It’s easy to recreate any look you see in a magazine or on TV with paint—and there are plenty of blog posts out there that will teach you how to do just that, step by step. After a while, though, those looks—those trends—grow tiresome. You start seeing the same paint color, the same backsplash, and the same mirrors at all of your friends’ houses, and it all becomes ubiquitous—not personal. You might have considered stenciling a wall, but that sounds like a lot of time (and a lot of work). What will you do?

Try wallpaper.

Using the right wallpaper in strategic places is one way to set your home apart in the sea of HGTV replicas. When you approach the way you decorate your home the same way you choose clothing for yourself, you select the right color, size and pattern that looks the best to you—and looks the best in your home.

What wallpaper can do for you

“Today’s wallpaper is fresh, new and clean, and can even look like wall texture or a painted-on design,” says interior designer Moyanne Harding of Interiors by Moyanne. Sydney Stephens, wallpaper specialist at James T. Davis, agrees and says there are wallpapers available now that have the look of tile, wood—even shiplap.

“There’s been an increased demand for wallpaper over the past year, especially from the younger generation,” Stephens reports. Millennials come in frequently, requesting wall coverings in grass cloth and geometric prints such as trellises.

What advantages does modern wallpaper have over paint?

• Revamps and refreshes your space
Harding likens wallpaper to a work of fine art. “It can transform a room like nothing else in an instant,” she explains.

• Conceals
“Wallpaper is really great for covering imperfections and unevenness in the walls,” says Stephens.

• Protects
Durable heavy-duty vinyl paper can be wiped and washed off, making it perfect for a kitchen or bathroom (or house with young children).

Fear not

While peel-and-stick and pre-pasted wallpaper are still available, a more popular option is the paste-to-wall product, which is what Stephens normally recommends since it’s easier to work with. “You roll the paste on the wall like a paint and then just stick the paper to it.” She also notes that the product stays wet for a little while, so you have some time to move it around if necessary. Today’s easy-strip products are also much more user-friendly than their predecessors were, so it won’t be as painful when the time comes to re-do a room.

Best applications

• Foyers, stairwells and bedrooms will make a grand impression with the right wallpaper, says Harding. She also likes to use it in closets (such as linen closets or larger walk-in closets) for a nice surprise, and in bathrooms.

• Stephens finds it really striking in dining rooms and kitchens.

• Thinking about an accent wall? Wallpaper adds a natural focal point when used sparingly.

• You can also use it in smaller applications, like framing wallpaper as art or adding punch and visual interest to the back of shelves.

Other tips and wisdom

After you put this magazine down and type in “wallpaper ideas” into Pinterest, Stephens recommends getting in touch with a professional so you can make sure you have the right products and the right directions on how to either hang or remove wallpaper.

If you’re still on the fence about the idea, ask yourself if you want your space to go from “ok” to “wow.” Harding shares this: “I always get a chuckle when I hear a resistant client because I know I am going to push them over to the other side of loving what wallpaper can do.”

IN 8 STEPS

1. Assess Your Space: Consider the size of your property, lay of the land, architectural style of your home, proximity to neighbors, and your design passions and preferences. For my half-acre backyard, I designed a free-flowing, casual country cottage garden featuring numerous organically-shaped borders and free-standing beds hugging the rolling terrain. This design complemented our colonial house on a farm cresting a hill in Bedford County. Yet, a more formal, symmetrical style may better suit other settings.

2. Face Unique Challenges and Opportunities First: My first challenge was to hide a honking metal utility barn from my landscape view. I planted a “green screen” as a buffer between the barn and the garden of my dreams, and in a couple of years that barn disappeared. My greatest design opportunity was views of Sharp Top and Flat Top mountains (and sunsets) to the west and Amherst County mountains beyond woods to the north. So, I made sure to take advantage of my borrowed landscape.

3. Budget $$, Time and Energy: Without an unlimited budget to spend on hiring professionals to design, plant, and maintain my garden, I developed it in incremental steps over 22 years, each year adding a new garden area and features. One year it was a rose garden. Another year it was building stone walls and paths. Yet another year it was a Crepe Myrtle allée up our driveway. With a full-time job many of those years, I had to budget my time and energy as well as money, so “slow and easy” was my motto.

4. Plan for Climate and Deer: Follow zone hardiness guidelines for planting. We’re in zone 7a, but we’ve experienced zone 6 conditions in recent winters. Plant material also needs to be suited to climate variances, or micro-climates, due to the lay of the land, sun or shade, windy or wind protected, and wet or dry. It’s frustrating and fruitless to plant a garden deer will eat, and I’ve not yet found a commercial product that keeps deer away permanently. Either stick to deer-resistant plants or build an adequate fence around your garden, as we did.

5. Select Plant Material: Decide on your garden “bones,” the hardscaping and foundation plants that set the shape and style of your garden. These include trees, shrubs, and other base landscape plants. Then select plants of different heights for vertical layering, with the tallest plants in the back of a border or center of a free-standing bed. Choose your plant preferences: exotics, natives, color, shape, size, and bloom time. Over time, add new plants as your taste and trends lead you.

6. Define Garden Areas and Prepare Your Soil: Mark the boundaries of your garden beds—whether they are a straight geometric pattern or a curving organic one. Then prepare the soil by removing undesirable plant material. As an environmentally sound option to using herbicides such as Roundup, cover the garden area with cardboard, black plastic, or other sun-blockers until the weeds are dead. Contact the Hill City Master Gardener Association
(www.hcmga.org) for a soil sampling kit and advice on what amendments are needed.

7. Plant, Water, Fertilize, and Watch Them Grow: Consider your water source and irrigation methods when deciding on what to plant where. And don’t underestimate the growing potential of plants. Most commercial labels on plants do not accurately tell us how large the plant will grow. So, leave space between new plants and allow room for them to grow, knowing your garden will continue to change with every new season. Over time, my full-sun garden grew into a sun-and-shade garden as new trees and shrubs matured.

