THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 3, 1996 TAG: 9611010064
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: AROUND THE HOUSE
SOURCE: BY MARY FLACHSENHAAR, SPECIAL TO HOME & GARDEN
LENGTH: 93 lines
THOUGH IT LOOKS like a dollhouse made just for fun, it's really a model made to take the guesswork out of home construction. The 3-D Home Kit, pictured here, lets the homeowner see, in three-dimensional miniature, how a house-to-be will look.
Cardboard materials for everything from siding, roofing and windows to doors, kitchen cabinets and appliances convert to a 1/4-inch scale model of a home up to 6,200 square feet. Along with a floor plan grid, there are even cardboard people and pets, which means the kit will probably be put to use as a dollhouse eventually, if there are kids in the picture.
For smaller jobs, such as remodeling or changing the floor plan, another kit called the Home Quick Planner is the more appropriate tool. It contains more than 700, 1/4-inch scale, reusable, peel-and-stick symbols and a 5,600-square-foot floor plan grid. You can knock down walls, move furniture, add doors and windows, all with one finger.
In addition to the home planner, there are quick planners for individual rooms - bathroom, kitchen and office.
The 3-D kit and all the planners come with instructions and design tips. The 3-D Home Kit costs $29.95 plus $4 shipping. The Quick Planners each cost $18.95 plus $4 shipping. Be sure to designate whether you want a home, bathroom, kitchen or office planner. Send check or money order to Design Works Inc., 11 Hitching Post Road, Amherst, MA 01002. Or call (413) 549-4763 to place a credit card order. BOB VILA HITS NEWSSTANDS
A regular on the American TV screen, Bob Vila, our hero of home improvement, will take up residence on coffee tables too. The premiere issue of the Hearst magazine Bob Vila's American Home is currently on newsstands.
The issue, available until December, visits several upscale remodeling projects around the country, reports on new tools and good buys and gives the do-it-yourselfer details for home projects, such as building shelves for collectibles. One useful story advises how to fix up your house without breaking up your marriage, plus how to talk so contractors will listen.
The magazine targets men, considered the audience for home-improvement stories, and women, who presumably will turn to the remodeling features. The next issue will be out in March, one of three slated for 1977. If audience response is strong, the magazine will become a monthly, said a spokesperson. The cost is $3.95. 100 YEARS OF HOUSES
The pricetag on that magazine is a lot higher than the one on the first issue of House Beautiful, published 100 years ago in December. Ten cents was the cost of the inaugural, 28-page issue, on stationery-size paper, with murky black-and white photographs.
In its early days, House Beautiful, the first magazine devoted to the home, dismissed the typical Victorian house as full of ``tawdry finery'' and commended instead the simplicity of American colonial period furniture. Its third issue contained an admiring article on the Illinois home of Frank Lloyd Wright, 30 years old and unknown.
The architect is the subject of two articles in the current (November) issue of the magazine, which is a celebration of its 100th anniversary. Reminiscences on American home design throughout the century are interspersed with news of the present (the current 101 top designers are named) and predictions for the future (the Michigan home that won the magazine's centennial competition is touted as tomorrow's architecture). How to find copies of old House Beautifuls is the subject of one article.
Collectors may want to add this impressive issue to their stack of keepers. The cost is $3.50. FALL-CLEANING CHORES
As if we didn't have enough to do with you-know-what right around the corner, The Maids, a professional cleaning service, has issued this to-do (or honey-do) list of fall-cleaning jobs:
Clean out and cover air conditioners for winter.
Cut back tree limbs that overhang your home so mice won't use them as a bridge into the house.
Remove dead insects from light fixtures in and outside the house.
Clean out dryer vent and hose.
Change smoke detector batteries.
Clean out gutters for winter. If you have a lot of trees, you may want to invest in gutter screens to keep leaves and debris out. VOILA! INSTANT VALANCES
Even if you're all thumbs when it comes to interior decorating, you can do this: To create attractive window valances, drape squares of fabric on the diagonal over curtain rods. No sewing necessary. Change the fabric from time to time for a fresh look. The tip comes from Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
DESIGN WORKS INC.
The 3-D Home Kit lets the homeowner construct a three-dimensional
model and tinker with plans until everything is in place. by CNB