Local crafts people go with the grain

Fall color is hereDan Petrich’s quirky abode

The big makeover

Woodworkers abound

Published as a suPPlement of the Whidbey neWs-times & south Whidbey RecoRd

FALL 2012

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FALL2012

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Already trees are beginning to offer up golden foliage. It’s best to plant trees during the cooler months in late fall, while they are still dormant, especially if planting bare root trees and shrubs. Coral Bark Maple photo taken in Freeland by Rebecca Collins.

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By BETTy FREEMAN | WhidBEy NEWs GROUP

Gary Leake began playing with wood when he was 4 years old. He remembers being in his grandfather’s

shop, learning about caring for and restoring wood furniture.

“My grandfather told me to listen to the wood,” he said. “He told me to let the wood be what it is, and not change it too much.”

Leake’s grandfather and great-grandfather were in the business of restoring and selling antiques in Port-land, Ore., so he learned at an early age to appreciate beautiful wood.

Leake and his wife Sandy both had busy careers in Seattle when they de-cided to quit their jobs and move to acreage outside Coupeville in 2000 to open their own woodworking studio and restoration shop.

“We’re happy with the change. Now I can build what I want to build. I plan to work in my shop until the day

I die,” Leake said.Their business is one-third antiques

restoration, one-third art gallery sales, and one-third custom furniture.

Aside from what he learned from his

grandfather about antiques, Leake is self-taught in the woodworking trade. He does a lot of his finish work by hand, using some of his grandfather’s tools.

Sandy Leake is an expert at furniture stripping, sanding and finishing and does the scheduling and basic book-keeping for their home business.

“I like working with Gary,” said Sandy. “We each have things we like to do and we complement each other.”

Together they take buying trips to track down unusual wood sources. Gary is always interested in finding wood that has led other lives prior to coming into his possession.

“Wood lives and breathes, and is still alive after it has been cut down. I like to think I’m honoring a long, true life by making it into something new,” Leake said.

He often repurposes or reclaims

wood that has been used for some-thing else. He utilizes storm debris and wood that has been hoarded by other collectors.

“I got some really hard wood from a gunstock maker’s estate once,” he said.

Holding a beautiful walnut board, Leake points to a hole where a branch once emerged, with the tree’s rings undulating around it.

“Once I would have seen this as a flaw, but now I incorporate it into the design,” he said. “Lately I’ve been experimenting with adding stained glass ‘windows’ beneath a hole, so a finished table looks like it has a tiny lake in it.”

For his art gallery furniture, Leake favors clean lines and hand-cut mortise and tenon joinery. He

also loves Japanese joinery tech-niques. Leake will often leave a live bark edge on a particularly beautiful piece of wood.

Leake’s wood furniture is shown on the island at Brackenwood Gallery in Langley and Penn Cove Gallery in Coupeville.

He is active in the Whidbey Wood-workers Guild, and is generous with praise for fellow woodworkers and their specialties.

“I’ve found my woodworking niche, and I’m focused on that,” said Leake. “We’re all keeping the old skills alive.”

Wood works Custom craftspersons abound

Christy and Bruce Schwager pose in front of their entry door, which they made from a piece of madrone they found on their property. Photo courtesy of Schwager Collection

To find a local woodworker for a custom project or unique piece of fur-niture, go to the Woodworkers Guild website – whidbeywoodworkers.com – to view representative work and learn about each artist’s specialties.

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Another woodworking couple, Bruce and Christy Schwager, has worked together since they met in the University of Washington architecture school in the early 1970s.

“We had a lot in common,” said Christy, “includ-ing the fact that we both decided we didn’t want to be architects. Instead we decided that what we liked to do was to make things with wood.”

The Schwagers bought acreage on East Harbor Road in 1977, and built their home and shop there in 1981. Their home incorporates cedar and Doug-las fir from their property, and most of their furniture was handmade by the couple.

“I don’t think we’ve ever bought a piece of wood furniture,” said Bruce.

Over the years, the Schwagers have learned to respect each other’s particular gifts, and to work together on projects amicably.

“We always collaborate on our designs because we see things differently,” said Christy. “The end result is always better for having two different per-spectives.”