8. Reassess, Rearrange, Transplant…and Leave Room for Serendipity: The joys and challenges of designing a garden include endless exciting opportunities for discovery and creativity. Unwelcome surprises with weather, pests, and diseases are inevitable, but afford opportunities. When my roses died of rose rosette disease, I replaced them with native plants. My garden design was also flexible enough to accommodate any plant a family member or friend gave me. These are gifts that touch my heart, and I could never design a garden that didn’t make room for them.

A COLLECTOR’S HAVEN

Though it may be unassuming from the outside, Christina Gerstner’s home is filled with beautiful treasures and new curiosities that lie around every corner. Gerstner has curated dozens of collections over the years—each infusing her home with color, nostalgia and meaning.

From the oversized, historic map of Lynchburg in the front hallway to the family portraits framing the dining room curio, Gerstner’s home provides endless visual delights and conversation pieces. Stemming from her mother’s love of antiquing and vintage shopping—something they did together while Gerstner was growing up—her home today has evolved into an artistic showcase for the distinctive items she’s gathered over a lifetime spent collecting.

After marrying her husband Josh in 2006, they moved to Lynchburg for his work as a data analyst; Gerstner taught at a Montessori school until the birth of their son, Orion. About eight years ago they purchased their current home, and in the time since, they’ve completely renovated the kitchen, updated the den and changed the paint throughout.

But more than anything it’s Gerstner’s unique and eye-catching displays of vintage wares that put the home in a class of its own. Whether her floor-to-ceiling collection of historic, panoramic yard photos or her colorful, embroidered maps of the United States, Gerstner’s passion for collecting has now spilled over into a small business that keeps her quite busy selling items online. Her personal collections and Etsy shop, “The White Pepper Vintage,” have even garnered her attention and features in Country Living, Apartment Therapy and HuffPost.

The reason behind it all is pretty simple according to Gerstner: “It’s what I love,” she says. “I focus on what I’m drawn to and what I love.”

A Collector’s Haven

Her decorating style is decidedly vintage.

“When I try to go outside of that niche, such as a rustic or minimal style, I just can’t do it; I get bored,” Gerstner says. “I realized it’s just not me.”

Though current trends lean more towards neutral and gray colors, Gerstner says she has to have florals: “I have always, always loved anything floral or embroidered—I would wear stuff like that when I was a kid.” And, she also has to have lots of color— yellow in particular.

“It’s always been my favorite,” she says. “It makes an appearance everywhere in our house.” Indeed, one of her most prized discoveries includes a pair of tufted yellow chairs that she picked up at an estate sale.

In their front room, Gerstner has a wall of shelves filled with books and tchotchkes—“I’m wild about vintage books!” she says; some she has organized by color (all red or all yellow) and some in rainbow sets (a few of each color to span the spectrum), and some she has organized topically such as copies of Nancy Drew that she read as a girl, Hardy Boy titles that her husband read and books all about New England and Maine where she grew up.

“I try to bring in things that are meaningful to me,” she says, referring to the books. “I’m just delighted when I find another to add to the collection.”

Gerstner’s collections span all categories of vintage: baskets, silhouettes, furniture, linens, artwork, and even kitchen wares. In fact, most of her daily dishes and food storage containers are vintage finds or inherited from family relatives, such as her husband’s grandmother named Rosie.

You Can, too:

How to Incorporate Vintage Items with Other Décor

1) “Books are always a good place to start,” says Gerstner. Books have very low price points, so affordability makes them easy to pick up, plus they add instant character. You can organize them by color to increase visual interest or topically—just select a place, author or topic that appeals to you already.

2) Add in furniture here or there as you discover inter-esting pieces. Gerstner has incorporated wooden mail sorter catalogues to use as shelving and desks, a butcher block for their kitchen island, chairs for the living room and a tufted blue bench in the dining room. By working in vintage pieces with more current pieces such as couches or book shelves, she’s adding
unique and purposeful statement pieces.

3) “Wall art is a great option as well,” Gerstner says. It’s an easy collection to start because there tends to be an abundance of choices; prices are reasonable, and you can easily switch items in and out as your collection grows. Plus, the variety of framing and mat options available today provide nearly endless possibilities.

4) Follow your heart. Gerstner’s home is a testament to the items she personally loves and feels naturally drawn to; because of that, her daily surroundings are filled with what she truly enjoys. Try doing the same, no matter your home style, and you’ll find yourself pleased with the result.

To bring it all together, she prioritizes color and style all while looking for a cohesive feel within each collection as a whole.

She also tries to make a “collection personal to [their family] and meaningful” whenever possible. And she’s found many creative ways to utilize family heirlooms, whether placing a grandmother’s afghan out for display or showcasing a photo of her mom as a young girl.

Gerstner’s background with the Montessori philosophy has also influenced her approach to decorating. “One of the things that Dr. Montessori loved, and one of the hallmarks of her philosophy, was creating a beautiful environment for children,” Gerstner says. “Focus is always placed on a peaceful, calm, accessible environment.”

Sharing Her Finds With the World

Gerstner officially started her online shop at the end of 2011 thinking it would be a good option for offloading some of her extra items; plus, she had recently left her teaching job after the birth of her son, so she “figured it would give me something to do [and] let me make a little bit of money.” To her surprise, the shop more than took off, with national and international buyers alike, and she hit her 5,000th sale this past December.

“I had no idea it would ‘be something’,” she says of the Etsy shop. “Now, the more I list, the more I sell; I can slow down as needed or spend 40 or more hours a week on it.”

The process is time-intensive, including the buying, cleaning, photographing, editing, posting, packaging and shipping of each item, but Gerstner says she is addicted to the hunt, always picking up new items, so she has to keep the shop going or be at risk of overflowing her already bursting inventory, which, as of this time, is tallied at over 1,000 items in her basement; her Etsy shop typically has anywhere from 250-400 of those items for sale.

