homeGarden

&

Top photos by Kyle Mills

Bottom photos by Barry Kough

inside: Δcallingabridgehome Δit’sallinthedesign

By PEGGY HAYDENtarget publications

JULIAETTA — This home could be seen as a marvel in modern house architecture or it could be seen as the unfinished bridge on the Potlatch River.

Either way it is a unique and award-winning design.

Mike and Melissa Pearson wanted to live near their winery, Colter’s Creek, but weren’t sure how possible that idea was considering the

location of the winery. Their home, guest house, winery and vineyard are located on 70 acres next to the river with a single-lane, unpaved road be-ing its only access. But they did it with the help of architect Paul Hirzel, professor at the School of Design and Construction at Washington State University in Pullman.

“We had input as far as what we wanted in terms of an overall design,” Mike said. “He took our thoughts and turned them into this.”

Hirzel was able to design a home so that it would sit safely over the flood plain, not disturb much of the pristine landscape surrounding it and be an eye-catching modern design that the Pearsons could feel at home in. It also won Hir-zel a merit award from the Seattle chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 2013.

Hirzel worked with Bozeman, Mont.-based Thomas Dean & Hoskins Engineering on the design of the structure. Broemeling Steel & Machine in Lewiston completed all of the steel work, constructing the bridge on which the house is built and R. Wilson Construction Inc. based in Troy did the home construction.

The bridge structure is made of galvanized steel and provides protection from flooding as well as an encasement that allows the house to be shielded from damaging weather or too much sunlight. It also makes the exterior very low maintenance, giving the Pearsons time to care for their grapes.

Being close to the vineyard was what inspired the couple to build a house here, and they knew and liked Hirzel’s work so they contacted him to build their dream home.

This 3,000-square-foot house has an open living room, dining room and kitchen at the river side of the home and is filled with exposed woods. The large windows and many glass sliding doors that take up much of the exterior walls provide an abundance of natural light and a spectacular panoramic view of the riverside landscape. A catwalk surrounds the home allow-ing for easy access to every window for cleaning.

Each area of the home is its own unique space and can be closed off from other parts of the house, allowing for heating and cooling effi-ciency as well as insulating each room from the hallway that takes you from one part of the house to the next. This means the temperature in the hallway can be kept at a lower setting without making the house uncomfortably hot or cold.

The living room faces the Potlatch River and has a large deck, which hangs out over part of the river. It is partially covered so it can be enjoyed during a rain storm or when the sun is shining. The deck also allows for an increased living space as the wall facing the deck is two large glass sliding doors, giving the living room area an opportunity to become much larger.

The living room flows flawlessly into the dining area, which can double as a work space when they need to work from home. One wall of the dining room is taken up by built-in cabine-try, which has windows between the upper and lower cupboards. The cabinet is open on top like a bookcase or display shelf, and has drawers and open shelves on bottom. On the other side of the room the wall is made up of two more glass

H O M E & G A R D E N T H U R S D A Y, M A R C H 2 0 , 2 0 1 42

The house may look like an unfinished bridge but it depicts a marriage of nature and a man-made structure

Living on a bridge takes on new meaning

Tribune/Kyle MillsABOVE: Nestled below Colter’s Creek Vineyard & Win-ery, Mike and Melissa Pearson’s home is perched on the banks of the Potlatch River, near Juliaetta. The home rests on its own bridge, out of the flood plain and safe from weather. LEFT: A long hallway lined with windows takes vistors past the media room, guest bedroom and bath into the main living area of the house.

Tribune/Kyle MillsThe steel structure of the home adds modern lines to the outdoor deck hanging over the Potlatch River.

4see Bridge home page 10

ROTARY DOGWOODSRed, Pink,White

$59SPECIALVARIETY Long Blooming

$79

4 0 8 1 8 1 C T _ 1 4

THINK SPRING!

746-3644(Inland Auto Glass)

Free delivery

$25Optional Planting Fee

Gift

Certificates

Available

The Genuine. The Original.

IT’S EASY TO FIND A LONG-LASTING GARAGE DOOR.JUST LOOK FOR THE RIBBON.The red ribbon means you’ve found everything you’re looking for in a garage door-reliable performance, innovative design

All from the genuine, the original Overhead Door. Call your Overhead Door distributor for details.

4087

62C

T-14

422 20th Street North � Lewiston, ID � 20 7 3 5O erhead Door Company of Lewiston Clar ston

www.defi nitivelandscapes.com327 Thain Rd. • Lewiston • 208-743-9596

409142CT-14

Custom Outdoor Kitchens, Firepits & Living SpacesComplete Landscape Installation

Decorative Concrete & Paver FlatworkLawn & Landscape Mtc / Weed & Pest Control

Custom Metal Fence & Rail Fabrication

T H U R S D A Y, M A R C H 2 0 , 2 0 1 4 H O M E & G A R D E N 3

By Lorraine MiraBeLLaThe BalTimore Sun

BALTIMORE — Susan Aplin worked behind the scenes for two decades helping run some of the big-gest retail stores around — Williams-Sonoma, Sports Authority, Staples, The Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy and Pottery Barn.

But it wasn’t until she and friend Carolyn Wapnick took a vacation to Alaska’s Prince William Sound that she found her true calling: retail with a cause.

As a result of the trip, the duo founded Bambeco, an online seller of sustainable home furnishings. Since 2009, the Baltimore-based retailer has grown from two employees to nearly two dozen and attract-ed more than $4 million worth of investment.

The company, which would not disclose annual sales, actively sells and ships its thousands of sus-tainable products to every state and Canada and ex-pects to nearly double its workforce this year. Aplin, the company’s CEO, also said she is working on the retailer’s first brick-and-mortar deal: selling a line of glassware through a major grocer she can’t name yet.

“Our mission is to change the world, one room at a time,” Aplin said.

The idea to promote sustainable living through home decor, she said, grew out of that 2006 Alaska trip.

“My eyes were opened by the glaciers receding and I saw the impact on the climate.”

She returned to her home in Washington, D.C., de-termined to examine her own carbon footprint. She began looking for greener ways to commute, clean the house and do laundry. But when she needed to replace some household furnishings and sought sus-tainable products, she hit roadblocks.

“I couldn’t find anything that was fashionable,” she said. “You could find pillows for sale, but they were made of hemp. I believed I wasn’t the only one out there who felt that way.”

Her research supported that belief. One survey showed that more than half of consumers would buy sustainable items if they were readily available, in-cluding a portion of die-hard shoppers who would go out of their way to make such purchases.

As the idea to start a business evolved, she left her job, sold her house in Washington and moved to a cabin she owned in West Virginia. In Moorefield, W. Va., she and Wapnick, who has a media and technol-ogy background and is now Bambeco’s chief technol-ogy officer, found a distraction-free and economical place to hammer out a business plan.

All the merchandise — rugs, pillows, vases, clocks, serving pieces, dinnerware, duvets and blankets — are made from recycled, reclaimed, organic or natu-ral materials.

The current collection features root wood appetiz-er plates for $28, organic cotton bath towels for $68 and reclaimed timber Spanish olive trays for $110. Shoppers can find Adirondack chairs made from recycled detergent bottles and milk jugs, chemical-

free natural fiber rugs and recycled glassware.Thanasis Delistathis, a managing partner of New

Atlantic, said Bambeco has all the right elements: a unique market and products; loyal customers; healthy margins; and a high percentage of items shipped from suppliers, reducing inventory costs. In addition, he cited Alpin’s experience with iconic brands, a plus for filling what he views as a hole in the growing retail e-commerce market for a brand driven by a sense of mission.

As demand has grown, mainstream retailers have responded as well. Pottery Barn advertises furniture with soy-based cushions and sustainably harvested wood. Ikea says it has increased its use of recycled wood and the share of cotton from sustainable sourc-es. Crate & Barrel sells bamboo furniture and organ-ic cotton towels.

Consumer research released last fall by the Sus-tainable Furnishings Council showed “the consumer is more aware about sustainability, especially as it pertains to energy savings and reclaimed materi-als,” the council’s executive director, Susan Inglis, said in a statement.

The study found almost half of consumers sur-veyed were interested in buying green home fur-nishings if the style and cost were about the same as other choices.

Delistathis said Americans spend more than $157 billion a year on home furnishings, but nearly two-thirds say they can’t find eco-friendly choices. For Bambeco, that’s translated to one of the highest rates in e-commerce of converting web visitors to custom-ers, Delistathis said.

Aplin and Wapnick had no direct connection to Baltimore before moving Bambeco there in 2010.

When it was time to establish a bigger corpo-rate office, they wanted to be close to top talent in a sustainable setting. They narrowed down a list of a half-dozen cities — among them New York and San Francisco — to Baltimore, which they liked for its sustainability and ranking on a top 10 green cit-ies list. They found space in a rehabbed building in Brooklyn on the city’s southern end, a former gro-cery warehouse that had been converted into a wind- and solar-powered geo-thermal office building.

Since then, the company has lured experts from top retailers and brands, including Levi’s, Timber-land and Under Armour.

The Baltimore office seems fitting for a seller of green products, with open space, exposed brick walls, natural light from large windows and work-spaces made of wood from recycled doors. Some em-ployees choose to bring their dogs to work or park bicycles near desks. Plants hang in containers along the walls, near a whiteboard that poses the ques-

tion: “What sustains you?” Among the handwritten answers from staff and visitors: “hope,” “creative thinking,” “birthday cake” and “a cool breeze.”