“We’re both perfectionists,” said Bruce. “But we can each sacrifice our egos for the sake of doing better work.”

The Schwagers have made a name for themselves among local architects and designers for their carved entry doors and architectural woodwork. Many custom homes on the island have Schwager-made doors that reflect the owner’s values – echo-ing the beach scene outside, incorporating North-west Coast tribal motifs, or glorifying the beauty of trees and nature.

“We work closely with homeowners to choose

Details of an entry door (at left) designed and carved by Christy and Bruce Schwager reflect the owner’s love of the seaside where they live. Photo courtesy of Schwager Collection

“Blue Beginnings” (above), a cherry wood table by Gary Leake, features a bird’s nest glass insert. Photo courtesy Leake Collection

sEE WOOd, PAGE 11

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Summer’s over, spring seems a long way off and garden-ing season is over. Stop right there! Nothing could be further

from the truth.“That is a huge misconception in

the Pacific Northwest,” said Maureen Murphy, owner of Bayview Farm and Garden in Langley. “There’s a whole group of winter-flowering plants that will bloom from October through Feb-ruary.

“There are lots of options regarding foliage color, texture, berry displays and there are all kinds of other plants to give gardens strong winter interest.”

“Winter pansies are a great choice and they come in lots of different col-ors,” agreed Catrina Glasl, manager of Sally’s Garden in Coupeville. “Vio-las are also lovely through the winter and there are a lot of winter-blooming heathers. Those are just starting to bud up now and will just get better and better as fall progresses.”

One of the first things gardeners should do in the fall is to prepare for the spring. That includes putting down a good mulch. Both Murphy and Glasl recommend an organic compost rather than bark.

“Organic compost will release its particulates and nutrients very slowly, more in the warm weather than the cold, so it regulates itself,” said Glasl. “If you add a chemical fertilizer now, it’s going to give a big boost right away, when you don’t necessarily want that new growth on plants that can be damaged by frost.”

Fall is also a good time to plant bulbs for spring flowers like crocuses, daffodils, tulips and hyacinth. Murphy recommends dropping a few smaller-variety bulbs into your fall and winter containers, too.

“It’s a great thing to do,” she said. “It extends the season on your contain-ers and you get this really gorgeous surprise in the spring when you’ve forgotten you planted them.”

According to Murphy, another good thing to do in the fall is to weed your flower beds and get them neat and tidy for the winter. And don’t forget the lime.

“Our soils are very acidic because

it rains a lot,” said Murphy. “Having a bag of lime around is a good thing. It sweetens the soil and raises the pH. Most ornamentals like it. Healthy plants are all about the soil.”

This is also the best time of year to plant most trees and shrubs, said Murphy.

“The soil is still warm so it won’t shock the roots, rain is on the way, which will allow the plants to spend the winter rooting in so they’re ready to blast off in the spring,” she said.

Murphy suggests spending a little time planning where to put winter-in-terest plants. Because of weather, we typically don’t tend to spend as much time out of doors, so placing plants in the far corner of the yard doesn’t make much sense.

“I always recommend planting in close proximity to winter traffic pat-terns, in other words, from the car to the house,” she laughed. “But think about the view from the windows where you spend the most time indoors.”

Fall bloomAutumn brings out the best in nature

Chrysanthemums are a colorful choice for fall containers and gardens. The blooms will typically last through the first heavy frost.Kathy Reed photos

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And don’t forget about veggies!“There are a lot of good winter

vegetables, like lettuces, spinach and kale,” said Glasl. “They grow best in cold weather and have the best flavor in cold weather.

“You can also do brussell sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbages of course and parsley is a good one in cold weather,” she continued. “So there are a lot of good salad-making things for winter.”

For containers, Glasl suggests combining flowering plants and veg-etables. Lettuces or kale in the center of a flower pot with violas or pansies surrounding them make for a nice pre-sentation, she said.

In general, Glasl said there are sev-eral miniature evergreens that do well in containers and viburnum will do well in large containers or in hedges. Clusters of small flowers are just be-ginning to bud and will bloom all the way through Valentine’s Day.

A winter-blooming species of camel-lia can be very appealing.