As to where she finds all of these treasures, she says it’s a mix of estate sales, antique shops and thrifting—all over the country!

“I’ll go visit family, and I can fit a coffee table in the car top carrier,” Gerstner says of traveling with their CRV. And, she adds with a laugh, “We pack light on clothes to save space for my stuff; my husband is very tolerant; he knows this is my ‘jobby’…it’s something that I really like doing.”

Deciding what to buy is relatively simple, she says, “I basically try to sell a lot of what I love and just hope that there are other people out there who love it too.”

See more of Christina’s discoveries on Facebook at The White Pepper and follow her on Instagram @TheWhitePepperVintage.

You Can, too:

Why You Should Start a Collection

1) It’s Pure Fun. A huge part of the appeal for Gerstner is the hunt itself. Once you start a collection, “It’s fun to go out looking for a companion piece,” she says. “You find one [item], and then you have to hunt for another; there’s a lot of fun in that—and it can be fun to bring them into your home.”

2) You’ll Make Unique Discoveries.
As Gerstner’s experience has shown, you never know what you will find. “Unique items are much more interesting to me,” Gerstner says, referring to items that have a story and can’t be found in a generic big box store. Some of her best finds include embroidered maps, vintage bracelets and jewelry plus her beloved yellow chairs.

3) It Can Be a Family Affair. Gerstner’s mom got her started in vintage shopping and collecting, and it became something they enjoyed doing together over the years. Today, Gerstner enjoys staying on the lookout for items her family may appreciate— usually something music-related for her husband and owl items for her son. Gifts are even more memorable when you can find a surprise addition for a loved one’s collection.

Would you give your friend a baby or a puppy? That’s the stock reply from local bonsai expert, Julian Adams, when people ask him to sell them a bonsai tree as a gift for a friend. Julian, a master grower of bonsai, knows first-hand from 47 years of experience the tremendous amount of nurture and perseverance it takes to keep a bonsai thriving. He knows it requires daily time and attention and an appreciation of just what bonsai is and means. To Julian, it’s 50 percent horticulture, 50 percent art, and 50 percent philosophy. Yep. That adds up to bonus points for those who are passionate about bonsai. And he is.

What is bonsai?
To Westerners, it’s the Japanese name for a small, stylized tree typically grown in a shallow container.

The word bonsai in Japanese translates literally into “planting in a container, dish, or tray” and was developed as part of the practice of Zen Buddhism. From there, it caught on in more recent times in Western countries—first in Europe, and then in the United States.

Today, bonsai aficionados practice their science, art, and philosophy across the United States, with several experts right here in Lynchburg.

Prior to its refinement as a horticultural practice and art form in Japan, most sources trace the derivation of bonsai back to China, where it is called pen-sai or penjing. Some sources even claim that before traveling to China, the practice originated in ancient India where ayurvedic physicians collected medicinal trees from the wild and grew them in pots in miniature form.

Whatever the roots of bonsai tradition, it’s been around for well over a thousand years, and it’s all about roots and shoots—and controlling them to create the tree you desire given the nature and characteristics of the specimen. Bonsai trees are not genetically dwarfed plants. They have the same genetic properties as their kindred full-sized trees but achieve their miniature size through human control.

The goal is to create a realistic representation of nature in the miniature form of a tree while keeping the height under four feet, with most bonsai typically even shorter than that. But size classifications are disputed. One source declares that to be a true bonsai the tree cannot exceed one meter (3.28 feet), while another classification scheme declares a range from minute Keshitsubo (1-3 inches) up to Imperial (60-80 inches).

Picking a Specimen
Since most bonsai trees are grown outdoors, they experience the same seasonal and weather conditions as their full-sized relatives. Your specimen here can be one of many different deciduous or evergreen species if it can be grown in Climate Zone 7 and in your own micro-climate and conditions (sun, shade, windy, protected from wind, etc.). Native trees and exotics that share our climate preferences are a safe bet for growing outdoors as bonsai in our area, but if your preference is a tropical tree, it will need protection from our winters in a greenhouse or indoors with sufficient light.

Growing bonsai successfully requires sound horticultural practices and techniques. That’s the 50 percent science part of the practice, and I think that’s why most successful Lynchburg bonsai growers with extensive collections are those with scientific curiosity and background, such as engineering and medicine. This scientific approach is especially required of growers such as Julian who embrace the full range of bonsai practice. He propagates his own trees from cuttings, air-layering, grafting and seeds, and cultivates hundreds of specimens to maturity.

On the other hand, many enthusiasts don’t attempt to start from scratch, but rather select small already-rooted trees with potential directly from the woods, their yards, or other available sources to create bonsai. The important criteria are that the plant has a woody trunk or stem, grows branches, has leaves that can be reduced in size, and can be grown in a container. For most trees, it’s best to transplant in its dormant season.

Then there are some bonsai enthusiasts who want only to maintain with minimal manipulation one or more trees and begin with already mature and basically-trained plants. I was at that end of the spectrum when 30-some years ago I became enamored with bonsai and purchased a lovely decades-old Hinoki Cypress. My highly-valued bonsai was easy to grow and maintain. It wasn’t fussy about pH, required little more than full sun, daily watering and good drainage, and was fun to progress with pruning and shaping the already established composition. But after three years of success with it, I managed to bring it close to death.

Back to Julian’s point about babies and puppies, I learned the hard way that I wasn’t a good candidate for bonsai ownership. My family and I started spending summers at a cottage at the “Rivah,” and I entrusted my prized bonsai to an employee back at home in Danville who let it sit in a pan of water for days on end rather than following my instructions to check and water it daily. Without drainage, root rot almost claimed it.