Bambeco goods are showcased throughout, includ-ing a yellow serving tray that Aplin found out only recently had been used on the set of TV show “Mod-ern Family” and is made of biodegradable polyure-thane.

Most items are created by Bambeco designers and made in factories, many of them family-owned, that agree to make products to Bambeco’s sustainability specifications.

To assemble a collection for each season 12 to 18 months in advance, Aplin said the company uses practices common to other home furnishings retail-ers. Designers develop specific products by closely watching dining, cooking and other lifestyle trends.

One of the biggest challenges for Bambeco, as with every e-commerce site, comes down to finding the customers in the most cost-effective way, Delistathis said.

“We know the customers are out there,” he said.

online retailer wants to make the world a greener place, one room at a time

MCTSusan Aplin is the founder and CEO of Bambeco, an online retailer that sells sustainable home furnishings, left, that are made of reclaimed, recycled, repurposed, renewable, natural or organic materials. She is shown in Baltimore on Feb. 7.

Lewiston’s Best Selling Compost

Bags available at:

Home Depot

• Great for your Lawn & Garden

• Helps promote strong root structure

• Purchase bulk compost direct at EKO

EKO COMPOST548 Down River Road • 208-746-5947

409002CT-14

743-2920CARPENTER FENCE CORP

Fred Carpenter, Owner • CARPEFC022JN • carpenterfencecorp.com

449 Th ain Rd. • Lewiston

Customize your colors and style!

Residential & Commercial

Free Estimates & Design Services

• WOOD• ALUMINUM• CHAIN LINK• VINYL

Frame Your Yard WithBeautiful Fencing!

4081

75CT-14

1252 Chestnut, Clarkston, WA758-9817 • 800-316-7971

Mon-Fri 8:30-5:30 • Sat 8:30-5:00 CLOSED SUNDAY

Get Your Lawn & Garden Ready for Spring at Fuchs!

Flower &Garden Center

www.fuchsflowers.com fuchsflowers@cableone.net

“When Only the Best will do Call Fuchs”

BonideCOMPLETE FRUIT

TREE SPRAY

For fruit trees, flowers,

ornamentals, evergreens

and strawberries. Controls

insects and diseases.

Reg. $16.29

Sale$13.29

LILLY MILLER Moss Out All

Roofs, Lawns, & Flower Beds20%off

“Remember

to order your

Easter Lillies!

WATCH FOR OUR Spring Open House April 5th & 6th

Crabgrass and Weed PreventerControls over 28 hard to control weeds24-0-8Covers 5,000 sq.ft. Reg. $26.39

Sale$2239

4 0 8 7 3 6 C T _ 1 4

Spring Bulbs are here!

20%

Off

Primroses,Pansies,

Ranunculus& Cold Crop

Ready

H O M E & G A R D E N T H U R S D A Y, M A R C H 2 0 , 2 0 1 44

By Lauren BeaLeLos AngeLes Times

HENDERSON, Nev. — Sometimes it’s not what’s on the walls but what’s in them that makes a home stand out.

That was the case this month at the unveiling of the New American Home 2014 outside Las Vegas, an annual demonstration of the latest in residential design and construction.

The showcase house is somewhat subdued-looking outside with a col-or scheme drawing from the desert landscape. But the residence shines in ways that aren’t visible, such as the spray-foam insulation hidden in the walls that helps make it the most energy-efficient demonstration home constructed in the 31 years the National Association of Home Build-ers has been hosting such projects.

The builder “took it to heart when I told him he needed to build an above-ground submarine,” said

Drew Smith, an energy and green construction consultant on the en-deavor.

The result, which debuted as part of the recent International Builders’ Show, is a contemporary with a stone-veneer exterior that appears vague-ly pueblo or adobe in style. What the two-story house at first seems to lack in outward pizazz it makes up for in practicality.

The low Home Energy Rating System number of 22, Smith said, is partly the result of hybrid insulation that in some areas is moisture per-meable and in others creates an air and water barrier. Other factors in-clude smart siding, overhangs, solar roof panels, high-efficiency windows and LED lights.

The house also uses less than half the water of a standard home and is surrounded by regionally-appropri-ate landscaping. Green and sustain-able building materials reduce off-gassing, or that “new house smell.”

Inside the front door, a two-story waterfall

serves as both a piece of art and a way to add humidity to the air. The high-ceilinged great hall also lets light into the center of the home and allows air to circulate while a wide porcelain-tile runway leads to ground-floor living spaces such as the open-concept dining and living rooms.

This wall-less hall pulls visitors past a floating-riser staircase and through the house toward the back-yard swimming pool and cityscape views.

“It’s important to design a home that feels good and flows well,” ar-chitect Jeff Berkus said.

When people move around a house, he said, they don’t want to get stuck in corners.

The launching point for the design of the 6,706-square-foot house was its intended purpose as a multi-gen-erational residence.

A double-island design in the kitchen defines areas for food prepa-ration and seating.

“You want to engage with people

living in and visiting the house,” Berkus said of the layout, which helps keep the cook in the conversa-tion.

The dual islands play into the idea of extended families living together — large extended families based on the size of the island, which can seat eight comfortably or a slew of studi-ous children with textbooks spread across the counter.

“Our approach was to be mindful of family living,” said Mark Tremblay of Marc-Michaels Interior Design, based in Winter Park, Fla. “To allow the occupants to be connected.”

Beyond the common areas where family members can gather are more private spaces that encourage inde-pendent living. A second-floor suite includes a small kitchen and liv-ing space as well as a bedroom and bathroom. Accessible by an elevator, it could be used by elderly parents, adult children or live-in help.

The bedrooms are also a place for individual expression, offering a break from the largely neutral inte-riors with some splashes of color. A lime green toilet compartment, for example, added vibrancy in a down-stairs bedroom suite.

The interiors mix wood, stone and metal with fire and water elements.

“The overall feel is welcoming and inviting while being sophisticated and glamorous,” said convention-goer Lauren Carroll of Atlanta-based Blue Door Interiors. The designer said she particularly liked the water garden outside the front door and the way the swimming pool and spa appeared to seamlessly connect to the indoor space.

Although now open for tours, the house will eventually be for sale in the $5 million range.

But the ideas inside are free for the taking, and many are inexpensive to implement.

Recycled construction site lumber was sanded and stained, then stacked vertically on the stairwell wall. The different widths created a textured effect.

A bedroom accent wall was created using standard decorative moldings cut at 45-degree angles into foot-long pieces and applied in a chevron pattern.

“These are both ideas that (my employer) can utilize in clubhouse or common space areas to add inter-est at low cost,” said visitor Laura G. Plassmeyer, a manager with afford-able multi-family housing builder USA Properties Fund. Embedded stone and tile treatments enliven the bathrooms, as do textured wallpa-pers.

The reaction, builder Josh Ander-son said, has been unexpected.

“People come through touching the walls and fabrics,” said Ander-son, president of Element Building Co. “They experience the home in a different way. It’s tactile.”

extended family at the core of this showcase home

MCTThe New American Home in Henderson, Nev., showcases the latest products and building techniques in February.

MCTThe New American Home in Henderson, Nev., icludes bedroom suites, which have separate bathrooms, wet bars, sitting areas, and as seen in the photo on the right a daybed/baywindow for sky gazing.

By Gary M. SinGersun senTineL

QUESTION: We are no longer able to pay our mortgage due to a hard-ship. After doing a lot of research, including read-ing your columns, we de-cided to try a short sale. We listed the property, found a strong buyer and submitted all the required paperwork to our lender. Now the lender wants us to auction off the house. What gives?

— Shirley

ANSWER: In a short

Lender requires auction on short sale

4see Short Sale page 12

Salvaged Building MaterialsFrom the past -- reclaimed for the future

Large Selection of reclaimed building materials Doors, windows, hardwood fl ooring, plumbing, electrical Real stone veneer selection, brick, metal yard art Custom Precast stone stamped steps, pavers Upcycled wooden/metal/stone items Plus, new and reclaimed items arriving daily!

For your Landscaping Needs1,500+ Tons of Stone

Unique landscaping options, brick, metal, wood Large rock selection: fl agstone, birdbaths, wall stone Basalt columns, fountains, decorative ground covers Top Soil/Moscow Delivery Available Accepting scrap iron & appliances for recycling

“THE BUILDING RECYCLERS”CELEBRATING 36 YEARS RECYCLING THE PALOUSE!

“THE BUILDING RECYCLERS”“THE BUILDING RECYCLERS”WASANKARI CONST.

We were “green” before green was cool!~Mon-Sat 8am to 5pm~(208) 883-4362~

½ mile South of Moscow on Hwy 95brecycler@hotmail.com

www.wasankariconstruction.com408584CT-14

533 Thain Rd.Lewiston

208-743-5525

and aFREEcover!

(a $99 value!)sale ends 3/31/14

Trade in your old grill for

$200 OFFthe purchase of a

Memphis Pellet Grill

CHECK US OUT FOR ALL YOUR POND SUPPLIES

• Food - Packages & Bulk• UV Sterilizers - Skimmer - Filters• Koi - Fantails - Comets• Live Plants (coming in April)• 100s of Pond Pumps from 180 G.P.H. to 10,000 G.P.H.