“The sasanqua variety is much more graceful, blooms for a longer period of time and are more adaptable than the more familiar camellia,” she said.

The true aristocrat of the winter-bloomers, though, is witch hazel, said Murphy.

“It’s a small tree or large shrub that blooms in January or February,” she said. “It creates the basic structure of a winter garden.”

The best thing to do if you’re in-terested in a winter garden is to visit your local nursery. Learn what’s avail-able and whether it’s suited to your specific needs.

After all, nothing can brighten a winter day more than the sweet fra-grance of Sarcococca ruscifolia, or sweet box.

“The vanilla plant, it’s sometimes called,” said Murphy. “It’s really easy to grow and a winter-blooming plant that has a wonderful scent. To smell that beautiful fragrance makes me happy during what can be a dreary time of year.”

(Clockwise from top left) “Yuletide” is just one variety of Camellia sasanqua that does very well here, blooming most of the winter. Several different colors are available.Photo courtesy of CamelliaWeb and The Southeastern Camellia Society

Asters, similar to chrysanthe-mums, are a nice addition to a fall garden. Blooms should last until the first hard frost.

Colorful pansies are just one of several flowers that do well over the fall and winter, adding a splash of color to what can be a dreary landscape.

Goshiki Variegated False Holly, top, and Flaming Silver Lily of the Valley are not only good ad-ditions to a winter garden, their foliage does very well when used in holiday floral arrangements or wreaths.

Kathy Reed photos

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By BETTy FREEMAN | WhidBEy NEWs GROUP

Dean Petrich’s house, set into the woods near Goss Lake, is as quirky and playful as its owner/builder. Petrich is a

man of many talents and interests and his unique house and property reflects them all.

“I built everything you see here,” said Petrich.

Peer into the windows of the conical-roofed workshop at the entrance to his five acres and you’ll see the sign for Petrich’s Piano Shop, just one of his vocations. Inside are 22 pianos ready for repair and tuning.

Also stored in the workshop are some tools of his other trade – six unicycles, performance backdrops, juggling toys, magic paraphernalia, inflatables, parachutes, stilts, tug ropes and a hula hoop.

Petrich has enjoyed a long career as Deano the Clown, entertaining chil-dren at Northwest events and parties

since 1973. Outside his shop, there’s a tree house, sandbox, jungle gym, swing, zip line and secret tunnel. Two ponds connected with slippery slides add to the atmosphere of fun and frolic.

You can almost hear the squeals of delight echoing in the trees.

“I love the woods, and the out-doors,” said Petrich. “I just couldn’t live in a small space.”

Petrich bought the land outside Free-land in 1977, and built his home from recycled and repurposed materials.

“I got the poles that support the house from a clearcut on Keller Road,” he said. “They were too small for lum-ber so they’d been left to rot, but they were perfect for my house.”

The house’s greenhouse entry opens to a light-filled living room that overlooks the trees and ponds, made cozy with a central wood stove and built-in seating. One alcove off the living room holds a baby grand piano, a few propped-up guitars and conga drums. In another nook, a chess game is set up on an inlaid chessboard table Petrich’s dad built when he was 16.

“The window walls overlooking the pond open completely to the outside,” said Petrich.

When asked if birds ever fly in, he said, “of course.”

“I built this place to blend in with the environment,” said Petrich.

His eco-friendly home is full of inventive ideas and solutions. It has three composting toilets, and a built-in kitchen waste system. Petrich scav-enged floor and wall tiles at the recy-cling center or from dumpsters.

A forest scene mural painted by Petrich brings the outdoors in to the large kitchen space. The kitchen island is on wheels so he can reconfigure the space as needed. Petrich traded the “floating island” countertop work for

repairing a friend’s piano.

A gleaming industrial-size stove in the kitchen’s cen-ter is big enough to cook for a crowd.

“I can make 12 pancakes at a time on that grill,” he said.

Every year, Petrich throws a big party for his birthday on Sept. 15.

“It’s a potluck, so we always have plenty of food, mu-sic, dancing, hot-tubbing, saunas, sliding in the ponds

and playing on the toys,” Petrich said. “People come for the day or for the weekend. Some bring RVs or tents. The house has 35 sleeping places, and there’s also a camper and a tipi in the field out back.”