I was horrified by the sight of it when I thought back on all the years of tender care that had brought it this far. The good news is that a local bonsai expert restored it to heath, and I gifted it to her in humble gratitude and appreciation for her skill and superior stewardship. She then was gracious enough to allow me to borrow it for display in my home on special occasions.

Getting Started
I hope you’ll take my almost-disastrous experience with bonsai as a lesson learned, rather than discouragement, and will try it. It’s a fun practice offering a stunningly rewarding product for those with time, patience, and dedication. First envision the shape, style, and design of your specimen as it matures, gleaning inspiration from the natural inclination of your specimen.

Then after trimming roots and branches to achieve the desired effect, plant it in a container that most effectively displays your composition and restricts roots and food storage capability.

Simple and understated earthenware Japanese pots and more decorative Chinese pots are traditional, but anything works if it can support the tree and frame it unobtrusively.

Many growers use a special potting mix to encourage drainage and control nutrients. Specific care relates to the species, but typically, fertilizers are used sparingly. Watering regularly and draining that water are essential, as well as placing the bonsai in the proper location for sun or shade, etc. Placement may change as conditions and seasons dictate to afford protection from storms or harsh winter weather. Julian displays most of his bonsai collection on raised benches at a good working height except in hard winter when they are placed on the ground for root warmth and shielded from potentially damaging winds.

Training the tree to your desired composition includes periodically trimming roots, pruning and wiring branches with a specific type and grade of copper wire, and pinching buds to redirect healthy growth. Once the copper wire has been wrapped around a branch that you wish to train in a specific direction, you can carefully manipulate that branch (within reasonable limits of course) to suit your composition. Step-by-step tutorials are available for those ready to take the plunge, and Julian will be happy to sell you just the right grade and quantity of copper wire.

You might also want to follow Julian’s lead and grow bonsai from cuttings, air layering, grafting, or seeds and experience the joy of nurturing your bonsai from its beginning into a mature creation that fulfills your design vision. Just remember that newbies are very fragile and require constant attention since they must not be allowed to dry out. And we all know what summers are like in Lynchburg.

So, here’s where Julian’s engineering background and ingenuity kick in: He’s invented a fascinating Rube Goldberg type of device that’s hooked up to an outdoor water faucet and triggers a thorough misting of the newbies when a delicate paddle dries out and kicks the water on. On a scorching August afternoon, this might happen every 20 minutes or so. And tiny sun-loving, outdoor plants are thriving.

Artistry
The point isn’t to replicate the growth pattern of the full-sized tree in nature, but rather to create your own artistic design. While some bonsai artists prefer a more natural look or even believe that the primary goal of bonsai is to create a realistic depiction of nature, others prefer a more contrived or dramatic effect through human intervention. There’s no absolute right or wrong answer. It’s a matter of preference.

In bonsai, there is a delicate balance between nature and nurture. You are controlling nature within the bounds of what’s humanly possible—stretching limits, while remaining sensitive to, respectful of, and constrained by nature.

Some specimens, especially very small ones, become quite abstracted from nature, and the smaller the specimen, the more fragile its existence. Bonsai can be so abstracted that they only suggest a tree. As with any work of art, differences in aesthetic determine preferences in composition, style, and the degree to which the grower manipulates the plant. Styles can be upright, slanting line, weeping or cascading, and more. And a popular shape is the asymmetrical triangle.

An amazing aesthetic pleasure of bonsai is the character and beauty of twisted and gnarly trunks and branches of aged trees that still produce robust foliage intertwined with deadwood and intriguing bark patterns. Bonsai artists carefully prune back selected foliage to expose interesting trunk and limb structure. Tip: Compositions are usually easier to manage with trees that have smaller leaves in nature. Leaf size will be further reduced through pruning limbs and roots. Bold surface roots also add visual interest, and some exposed roots can be trained to grow over relatively large rocks or in a variety of interesting patterns.

Many bonsai enthusiasts take their artistry to another level with additional elements to create miniature landscapes with more than one plant and include rocks, ground covers, small figurines, and other accoutrements. Some are detailed enough to represent miniature cliffs, mountains, islands, and other natural phenomena that add interest. The ideal is for each tree to be viewed in its overall relationship with the elements surrounding it.

A bonsai is never completed, and it may be remodeled if the age and health of the tree or style preference of the grower dictate a different path. Or there may be many caretakers for one tree over the span of its life, since with careful care and attention, some bonsai live for hundreds of years. One prize-winning specimen owned by a bonsai master in Japan is reported to be over 800 years old and is a work of art worth a small fortune.

Beyond Science and Art
Bonsai is much more than a successful melding of science and art. Each tree is unique and invites personal reflection, interpretation beyond the physical creation itself, and inspiration for poets and essayists.

Every aspect of a bonsai is laden with symbolism and meaning—the type of tree selected, the container, and aesthetics of composition and style. While some of the symbolism rooted in Eastern mythic and religious thought may be a bit obscure to us, other symbolism is easily grasped. For example, knotty, gnarled trunks and branches evoke consideration of the passing and toll of time.

With each change of season, bonsai offers new delights in shape, size, color, and meaning. Emerging spring green leaves, lush summer foliage, vibrant fall colors, and bright winter berries all offer fodder for appreciation of life’s mysteries in a journey though time.

Bonsai as a horticulture and artistic practice, hobby, or obsession is a challenge on many levels to our gardening and horticulture capabilities, aesthetic and design sense, patience and perseverance, and time. Yet as a reward, it offers endless hours of pleasure, beauty, and spiritual growth.

As we learn from Zen Buddhist practice, countless hours of meditation in the presence of bonsai can lead to enlightenment. Celebrated Japanese Bonsai Master and philosopher Saburo Kato’s hope for bonsai is that it will “keep the torch of peace burning throughout the world.”

Contact Julian Adams at (434) 384-7951 or www.adamsbonsai.com.

