August 2000

How Does Our Garden Grow?

CREATE YOUR OWN COOKBOOK

Dinner Is Served

He Said, She Said

BH&G TV

Between friends

Help for Wood Floors

Don't just cover dull or damaged wood floors with carpet or rugs. Give them a new look with paint, stencils, and a little elbow grease. We'll show you how to create focal-point floors, from start to finish.

Sizing Up End Tables

"Wanted: Partner for sofa. Must be reachable at all times." Finding the right end table is easy when you know how to judge size and function.

Making Books

Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. Rich papers bound with love and imagination hint at the importance of what hides inside.

Dining Out

Summer's warm weather invites dining alfresco, but you don't have to head for the nearest sidewalk café to sit outside and enjoy a meal or a cool drink. Do what the homeowners on these pages did and set up a space that can rival any restaurant's patio.

Accents in Blue

Tomato Cage Railing

Family-Fun Deck

Galley Kitchen Update

Lighter finishes and a more efficient layout help this kitchen live large without expanding an inch.

STAIN IT WITH SOY

Paint it "green"

Did You Know?

"I don't want to go to college."

True, going to college for four years can be an enriching, eye-opening experience. True, a bachelor's degree is still an asset if you're trying to make it in America. It's also a must for many crème de la crème careers.

Raising Cain or Savvy Siblings?

Of all the pressures in life, one of the situations that seems to stress parents the most is when their kids fail to get along.

High-Speed Crashes

Add Subaru Legacy to the short list of moderately priced midsize and compact cars that perform well in highspeed front-end crash tests. The 2000 Legacy earned a good rating and "Best Pick" label from the insurance industry's test lab in Arlington, Virginia.

A Double at Half the Size

A little bit country

Giving the hosta its due

Of fanciful fruits and flowers

Workman, spare that plant!

Short & Sweet

Miniature roses manage to load everything you love about roses into a tiny package. They shine in places a full-size rosebush wouldn't fit. They're hardy, tough, and less prone to rose ailments than hybrid tea roses. In short, minis are sweetly satisfying.

Mini Roses to Go

Moving Day

Yes, that rose has a future, even though it has sulked for a year. Let's say you suspect that the spot you picked is the culprit: too shady, too crowded, too dry, too something. Good. Just move your laggard to a better home. You may leave roots behind and the stems may not grow for a few weeks, but then the irrepressible vigor of a rose will take over and ... Varoom! Settled in a better spot, the sulker will soon be back at full speed.

Walk this way

The longest journey, of course, begins with a single step-- and you don't want that first step to be a sticky plop in the mud. It would also be nice, even where the journey is just a short promenade about your garden, if the ensuing footsteps were free of puddles, goo, and other nastiness. That is why you build paths, walkways, and steps in your yard. Every gardener seems to inherit a concrete walkway from curb to doorway in the front yard. But what about out back? And what if that beeline runway out front is no longer to your liking? Well, follow me.

Small and white Clean and bright

If Barbara Baumann were to pitch this story to a Hollywood studio, it might go something like this: Gutsy gal filmmaker meets a strong-but-silent-type Dutch designer; they fall in love with a charming but neglected little cottage on a tree-lined lane, save it from the wrecking ball, and live happily ever after.

Real-life FACE LIFTS

As the years go by, we live through all sorts of changes-- celebrating triumphs and surviving setbacks. The same can be said for houses. Here are five homes that spent years unnoticed, or were noticed for the wrong reasons, until families transformed the way their homes face the neighborhood.

MINI TART PANS

Got Sunscreen?

Dirty Neck?

Boost your daily dose of vitamins C and E

Get Out of the Zap Zone

Are Your Candles Making You Sick?

The Benefits of Bacteria

Aw, Nuts!

Recent studies have suggested that eating nuts-- almonds in particular-- might help lower blood cholesterol levels. Armed with this evidence, The Almond Board of California challenged two of Better Homes and Gardens staff members to eat a rounded half-cup of raw almonds every day for a month and see how their cholesterol levels were affected.

Digital Mammograms

Backyard Circus

Come one. Come all. See daring lions defy the flaming hoop. (Dogs will do, too). Juggle in a jiffy with pop-bottle pins. Or win a prize with the clown toss or balloon launch-- all under the blue-sky big top.

The Shopper's Mart

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

The family next door