POND LINER 45 mil EPDM $100 per sq. ft.

408610CT-14

By MARCIE GEFFNERBANKRATE.COM

What is an FHA loan?In the wake of the housing bub-

ble’s collapse, FHA loans have taken on renewed importance for today’s mortgage borrowers.

Simply stated, an FHA loan is a mortgage insured by the Federal Housing Administration, a govern-ment agency within the U.S. Depart-ment of Housing and Urban Devel-opment. Borrowers with FHA loans pay for mortgage insurance, which protects the lender from a loss if the borrower defaults on the loan.

Because of that insurance, lend-ers can — and do — offer FHA loans at attractive interest rates and with less stringent and more flexible qualification requirements.

Here are seven facts all buyers should know about FHA loans.

Less-than-perfect credit is ok: The FHA doesn’t mandate a minimum credit score, according to Vicki Bott, HUD deputy assistant secretary for single-family housing. Instead, each borrower’s creditworthiness is con-sidered in context. Some leeway is allowed, even for borrowers who’ve filed for bankruptcy.

That said, however, lenders can overlay their own requirements on top of the FHA’s guidelines. Some lenders might require a minimum credit score. Ask pro-spective lenders about such a requirement if your credit is less than perfect.

“Lenders underwrite FHA loans to ensure that the customer has the willingness and ca-pability to repay the loan, but we do have flexibility beyond pure credit score to look at the borrower’s financial situation,” Bott said.

Minimum down pay-ment is 3.5 Percent: The FHA requires a down payment of just 3.5 percent of the pur-chase price of the home. That’s a fraction of the percentage typically required on most other loans and a “huge at-traction,” said Dennis Geist, vice president of government programs at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in Carlsbad, Calif.

Borrowers can use their own savings to make the down pay-ment. But other allowed sources of cash include a gift from a family

member, or a grant from a state or local government down payment as-sistance program.

Closing costs may be covered: The FHA allows home sellers, build-ers and lenders to pay some of the borrower’s closing costs, such as an appraisal, credit report or title expenses. For example, a builder might offer to pay closing costs as an inducement for the borrower to buy a new home.

Lenders typically charge a higher interest rate on the loan if they agree to pay closing costs. Borrowers can use the good faith estimate of clos-ing costs — commonly known as the GFE — to compare interest rates and closing costs on different loans and figure out which option makes the most sense.

A lender must be fha-approved: Because the FHA is not a lender, but rather an insurance fund, borrow-ers need to get their loan through an FHA-approved lender (as opposed to directly from the FHA). Not all FHA-approved lenders offer the same interest rate and costs — even on the same FHA loan. That’s another reason, Bott said, borrowers should shop around.

“We encourage consumers — from a cost, service and underwriting standard — to shop around many lenders or mortgage brokers to make sure they understand what the best

fit is for their particular situation,” Bott said.

Mortgage insurance is a must: Two mortgage insurance premiums are required on all FHA loans: The upfront premium is 2.25 percent of the loan amount, and the annual pre-mium is 0.55 percent of the loan amount. The upfront premium must be paid when the bor-rower gets the loan but can be financed as part of the loan amount. The annual premium is paid in chunks of 1/12 of the total along with each month’s mortgage pay-ment.

“The perception is that that sounds expen-sive,” Geist said.

However, he added, borrowers need to com-pare the FHA-insured loan to a loan that’s not FHA-insured (and con-sequently requires a much larger down pay-ment). In many cases, the FHA loan is still the best choice, he said.

Extra cash available for repair: The FHA has a special loan product for borrowers who need extra cash to make re-

pairs to their homes. The chief ad-vantage of this type of loan, called a 203(k), is that the loan amount is based not on the current appraised

T H U R S D A Y, M A R C H 2 0 , 2 0 1 4 H O M E & G A R D E N 5

By KATHY VAN MULLEKOMDAILY PRESS (NEWPORT NEWS, VA.)

Another growing season invites third-graders nationwide to partici-pate in the “Kids Grow Green: Cash-ing in Cabbage” program by Bonnie Plants.

Bonnie Plants is a brand of start-er vegetable plants sold nationwide at independent garden centers and mass merchants like Lowe’s, Home Depot and Walmart.

Launched nationally in 2002, the program awards a $1,000 scholarship to one student in each participating state. At the end of the season, teach-ers from each class select the stu-dent who has grown the “best” cab-bage, based on size and appearance. A digital image of the cabbage and student is submitted online at www.bonnieplants.com. That student’s name is then entered in a statewide drawing. State winners are random-ly selected by the commission of ag-riculture, in each of 48 participating states. Typically, 1.5 million third-graders take part in the hands-on gardening experience, some of them raising cabbages that are as large as

a basketball, tipping the scales at more than 40 pounds.

In 2013, winning cabbages weighed 46 pounds in Alabama, 38 in Florida, 16 in Texas, 20 in Arizona, 59.78 in South Carolina, 28 in Pennsylvania and 30.4 in New York.

In McLean, Va., winner Leo Massery, a third-grader at Kent Gar-dens Elementary School, grew a cab-bage that weighed 21.6 pounds and measured 40 inches across one way and 37 inches the other way.

“When I got my plant I went home and on the weekend my Papa and I planted it,” he said.

“We used compost and fresh fish guts under the plant as fertilizer. We went fishing that weekend for trout and used the guts, heads and tails as fertilizer. It worked great. I also weeded it and watered it as needed. I checked on it every day. We also used organic bug spray to keep the bugs from eating it. It was the big-gest thing I ever grew. It was a lot of fun.”

Participating is easy for third-grade teachers who want to sign up. Bonnie Plants, which has 72 plant

stations nationally, delivers free O.S. Cross, or oversized, cabbage plants to third-grade classrooms for teach-ers who have requested them online. As the kids grow and nurture the cabbages, teachers can incorporate science and math lessons into the process.

Why a cabbage? Cabbages were the first plant sold by Bonnie in 1918, and the cabbages used for the pro-gram produce giants that make the process adventurous for kids.

“The program is a wonderful way to engage children’s interest in ag-riculture, while teaching them not only the basics of gardening, but the importance of our food systems and growing our own,” said Stan Cope, president of Bonnie Plants.

Kids invited to grow a great cabbageGETTING IT GROWING:If you want to grow your own co-

lossal cabbages at home with or without kids, here are some tips from Bonnie Plants on how to get them growing: Let the sunshine in. Cabbages

need at least six hours of full sun-light, more if possible. Survey your site. Bonnie O.S.

cabbages need at least three feet on each side to spread out. If you don’t have that much space, use a large container. Amend the soil. Work some

compost into the soil — cabbages love nutrient-rich soil. Feed the beast. Start your cab-

bage off right with an all-purpose vegetable fertilizer, then fertilize it every 10 days to keep it growing strong. Water wisely. Your cabbage

needs at least one inch of rainfall each week. If it doesn’t rain, use a watering can or garden hose to gen-tly water your plant at soil level. Tend to trouble. Keep weeds out

of the cabbage patch — they compete for the food and water your cabbage needs. Be on the lookout for brown or white moths — these come from worms that love to munch on cab-bage. If you see any, get rid of them right away. Cold weather can dam-age your cabbage. If the weather gets below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, cover your cabbage with a bucket or clothe covering. Heave-ho the harvest. In just 10

to 12 weeks, you should have a huge head of cabbage you can be proud of and that will provide you with lots of creamy coleslaw.

To see all the 2013 winners and learn more about the 2014 contest, visit www.bonnieplants.com.

MCTSouth Carolina winner Olivia Yandel shows off her winning cabbage grown in the “Kids Grown Green: Cashin in Cabbage” program.

MCTAlabama third-grader Jackson Brown shows off his winning cabbage grown in the “Kids Grown Green: Cashin in Cabbage” program.

Crucial facts about FHA loans you need to know

SEE FHA LOANS page 12

810 S Grand Ave. Pullman

(509) 332-67001-877-743-5100 | georgiacarpetworks.com

Largest in-stock selection in the quad cities!

408284CT-14

MORECHOICES,BETTERPRICES!

Premium Carpet,

Area Rugs, Vinyl, Tile,

Hardwood,and Laminate

Flooring

213 Thain Rd.Lewiston Orchards(208) 743-5100

• Free Estimates and Measuring •

0 20th St. North, ewiston, ID746-1155

Shop and Compare our low prices!

western oors81 hotmail.com

4088CT-14

better water. pure and simple. ®

100% satisfaction guaranteed*.

We'll make laundry brighter, skin smoother and hair shinier. We'll knock out the rust and throw out the scale. We target odors, stains and spots, too. If you want to get "hooked-up", just say"Hey Culligan Man" or contact us at culliganwatermoscow.com

ener will help youkeep up with your lifestyle.

WHAT'S IN YOUR WATER?

Call the water experts for a free in home water

analysis!We test for:

Call today and be on your way to

Moscow, ID 83843(208) 882-1351 or (208) 743-5171www.culliganwatermoscow.com

better water. pure and simple. ®

By PEGGY HAYDENTargeT PublicaTions

Entering this Lewiston house built in 1940 won’t take you back in time, but it will take you straight into the pages of a magazine.

