EPISODE #66 -
SATURDAY MARCH 26, 2011
Ugh! Spring cleaning! Is there anything that is more of a
chore? It is hard to believe, but some people actually look
forward to this annual punishment! For them it is the marking
of the new season, a new beginning if you will. Still I’m sure
a lot of teenagers would rather spend spring break sitting among
the clutter. Good thing school is close to starting again. We
are going to start a new tradition for marking the beginning of
spring. We are going to GardenPalooza! Yes it may be a
‘garden’ event but there are lots of things for the ‘homeowner’
to see as well. David and Robin will be there to meet and
greet people and Chef David has a special ‘free’ treat for
special viewers… check out the
GardenPalooza website for all the details and we will see
you next week, April 2nd at GardenPalooza at Fir Point Farms.
Bassett Design Tips
Are you
having trouble trying to figure out how to design a large room?
Where to put all that furniture!?! We went to an expert to
learn some tips for designing a room. Monique Stantliff from
Bassett Home Furnishing (503-469-8333) walked us through the
process. First of all, think about the space. What function is
going to be happening in the room, how many people will be using
it and then measuring the room to make sure it is the right size
for the furniture and still have space to move around. You are
looking for a minimum of 18 inches between furniture pieces and
for walkway areas you are looking for 3 feet or more. And
don’t forget the lighting!
We then
moved to the design center of the store to check out colors and
fabrics. Monique also talked about how you can design a room to
include important, or heirloom, pieces so they don’t look out of
place. For those older pieces you focus on their primary color
and then create a palate from that to work from. Once you have
that rough color palate, then you can look at area rugs and they
become the base on which you build your room. Now if you want
to try to build a design on your own, you can go to the Bassett
website and use the helpful design tools.
Terra Casa Lifetime Candles
I love the
warmth given off by candles in the home. A recent study has
shown that people feel physically warmer when candles are lit in
a room. How can you bring the warmth of candles into your home
without having candles? We stopped by
Terra Casa
(503-577-8242) in Damascus to learn about some new ‘candle’ type
products for the home. Nick told Robin about a couple of new
beautiful ‘lifetime’ candles. These candles are jars filled
with preserved fruits, leaves and other design items that will
never fade. What makes them lifetime candles are the wicks.
These wicks are made of fiberglass and will never need to be
replaced. You refill the containers with sootless, odorless
lamp oil and you can enjoy these for many years to come. The
other type of pots that they carried at Terra Casa was a pottery
container with a reservoir for a burning jell. These will burn
for 2 hours with the jell filled canister. Normally people
think of these as an outdoor type of burner, but since there are
no hazardous fumes or smoke, you can use them indoors as well.
They are in ceramic pots so they look great even when they are
not lit. So instead of lighting a candle, give the gift of
warmth to yourself with these wonderful new ways of ‘lighting a
candle’.
Better Living Recipe
The
Better Living Show is happening this weekend. The show
features everything green & sustainable and is full of tips for
helping everyone live a little healthier life. One of the
sponsors of the show is NW Natural and they are not only
involved in the ‘Blue Home’ (blue is the new ‘green’) they are
also giving away an EVO grill. One of the chefs at the show is
Loren Skogland from
Milo’s City
Café (503-288-MILO) and he joined us at the
NW
Natural Appliance Center (503-220-2362) to show us the
recipe he is going to be making on the EVO at the show during
his seminar at 1pm on Sunday. His recipe is a Grilled Salmon
with Potato Latkes and Eggs. It sounded like the perfect
breakfast for a lazy weekend. Loren started by grating 2 whole
russet potatoes into a bowl and then squeezing as much water out
of them as he could. Then he drained off the water and left the
potato starch in the bottom of the bowl. He added about ½ cup
of flour and 2 eggs and ½ cup of chopped yellow onion, a little
kosher salt and a dash of pepper to the potatoes and mixed
everything up by hand.
Now we moved
to the EVO grill. This grill is very unique. It has a flat top
that works like a griddle. It is made here in Oregon and can
cook just about anything! You can stop by the Blue Home and
sign up to win one for your backyard.
Chef Loren
just grabbed about ½ cup portions and dropped them on the grill
to cook. You don’t have to form them, they are good just the
way they are. At the same time he placed a piece of salmon on
the grill next to the latkes and started some eggs on the other
side. Because the grill has 2 burners he was able to have it
hot in the center for the latkes and not so hot around the edges
for the salmon and the eggs. This made sure that everything
ended up cooked at the same time! If you would like to try
this recipe you can stop by the Better Living show. If you are
looking for a great meal, any time of day, you can stop by
Milo’s City Café!
Deck Prep
Getting your
deck ready for the summer season has never been easier, or
harder!! How can it be both? It is easier because there are
lots of products that do a great job of cleaning and preserving
your deck that you can’t fail to have a great looking job when
you are done. Harder, because of all the products on the market
and how to find the right one for your deck. Chris Erskine of
Parr Lumber
(360-887-7277) joined us at their Ridgefield location to cover
some of the basics for us. He recommends that you clean your
deck once a year. To start with he told us about the 2 types of
decking that they encounter, traditional wood and composites.
Composites can be PVC, a combined material and covered composite
material. If you have a wood deck you will have to remove all
the old sealer or mill glaze, before it can absorb any mew
material. If you have an old deck you will want to get rid of
the grey coloring before you apply a new stain or glaze. You
will want to use a general cleaner and a brush to clean your
deck. Chris is not a big fan of using a power washer on the
deck. They are hard to control and if the pressure is too much
they will damage or destroy your deck. If you have a composite
deck the cleaning is all you will need since the material is
pretty much weather proof. The wood deck is much different.
You will have to seal the wood once it is clean to prevent
weather damage and make the wood last longer. If you have any
questions you can stop by any Parr location. They have the
materials and expertise to help you do it right the first time.
Designing a Home Office
With the
economy in turmoil and telecommuting a hot topic a lot of people
are looking at working from home. To do a good job and make it
comfortable you really need to pay attention when designing your
home office. We stopped by
Environments (503-236-3600) to talk to Will Eichelberger to
get some tips on where to start. His first tip was a
question…ask yourself ‘how is my office going to function?’ Are
you just going to work with papers, or are you meeting with
clients? The function of your office is the primary
consideration. To give you a good idea about what to include
you need to get a feel for the layout. Will used a piece of
graphing paper and drew the room to exact measurements including
the windows, doors and closets. Then he cut little pieces of
furniture to their exact dimensions. By moving these small
pieces around he was able to get a sense of where the furniture
can be placed. Will recommends that you keep a 3 foot
clearance between doors, chairs and closets to allow for normal
movement. Once you have the idea for a layout down on paper you
can bring that in and the experts at Environments will do a more
detailed drawing for you and make recommendations. If you are
still confused they can even build a 3-D drawing of the work
space to help you design the area. The other things you need to
consider are fabrics and finishes. These should make you feel
comfortable in your work space but should also work with your
current designs and colors. The final tip? Pick a good chair!
You could be in your chair for up to 8 hours every day so you
should be comfortable! If you have any questions about
designing a home office, or you are looking at doing your whole
business, you can contact Environments.
and you won’t have to scrape the bottom to get all the
‘sticky’s’ that are stuck there. |
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