Local Designer Shares Best Secrets for Natural, Simplified Living

Set back from the road with a slate walkway leading to its inviting front door, Selena and Jamie Campbell’s home is a study in the power of simplicity and purpose. While their color palette is “down to earth,” so to say, the effect is anything but.

Selena’s keen eye and knack for creative design solutions coupled with Jamie’s woodworking skills have allowed them to create a beautiful Campbell County home that’s both purposeful and personal throughout.

And when they built on their two-acre lot 10 years ago, it was with some very specific goals in mind.

“We knew we wanted something different from ‘the cookie-cutter’ look,” Selena says. “Lots of natural light was a priority and lots of closets.”

As a result, they adjusted the house plans in several ways: larger windows for the kitchen and master bedroom plus French doors off the dining area were added to let in more light; sky lights in the vaulted living room ceiling also prioritized natural light while additional closets in the upstairs bedrooms yielded plenty of storage options.

In the years since, Selena, who owns an interior decorating business called Middle Sister Design, has continually tweaked their décor and spaces to better suit their needs and taste. Over the last few years especially, she has transitioned the home in two primary ways: updating to a neutral color palette throughout and decluttering every nook and cranny.

“We both enjoy being outdoors and have a great appreciation for the beauty of nature,” Selena says. “We love the serenity of the neutral, earth-inspired palette we’ve established in our home.” Selena believes the soothing colors help them to feel relaxed and have a calming effect. Rather than having bright and competing colors from room to room, she’s transitioned to lots of white and other airy neutrals.

To make this work without leaving the home feeling too bare, Selena has worked in a variety of textures and finishes. In the kitchen, that means they used beadboard for the backsplash, selected shaker-style cabinets, and built a shiplap wall. In the living area, she chose a variety of fabrics and embellishments in the form of pillows and throws to soften the space.

And one can find natural pieces in every room, where items such as oversized driftwood and plants abound. Not only do they all complement the natural aesthetic, they each tell a story as well.
Selena’s sister Heather, for instance, found one of the largest pieces of driftwood in the James River and brought it back for her. Laughing, Selena says many river adventures—and fishing boats—have been hijacked to retrieve unique driftwood pieces for her home. A bit of scrubbing and some bleaching is all she has to do to finish them for interior use.

While the move toward neutral has been a huge transformation, Selena’s biggest undertaking may arguably be the massive decluttering journey she started a few years ago. This process is one reason why the story or associated memory of an item is so important.

Selena’s tried and true questions to ask when decluttering include:
“What is the monetary value of said item? What is the sentiment behind it, if any? Do you have a place to store this item in an organized fashion that does not take up space?”

Over the last two years, she’s pared down her home to only those items that have particular purpose or meaning to her and Jamie; some favorites include “stones collected from beaches around the world with dates written on them [that] are displayed in a pretty jar” and wine corks from memorable bottles enjoyed with friends and family. Souvenirs from shared travels to St. Lucia or Cadillac Mountain in Maine are also displayed along with Selena’s books on interior design, a glass jar collection from an abandoned old home explored with her aunt, antlers gifted to her by friends and much more.

Her home design mantra could be summarized as this:
“A home should tell the story of and reflect the personalities of the individuals who reside there. Having meaningful, purposeful décor gives a space personality…and aids in telling that story.”

And having decluttered, Selena notes several additional benefits. “The lack of clutter sets a sense of calmness within me that is difficult to describe,” she says. “Besides, who wants to lift 222 knick-knacks to dust underneath or rummage through?”

Having been born and raised in Campbell County, Selena’s country roots and strong family ties are all represented in her home with Jamie. The natural elements speak to her appreciation for “nature and the beauty of the outdoors” while her business as an interior designer is a direct result of her years spent observing her mom’s decorating and practicing her own ideas on her sisters’ Barbie houses as a young girl. Jamie, also a Virginia native, currently works as an engineer for AREVA, but has built several pieces in their home and continues to bring many of Selena’s ideas to life.

Today, the couple has plenty of projects still in the pipeline; “there’s always something stewing up here!” Selena says. Later this year, they hope to build raised beds for their garden, rig up some permanent shade solutions on the western-facing back deck, and work on finishing some permanent guest space in the basement.

Follow their progress and other home projects on Selena’s Instagram page “MiddleSisterDesign” and on her blog at www.MidSisterDesign.com.

Photography by Tera Janelle Auch

While driving down Thomas Jefferson Road in Forest, there are two vistas sure to catch your eye at any time of year: the Peaks of Otter and a sprawling brick Georgian Colonial. When it comes to Christmastime, however, the brick manor steals the show.

Rachel and Wayne Beeler don’t just deck the halls—they garnish the gazebo, embellish the fountain, and make sure that every view indoors and out points to the Christmas season. “I just love being happy, and I love to help other people feel happy—that’s one of the reasons that I do all of this every year,” Rachel explains.

She has always loved Christmas, but she didn’t start decorating for the holiday room by room until the Beelers moved to Poplar Forest and began adding several small Christmas trees in other rooms here and there over the years. That was more than 20 years and 20 trees ago, before the Beelers began looking for a home “with a little land.” Their current home is not only gracious in acreage, but also comes with more square footage, and more rooms means more Christmas trees.

While the rest of us are busy decorating with pumpkins and scarecrows, Rachel starts thinking about Christmas. “The children love to come trick-or-treating here, and not only because I give out the best candy!” she smiles. Kids in costumes are delighted to see a 12-foot tree in the foyer when they stop by. Preparations for the season commence at the beginning of October, starting by bringing all of the accoutrements out of storage. Rachel used to manage all of the decorations herself and didn’t necessarily want help: “I was raised to work,” she explains, starting with her job at Chapstick on the conveyor lines and then spending 16 years working for GE. Rachel remains diligent and has not forgotten her roots, but she has discovered that her energy levels have changed after having had—and beaten—thyroid cancer several years ago. “Now I have a team of 15 to 20 elves that come in over the course of the fall who help me set it all up,” she explains.