Some of the home’s bedrooms are tucked into odd-shaped nooks. His son’s tiny childhood bedroom has a cozy elevated bunk with a bird’s eye view of the trees outside. When his

Quirky abodeDean Petrich’s design for living

Dean Petrich emerges from the exit of his “secret” tunnel (at left).

The kitchen island in Petrich’s house is on wheels (top inset) so he can reconfigure the space as needed. Petrich painted the forest mural in the background.

At the entrance to Petrich’s five-acre retreat is his piano repair shop and clown prop storage. Twenty-two pianos wait for repair inside, while 125 other pianos are stored in tents and a Quonset hut at the rear of the property. Betty Freeman photos

Pg 9

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son got older, he enjoyed a bigger space that still feels like it,” nes-tled in the trees.

A tower bed-room is reached by climbing a creaky ladder.

“I made it creaky on pur-pose when I had teenagers here,” Petrich laughed. “I wanted it to feel like you were going somewhere special.”

The tower, sep-arated from the rest of the house and very quiet, feels like a meditation space among the towering firs.

The master bedroom is combined with office space and a lounging area. Poles retrieved from windstorm debris became the stair rail leading to the master suite.

Back downstairs, Petrich also has a workout room that doubles as a li-brary and a triangular mirrored closet-turned-dressing room for his clown costumes, small props and make-up.

Petrich says his house is finished, but he still has outdoor projects in mind.

A wooded trail leads to a fire circle, a trampoline and a tipi clearing.

He envi-sions build-ing small cabins near the clearing for guests or organic farm-ing interns who could live there in return for working on the land.

In the future, he hopes to plant a vege-table garden in a big open field and give veggies to the

food bank.Adjacent to the future vegetable

patch are six tents and a Quonset hut that hold more pianos, awaiting repair or new owners.

“Each tent has 12 pianos each,” he said. “And the metal building had 53 pianos at last count.”

That’s 125 pianos, not counting the 22 in the repair shop.

“I’ll give them away rather than see them get ruined by being in the damp outside air,” he said. “Just give me a call.“

Reach Dean Petrich at 360-730-7992.

Dean Petrich’s House is a multi-level combination of recycled and repurposedmaterials built to blend into its forest environment. The blue window walls opencompletely to the outside. In the foreground is one of two pools connected by a slide.

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By JUSTIN BURNETT | WhIdBEy NEWS GROUP

Whether it’s a major redesign or just a one-day makeover, a little advice can go a long way.

And although Lisbeth Cort only just opened Whidbey Island Style this past April, the Coupeville resident wouldn’t be a bad place to start. She’s already worked on about 10 different interior decorating jobs.

“I’ve had projects on Whidbey, Camano and Se-attle, so I can’t complain,” Cort said.

“It’s been better than expected.”Cort has worked all over the country in fields of

historic preservation, consultation and grant writing. Since moving to Washington more than a dozen years ago, she’s worked for organiza-tions such as the Whidbey Camano Land Trust, Seattle-based Grant-makers in the Arts, and most recently, her own consult-

ing firm for non-profit groups.Thinking about future retirement plans, Cort de-

cided a few years ago it was time for a change and decided to fall back on a long-lost love, design. Her master’s degree in historic preservation was earned from Ball State University’s College of Architecture in Indiana.

“I feel like I’m really getting back to my roots,” Cort said.

They must not have been buried too deep be-cause, along with landing a lot of work, she ap-pears to be doing a great job. Mary Anderson, an Oak Harbor resident and current customer, had plenty of nice things to say about Cort.

“I didn’t trust myself,” said Anderson, of her plans to redesign her home overlooking Polnell Point. “I

knew I needed some help and every step she has just been great.”

“When she brought things (paint colors and art), I thought I love that and I love that,” Anderson said.

Interior design can sometimes be challenging be-cause the job entails putting aside your own tastes and intuiting the wants and imaginings of clients, Cort said. Her job is to bring their unrealized wants to life.

