you unable to buy those high-yielding investments that cost $10,000 or more?

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH THINGS YOU LOVE

NEW FACES FOR OLD HOUSES

Do you feel good about coming home? If so, your house has passed the most important test with flying colors. But if it flunked, there's a lot you can do to make it look more welcoming. Certainly the most dramatic way to accomplish the job is with an exterior face-lift.

SCREEN PLAYS

The familiar old folding screen is no longer just a bit player on the decorating scene. Today this functional favorite can play just about any part you want, whether it's bringing beauty to a nondescript corner, hiding storage space, dividing one room into two, or cutting off cold drafts.

Storage you can add to a no-frills kitchen

Does your sleek, neat kitchen shortchange you on storage? If so, you can fill the gap easily and inexpensively by adding store-bought helpers.

BUSY PEOPLE'S RECIPE CONTEST

Are you involved in a daily race with the clock as you try to cook nutritious family meals and keep up with myriad other activities? If so, we're hoping you've come up with some timesaving recipes that help you cope. Send them to us, and you might win $2,000 or 27 other top prizes.

What's what in bottled water

If you haven't tried any of the bottled waters that are gaining in popularity, you're missing out on a pleasant taste sensation. Bottled water, both domestic and imported, is quite different from the purified or distilled water you use for steam ironing. Like wine, each type of bottled water has its own distinctive flavor resulting from minerals or trace elements that are present in the water.

The Accouterments of Wine

Only sparkling wines, the higher alcohol dessert and appetizer wines, and the less expensive wines with screw-on caps can be managed without a corkscrew. All better quality table wines are sealed with corks. For frustration-free access without floating bits of cork in the wine, you need a good corkscrew.

How to set up a saltwater aquarium

If spring makes you yearn to set out to sea, but you're destined to be a landlubber, why not set up your own little ocean? A saltwater aquarium is a project the whole family can share.

MORE SCREEN PLAY

Family Canoe Trips

Canoeing has come into its own as a family sport, and it's not hard to understand why. The costs are reasonable, the skills easy to acquire, and the entire family can participate.

Fence-building aids

Wall-hugging study space

Air conditioner camouflage

Energy-saving shutters you can build

THIS BOOK WILL SAVE YOU MONEY ON HEATING AND COOLING COSTS

... THIS ONE WILL SAVE YOU HOURS IN THE KITCHEN

...AND THIS ONE WILL GIVE YOUR KIDS HOURS OF FUN IN THE KITCHEN

BRICK BUYMANSHIP

It's about time to start producing those ambitious outdoor projects you planned all winter long. And if a brick patio is high on your want list, you'll find the following information helpful. It's a rundown on what's available at most brickyards-- plus a few tips to help you buy the best bricks for your particular project.

HOUSEPLANT HOW-TO

Cardboard carry-aways

Easy-does-it light control

Just kids

Fabric mates

Do-it-yourself solar screening

It's spring again and almost time to put in window screens. Before you do, look into the new solar screening material made from fiber glass yarn. This product will probably soon replace the old metal screening-- and with good reason. Solar fiber glass screening is easier to install (no torn fingers), cuts more than half of the sun's heat and glare, and won't rust, stretch, dent, or shrink.

Trash recycling tips

"Use it up, wear it out," advises a New England maxim. Many families are going the adage one better. They're recycling as many goods as possible, with an eye to husbanding the nation's limited natural resources, keeping their own households in order, and even making a little pocket money. Here's how you can put your trash to good use, too.

Shopping editor's choice

Discover the ease and pleasure of shopping by mail. Order from the convenience of your own home with complete confidence. If not delighted, each company will happily refund your money.

The Man Next Door

Aunt Opal called the other evening to report that while she hasn't spotted the first robin of spring, she has heard the whine of the first motorbike on the trails behind her apartment complex. The robins, she says, can't be far behind.