This chic house with its river view and great outdoor spaces provides your eyes with an array of exciting colors and textures to take in.

The previous owners had updated the house af-ter a fire in 2002, which allowed Jacquie Richel to use her talent as an interior designer to make each room and outdoor space pop instead of hav-ing to spend money updating the house when she bought it about three years ago.

“You know, I didn’t spend a lot of money,” Richel said. “It’s just finding oddball materials and getting creative with it.”

The outside entryway to the house includes a water feature, surrounded by greenery, giving it a great sense of privacy. Upon entering Richel’s home you instantly see a small dividing wall ac-cessorized with what looks like cuckoo flowers, a white faux mountain goat head and a large mir-ror that is also accessorized with cuckoo flowers on its frame.

She has made what would traditionally be a living room and dining room serve as three inter-changeable areas that now include a sitting area, a dining area and an entertainment/TV area. Richel used a border made of aluminum fencing material to tie the areas together.

Richel used her know-how to create a unique and inviting dining area in an alcove off of the sitting room. She designed a padded wall complete with its own lighting element that is alluring. Her din-ing table is simple and elegant with a glass top and accompanied by bright orange chairs that make the area stand out.

In the entertainment

area a mechanic’s toolbox is used as a TV stand, which makes you have to do a double-take to be sure it really is what you think it is. It’s just an-other way she has maximized the use of the space. With all its drawers the toolbox is a great storage area and doesn’t take up a great deal of space.

Richel’s kitchen is a large room on the main floor of the house. The kitchen has a clas-sic black and white motif with shiny metal accents. A small kitchen pass through lets you see into the sitting area.

“They’re not high-end finishes,” she said. “I love that it doesn’t have to cost a ton to have good design.”

She made the upper level of the house, which looks as though it was once the attic and was later converted into a loft, into her bedroom.

“This is probably my most favorite space,” she said.

Simply by using the right pieces of furniture and some simple wall decor, some of which she made herself, Richel has made the room seem much larger than it actually is.

The basement includes what was once a fam-ily room, which she converted into two separate rooms by adding a sliding door that acts as a wall. On one side there is now a large walk-in closet that any woman would love to have, and on the other side a dressing area complete with two mirrored dressers. The basement also contains

what was the master bedroom and is now Richel’s studio, where she can be creative and design her jewelry and art.

The outdoor space continues the maga-zine-esque quality of the house, providing several separate but in-clusive areas to enjoy. A zen sitting area created by Richel has a Japa-nese garden feel, laid out in front of a mass of greenery. To the side of the sitting area the zen quality continues with a wood, bamboo and metal divider wall that acts as a fence. The yard is a very green space complete with many levels that include another water

H O M E & G A R D E N T H U R S D A Y, M A R C H 2 0 , 2 0 1 46

The interior design of this house demonstrates how fencing material and toolboxes can be girly

Common items used to make an interior design pop

Tribune/Barry KoughABOVE: An alcove on the north wall accomodates the colorful dining set, which Jacquie Richel backed with a padded wall treatment. BELOW: The entire top floor has been turned into Richel’s bedroom with many of the accents having been made by her.

Tribune/Barry KoughThe first view inside the front door is suddenly the view of an art gal-lery.

Tribune/Barry KoughLike the rest of the house, the well-organized studio in the basement is flooded with nat-ural light and bright accents.

4see design page 11

With the best products, service and installationat a price to fi t every budget.

1036 Bryden • Lewiston • 208-798-4738 • www. MohrsFloors.com“Where Quality Products and Expert Installation Meet”

Let Us Help You Customize Your Home

408928CT-14

gg LIFETIME

WARRANTYSAVE NOW!

ATTENTION HOME OWNERS

AT

TE

NT

ION

HO

ME

OW

NE

RS

AT

TE

NT

ION

HO

ME

OW

NE

RS

Free EstimatesCall the “Siding Professionals” or stop by our showroom

Serving the area since 1965

BI-STATE SIDING & WINDOW3333 11th St., Lewiston • 746-8294 • 1-800-344-9654

WA #BISTASW088KW | ID RCE5581

YOU DON’T BUY PAINT, YOU RENT IT!

Also...Insulated Vinyl Replacement Windows

Custom Made, Seamless Steel Siding and Roo ng.

VINYL SIDINGNew Wall System Stronger Than Wood

Over 1½” foam insulation ~ 7.64R factor lowers heating & cooling costs

CompareTypicalVinyl Siding

High Quality Insulated

Siding

Stop renting paint & start saving on heating & cooling costs.

408221CT-14

T H U R S D A Y, M A R C H 2 0 , 2 0 1 4 H O M E & G A R D E N 7

By PAUL OWERSSUN SENTINEL

Just 10 days before Christmas 2009, Ganel Appolon found an enve-lope taped to his front door. He and his family were being evicted from their Tamarac, Fla., home. Appolon had fallen behind on his mortgage payments and the lender repos-sessed the property under terms of his bankruptcy filing.

Despite the financial setback, Ap-polon vowed to own again.

He spent the next four years sav-ing money and rebuilding his credit. Last fall, he qualified for another mortgage and in December bought a three-bedroom home in Fort Lauder-dale, Fla., for $177,500.

“I feel free,” said Appolon, a 46-year-old electrician. “My kids are really, really happy. They kept say-ing, ‘Thank you, Daddy. Thank you, Daddy.’ ”

Appolon’s experience may give hope to tens of thousands of people snared in the housing collapse. Many of those people thought they’d never own again — or at least have to wait a decade or longer to even think about it. Instead, lenders and real estate agents say many former homeown-ers are recapturing the “American Dream,” as “boomerang buyers.”

“Time will heal everything, and that’s what’s happening here,” said Jim Flood, regional manager for Su-preme Lending in Plantation, Fla. “I think it’s great that people are get-ting a second chance. Don’t we all want that in life?”

How many are getting that chance? No one knows. The government and housing industry don’t track it. But lending titans such as Bank of Amer-ica, as well as community banks and credit unions, typically follow the guidelines from government-run mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together in-sure about half of the nation’s home loans.

Fannie and Freddie require some-one with a previous foreclosure to wait seven years before qualifying for a new mortgage. But if the foreclo-sure was included in the bankruptcy, as it was for Appolon, the borrower has to wait only four years.

A person who unloaded a home be-fore the bank foreclosed — such as through a short sale — must wait two years to get another Fannie or Fred-die loan.

A consumer seeking a Federal Housing Administration-backed loan can qualify three years after a foreclosure or short sale.

Former owners who lost a home because of at least a 20 percent cut in pay may be able to qualify for another mortgage after only a year through FHA’s Back to Work pro-gram.

Catherine Perez used that pro-gram to buy a four-bedroom home in Pembroke Pines, Fla., in Novem-ber. Three years ago, she lost a Da-vie, Fla., townhome in foreclosure after her adjustable-rate mortgage payment jumped $400 a month to $2,200.

Perez, 32, lived with her mother for a year to save money and then rented. She signed up for a credit restoration program through the nonprofit agency United Financial Counselors, raising her credit score by more than 100 points to 672 — enough to get a mortgage. The high-est score is 850.

Perez and her fiance ended up qualifying for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage at 4.375 percent. They put down about $18,000 on the $335,000 purchase.

“I’m so relieved,” she said. “I wanted to have a home for my future kids.”

Homeowners who lost

their properties make up a pool of potential buyers who could help bol-ster demand just as last year’s frenzy cools, analysts say.

“We’re about three years past the peak of the foreclosures, and that’s about the time when most people would qualify for another loan,” said Daren Blomquist, spokesman for Re-altyTrac in Irvine, Calif. “The mar-ket really needs boomerang buyers to maintain the current recovery.”

Some boomerang buyers are re-quired to make down payments of at least 20 percent, while others can put down as little as 3.5 percent or 5 percent — much the same as people without credit problems.

In Appolon’s case, he ended up qualifying for favorable loan terms: a 5 percent down payment (about $13,000, with closing costs) and a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage with a 4.5 percent interest rate, accord-ing to his lender, Stephen B. McWil-liam, head of Florida State Mortgage Group in Fort Lauderdale.

When Appolon applied for a mort-gage last fall, his credit score was 700. He is not sure what his score was at the time of the bankruptcy, but a person in similar circumstanc-es probably would have had a score of 550 or less, McWilliam said.

Kevin Maher, community outreach coordinator with DebtHelper.com, a West Palm Beach-based counseling agency, said the best way to rebuild credit is to pay credit cards and oth-er bills on time and not add new debt. People who take those steps can see their scores rise significantly within a year, he said.

“It’s very easy to rebuild your score up to what you need to get back into homeownership,” he said. “You just have to stop the bleeding and start something positive.”

Ryan Paton, head of Capitol Lend-ing Group in Fort Lauderdale, said he frequently hears criticism about giving mortgages to people who have short sales or foreclosures in the re-cent past.

But lenders are willing because they realize a large group of other-wise responsible borrowers were trapped in an extraordinary housing debacle not likely to be seen again, he said.

“As long as they’ve saved mon-ey and re-established their credit, they’re fantastic buyers,” he said.