Whenever possible, Cort said she tries to do that with island or regional vendors. For example, An-derson’s “new” living room will includes weaved fish created by a South Whidbey artisan and a coffee table from Port Townsend woodworkers.

“I think that’s really important,” said Cort, who subscribes heavily to the “buy local” concept. “It

also brings personality and meaning to a home.” Anderson, the wife of Best Friend’s Veterinary

Center veterinarian Eric Anderson in Oak Harbor, She has her own business designing stationery and wedding invitations. So far, she said she’s been very happy with Cort and her choice and can’t wait to see the finished result.

“I’m just super happy and excited,” Anderson said.Coming from someone who also makes their liv-

ing in a similar field, Cort said it was a particularly nice compliment.

Cort is a certified interior decorator and will take on jobs both large and small, from major renova-tions to one-day redesigns. For more information about her business and her portfolio of work, visit www.whidbeyislandstyle.com.

Big makeoverInterior designers transform homes

before

after

Before and after shots of a renovation on South

Whidbey.Justin Burnett photosMary Anderson laughs with Lisbeth

Cort, owner of Whidbey Island Style, as they go over design concepts for Anderson’s home renovations.

Justin Burnett photo

woods and designs that will lend themselves to carving,” said Christy, who does most of the hand carving.

Madrone, alder, cherry and walnut are easier to carve than maple or Douglas fir, said Christy.

Bruce takes care of the engineering, as well as selecting, matching, sawing and finishing wood, and working with other artists to design metal hardware.

He and ironworker Jeff Holtby have collaborated on a number of projects.

One unusual project involved de-signing and installing a woven ceiling made with Douglas fir that did not re-veal the hardware suspending it.

“Those clients didn’t want any bor-ing ceilings in their home,” Bruce said.

Most of the Schwagers’ work is commissioned directly from clients, and the only gallery

event they participate in is the annual Woodpalooza show.

At the 2012 Woodpalooza show, the Schwagers displayed a huge book-matched madrone table and sev-eral of Christy’s carved “shell” bowls.

“I’ve always loved beachcombing and I’ve collected shells since I was little,” said Christy.

“Then I realized that the grain in wood is similar to the patterns in shells, and decided to try to make shell bowls and vessels.”

Her stunning oyster shell carved from quilted maple looks like the real thing. She’s also carved mussels, an abalone and a bubble shell she said was so hard to carve it will probably be the only one of its kind.

Like Gary and Sandy Leake, Bruce and Christy are always on the lookout for unusual wood, whether it’s storm debris or an old tree that needs a new life.

They often purchase stock from Edensaw woods in Port Townsend, and get madrone from a supplier in Klamath Falls, Ore., because, Bruce said, “He’s the only person I know on the West coast who knows how to

steam madrone properly.”Wood continues to expand and con-

tract after it’s been sawn and crafted into a new shape, so proper steaming and aging are important to fine wood-workers.

Most clients want furniture or doors made with native Northwest trees. One particularly beautiful pair of ta-bles Bruce made combines wood from spalted holly and Whidbey Island-grown black walnut.

“I think there’s more value when the wood has a story or a history in the place,” said Bruce.

“We’re making lifetime products that are meant to last several generations.”

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Gary Leake (at left) plans to put a piece of blue stained glass behind the hole in this piece of walnut he’s going to make into a table. Betty Freeman photo

Gary and Sandy Leake (above) pose with one of Gary’s tables currently on display at Penn Cove Gallery in Coupeville. Photo courtesy Schwager Collection

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By REBECCA OLS0N | WhidBEy NEWS GROUP

The first step into Gay Santos’ Coupeville home is a big one, taking visitors back in time to an 1859 log home, chinking visible between the whitewashed logs inside and

Penn Cove sparkling outside the wavy glass win-dows.

By using the materials of the 1800s to restore the former sea captain’s home, everything about the house is authentic. The home was featured on the American Association of University Women’s recent Dream Kitchen Tour.

Aside from the breathtaking restoration of the home, Santos’ home is unique because it features two kitchens: the 2012 kitchen and the 1859 kitch-en.

The 1859 kitchen is the original kitchen of the home: a rock fireplace built by Chief Snakelum. An antique rotisserie hangs in front of the fire, often with an herb-stuffed chicken rotating before the flames. Santos winds the rotisserie with a key and it swivels the chicken, cooking it in about an hour, Santos said.