From the St. Nick in the fountain and near life-sized nutcrackers, all the hard work pays off. It’s impossible to feel that you haven’t entered a branch of Santa’s workshop or a North Pole satellite location when you pull up the driveway. You might see Kris Kringle and the missus themselves setting up shop in the gazebo, or small elves in the nooks and crannies of bookcases. Chandeliers, headboards, mirrors, even the bath—all receive the special Beeler treatment.

Like most of us, Rachel likes to change up her décor each year, finding new places for treasured adornments, and adding a few updates to her collection. She enjoys shopping everywhere for interesting decorations, but her favorite place to find decorations is Hobby Lobby. She shares that for years she had kept hearing about Hobby Lobby on the radio, but she’d never been in one. So when she and Wayne (owners of Sterling Oil) were out making deliveries one day and they passed by a Hobby Lobby, she just had to get out of the car and check it out. “I thought it was going to be a hobby store—and it is—but I had no idea that they carried home goods, too. I thought I had died and gone to heaven; it was Christmas everywhere in there!” Even though the Beelers arrived at the store with a pick-up truck packed with AC units to deliver to customers, Rachel had the sales clerk package up all of her goods and strap them down to the truck.

“Wayne likes to joke that [stopping at Hobby Lobby] was the ‘worst mistake’ of his life,” Rachel laughs.

A native of Bedford County’s Nicopolis community, Rachel met local Lynchburger Wayne Beeler in the early ’60s when she and her gal pals would have fun cruising Wards Road between checking out Lindy’s Big Boy and The Southern in her cousin Esther’s 1964 Chevrolet. It was on one of those nights that Rachel spotted Wayne driving his red 1963 Chevrolet. “I looked at the girls and said, ‘I’m going to marry that man.’” She was right—the Beelers just celebrated 51 years of marriage this past May. They have a reminder of that Chevy in the form of a figurine they keep in the downstairs TV room, where they like to relax.

Wayne and Rachel, who wed during her senior year of high school, found themselves heading out to Oregon when Wayne was in the Air Force. That’s where they celebrated their first Christmas. While she isn’t sure if she still has any mementos from that first year, Rachel certainly has a fond memory of being a new wife at Christmas.

“I set a small tree on a table, took a picture of it, and sent it home to show my family a bit of our Christmas out West. Well, would you believe that we started getting gifts from my family in the mail? They sent us gifts because they felt sorry for us that we didn’t have much of anything under the tree—they thought it was so pitiful,” she laughs, “but the truth was that we were as happy as could be with our little tree and just being together.”

The Beelers came back to Lynchburg soon after and bought a home off Timberlake Road, which they own to this day. “We loved that house,” she reminisces of the house where they raised their two children, Donna and Mike. All of the family, including the Beelers’ grandchildren, live nearby and enjoy spending time at Rachel’s home, especially during the holidays.

People come from all over the area to see the Beelers’ tasteful and traditional displays. After Thanksgiving, Rachel begins hosting tours of her holiday home for different groups (e.g. church groups and women’s clubs).

“I love seeing everyone’s reactions and the expressions on their faces. People feel happy when they come through; I love seeing that.”

Tours conclude with refreshments in her year-round party room, a former garage that the Beelers converted into a banquet area. Eight round tables and Chivari chairs accommodate 32 guests. This room, of course, receives the special Beeler Christmas treatment, and she keeps it ready for year-round entertaining, switching décor seasonally (they also host Easter and an annual barbecue). This is where the family hosts relatives, close family friends, and her “elves” for a country-style Christmas breakfast.

Her current take on getting her home holiday-ready is very different from her first December as a newlywed; still, she has always remembered that very first Christmas season. Just like the Christmases from her childhood, it served as a celebration of hope, joy and love. All of her decorating stems from this deeply nostalgic and spiritually personal place of bringing joy to others. “We had so much love at Christmas. I mean,
we had a lot of love all year round, but we felt it so strongly at Christmas. Our celebrations were meaningful,” says Rachel.

“Love—that’s what we had at Christmas,” Rachel recalls, and that is what she strives to bring to her home and to her guests every year.

How to Add Color to your home for the holidays

Every year, Rachel Beeler evaluates each room’s purpose and colors to determine its seasonal treatment. For most of us, red and green forms a twosome synonymous with Christmas, but those aren’t the only hues available for holiday decorating. Take a cue from Rachel and add Christmas décor beyond the living room: consider the prevalent palette of each room to find which Christmas color combo will work best for that space. Here are a few to try:

1. White and metallics such as gold or silver (or a mix of the two) offer plenty of shine and glimmer.

2. Gold and purple, the colors of royalty, seem right for this season of heralding a newborn king.

3. White, silver, and forest green evoke the palette of wintry landscape and play well with neutrals.

4. Jewel tones, such as the kind Rachel uses in her holiday dining room, look refined when paired with metallics, but they also provide a dose of whimsy when used with lime green.

5. Sage green and ivory always look elegant and give a nod to nature.

THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY

Eyes sparkling and squirming with mpatience, I sat at the top of the stairs in my flannel gown and robe and awaited Mom’s green light before charging down to the living room to the wonder of a decorated tree shimmering over Santa’s bounty.

It was the crack of dawn, and I felt like a racehorse at the gate while Mom started the percolator, plated the Dresden Stollen, and eyed a cursory sweep under the tree to assure she hadn’t forgotten anything. (Some months later, Mom would inevitably discover an overlooked gift buried in the back of an overstuffed closet.) Then Dad flipped the switch to the multi-colored tree lights, and my sisters and I were invited down to begin our Christmas day.