‘Boomerang’ buyers get another chance at homeownership

MCTGanel Appolon lost his last home three years ago in the economic downturn but recently purchased this home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He is shown with his family, from left, Stanley, Jessica and his wife, Maude.

By PATRICIA SHERIDANPITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE

LAS VEGAS — A new kind of equine elegance galloped into the Winter Las Vegas Home Fur-nishings and Gift Market. It wasn’t only the Year of Horse on the Chinese Lunar calendar, it was clearly the year of horse decor, as well.

According to Chinese astrology, this is the year of the wood horse, applicable to people born in 1954 and 2014. The year of the horse comes every 12 years, and is characterized, in turn, by the five elements of metal, earth, fire, water and wood.

Intelligent, restless, ambitious, hard-work-ing, impatient, adaptable and romantic. People born in the Year of the Horse include Kobe Bry-ant, James Franco, Jerry Seinfeld, Jennifer Law-rence, Denzel Washington, and both Franklin D.

and Teddy Roosevelt. As far as we know, the only people who had trouble with wooden horses were the Greeks.

The horse year means rapid success, so Rough Riders aside, manufac-turers decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and hopped on the back of this trend with unbridled enthusi-asm.

Here is a roundup of the steeds they were showing:

This is the year of the horse in home furnishings

SEE HORSEFURNISHINGS page 12

Garden Gulch Rd.Lapwai, ID

843-2551 • 843-4121M-F 7am-5pm

843-2551 • 843-4121GravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravelGravel

Design Starts Here!Inspired

Design DirectionsResidential and Commercial Interiors

521 Th ain Road, Lewiston, ID 83501(208) 743-1010

• Tile and Natural Stone• Hardwood & Laminate• Carpet & Vinyl• Fabric and Upholstery

• Window Treatments• Draperies and Blinds• Space Planning and

Consultation

Wishes You a Well Designed Spring

Springtime! ~ The Season for Roofing and Decks

1818 “G” Street, Lewiston • 743-1541 Monday thru Friday 7:00am-5:30pm

Now stocking GAF Timberline HD Roofing Lifetime Warranty

CANNON’SBUILDING MATERIALS

Timber Tech Decking Several colors to

choose from.374557CU_13

By NaNcy BracheyThe CharloTTe observer

Many landscapes are at their thinnest this time of year. Leaves are off the trees and shrubs, and you can see through where you used to see green. This may raise the desire to plant a clipped

evergreen hedge or informal screen along your boundary.

This defines your property line in a friendly way. It also adds a ribbon of green that looks good all year, but is most noticeable and cheerful in win-ter.

Selecting plants for this proj-ect starts with an understand-ing of their requirements for sun, shade or something in between. Plus you must think about how short or tall, how wide or narrow you wish the hedge or screen to grow.

Basically a hedge is kept short and clipped on the sides and top to give a rather stiff, vertical effect. The effect is formal and looks good when done right. It is usually kept short enough for a person to trim it, late each winter, while standing on the ground.

Most often, a single kind of plant, such as Japanese holly, English laurel or Japanese boxwood, is chosen. This may be the best choice when space

is limited and you want to avoid any intrusion into sidewalks or drive-ways.

A screen is a looser, more infor-mal look, with shrubs allowed to reach their normal mature height. It is a bigger look, but one to work on over time and cherish. The effect on the sides is soft, sometimes even feathery. And this type of screen lends itself to a mix of plants that

can even include deciduous shrubs such as forsythia, barberry, quince or hydrangea. While a long stretch of deciduous shrubs may look boring in winter, a mix of evergreen and de-ciduous looks fine, especially if the evergreens present the background.

Here is where your particular taste for such things as color (blue hydrangeas for summer or golden yellow kerria for spring), late-winter flowers (witch hazel or wintersweet) or fragrance (winter daphne) can be explored and then enjoyed for years. People tend to plant clipped hedges single file in rows of varying lengths. It must seem like the natural thing to do, and it does create smooth sides to the hedge.

But an informal screen almost al-ways looks better when planted in a zigzag pattern with every other plant slightly forward of its neighbor. This gives rhythm to the look and allows for closer, easier spacing because the plants have more breathing room (meaning room to grow) on their sides. Since the intended effect is loose and free, this looks better. It will also reduce the chances that you will prune the plant and probably re-duce the amount of flowers.

You can do this work on days when it is nice to be outdoors, but try to get it done by mid-spring. This will allow roots of the new plants to get grow-ing, Careful attention must be paid to watering in dry weather through the summer the first year and prob-ably the second.

H O M E & G A R D E N T H U R S D A Y, M A R C H 2 0 , 2 0 1 48

By craig SailorThe TaComa News TribuNe

TACOMA — Don Engebretson’s take on garden mythology and the peddlers of worthless products. His website, The Renegade Gardener (www.renegadegardener.com), car-ries no advertising.

“I need to be free to state my opin-ions,” said the Minnesota-based gar-den writer and landscape designer. “Your average garden writer is too often beholden to the industry. As a horticultural speaker you want to be beholden to facts.”

Engebretson has written for “Bet-ter Homes & Gardens” magazine and dozens of newspapers. He’s appeared on HGTV and worked as the on-cam-era landscape designer for the PBS how-to program “Hometime.” He’s published five books on gardening and design, and keeps a busy speak-ing schedule.

In between all that he operates a residential landscape renovation business.

“My one slim talent is I can make people laugh. I can give a good saucy gardening talk,” Engebretson said.

Sometimes his opinionated stance wins him both admirers and de-tractors. A column he wrote titled “Enough with the damn day lilies” railed against the overuse of the pretty but gangly plant.

“They quickly grow into a giant monster that looks like Jabba the Hutt,” Engebretson said.

Engebretson soon heard from day-lily gardeners all over the world. The reaction was both negative and positive.

He said he sometimes finds him-self on a stage sponsored by a busi-

ness that creates the very products he’s not too fond of, such as concrete retaining wall blocks. He uses natu-ral stone in his walls.

There are just too many products out there being sold to solve prob-lems that don’t really exist, Enge-bretson said.

“The garden industry freaked out and decided that gardening was too complicated and too much work, and that everything needs to be easy and foolproof. They are the only industry that I know of that tries to reduce the time people devote to their hobby,” he said.

Engebretson urges gardeners to educate themselves rather than buy labor-saving devices and products.

“People are being bamboozled into ridiculous products and erroneous shortcuts,” he said. If a greenhorn green thumb learns about gardening, such as knowing the Latin names of plants, it becomes easier and more enjoyable for them, he said.

“There’s a ton of stuff to learn and you get better and you develop your own style and evoke your own per-sonality,” Engebretson said.

It’s a confusing horticultural world out there for the budding gar-dener. And some of the nurseries that cater to them aren’t helping. Al-ready in Washington’s Puget Sound, a few stores are putting out petu-nias, pansies and primroses in full bloom. Most likely they were grown in greenhouses, not outdoors.

“There’s absolutely no reason to sell plants that early,” Engebretson said. But, in the same breath, he said he’s sympathetic to the trade.

“Nurseries make 65 to 75 per-cent of their income in the spring,” he said. They need to sell as much

as they can as early as they can. So grow-ers will force plants to bloom early with fertil-izer and hothouses.

Engebretson loves to bust myths. And he has no shortage of them. They come from the in-dustry, your local nurs-ery and even universi-ties. “And, of course, most of them come from your grandmoth-er or your neighbor.”

A common one he hears is the admonish-ment to never amend the soil when planting a tree. That came from university research, he said, which has since been discredited. The truth is: Only the soil knows for sure.

“If you’re digging your hole and what you are digging is fairly dark and crumbly, it drains well and has organic content (you don’t need to amend it.) If you’re digging it and you dis-cover it’s potter’s clay or it collapses because it’s sand, bring in organic amendments — copious amounts of compost, peat moss,” he said. You may end up digging a larger hole but it’ll be worth it, he said.

Another myth Engebretson dispels is that wood mulch attracts termites. Termites need solid wood in which to bore and make their nests and can’t survive in chips. But, in that same vein, wood piles — which do attract termites — should never be closer

than 25 feet to a house, he advised.He’s against landscape fabric as

an alleged weed preventer. “That’s a perfect example of a product that’s unnecessary, superfluous and harm-ful. It doesn’t block weeds,” he said. Instead it inhibits water and drasti-cally reduces oxygen levels in soil. “It winds up harming the plants and they don’t develop into what they could be.” Instead, use mulch, which will naturally decompose over time. “You want your mulch to disappear. You want to replenish your mulch.”

‘renegade gardener’ Don engebretson turns dictums upside down

MCTDon Engebretson, aka the Renegade Gardener and writer/scouter for Better Homes and Gardens maga-zine, travels the county, dispensing his brand of no-nonsense landscape design.

MCTA Hydrangea bush in full bloom.

Now is the time to consider a hedge to define your landscaping

Lewiston620 Thain Rd.

Lewiston(208) 746-6447

Moscow2275 Nursery St.

Moscow (208) 883-3007

408294CT-14

bluemountainag.com

Save Energy. Save Money. Milgard Windows Can Help.