The 2012 kitchen is a dream itself, adhering to history but decked out with state-of-the art applianc-es. Not a splinter of plywood can be found in the home. Since kitchens didn’t have upper cupboards in the 1800s, a long shelf runs along the wall, hold-ing blue and white Transferware, decorated dishes made circa 1800.

Santos’ collection of rolling pins -- including a patterned one for making pasta -- reside on honed soapstone countertops above the French stove. A French-inspired pot rack sorts pots by size in an elongated triangular rack. A farm sink and candle-light chandelier complete the scene.

At first glance, a refrigerator and freezer don’t ap-pear present in the kitchen. But that’s Santos’ favor-ite part of the kitchen. The refrigerator and freezer are located in four under-counter, wood-fronted drawers, retaining the integrity of the period.

“I love to cook. I designed it to be functional as well as decorative,” said Santos, who owns 90 cookbooks and is a huge fan of Julia Child. She volunteers to cook fancy salmon dinners as auction items for the Boys and Girls and Soroptimist clubs.

Windows – complete with old, wavy glass -- look

out on Penn Cove. It’s a perfect vacation spot, and Santos rents rooms out through the website Airbnb. The home is rented out nearly every weekend. The location was also chosen by NBC for filming.

In Santos’ home, the improvements weren’t limited to the kitchen. The maple floors were put down by hand and the log walls were chinked by hand using the original recipe of horsehair, sand, cement and lime. Santos and Todd Heppner did the majority of the work themselves.

An antique grandfather clock stands beside the windows, a relic similar to the many treasures a sea captain of the 1800s would have owned. Outside, a 100-year-old tobacco barn adorned with wagon wheel hub lights sits beside a vegetable garden, fruit trees and chicken coop with a water view.

“So you could survive here,” Santos said. And that’s just how she likes it because that’s how it was

for Capt. James Henry Smith, who passed the home to his daughter, Maude Fullington, who later passed it to her daughter, Mary Fullington.

Santos loves the history. She tried to imagine com-ing to the island on a ship with no grocery stores or amenities.

“You took your chicken and you cooked it on your fireplace,” Santos laughed. “I like to think that some-day, someone else will live here long after I’m gone and wonder how I lived.”

Santos has restored 24 houses total.“I like everything old. I like antiques, always

have,” Santos said, adding that most of her belong-ings are period to the house and she even decorates her Christmas tree with antique Victorian ornaments. “I love the history of it and I love the fact that some-one lived here before me and the history of that.”

Santos’ love of restoration grew from learning she could fix just about anything.

Her first job was for a “tyrant” dentist and one day, he demanded she fix the raising and lowering mechanism on the patient chair, Santos said. With-out a clue of what to do, Santos rummaged around until it worked.

“It taught me somehow I could do anything and everything,” Santos said. “I could lay tile, I could finish floors.”

Kitchen kaboodleAn island remodel spans the centuries

Gaye Santos’ home features French-inspired items like this stove and the pot rack in the background. When researching the sea captain who built the home, she dis-covered that he often traveled to France and Santos paid tribute to this part of his life to enhance her kitchen.

Rebecca Olson photos

FALL2012 Pg 13

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By Tresa erickson | MulTi-ad

Your home is nice, but some of the rooms are starting to look a little shabby. You haven’t updated your decor in a

while, and it shows. Before you can get out that can of paint and roller tray, however, you’re going to have to declutter. Your stash has grown con-siderably over the years, and it’s time you started clearing out some of it to make way for the new.

Decluttering is rarely easy, espe-cially if you hang onto things because they mean a lot to you or you might need them one day. If you’ve tried to declutter in the past or suspect you’re going to have trouble doing so now, you might want to enlist the help of a friend who can act as your trusted advisor and provide you with the ob-jectivity and motivation you lack.

There are various methods for at-tacking the clutter. One of the most common is dividing things into keep, sell, donate and trash piles. If you’re not one for following through, you might opt for few-er piles-perhaps just keep and trash. There is no point in boxing up items you’ll never find the time to sell or deliver to charity or family and friends. If, on the other hand, you are really good at following through, you might want to divide your donate pile into two piles, one for charity and one for friends and family.

