http://www.post-gazette.com/homes Home and garden news and features, garden columns by Susan Banks, Doug Oster en-us Copyright 2010, post-gazette.com. Sun, 1 Aug 2010 00:09:54 -0400 15 http://www.post-gazette.com/includes/2007design/images/150x30pg_now_logo.gif http://www.post-gazette.com/ 144 39 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10212/1076499-30.stm?cmpid=homegarden.xml Ten years ago, not many houses in Penn had vaulted and tray ceilings, a bedroom in the walkout basement and a large deck and patio. But Fred and Mariann Randolph chose a blueprint with those features for their new house in Saunders Farm Estates. Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10212/1076500-30.stm?cmpid=homegarden.xml Howard Hanna Real Estate Services will host a model home tour at the Sarver's Mill development in Sarver from noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Guests will be able to tour five different model homes -- of every home style available. These include a townhome, cottage, bungalow and three-and four-bedroom two-story homes. Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10212/1076558-47.stm?cmpid=homegarden.xml Next weekend is the 12th annual Manchester House and Garden Tour on the North Side. Tours of restored Victorians and turn-of-the-20th-century townhouses and their surrounding gardens will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. next Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 8. Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10212/1076560-47.stm?cmpid=homegarden.xml Q. My sunny front lawn has a big brown patch in it. At first, I thought it was just the hot, dry weather, but I discovered these insects scurrying around in the dead grass. Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10212/1076579-47.stm?cmpid=homegarden.xml When it's as hot as the devil's toenails outside, the thrill of the garden is somewhat diminished. Which doesn't mean that I'm not thinking about the garden or about what I want to do to the garden, I'm just not "doing" it as rapidly as when temperatures were cooler. Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10212/1076590-47.stm?cmpid=homegarden.xml Congratulations to the finalists for the 2010 Great Gardens Contest. Let the judging begin! Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10211/1076430-30.stm?cmpid=homegarden.xml Its beauty belies the dark origins of Seafield House, an austere example of contemporary architecture just a short jog from the Finchley Golf Club in the North London borough of Barnet. Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10211/1076431-47.stm?cmpid=homegarden.xml IN the wee hours of July 14, Elizabeth Roach, a 70-year-old widow, got out of bed and went to the living room of her Virginia ranch home. She sat in her favorite chair for 15 minutes, then returned to bed. Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10211/1076432-47.stm?cmpid=homegarden.xml "IF I ever need to go to a nursing home, kill me first." Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10211/1076433-47.stm?cmpid=homegarden.xml IT'S a record-breaking summer for heat in the Northeast -- 103 in Central Park earlier this month, 105 in my garden in Maryland -- with temperatures in the 90s day after day. And we need rain. Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10211/1076434-47.stm?cmpid=homegarden.xml MADELINE WEINRIB, the New York textile designer, started her career as a painter. "I did my first rug collection almost as a lark," she said. Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10211/1076316-30.stm?cmpid=homegarden.xml As part of a crackdown on scammers preying on struggling homeowners, the Federal Trade Commission said Thursday that it nabbed a Florida company that lured people into paying up to $2,500 in upfront fees by falsely claiming it would save their homes from foreclosure. Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10211/1076317-30.stm?cmpid=homegarden.xml Mortgage rates for U.S. homes set a record low for the sixth straight week, potentially freeing up money for consumers to spend elsewhere. Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10210/1076199-47.stm?cmpid=homegarden.xml To the Editor: Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10210/1076200-47.stm?cmpid=homegarden.xml The Plaza Hotel in Manhattan opens its Eloise suite today. As befits the hotel-dwelling storybook heroine whose favorite words include "Charge it, please," it won't be cheap. In fact, it will be so pricey you may wish to hide any mention of the place from the kiddies: It starts at $995 a night; to add an adjoining room for grown-ups, the nightly rate begins at $2,045. Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10210/1076201-47.stm?cmpid=homegarden.xml Those seeking antique textiles from Europe can save the plane fare by visiting the online retailer Textiletrunk.com. The site is run by Wendy Lewis, who lives in Vermont and has spent more than a decade researching textiles at European flea markets and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10210/1076202-47.stm?cmpid=homegarden.xml The 33rd annual Nantucket Antiques Show, July 30 to Aug. 2, is scheduled to have 22 dealers from the United States and Europe, including William Nickerson Antiques, which will show 18th- and 19th-century furniture and Shaia Oriental rugs, and the Silver Fund, a London firm specializing in Georg Jensen silver. Phoebe Booth Antiques, a Manhattan firm that sells English furniture and decorative items, will show a number of pieces, including an Arts and Crafts ebonized fireside chair, circa 1890, at left, that Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:00:00 -0400