Windows Doors and More StoreENERGY SAVING EVENT-Stop by our booth during the Earth Day Celebration(209) 746-9000Windows Doorsand More Storewdmsstore.com523 1/2 Thain RoadLewiston, ID 83501

Windows, Doors andMore...Store

Your Specialty Building Supply Headquarters

“Where Our Doors Always Open”523½ Thain Road • Lewiston, ID 83501

(208) 746-9000 • Fax (208) 746-1288

Milgard windows are designed to meet ENERGY STAR®

quali cations—and then some. You can take energy performance a step further, by asking for our 3D® and 3D MAX® Energy Packages. These two energy packages address energy ef ciency through the three dimensions of a window: frame, product design and glazing unit. Be sure to ask us about the best package for your home and climate.

246-A 13th Street, Clarkston, WAWA: INLANMEO55QP4

09

03

1C

T_

14

T H U R S D A Y, M A R C H 2 0 , 2 0 1 4 H O M E & G A R D E N 9

By E. SCOTT RECKARD AND ANDREW KHOURI

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Retired aerospace engineer Owen Klasen was rejected last year when

he sought a second mortgage to paint and re-roof his house.

Home prices hadn’t risen enough, the loan officer told him.

But last month, the same loan of-ficer offered him more than double

the credit he needed.“I told him I needed $25,000” on

a home equity line of credit, said Klasen, who lives in Fillmore, Calif. “He said we were qualified to go up to $60,000.”

Klasen is among a wave of hom-eowners nationally who are again putting their homes in hock — de-spite the costly lessons of the hous-ing meltdown.

After a home equity credit binge during the housing bubble, banks shut off the tap as home prices plum-meted. Sobered homeowners stopped viewing equity as free money for cars, vacations and college educa-tions.

But now second mortgages are back in vogue. Bank of America, for instance, saw its home equity business surge 75 percent last year compared with 2012, said Matthew Potere, who oversees home equity lending for the Charlotte, N.C., gi-ant. In the fourth quarter, Bank of America issued $1.9 billion in new home equity credit lines, up from $1 billion a year earlier.

The most popular use of equity lines is home improvement, followed by debt consolidation, said Kelly Kockos, Wells Fargo’s senior vice president of home equity. But some borrowers are using the credit to double down on real estate, a popu-lar move during the housing bubble.

Adam and Kimberly Smith work at high-tech firms in San Francisco, where prices skyrocketed last year. They recently obtained a credit line on their two-bedroom North Beach condominium. The couple, in their early 30s, plan to rent out the condo and buy a home in the high-end East Bay suburbs.

Three-bedroom homes there start at $1 million. Borrowing $50,000 to $100,000, combined with their sav-ings, will give them a 20 percent down payment on the suburban home they crave.

“We know we can make an offer this weekend,” Adam Smith said.

Home equity lines of credit are a type of variable-rate second mort-gage. They enable homeowners to borrow up to a pre-defined amount at their discretion.

A homeowner with a $200,000 first mortgage on a $400,000 house, for instance, might take out a $100,000 line of credit. If the homeowner bor-rowed the maximum, the mortgage debt would total $300,000 — 75 per-

cent of what the house would bring in a sale.

Nationally, the total of second mortgages authorized climbed to an estimated $60 billion last year from a low of $49 billion in 2010, accord-ing to the trade publication Nation-al Mortgage News. That’s still way down from a record of $430 billion in 2006, but experts predict another surge in home equity lending this year.

For lenders, the credit lines are riskier than first mortgages, which would be paid off first in case of a foreclosure. Still, these are no longer the easy-money loans of the housing boom, bank officials assure. Appli-cants who get approved today have high credit scores, along with ample savings and equity in their homes.

During last decade’s housing boom, the standards were quite dif-ferent — sometimes nonexistent. Banks have lost billions on loan de-faults from that era.

The losses aren’t over. The way the credit lines are structured has created a new problem — payment shock on credit lines issued during the bubble. That’s because the credit eventually runs out. At that point, often 10 or 15 years later, borrow-ers must pay back the entire amount or make set payments on the debt monthly, as with a traditional loan.

That can cost borrowers hundreds of dollars a month extra — payment shocks that will reverberate as the credit lines come due. National bank regulators have calculated the draw periods will end for $29 billion in home equity credit lines this year at the nine largest U.S. banks. Those numbers rise to $52 billion next year, $62 billion in 2016 and $68 billion in 2017.

Officials at Bank of America and Wells Fargo & Co. said they have be-gun reaching out to borrowers well in advance of the date their credit lines mature, making sure that they are prepared for higher payments and, if necessary, talking about mod-ifying the terms of the credit lines.

Meanwhile, lenders are wading back into the business of issuing new home equity credit. In high-end mar-kets, which recovered first, some borrowers are using home equity credit lines of $100,000 to $250,000 “as a financial tool” to buy more real estate, said mortgage broker Richard T. Cirelli in Laguna Beach, Calif.

Owners again borrowing against homes as market recovers

MCTRaising home prices made it possible for retirees Owen and Wana Klasen to qualify for a home equity credit line on their home in Fillmore, Calif., which they used to paint and reroof their house.

By KIM COOKASSOCIATED PRESS

Earthy hues that blend into the landscape tend to dominate the outdoor furniture market. Under-stated woods, metals and cushions are easy-to-in-corporate neutral elements.

But outdoor spaces also offer the chance to be more adventurous than we are inclined to be in-doors.

Maybe bolder balconies and peppier patios on your redecorating radar?

“Vibrant color has dominated the home fur-nishings arena since last fall, and after an unusu-ally cold winter, the time’s ripe for bright color to become a focus for our outdoor spaces. Color is a great energizer,” said Jackie Hirchhault, market-ing vice president for the American Home Fur-nishings Alliance, based in High Point, N.C.

Aimee Beatty, in-house stylist at Pier 1, said lively outdoor pieces give people a way to make a statement: “Incorporating pops of color with fur-niture and accessories adds personality and flare.”

She suggested adding a colorful bench to the patio to coordinate with a more traditional or neutral dining set.

“One new piece is a simple, budget-friendly way to make a big im-pact,” she said.

“Brightly colored fur-niture is also a quick way to punch up a small space,” she added. A bistro table and chairs in playful hues sets the stage, and you don’t need much more than a few additional pieces

to create an inviting space, even if it’s a tiny ter-race.

Pier 1’s Paris-inspired Neely Bistro Set comes in red or peacock blue rust-resistant cast alumi-num. Frontgate’s powder-coated aluminum side and bar chairs in fresh colors like aqua and melon come in whimsical designs like curlicues and flo-ral motifs.

The Rock Point acacia wood bench can be had in red, marine blue or dandelion yellow, and has the added benefit of being foldable for off-season storage. Synthetic rattan chairs are weather resis-tant and come in an array of clean, crisp brights like ocean, purple, orange and yellow.

Z Gallerie’s Madison garden stool comes in gold for a touch of metallic flair. You’ll also find the Mimosa lantern, featuring a filigreed Moroccan motif in mandarin, white, lemon and aquama-rine.

A patio umbrella is a quick and inexpen-sive style changer. Start the party by setting up

Hayneedle’s shaggy acrylic Palapa umbrella, a 6-foot-wide hula skirt on a pole with thatched strips of acrylic in lime, whiskey, raspberry pink or lemon yellow.

Bright ideas for outdoor furniture to spruce up outdoor spaces

SEE OUTDOOR SPACES page 12

•Custom Home Designs•Remodels

Your dreams...

to a finished Blueprint!

247 Thain Rd., Suite 107Lewiston

(208) 743-5840(877) 800-6622www.qdplans.com

408117CT-14

Nylon Carpet,Polyester (PET) Carpet,

PTT (Triexta Polyester) Carpet

2337 3rd Ave. North Lewiston 743-7858Inspiration at your feet. Flooring for your life!

WhatCarpet Fiber

is bestfor you?

Sleek yet sturdy deck and railing.

Elegant deck & railing available from your deck experts at Early Bird!

4 0 9 0 1 2 C T - 1 4

1508 15th Street, Clarkston, WA

758-3333

H O M E & G A R D E N T H U R S D A Y, M A R C H 2 0 , 2 0 1 410

the house, tying the three rooms together nicely. They make it almost feel like the inside of a log cabin.

The kitchen continues the area’s theme with exposed woods for the cabinets and has gran-ite countertops. A breakfast bar separates the kitchen and dining room and stainless steel ap-pliances tie the inside to the outside of the house. The cork flooring adds another piece of nature to this unique house.

Just off the kitchen, in the center of the house, is a screened sitting porch that is protected from the weather and can be used year-round for en-joying the nature this house has melded into.

On the other side of the indoor porch is the master suite, which is its own separate area in the house with its own deck, walk-in closet and bathroom, complete with a shower and a tub with a view. The room is on the south side of the house and its deck takes you right out into the woods. It almost gives you the feeling of camping — but in luxury.

With no traditional yard to speak of this hill-side home has numerous outdoor spaces. A glass sliding door on the north side of the house takes you to a ramp leading down to a large circular cement pad that provides the Pearsons with yet another outdoor space to enjoy.

The house also includes another bathroom and bedroom as well as a laundry room and theatre room that are accessible from the long hallway.

At the east-facing side of the house, which is

the front of the house, is an entryway that has plenty of room for several guests to enter the house at the same time. The front glass sliding door separates inside from outside without leav-ing you feeling like you have left the beautiful scenery this house is stashed in. And to add to the nuance of the house the front door is ac-cessed by a walkway reminiscent of a gangplank.

