THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 1996 TAG: 9609130070
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: AROUND THE HOUSE
SOURCE: BY MARY FLACHSENHAAR, SPECIAL TO HOME & GARDEN
LENGTH: 66 lines
FIRST, METAL PORCH chairs and benches from the garden made their way inside. Now, with the garden look still in full bloom in interior decorating, the trend is to heavy metal indoors.
Just make sure that metal is not too heavy, advises Pattie Shaw, home furnishings style director for JC Penney Catalog, which features, in its 1996 fall and winter edition, all the metal pieces pictured in this bedroom.
She suggests mixing metal items with other textures such as natural sisal rugs, lush jacquard fabrics, smooth glass and polished wood.
Using simple accompanying fabrics allows the metal to shine, Shaw says. ``You don't appreciate the lines of a metal piece if it's lost in the design of the bedding or upholstery,'' she advises.
To order the fall and winter catalog call (800) 222-6161. WATCH FOR WORN OUT WIRING
People who live in old houses should keep in mind that electrical wiring can wear out, according to the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission.
Wiring should be inspected periodically, advises the commission, because it might not be able to handle the demands of contemporary appliances and electronics.
Overloaded or faulty wiring is the leading cause of fire deaths, claiming an average of 350 lives a year, according to the commission. The report is from Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services. RECYCLING TO THE EXTREME
SmartMoney magazine recently published a list of household tips collected from newsletters for tightwads. Some tactics practiced by those truly dedicated to the cause: Cutting old shower curtains into baby bibs; reusing waxed paper linings from cereal boxes; collecting lint from the clothes dryer to make stuffed animals; taking home the free shower cap when you stay at a hotel and using it to cover leftovers. The tips were reported by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services. MORE MILES ON OLD TIRES
You might have thought you said goodbye forever to that corroded old tire, those dirty worn-out sneakers. But in this, the age of rabid recycling, there's a chance they will be born again.
SATECH, an environmental technology company in Washington state, has developed a way to grind up old sneakers and tires and turn them into floor tiles, according to the September issue of Ladies' Home Journal magazine. Floors made from these cushioned tiles have been found to be easier than hardwood on ankles, knees and backs, reports the magazine.
And Neiman Marcus has reinvented the wheel, so to speak. The store's at-home mail-order catalog features chic patio furniture made from recycled tires. The seat and back of a $120 chair and the surface of a $65 footstool are woven with strips of tire, and the outer rim of the sidewall becomes the base for each piece of furniture, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune.
The customer should get good mileage from the furniture, says the company, because it is durable, even in harsh weather.
For more information on the chair and footstool, call the catalog at (800) 825-8000. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
JC PENNEY
Wrought iron is used for this canopy bed, bench, bedside table, lamp
and mirror from JC Penney. by CNB