August 2005

1716 LOCUST

The only thing better than winning a prize is giving one. The entire Better Homes and Gardens staff felt that pleasure when we called one of the participants in our Better Home Better Living contest during a weekly meeting. Forty-some of us were gathered around our long conference table as we dialed up Darlene Graeser of Thousand Oaks, California, on a speaker phone. With everyone listening in, I explained to her who I was, who was with me on the line, and why we were all calling from our headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa.

August

Take your summertime party decorations and room decor into extra innings with accents inspired by America's favorite pastime.

Sharing the fruits of labor

Blueberries-- small, sweet, and innocuous-- are instruments of a profound life change for Ron and Lois Laurence. The couple's days are now long, filled with new challenges and experiences. One could hardly blame them if they never looked up from their work. But they do. "I've never noticed the moon like I notice it now," says Lois, who, at 63, sees the sky differently since she's been viewing it from the couple's Blueberry Bay Farm in Stratham, New Hampshire.

CAN-DO COLOR TO THE RESCUE

A Kansas City-area homeowner relies on her keen eye for color to transform a tired ranch house into a vibrant showplace.

Pairing prints

Old rules against mixing patterned fabrics are long gone, but there's an art to pulling it off. "You need enough diversity between the prints that it doesn't look too matchy-matchy," says designer Amy Butler (below), whose new Sunbloom fabrics feature motifs from oversize mums to dainty cherry blossoms.

ASK THE EXPERT

Winsome Windows

BOUQUETS WITH A FRESH FACE

Put color to the test

1-2-3 ART

Reviving ashtrays

Innovations

DIALING UP THE WOW

A Milwaukee couple remodels their small 1930s-era kitchen with old-world flavor and modern functionality.

STAGING A MAKEOVER

A Baltimore couple revamps bit by bit and from back to front, to make their century-old house kid-safe and family friendly.

A GARDEN TIMES TWO

A Milwaukee-area couple put their heads together and worked hard to create a garden that is full of energy, creativity, and fun.

A POOL THAT SOOTHES

An Iowa couple removes an oversize deck and creates a private courtyard with a reflecting pool for its calming, cooling effects.

FOLLOWING THE SUN

A Cincinnati couple uses science and hard work to center their garden on the sun's path as it moves across their yard.

ART MAKES A DIVINE GARDEN

An artist turns a former churchyard into a lush garden with elements of paradise-- a perfect space for friends to gather for poetry, music, and wine.

GARDEN GALLERY

ROOM TO RELAX

Working with existing structures and plants, a do-it-yourself first-time homeowner turns a small backyard in St. Louis into a secluded refuge.

REBLOOMING BEARDED IRIS

After putting on a spectacular show in June, the flamboyant reblooming iris grow and bloom again from late summer into fall, for magnificent autumn garden color. We partnered with White Flower Farm to develop two exclusive collections of reblooming tall bearded iris for your selection.

On the Patio

Urban (e) Accents

A Versatile Mix

Quick Chill

Peachy Twist

Market Math

Trays-ful of Ideas

Can't Be Beat!

Better Homes and Gardens Family Cook-Off

Smarter back-to-school shopping

Make one of the biggest family spending events of the year easier on your wallet-- and your nerves. Try these shopping strategies now.

EXPLORING YOUR family history

Take a journey to reconnect with your heritage. In the last of our three-part series, Better Homes and Gardens shows you how to tap those roots.

WEATHERING THE storm

Joining a neighborhood weather watch group is just one way you can protect family and friends from the wrath of Mother Nature.

A Perfect Combination

There are do-it-yourself mavens-- and then there are Mitzi and Frank Lott. This powerhouse husband-and-wife team (she's a designer, he's a builder and engineer) not only designed every inch of their lakeside cottage near Cordele, Georgia, they sweated through pouring concrete, erecting walls, hammering in nails, and rolling on paint. So it's that much more rewarding for us to announce that their hard work paid off in a big way: Thanks to its blend of practicality, timeless style, and smart planning, we honored the Lotts' house as the grand prize winner in our 2004 Better Home Better Living contest.

Color this garden Happy

Building Character

STEAK KNIVES

PASTRY ESSENTIALS

Keeping Bugs At Bay

Estimates put the number of bugs in the world at a million billion. Some summer days, it seems every one of them has decided to crash your picnic. Here's a guide to avoiding them when you can and treating their bites when you can't.

CUT BREAST CANCER RISK

Sunny Style

Sun hats are a classic sight at the beach, but dermatologists say they should be seen more in the garden, on the golf course, and at the playground too. That's because nearly 80 percent of all skin cancers first appear on the face and ears, says Dr. Martin A. Weinstock, chair of the American Cancer Society's Skin Cancer Advisory Group.

THE RIGHT WAY TO APPLY DEET

CLEAN TEETH FOR BABY

Buzz LIGHT THE WAY

Behind the Wheel Workouts

The Shopper's Mart

Games FOR THE ROAD

My neighbor was loading the van for a family road trip. As I watched him there in the driveway, surrounded by the usual array of luggage and shopping bags, I saw he was also packing a small mountain of electronics-- headsets, video games, and DVDs. The van would serve as a mobile entertainment center for the trip, with each family member able to choose his own music, games, and movies. He proudly showed me the tiny video screens built into the back of the headrests.