July 1998

Between friends

Family Photo Galleries

Pull treasured pictures out of storage to create artful displays that make your walls look as special as the people and moments in your photos.

Raise a No-Sew Shade

You pick the fabric, then let a roller-shade kit do the rest. Available at fabric stores, the kit includes a roller tube (41 inches wide), fusing material, instructions, and hardware. Here's how to start.

Decorating gets Personal

This young couple has a passion for old things. See how they transform castoffs from bygone days into furnishings that function in the here and now.

Vanities Fair

What a bright sight to greet the morning: a vanity that melds substance and style like no other part of your bath.

Cottage Curb Appeal

In the Cards

If you think that soft sage-green chip on the paint card is just the hue for your room, you may want to think again. There's more to paint color than what you see on the card.

Know the Code

The careful carpenter measures twice; cuts once. But before building begins, the careful planner must read as many as four sets of building codes. Here's what codes govern:

Tickets to Ride

It's Christmas in July!

The temperature outside says it's time for lemonade and snow cones, but crafters know it's time to get started on gifts for Christmas. Use our kits and plans to make these projects now and shorten your holiday gift list later. Projects marked EXCLUSIVE! are available only to the readers of Better Homes and Gardens magazine and are not sold in stores.

Strengthening Family Ties

With a little planning, you can turn dinners, bedtime talks, Sunday outings, and birthdays into cherished family occasions.

Learning Centers Make the Grade

Is your child falling behind in school? Increasingly, parents pay private learning centers to teach their children skills missed in the classroom.

Technical Support Matters

You've assessed your family's computing needs and narrowed the field to a few computers. Now, dig into the manufacturers' service policies before you buy.

The Lovable Beetle

Don't drive the New Beetle if you're the shy, introverted type who wants to be alone. This happy, fun-loving, little car attracts more attention than any posh luxury sedan or exotic sports coupe costing 10 times as much. Kids wave; guys flash the thumbs-up sign; teenage girls squeal words that sound like, "Your car! It's so cuuute!"

Planting Roses Right

Success in growing perfect roses lies not in the fussy details, but in the mastery of a few basic principles. It starts with something as simple as digging a hole.

Down in front

Designer Carol Mercer shows how landscaping with varied plant heights can bring tiers to your eyes.

Rose Gardening

For centuries, the ways of the rose have both intrigued and intimidated gardeners. Now, with this comprehensive guide, you'll find the information you need to take the mystery-- but not the mystique-- out of growing roses.

Gates to Build

Euphorbia Euphoria

It's Easy Being Green

Just Right at First Light

Our New Test Garden

The neighborhood digs in

Call it the miracle on 41st Street. First, one family pretties up the yard with beds and borders, color and fragrance. Then, inspired, a neighbor puts in swaths of flowers at her place, too. The planting snowballs. Pretty soon the whole street is gardening together, trading plants, advice, and chitchat. They start sitting on their front stoops (remember the word "stoop"?) and waving hi-hello-howdy.

Summer style

Put some footloose fun in your decorating with inspiration from this artful collector.

A family playhouse

Maybe it was a tree fort, an attic corner, or even a big cardboard box with cutout windows. Whatever shape your private place took, it was where you plotted childhood schemes and daring adventures. Just because you're all grown up doesn't mean you've outgrown the need for a hideaway. Kent and Nancy Meihofer found theirs in this once-abandoned one-room cottage.

Details make the difference

A pinch of this, a dash of that-- good cooks know that little touches make all the difference when creating great recipes. The same goes for creating great kitchens. You build on the basics-- good traffic flow, high-quality builtins, user-friendly equipment-- by blending in an inspired mix of line, form, texture, and color.

Back to the Grind

Years ago, spices were worth their weight in gold. Releasing the treasured flavors required that the spices be painstakingly ground using a two-piece porcelain or wood utensil called a mortar and pestle.

SPICE GRINDER OFFER

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.

Holy Guacamole!

Avocados have a wonderfully silky texture, subtle aroma, and succulent taste. So it should come as no surprise that the word "avocado" is derived from an ancient Aztec word used for aphrodisiac. Avocado adorers are in for some good news this year: The fruit is going to be bountiful and inexpensive because of a bumper crop and the new availability of imported avocados.

Road Warrior

Let's face it: Even though vacations are great fun, getting there can be BORING. Liven your travels with a paper crown-- complete with cars and planes-- fit for a king or queen of the road. Craft some cool funglasses from a foam plate. Or, conquer the highway with our road snack, travel box, and other projects!

The Shopper's Mart

Discover the ease and pleasure of shopping by mail. Order with comfort and convenience from your own home.

The man next door

One of the advantages of living in a small town, reports Uncle Dodd Buckner, is that the phone book can double as your personal address book. "All you do is cross out the names of the one or two people you don't know."