For the best results, pace yourself. If you try to tackle your whole house all at once, you will burn out quickly and that paint can and tray will end up back in the garage. Start in the corner

of a room that doesn’t get much traffic and work your way out over a period of days or weeks.

Be ruthless in the sorting. If you haven’t used an item in the past year, chances are you’re not going to and can get rid of it. (Yes, this applies to all of those clothes you’ve been sav-ing because you think you’re going to get back into them. You may be losing weight, but when all is said and done, you will probably want to purchase clothes that are in style.)

Check the condition of items as you are sorting through them. If something is stained, ripped

or broken beyond repair, toss it. Don’t fool yourself into thinking someone out there will have the time and money to fix it. Most won’t, unless the item is an antique. Be wary of keeping items in need of repair for yourself. If you haven’t fixed the items by now, chanc-es are you aren’t going to. Toss them or give them to someone who will fix

them.Watch out for

surplus. Do you re-ally need 45 sets of sheets or 80 pairs of shoes? Throw away what’s stained, ripped or broken, select a reasonable number to keep and get rid of the rest. Key word? Reasonable. Forty sets of sheets for a two-bed household are not reasonable, nor are 75 pairs of shoes

for one person.Once you’ve cleared out a corner,

re-examine your keep pile and make sure everything really is worth keep-ing. Pay special attention to mementos and heirlooms. You don’t have to keep every single doodle your child ever did or every little thing they made you.

Select some of the most memorable and throw out the rest. If you have sev-eral heirlooms, consider giving away some of them now. What’s the point in keeping that family tea set tucked away in the closet when your daugh-ter could be using it?

While you are sorting, don’t over-look the furniture in the room. You might not need that large armoire now that you have gotten rid of most of the clothes that were in it. Either re-purpose it or get rid of it. Is there any-thing someone else in the family wants that you’re willing to part with now? Be just as ruthless with the big stuff as you were with the little stuff.

When everything has been sorted and boxed, make time to deal with it then.

Don’t wait until you have gone through everything in the house. Chances are you’ll end up doing more reshuffling than removing. Move the stuff you are keeping to another room. Take the trash to the curb. Sell what you can, either through ads or a garage sale. Drop off your donations. Arrange for drop-offs or pick-ups with friends and family. Should you get the runaround, don’t hold onto the items wanted. Set a deadline, and if your friend or family member misses it, do-nate or sell the items.

De-clutterGet rid of that extra stuff!

Look familiar? Maybe it’s time to tackle the clutter in your life. Courtesy photo

Do you really need 45 sets of sheets or 80 pairs of shoes? Throw away what’s stained, ripped or broken, select a reasonable number to keep and get rid of the rest.

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By Tresa erickson | MulTi-ad

In many of today’s homes, the floor plans are open, with one room flowing into another. Walk into the front door, and you might catch

a glimpse of the living room, kitchen and dining room. With such a van-tage point, many homeowners look to create flow from one room to another. If you are among them, here are some tips.

PaintPaint is one of the most inexpensive

ways to create flow. And no, you do not have to paint every room the same color. For interest, select a palette of comple-mentary colors and pull from it for the various rooms.

Use a deep brown in your living room and a lighter brown in your dining room with teal accents throughout. Paint the walls of your light-filled kitchen teal and add touches of brown throughout. Creating flow is all about selecting two to four complementary colors and using them in different ways from room to room.

PatternPattern is another way to connect

the rooms together. As with paint, you do not have to use the same patterns throughout the rooms.

There should be some similarities among them, however, in particular in color and scale. If you use stripes in your living room, make sure you carry the pattern into the other rooms, even if it’s just in a valance or a throw pil-low here and there.

FinishesIt’s all in the details, and to maintain

flow, the finishes from room to room should be from similar color families.

Bronzed and black fixtures and han-dles will complement each other well, whereas chrome and brass will not.

The chrome handles on your kitchen cabi-nets will clash with the brass sconces, chandeliers and fix-tures everywhere else. When possible, try to stick to the same ba-sic finish.