And year after year (even after I knew the secret of Santa), I was thrilled at my first glimpse of the annual magic of our sometimes symmetrical, real fir tree adorned with lightbulbs shaped like flames or bubbling-candles, along with an unabashed mix of old and new, elegant and cheesy glass balls—plus ornaments passed down from my grandmother and silvery tinsel (lead-based until the FDA declared it a hazard) draped a single strand at a time. And occasionally candy canes hooked over the ends of boughs. This miracle of the decorated tree was executed without fail every Christmas Eve after kids’ bedtime. Not a day or an hour before. It was always the greatest Christmas morning gift; and the tree stayed up until New Year’s Eve. This was my memory of the tradition in my family circa 1950s and ’60s.

Christmas Tree History
According to my friend, Mary Kathryn McIntosh, a walking encyclopedia of Christmas history and lore, Christmas traditions date back to 1605 with the first mention in a diary of an indoor evergreen in Strasbourg decorated with paper roses, apples, gilded candies, and more; and the practice caught on in Germany. Fifty years later candles were added to indoor trees (yes, a fire hazard).

The first documented Christmas tree in Virginia was in 1842, and in 1849 Virginia became the 5th state to legally recognize Christmas. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert then popularized Christmas trees in the U.S. after setting up a Christmas tree in Windsor Castle that appeared (without mentioning their titles) in America’s Godey’s Lady’s Book in 1850. With the abundance of trees in our Commonwealth, the tradition was easily established.

Trees were ornamented with glass balls, chains of beads, toys, and all sorts of memorabilia, and some were even hung upside down from the ceiling to spare sparse floor space. And it seems that whenever and wherever they are, they always spread their celebratory limbs to embrace family gifts and childhood pleasures.

In 1877, five years after Edison invented the light bulb, electric lights made their way to Christmas trees, and by 1900, one in five families had a tree. It seems it took a long time, however, for improvements in tree lights. Until recent times, I can recall laboriously testing each individual light socket when one bulb went out and took the whole strand out with it. While I’m at it, another big improvement is deeper and more accessible water vessels to prevent dehydration.

In the 21st century, Christmas tree farms have become a business that’s grown into a $1 billion industry. The big box stores are the largest sellers, although I still favor a local garden center with a direct pipeline to a western North Carolina Fraser fir farm.

Carrying on Family Traditions
When it became my turn to be the grown-up and carry on family Christmas tree traditions with my own children, I abandoned tinsel and my parents’ frenetic practice of decorating the tree on Christmas Eve. While still cherishing those childhood memories, I initiated new, and easier traditions of my own—some better; some that turned out to be not so good. I did, however, retain the tradition of a natural tree in favor of an artificial tree in white, blue, or other trendy themes and styles.

And I created a memory tree laden to this day with my own childhood Storybook dolls, handcrafts and other memorabilia from world travels, gifts from family and friends, and items made by our own children or myself. Each ornament tells a sentimental or spiritual story; my needlepoint Santa shares a tree limb with a tuna can crafted into a manger scene by one of our sons in Sunday School 50 or so years ago. Oh, and our tree sports a pair of baby shoes from each of our five sons, and my heart is full every Christmas as I place them on the tree. An angel is the topper, and she watches over it all.

A new tradition that didn’t turn out so well was when in the 1970s, my firstborn son Reid and I strung popcorn, piece by laborious piece, to drape our tree with natural garlands instead of tinsel. That’s the good part. The not-so-good part is that I couldn’t bear to throw the garlands out after the holidays, so I tucked them in a box in a storage area where mice discovered a bonanza of Christmas dinners to last them the rest of the winter. That was a short-lived tradition.

Many years later when I moved to Bedford County, a new tradition was to make a family outing out of selecting our own tree on our farm, and we usually picked one of our overly-plentiful cedars. As we aged and finally admitted we were tired of facing the New Year with a floor full of dropped needles and scratchy twigs when hauling the crispy cedar to the burn pile, we turned to North Carolina grown Fraser firs, a most satisfactory fresh tree.

Now, as seniors living in a second-floor condo, we’ve of necessity ceded fresh trees to a less labor-intensive artificial tree with built-in lights, and I continue to decorate it the same as always. I admit modern fake trees do look real—well almost—but I still think authentic fresh trees are best.

Doors, Mantles, Tables, and More
I continue with the old-fashioned tradition of decorating mantles, tables, and other spaces with fresh greens and berries. What’s more beautiful at Christmas and makes the house smell better than sprigs of Fraser fir, pine, spruce, and boxwood on a bed of shiny magnolia leaves punctuated and enlivened by holly berries? One of my favorites for dramatic splash is Winterberry holly.

I love fresh green garlands wrapped along stair banisters and hanging mistletoe on a “kissing ball,” but they’re traditions I’ve also let go. Come to think of it, I don’t see mistletoe in homes these days. Maybe folks in my age group are less interested in being caught under the mistletoe—or maybe shooting mistletoe out of trees for those kissing balls has pretty much gone by the boards, at least for city folks.

Door and window wreaths of fresh greens continue as a long-standing Virginia tradition, and my old standby is a classic combination of magnolia leaves and boxwood that can be dressed up with berries, nuts, pinecones, and any other imaginative materials that are handy and strike my fancy. It’s fun to alternate the front and back of magnolia leaves for a lovely combo of green and copper.

To create your own wreath, start with a pre-made form and u-shaped picks from a hobby store, and fasten overlapping magnolia leaves one at a time around the entire circle in a pattern that pleases you. Boxwood wreaths can be made the same way, and you can combine the two and/or other greens, making wreaths one-sided or two-sided for hanging on glass doors or windows. If you’re looking for a quick splash of color to tie in with your decor, add a bow. And, voila!

Stepping It Up
If you’d like to step it up to the next level, try making a della Robbia–style wreath, the crème-de-la-crème of festive fresh wreaths. Inspiration for these reaches back to the 1440s when Italian sculptor Luca della Robbia invented the technique of vibrant polychrome tin-glazed terracotta statuary. He passed his form of artistry down to family members who continued to produce decorated terracotta reliefs edged by beautifully modeled wreaths of brilliantly hued flowers, fir cones, and fruits such as apples, oranges, and lemons.