About 100 yards to the north of the house is a place for guests to stay. The guest house is built above the flood plain so it is more of a traditional style house. It has one bedroom and a loft for sleeping. The guest house also has a large deck overlooking the river.

———Hayden may be contacted at phayden@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-

2243.

4 Bridge home cont. from page 2

Tribune/Kyle MillsThe front of Mike and Melissa Pearson’s Juliaetta home does not look like the typical house entrance. Visitors approach the front door via a plank-like walkway.

Tribune/Kyle MillsAccented with natural wood, the master bedroom has two walls of sliding doors with a view of the river valley. There is also a private deck off of the bedroom

Service Repair InstallationOil, Electric or Gas

208-791-5599

In the market for a newHeating or Cooling System?

Or just in need ofService or Repair?

Call today forFREE ESTIMATES and

Quality Service at a fair price.

407545CT-14

983-1040 or 1-800-215-5964 113 East Main StreetGrangevillewww.lindsleysfurniture.com

GEimagination

at work

Furniture • Appliances Floor Coverings • Window Coverings

408133CT_14

Home. Where memories are made.

Mortgage Services Center1025 Warner Avenue, Lewiston, ID

BrendaBrent

ConstructionLending Manager Jesse Rob

NMLS 18093 NMLS 855209NMLS 531564 NMLS 532337

feature, a patio for entertaining and a staircase built into the hillside leading you from the back to the front of the house.

“It doesn’t have to cost a million

bucks to have a nice looking home or a fun home,” Richel said. “That’s my biggest purpose, is to find inter-esting materials to use and not be afraid to use them.”

———Hayden may be contacted at phayden@lmtribune.

com or (208) 848-2243.

T H U R S D A Y, M A R C H 2 0 , 2 0 1 4 H O M E & G A R D E N 11

DESIGN cont. from page 6

Tribune/Barry KoughTucked in between the main living area and the kitchen is a bright sitting area.

By DIANA MARSZALEKASSOCIATED PRESS

When a 2011 storm destroyed their black shingle roof, Carol and Ray Knoff of Vinton, Iowa, opted to re-place it with a roof in vintage Victo-rian colors: a clay-like red and gray.

Victorian homes typically had red slate roofs, which weathered gray over time, so the blend worked, said Carol Knoff.

“It took Vinton a while to like it,” she said, but the neighbors have since come around. The 1901 house is among several Victorians built when Vinton housed one of the world’s larg-est canneries.

Many homeowners these days are shunning monotone roofs of brown, black and gray, and perking things up with color — blues, reds, purples, greens or combinations of those hues.

“A lot of people are going with roofs that stand out on their own,” said Kate Smith, a Newport, R.I.-based color consultant. “They want some-thing different that expresses them and expresses their personality.”

Which could be a tricky proposi-tion, said Smith: “You want to stand out while still fitting into your neigh-borhood,” she said.

She admitted to being taken aback herself when colored roofs first came into vogue several years ago.

Exterior home color should always be used judiciously, she said. But it is even more crucial to use it correctly when you’re adding it to a large fixed feature, like a roof, that is not easily changed with a fresh coat of paint.

“Anything that’s permanent needs to blend,” she said. “You don’t want to have too many colors that aren’t working together.”

One trick for doing that, Smith said, is to select roof colors true to your home’s history and architecture, and in natural shades.

For instance, Victorian homes orig-inally had colored roofs — reds, or-ange, purple and green were typical — because the color of the slate var-ied so much, she said. Homeowners wanting to restore that look should match those subtle tones.

“When you saw purple, it was not a bright Barney purple,” she said.

Bright metal roofs — most often red or green — are better suited for farmhouse-style homes, or used over small structures like porticos or bay

windows. Steel blue is more Euro-pean.

Colored roofs are also starting to crop up on “new American-style” homes, which Smith describes as combining popular styles and materi-als — perhaps, say, a stone and brick exterior with a copper roof.

The demand for colored roofs led DaVinci Roofscapes of Kansas City, Kan., to create faux slate and shake (wooden shingle) roofing in 49 colors “so homeowners can mix and match those if they want to get really cre-ative,” said the company’s Wendy Bruch.

DaVinci’s palette is based on the naturally occurring colors seen on historically accurate roofs, she said. But custom colors are increasingly popular, too.

“There can be some crazy things going on because we can create new colors,” Bruch said.

DaVinci has worked with custom-ers to create colors ranging from a chateau blue for a French provincial-style house to a green that matched the color on a metal roof with weath-er-related damage.

Many customers appreciate help picking the right shades, Bruch said. “It can make it confusing for the ho-meowner when you have too many options,” she said.

For Knoff, the risk of installing a colored roof was well worth taking.

“We absolutely love it,” she said. “When you see our house, it really stands out. But Victorians are sup-posed to be homes that stand out.”

Roofs are getting colorful

Associated PressThis 2012 photo provided by DaVinci Roofscapes shows a red and grey col-ored roof that replaced a storm dam-aged black one at Carol and Ray Knoff’s home in Vinton, Iowa. The colors, pro-duced by DaVinci Roofscapes, are typi-cal of the original roofs on Victorian homes.

By DEAN FOSDICKASSOCIATED PRESS

Garden centers, with their vast collections of plant colors, sizes and shapes, can be intimidating to inexpe-rienced buyers. But you can become a discerning purchaser with a little homework and by quizzing the sales people as you shop.

“Usually, when shopping, I go early before the crowds and also before the staff are worn out,” said Jack McK-innon, a garden coach from the San Francisco Bay-area. “I like asking questions like, ‘What are you getting in next?’ ‘What is new?’ and ‘What is the most popular now?’ If it is early (in the season), you may learn a lot that puts you ahead of the masses in de-signs and trends.”

The most important factor in plant shopping, however, is the health of the plant, McKinnon said.

“As one nurseryman I trust says: ‘Don’t accept ugly plants.’ And he doesn’t give refunds.”

How can you tell if a plant is dis-eased, pest-ridden or beyond its prime?

“Look for any unusual brown, black or gray spotting on the foliage,” said Rizanino (Riz) Reyes, a landscape de-signer and owner of RHR Horticulture in Shoreline, Wash., a Seattle suburb.

“Any dead sections that are beyond just grooming to make it look good should be avoided,” he said. Also avoid plants “that may be unusually red or sickly yellow looking.”

It’s a good idea to check plant roots at the nursery. It’s risky to buy plants that are root-bound, too wet or too dry, although that may mean removing them from the pot to examine them.

“If you politely ask a garden center

staff member, any reputable retail center should stand by their product and allow you to do it, or they may do it for you,” Reyes said.

Other plant buying like a pro tips: Shop by price and shop the sales.

Find out when new plants are usually delivered and displayed. “Try to have a relationship with the nursery owner or staff,” McKinnon said. Bare-root, container grown, or

balled and burlapped? “Bare-root plats have not had a chance to get root-bound in a pot, and you can see what you’re buying,” McKinnon said. “Both are definite advantages.” Work from a plan. “I recommend

having a general list so you avoid too many impulse buys on plants that may not end up getting planted or worse, get forgotten,” Reyes said. Annuals vs. perennials: “Perenni-

als come back and can look great the year-round,” Reyes said. “Annuals provide traffic-stopping impact and remarkable color. You save and have the most incredible garden by inte-grating both.” Buying tropicals and houseplants:

“Take care in transporting these from the store to your vehicle as some may be very sensitive to the cold,” Reyes said. “Plant them right away or keep them cool but not frozen. Keep them watered and moist.” Choosing bulbs, corms, tubers

and rhizomes: “Look for plump, firm bulbs,” Reyes said. “Usually, the big-ger the better. Hardy bulbs like lilies are ready to plant as soon as possible. For dahlias and other tender bulbs, wait until after frost to plant or pot them up and start indoors.”

Fast route to successful gardening? Buy smart

Classified Ads Work! Call 746-4ADS

Do you have adequate coverage for your new home?

1504 8th Street, Lewiston, ID 83501 • www.sattlerins.com208.743.9426 • 800.615.8418

We have the professionals to assist you with answers to your questions!

•Home•Auto

•Business•Life/Health•Long Term

CareJames Sattler Katy Miller

40

69

35

CT

_1

4

Spring Allergies?Spring Allergies?s a out our reathe ean Light ene its against ergies a ter

ha ing our urna e and air du ts eaned

D R R L T H T , T L T , R D T

D T Lust ention This d hen

S hedu ing our urna e nd ir Du t eaning nd et

R DR R T L

Visit us at www.bfpowervac.com

208.746.1461 | 208.882.7575 1.800.AIR.DUCT

Spring Cleaning!Spring Cleaning!

408761CT-14

Walmart’s got a well-priced basic market um-brella that can be had in a fresh sunny orange, deep green or canary yellow.

Grandin Road’s op-arty Lulu planter in a loopy black-and-white graphic would be an exclama-tion point to colorful outdoor furniture. Their Sea Life collection of outdoor pillows includes stylized starfish and sand dollars in brilliant hues.

Usable as either planters or beverage recep-tacles, LED-embedded resin GardenGlo con-tainers provide glowing illumination in a range of colors.

