Home and garden

Color is everywhere, in nature, in fashion and in home décor. Some of the biggest trends in interior design these days revolve around color.

Houseplants have gotten something of a bad rap lately, with climate advocates citing the energy-intensive greenhouses they’re grown in, the harmful emissions produced from shipping them long distances and the environment-depleting peat they are often packed in.

“Sometimes convenience breeds complacency. If every herb is readily available to us without the need to learn its lifecycle, walk the trails or till the fields, then its far too easy to think of them as nothing more than ingredients.”

I’ve got two different stories to share with you this week. Are you a homeowner that hires contractors of all types to do work? If so, the first one will resonate with you.

I recently got a question from a reader about where to get good soil and compost. Part of her request was for “organic” soil and compost.

Paint color paralysis is real. And the only thing harder than picking the perfect shade is picking a house full of them. Too many jarring hues can leave you feeling like you’re walking through a bag of Skittles. But a monochrome medley can be even worse as you shift from room to room: blah.

There is a reason why sectional furniture is so popular and used in various ways. In a word, it’s versatility. From desks that can be configured in different ways to sofas, coffee tables and more, modular is the ideal choice for those looking for flexibility and versatility.

The last weekend of February, I made my annual pilgrimage to the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival in downtown Seattle.

The color white is often a complicated, if not confusing color for many homeowners. From wall color to upholstery and textiles such as drapery and area rugs, the color white comes in various shades that are nearly impossible to match.

Wood is such a magnificent building material, in my opinion. It’s strong, it’s beautiful, it’s easy to cut and shape, and it can be used to create delicious eye candy both inside and outside your home.

The research supporting the importance of home gardens that incorporate elements of biodiversity and sustainability is growing rapidly.

Like blue jeans and Colonial-style architecture, white kitchens are timeless – and given their popularity with developers and flippers, odds are high that you have one, whether you wanted it or not. But according to the 2025 Kitchen Trends Report from the National Kitchen and Bath Association, these clean and classic spaces have fallen out of fashion. Many homeowners now crave kitchens with personality, shunning “sterile” white in favor of nature-based colors, like green, blue and brown.

I’ve shared in past columns the wonderful time I’m having helping my son with projects around his house. For several weekends now we have spent hours of quality time together while finishing his basement.

2025 kicked off with a bang, especially when it comes to design trends. While some are holdovers from previous years, many are not, and represent a fresh new approach to what’s in, relating to home décor. Here are five key interior design trends, to keep an eye out for if looking to infuse a sense of modern “wow” into your home. Earth tones. Deep earth and fire colors such as burnt orange, ...

The day Linda and Jeff Groskreutz stumbled upon a 4,600-square-foot ranch house with long empty walls in Madison Lake, Minnesota, they knew it was the one.

By the time you read this, we will be experiencing our first taste of spring temperatures. Just don’t get too excited.

There may be a lot of snow on the ground, but spring is still on its way, and the gardeners are itching to make plans for this year’s growing season.

If you’ve been seeking a little jolt of happiness anywhere you can find one lately, you’re not alone. “Trying to have a home that is incredibly comfortable and (surrounding) myself with the things that I love tempers my existential despair,” says designer Jonathan Adler, who has made a brand out of mood-boosting with his witty tabletop objets (cases in point: decorative brass boxes in the shape of Xanax; wicker bananas).

I received two frantic phone calls in less than 12 hours several days ago. Both calls were about plumbing emergencies. The one young woman was so flustered she hung up on me the instant she discovered my Google Maps listing was about drawing plumbing plans, not doing plumbing service calls. I speculated a pipe had burst and water was flooding her home once the line went dead.