October 2000

Fall is for Planting

WEEKEND FUN

What's for Dinner?

Coming Soon: Celebrate! the holidays

BH&G TV

Between friends

Fabric Walls

Sure, wallpaper and paint are wonderful, but for a little extra texture, softness, and flexibility, consider dressing your walls in fabric. Here are four inspiring ideas for any room in the house.

Picture Hanging

Believe it or not, creating a wall arrangement involves more than just standing back and squinting until everything is even. With these lessons on balance and symmetry, you can hang attractive groupings with confidence.

Real life decorating

Out with stodgy decorating "rules" and in with the joys of decorating your home your way. Real Life Decorating, a new book from Better Homes and Gardens Books, celebrates and inspires decorating that is personal and fun, no matter what your situation in life.

REAL LIFE DECORATING

A Cut Above The Rest

End-of-the-Bed Bench

At the end of your bed, park a comfy bench where you can take off your shoes, read a good book, or store extra pillows while you sleep.

A Front Porch That Fits In

From the day Karen and Tim Conn moved into their Omaha home 10 years ago, they vowed it would someday have a proper front porch. Previous owners had tacked on an underscaled stoop with a corrugated metal roof. The Conns replaced the entry with a nearly full-width veranda that was painstakingly planned to meld with the home's classic styling.

Get-Comfy Home Offices

Although designed as a household-management office, this work/sitting space could serve a home-based business that focuses more on creative thinking than on paperwork. This office serves another purpose: It's a classroom where the owners homeschool their youngsters.

Making crash test dummies smile

Two popular family cars, Ford Taurus and Toyota Avalon, win top safety ratings from the insurance industry's crash test laboratory. For Taurus and its fraternal twin, the Mercury Sable, it's the third consecutive "best pick" award from crash testers at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Previous winners were the 1992-95 models and the 1996-99 design.

Warm & welcoming style

With its blazing leaves and crisp air, autumn feels like a New England homecoming to a family now transplanted to the Midwest. "We spent some of our happiest early years of marriage in Vermont," explains Courtney Yasmineh, who lives in a 100-year-old Cape Cod-style home on a lake near Minneapolis. The house is a rambling puzzle of slightly disjointed additions, built by previous families with a similar Yankee aesthetic. But it has character, history, and warmth, which the Yasminehs emphasize inside with easygoing, traditional furnishings and a nature-inspired palette.

Enter the Better Homes and Gardens

Top Videos for Kids

When you need some time away from your children to start dinner, to make a telephone call, or even just to take a breather, engage their attention with the magnetic power of a video. And don't feel bad-- even child-development experts turn to this trick occasionally. There's no reason to feel guilty. Children can learn a lot by watching high-quality videos, even those not labeled "educational," says Julie Dobrow, a children's media expert and professor at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.

Architects & designers

Time Management for Kids

John Severson has the kind of supercharged kids that make you marvel: his high school junior juggles music, cross-country skiing, debate, and his job while fitting in homework for his advanced placement courses and time with friends. John's other son checks his planner to see if he should be at soccer or scouts, whether he should be studying, or if he's free to just hang out.

Intelligent Kitchen Tour at the Mall

Going for the Burn

Did You Know?

People who prefer wood-burning fireplaces remind us that wood is a renewable resource and that natural gas prices are likely to rise. In spite of this, nearly 50 percent of all fireplaces sold today are gas. Here are the reasons.

An Allium for Everyone

Having a wonderful time--the tropics are here

Don't can your cannas (or callas or caladiums or...)

Green and gold grow the grasses, oh

This month's Editor's Choice

Bulbs for winter bloom

Just a Shade Brighter

Cheryl and Dennis Kamera's first home came with a housewarming gift-- the opportunity for Cheryl's first real garden. "This is the first property we've owned," she says. "Prior to living here, I had serious vegetable gardens, but designing and developing ornamental gardens didn't happen until we were here." The clearing around her log home, nestled as it was in the tall conifers on Whidbey Island, Washington, had one overwhelming characteristic she knew would determine the kind of garden she could have: Shade. Like many shade gardeners, she started with rhododendrons and azaleas.

Forcing Winter Bulbs

Fall Gatherings

Autumn arrives in a blaze of glory. Why leave its fiery beauty outdoors? Bring the bounty inside with seasonal decorations made from colorful leaves and sculptural pumpkins, pinecones, and pears. Making the most of fall's abundance can be as easy as tucking some leaves into a purchased wreath of wheat (above). With just a few craft-store supplies and findings from the local farmer's market-- or your own backyard-- you can fill your home with color and grace.

Fresh-idea kitchens

The way we use our kitchens hasn't changed much in the last 100 years. We still boil water on a hot burner, keep fresh food chilled, and whip up a special dish once in a while. And friends and family always seem to gather here, more than in other rooms, to sip wine and chat with the cook.

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.

Childhood Vaccines

Two generations ago, families lived in terror of unstoppable diseases. Parents watched helplessly as children were left drenched in a feverish sweat, gasping for breath, paralyzed, or even brain damaged.

The ugly bug bash

It's that time of year when creepy-crawly things gather for a final fall fling. Join the big bash with our costume and party-food ideas.

The Shopper's Mart

The family next door