May 1998

Between friends

Walls with Imagination

Wipe away those nothing-to-do blues. Display boards and drawing areas give kids' rooms big style while encouraging little ones to be creative. But don't stop there-- even adult spaces will benefit from these great-looking, hardworking hangings.

Choosing the right Lamp

Picking out a lamp for a room shouldn't be an afterthought. In addition to style, think about the specific task the lamp will perform.

Idea-Packed CLOSETS

Nobody likes searching high and low through ill-organized, one-size-fits-all closets. Storage that's carefully tailored to your needs-- ideally arrayed within a comfortable dressing room-- makes a master suite just that much sweeter. Whether you're a die-hard neat-freak or just looking to shave some time off morning and evening routines, here's a trio of super closets loaded with ways to pamper yourself and your wardrobe.

Make Room for Music

Live music lends vitality to any room, but finding the right spot for a baby grand can pose a design dilemma that even the masters find challenging.

Easy living house

We can learn a lot from houses. Some teach us the finer points of home maintenance, while others beckon us to slow down and appreciate life. This home leans toward the latter. Built with charm and ease of mind, its classic Cape Cod design harbors plenty of ideas for your place, too.

Garages That Belong to the House

A well-designed garage does lots more than just bring cars in from the sun or snow. It can provide space for storage, plus maybe a shop, a studio, or other hobby area.

Special Gifts For Mother's Day

Sew-Simple Pillows

Reversible Decorating

It doesn't take a year's budget to refresh your home with the changing seasons. Reversible designs in coordinated fabrics provide at least two distinct looks-- at one basic price.

Planning Your Family's Home

The one-cook kitchen. A small, hard-to-clean bathroom. A garage too crowded for cars. Think hard enough, and you'll probably find a quirk or two-- or several-- in your home's floor plan.

Artful Touches with Tile

There are dozens of budget-friendly ways to give your kitchen a fresh new look, but none pack in more color and personality per square inch than a tile mural.

Coming this Spring on Better Homes and Gardens Television

Putting on a Fresh Face

You could say Joanne Schroeder developed her love of porches when she was a child in the 1960s, absorbing that Mayberry idyll, The Andy Griffith Show. "My mom said that even when I was little, I always liked front porches," she laughs.

Spring into Summer

Earth Loves A Garden

A/C Service Reminder

Internet Recycling Guide

Cleaner-Air Lawn Care

Emotional Intelligence

Parents can teach their children how to understand and manage human emotions, encouraging the development of "internal assets," such as integrity, honesty, restraint, empathy, decisiveness, and friendship-making skills.

Boy Meets Girl: Now What?

The dress I bought for my junior prom resembled black cellophane. It was backless, braless, suspended by shoulder straps the width of dental floss.

Irradiation: Meat Safety's Ray of Hope?

The E. coli microorganism has pushed food irradiation back on the table. Food poisoning outbreaks by a particularly virulent form of the bacterium have taken several lives in recent years and left scores of people ill, while costing the food industry millions of dollars in losses.

Easing the Pressure

You can't see it or feel it, but high blood pressure can increase your risk of heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease. Nearly one quarter of Americans-- around 50 million people-- have hypertension. Except for the common cold, high blood pressure accounts for more doctor visits than any other health condition.

Don't Be (False) Alarmed

you unlock the door and make your way into the kitchen. But before you get there, sirens start to sound. You just set off your new home-security system. Once the noise stops and you square things away with your monitoring service or the police, you probably don't give your little goof another thought. After all, it happens to everybody.

Garage Door Danger

The remote control is in the car, the car is in the street, and you're in a hurry. You push the button at the back of the garage, then duck out before the door closes.

Heads, You Win

Inflatable crash-protection devices that look like neck pillows or air mattresses are the latest breakthrough in auto safety.

New Landscape Lights

Giving The Miracle of Spring

No need to weed

Even if you have expansive perennial gardens, yard work does not have to be hard work. Just ask Kathleen Nelson, whose gardens now cover almost two acres. Kathe, like you and me, hates to weed-- so she rarely does. Fact is, she rarely has to. She's got her low-maintenance, anti-weed method down to a science. But it's not rocket science. It's simple stuff-- stuff that saves her so much time that right now she is off planting more and more flowers.

EDITOR'S CHOICE

TEST GARDEN TIP

LOOKING GOOD

SMART GARDENING

Shrub of Choice

A pond for your patio

Think of this as the most accommodating of water gardens. It's fairly inexpensive, easy to assemble, no problem to move around, and there's no digging required. After a half-day or so with a saw, scissors, and screwdriver, you're ready to plant.

Long-blooming perennials

No, long bloomers are not Victorian unmentionables. They are the mainstays of every savvy homeowner's flower garden.

Perennials to Go, Part 2

We've grown them just for you! Duplicate our Sun-Loving Border and Shady Border using the plans (above) and the long-blooming varieties shown in this story. Both collections have been grown for Better Homes and Gardens magazine by Carroll Gardens and are not available in retail outlets.

Putting the tropics in a pot

As the weather begins to act tropical, so can your yard. Here are five design plans for outdoor container gardens that will put you in that barefoot-in-the-backyard mood.

The New American Style

Like the best new cooking, the freshest decorating this season blends a variety of tastes and cultural influences-- some exotic, some comfortably familiar. We've picked four distinctive looks and broken them down into simple design "recipes." Find one that suits your palate, or sample from a variety of styles-- and stylish details-- to create your own decorating menu.

Family-on-the-go kitchens

Slam! "Mom, we're home!" Schoolbooks plop on the table. "Hurry, we're late for swimming." Mad dash to the car. Home again, start the burgers. Look at the clock! After dinner, the dishwasher churns. "Did anyone feed the dog?"

Nutrition Information

With each recipe, we give important nutrition information. The calorie count of each serving and the amount, in grams, of fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, fiber, and protein will help you keep tabs on what you eat.

Running Wild

Celebrate the great outdoors with flowers to grow, butterfly kits to build, friendly animal tips to follow, a frog feeding game, and wildlife crafts (such as the owl and raccoon paper-plate masks shown above). Turn the page for a walk on the wild side.

Going Back to Nature

The man next door

May is the most perfectly named month of the year for me. I may get around to taking down the storm windows. I may find the energy to pack away all the winter clothes in the attic. I may wash the car...