MoldingsMoldings create a line from room to

room. Imagine what happens to that line when the baseboards, casings, etc. are of differing sizes and colors.

To keep the flow moving from room to room, make sure your baseboards, window casings, chair rails and crown molding are of the same size and color where possible.

This is especially important with the baseboards. If you can’t afford to re-place the moldings, rework them with some paint or stain to match.

DecorFinally, there is decor. Nothing dis-

rupts flow more than a western theme in one room and a nautical theme in another. Choose one basic style of decor or complementing styles for the rooms you want to create flow in.

If your living room feels rather homey, don’t break it up with a mod kitchen. Keep your cleaned-lined cabi-

netry and stainless steel appliances, but add homey touches here and there to carry the theme through.

Keep in mind that it takes time to create flow in your home. Don’t ex-pect it to happen overnight unless you have a brand-new home and the bud-get to shop for all-new things. Work on it one step at a time, and don’t be afraid to mix things up here and there for interest.

Seamless flow

Tying your home together

Choose one basic style of decor or complementing styles for the rooms you want to create flow in.

If your living room feels rather homey, don’t break it up with a mod kitchen. Keep your cleaned-lined cabinetry and stainless steel appliances, but add homey touches here and there to carry the theme through. Courtesy photo

By Kathy Reed | WhidBey NeWs GRoup

This will come as no surprise: Coupeville is one of prettiest places in the state. Actually, the town is one of five Washington

communities nominated in the Paint Quality Institute’s “Prettiest Painted Places in America” competition.

“That makes sense,” said Coupeville Chamber of Commerce president Lisa Barnhardt. “Citizens here keep up their homes and we take pride in our history. We want to convey and share that with others.”

“I think we have a real unique place,” agreed Sue McDaniel. She and her husband, Marty, own the Blue Goose Inn, two histor-ic homes side by side on North Main Street.

“It’s a very small town, but people in the community are supportive of the history,” she said. “Everybody’s very involved. It’s unique in the nation, I think.”

The Paint Quality Institute, formed in 1989 by a subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company, provides informa-tion on the virtues of quality paint, col-or trends and decorating with paint.

The purpose of the competition is to show how an attractive color scheme can enhance a home’s curb appeal.

“We feel there is no better way to demonstrate the importance of exte-rior paint color than to focus on these beautiful real-world communities that take so much pride in their appear-ance,” said Debbie Zimmer, color expert at the Paint Quality Institute.

The Prettiest Painted Places contest

has been held twice before, the last time in 2000. Coupeville is no strang-er to the competition, either, having been a finalist once before.

“The places involved in our competi-tion are a tremendous inspiration to us all,” Zimmer said.

Coupeville, the second oldest town in the state, along with Edmonds, Leavenworth, Port Townsend and Vashon-Maury Island, will vie with about 200 nominees from other states

across the nation for regional and national awards. Judges with expertise in color se-lection, exterior paint-ing and home im-provement will review the entries, conduct additional research and make selected site visits.

It is Coupeville’s rich history and its people that make the difference, said Barn-hardt.

“I’ve lived in some beautiful places,” she said, “but I’ve never connected with people like I have in Coupeville. The people that own these

homes, they not only take pride in it, there’s a pride in ownership that goes way beyond.”

“You’re not really owning it,” said McDaniel. “You’re a steward of it. Each person who takes care of one of these homes puts their heart and soul into it. They’re living histories and we have great feelings about them.”

Nominees in the competition range from small communities like Coupeville to well known areas like Cape Cod, Mass. and Napa, Calif. The nation’s 12 “Prettiest Painted Places” will be revealed in mid-October.

FALL2012 Pg 15

Town, paintedCoupeville shows its colors

The Blue Goose Inn, one of several historic homes in Coupeville, was painted in this salmon and blue color scheme when owners Sue and Marty McDaniel purchased it.

Kathy Reed photo

Attractive exterior paint themes like this one at The Cove Thai Restaurant in Coupe-ville, are part of the criteria for the Prettiest Painted Places in America contest. Coupe-ville is one of five communities in Washington to make the finals in the competition. Kathy Reed photo

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