Consider adding a few glowing orbs to the gar-den, pool, pathway or anywhere you’d fancy am-bient light. A remote control lets you run through a variety of soft colors or switch to just white. They’ll last eight hours on one battery charge.

Seattle-based designer Nicole Ketchum cre-ates lightweight acrylic chandeliers in 11 colors that can be hung from trees, deck roofs or any-

where you’d like. Choose a faux ornate pattern or an octopus.

Outdoor polypropylene rugs add color and give outdoor spaces a more finished, room-like look. Horchow’s Geometric Twist collection puts a crisp white graphic on a tangerine, lime or navy background for preppy punch, while Dash & Albert’s indoor/outdoor rugs feature East Asian graphic motifs, chevrons and sailing stripes.

Dash and Albert’s new outdoor pillow collec-tion includes exuberant retro-Hawaiian prints, sea horses, crewel florals and bubble patterns, all in a riot of fun-loving colors.

Designer Elaine Smith has come up with a col-lection of outdoor pillows that reflects a child-hood surrounded by global art, and a love of both fashion and nature. “I like using and reimagin-ing traditional motifs, and creating designs with a timeless feel.”

She’s done an Asian toile pattern in a pretty aqua/white combination, a zebra print in choco-late or blue, and a hula skirt motif in a kaleido-scope of tropical hues.

l Blue Ocean Traders added a pre-rusted castiron pony to its ouadded a pre-rusted castiron pony to its outdoor, indoor sculpture collection, which also includes a pre-rusted horse’s head for a garden bed.l Go Home showed several equine

elements for home decor including an 80-inch-high teak steed and a smaller 34-inch table-top version in driftwood. Both are created by assembling small-er pieces of wood.l You could literally saddle up and

watch TV on Cisco Brothers’ leather horse. It gives new meaning to the term “clothes horse,” as you toss your dis-carded wardrobe on its back. The com-pany also debuted Leonardo, a massive sculpture cleverly constructed of re-cycled auto and motorcycle parts. It’s best kept corralled in a room with ca-thedral ceilings.l A tamer, more playful look was

seen at Silk Route. It displayed a pa-pier-mache Chindi horse wrapped in colorful yarn, handmade in Nepal. The company also showed a giraffe, a pig and a lion.l A & B Home Inc.

was in step with its white porcelain horse bust, the right size for a bookshelf or mantel. It did, however, go off the reservation with its own tall wooden horse made in Indonesia.l Studio A showed Ming

Dynasty, a small wire horse sculpture.

H O M E & G A R D E N T H U R S D A Y, M A R C H 2 0 , 2 0 1 412

4 short sale cont. from page 4

sale, your lender is accepting less money than it is owed to release your property from its mort-gage. Short sales are supposed to be sold for mar-ket value to ensure the lender recoups the most money possible.

Lenders historically have relied on a report from a real estate agent called a broker’s price opinion, or BPO, to help determine market val-ue. In an effort to make sure the short sales are sold for the highest prices, lenders in the past six months have started turning to auctions.

The various parties involved are told they must submit to this new procedure or the short sale will be denied. Once everyone signs off, the sell-er’s real estate agent will be asked to re-list the property and hold an open house to let potential bidders view it. An online auction company then holds an auction, with the initial buyer’s offer as the highest bid.

If nobody submits a higher bid, the short sale is approved. If there is a better offer, the initial buyer has the opportunity to counter. Once the auction concludes, the lender issues its short sale approval and the closing takes place as it tradi-tionally has.

While this new process requires more effort from everyone — and provides more uncertainty for buyers — the participants have little choice but to jump through these hoops. It’s important to remember even with this additional hurdle, a short sale usually is the best choice for unloading a house you can no longer afford.

4 fha loans cont. from page 5

value of the home but on the projected value after the repairs are completed. A so-called “stream-lined” 203(k) allows the borrower to finance up to $35,000 in nonstructural repairs, such as painting and replacing cabinets or fixtures, Geist said.

Financial hardship relief allowed: FHA insur-ance isn’t intended to be an easy out for borrow-ers who feel unhappy about their mortgage pay-ments. But loan servicers can offer some relief to borrowers who have an FHA-insured loan, have suffered a serious financial hardship and are struggling to make their payments. That re-lief might be a temporary period of forbearance, a loan modification that would lower the interest rate or extend the payback period, or a deferral of part of the loan balance at no interest.

4 horse furnishings cont. from page 7

The horse is

galloping into the

home decor

and gift markets. This bust

is from A & B

Home Inc.

MCT

4 outdoor spaces cont. from page 9

By Angie Hicksangieslist.com

Ideally, you want to be able to take your home’s electrical system for granted. It should power your lights and appliances reliably, safely and invisibly.

But it’s important to notice warning signs that an experienced professional should examine a system. Our researchers compiled these indicators, based on interviews with highly rated electricians:l Flickering lights, a sizzling sound when lights

are switched on or off, plugs that spark, plugs that fit loosely in receptacles or lights that dim when appli-ances start. These may signal a loose wiring connec-tion, which can be a fire hazard.l Warmth in a wire, extension cord or fuse box.

This may indicate a faulty or unsafe wiring connec-tion, which could cause an overload and lead to fire.l A breaker that repeatedly trips, indicating an

overloaded circuit.l A breaker that never trips, especially in an older

home. That may be a sign that your wiring system lacks adequate electrical safeguards.

Also, make sure you know what kind of wiring winds through your home. Copper is the ideal material. Pre-1940s knob-and-tube wiring and 1960s-era aluminum wiring are associated with greater fire risk.

Knob-and-tube systems feature porcelain knobs that anchor wires to studs and floor joists and insu-lated tubes that carry wires through walls and other

obstructions. Such systems have separate hot and neu-tral wires that run parallel to each other and dissipate heat into the air. They can become a fire hazard if overburdened, improperly retrofitted or come in con-

tact with insulation.Problems with aluminum wire generally occur at

connections, where exposed aluminum wire may rust, resisting current flow and generating heat. Alu-minum also expands and contracts in response to load and temperature changes differently than copper or other materials, so connections between aluminum and other metals can lead to problems that reduce conduction.

If you live in an older home and aren’t certain of its wiring type or safety status, schedule an inspection by a licensed, experienced electrician.

In the case of knob-and-tube systems, you may be able to upgrade one room at a time, especially during a remodeling. With aluminum systems, an electrician may recommend total replacement with copper, or may replace connection points where aluminum wire is exposed to other metal types or air.

No matter what kind of wiring you have, experts recommend these do-it-yourself safety steps:l Trip GFCI receptacles monthly to be sure they’re

working properly. The initials stand for “Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter.” GFCI receptacles have “test” and “reset” buttons. Press the test button to turn the receptacle off. The reset button turns it back on.l Make sure your home has enough smoke detec-

tors. The U.S. Fire Administration suggests installing one in each sleeping area and on every level of the home, including the basement. Test batteries regu-larly and replace once a year.l Inspect appliances and electronic equipment

for old or broken plugs and cords. Replace anything that’s frayed, tattered or worn.l Leave repairs to an experienced electrician who

is appropriately licensed, bonded and insured. Also ask about whether parts, labor or both are under war-ranty and how long that warranty is effective.

Making sure your home’s electrical system is safe

(208) 882-5326

Carpet Cleaning • Upholstery Cleaning • House Cleaning Commercial Janitorial • Disaster Restoration

Locally Owned & Operated

Serving Moscow, Pullman and all communities on

the Palouse.

CARPET CLEANING $50 offMinimum Charge $125. Coupon required, one coupon per household. Not valid

with any other offers. Coupon has no cash value. Coupon expires 5-31-14.

408225CT-14

Our goal is to make your dream come true, whether it's a backyard paradise or a basic pool for the family to enjoy. No project is too small or less important, from residential to commercial swimming pools. We put the same quality workmanship in every project we do: remodel, renovaton, or new construction. We pride ourselves on running an ef cient project that stays on time and on budget.

In today’s economy, choosing to build a swimming pool is one of the best investments you can make to increase the value of your home, as well as your life in general. It's a great way to spend family time and entertain with friends, not to mention the bene t of staying healthy and t, all in the privacy of your backyard.

B&B Pools is proud to introduceDimension One Spas!

B&B Pools also carries above ground pools by Radiant Pools!

We take pride in making your backyard dreams a reality. Your backyard should be your haven where

you can relax with family or entertain friends.

"When Quality Matters"B&B Pools, LLC

Does your pool need more than basic service or repair? Give it a makeover! We offer many different options, from just adding a saltwater system or automatic cover, to redoing the concrete or liner replacements.

$8,999

B&B Pools, LLC1120 Bryden Ave. Lewiston

(formerly Clearwater Pool Service)

•208-743-0116 •208-746-5424Licensed & Bonded ID# RCE-27805 | WA# BBPOOBP918C7

WE’VEMOVED!

Now located at 1120 Bryden Ave.

Lewiston.

• Kitchens • Bathrooms • Desks • BBQs • Firepits • Fireplaces

Like Us On Facebook!

The Largest Slab Yard in the Area!Over 120 Colors to Choose From!

Call for your free in-home estimate: 208-746-8196Visit Us: www.graniteconceptsnw.com

4020 Hatwai Road, Lewiston

3632

13K

K-1

2

408728CT-14