Today’s della Robbia Christmas decorations in natural materials may be in the form of a round wreath, shaped to fit an architectural space above a door or windows, or other forms. Just start with building a basic wreath or form with magnolia leaves, boxwood, and/or other natural materials such as red cedar, pine, mountain laurel, rosemary, or ivy. Then, using wired picks, affix flowers, berries, and fruit to please your personal taste. In addition to apples, oranges, and lemons, try adding pineapple, limes, pomegranates, and cranberries. Dried flowers, rose hips, pinecones, and okra pods are other options. Your della Robbia creation may be as elaborate as you like. Let your imagination be your guide! Tips: Dip fresh fruit in acrylic wax (kitchen floor wax) for longer life, and please do not add a bow.

Your della Robbia creation may also be used as a centerpiece or over-mantle decoration. Or you may prefer mantle and table top decorations with fresh materials that lean toward simple understated elegance with just a few magnolia leaves, boxwood, and sprigs of holly. I had fun one season hanging fresh bright red peppers on a miniature live spruce tree as a centerpiece, and I regularly assemble little trees of fresh boxwood cuttings on a pyramid shaped metal form designed to hold apples, lemons, or other fruit. Sometimes I drape them with cranberry garlands or add sprigs of holly. Simple, easy, and quick—and always tasteful. Fresh natural materials never go out of style.

Look for Inspiration
For inspiration and ideas for natural Christmas decorations, you’ll find lovely fresh plant material and décor all round Lynchburg this holiday season—at the Farm Basket, local nurseries, Old City Cemetery, churches, and more.

A particularly interesting spot to visit for historic Christmas decorating is Point of Honor (www.pointofhonor.org) in historic Daniel’s Hill, completed in 1815 by Dr. George Cabell. This Federal style mansion is now a city museum where period arrangements grace the mantle, tables, and even the stairs every Christmas. Christmas Open House is Sunday, December 3rd, from noon until 4 p.m. This holiday season, as last year, features live greens and other plant material in arrangements and a decorated tree in the Victorian style, following two prior years of arrangements in the 1815-1830 pre-Christmas tree Federal style.

To venture not far from Lynchburg for natural and creative Christmas decor, visit Avenel (www.historicavenel.com) in Bedford. Also known as the William M. Burwell House, built about 1836, Avenel is a blend of Federal and Greek Revival styling. It is known for glorious fresh Christmas arrangements and is the place to see the della Robbia tradition in practice. A great opportunity to visit would be for their 1850’s celebration, “Gilded Christmas of Olde,” on Saturday, December 9th from 6 until 8:30 p.m., when Avenel will also feature spirits and culinary delights from the past as well as lively entertainment. Tickets may be purchased from any board member, www.lynchburgtickets.com, Arthur’s Jewelry, Scott & Bond Insurance, or Bedford Welcome Center.

Deck the Halls!
I feel that childhood delight rush back as I trim my tree once again this Christmas, spread fresh greens on my mantle, and deck the halls with holly. Whether your Christmas décor is sacred or secular, reflective of worldly attachment or spiritual reverence—or a combination of these like my tree and me, it’s a very personal reflection of you and your traditions.

If you’ve never tried to create a fresh della Robbia wreath, I hope you’ll start a new tradition of your own this year and see how imaginative you can be. I can’t wait to see photos! Email me at susantimmons@verizon.net.

5 Pieces of Advice to Improve the School Year

Whether a child is starting school for the first time or returning to the classroom as a senior student, heading “back to school” is the perfect time to start fresh and begin the year in the right mindset.
We asked people in all areas of Lynchburg City Schools to give their best piece of advice to students of all ages.

“Be involved as much as you can.”

Marcy Farris sent her son, Ben, off to school for the first time in the fall of 2016. She said during the transition process, she made sure to go to all the orientations she could and ask every question possible. “If you have questions, ask them,” she says. “Chances are someone else is wondering the same thing.” In fact, many times after a meeting she would have several parents come up to her and thank her for asking the questions they were too scared to voice.
Farris said her son’s school, Bedford Hills Elementary, was always supportive and never made her feel as if the question was too small or insignificant. If they didn’t know the answer, they were willing to find out. She felt much more prepared this year as Ben returned for his second year. Now that she has a year of the school routine under her belt, she plans on being involved as much as her schedule will allow her.

“Tell your children what to expect.”

As the principal of Dearington Elementary School, Daniel Rule is no stranger to the back-to-school mindset. However, this year is a little bit different, as his oldest headed off to Kindergarten this fall. “A lot of time, children are excited to go to school, but that excitement fades when they realize they have to keep coming back day after day for years and years,” says Rule.
Get them interested in meeting new friends and learning new things. For example, in the weeks leading up to the first day, Rule gave his child regular “Kindergarten tests” by asking him to perform tasks such as showering by himself or pouring milk. “It really gets him excited about things,” he says.
Rule’s final piece of advice is to make sure your child knows their bus number. While the teachers will know it, it’s helpful if the child knows what number to look for and has it written down somewhere they can easily check, such as on their backpack.

“Every new year is a chance to start fresh.”

“Often, students get into their heads that just because they had a bad year or weren’t a good student last year, that this year is going to be the same,” says Catherine Bragg, eighth grade English teacher at Dunbar Middle School.
However, Bragg doesn’t let this attitude stay around for very long in her classroom. On the first day of school, she lets her students know they can start fresh if they would like, giving them a chance to do better. “My eighth graders are still trying to decide if they want to participate in school or not, so I try to encourage them as much as I can,” Bragg says.
In the classroom, Bragg spreads this idea to daily life as well. She reminds students that just because they were grumpy or tired the day before doesn’t mean they can’t do well in the present. She encourages parents to utilize this mentality at home and has seen it turn student
mindsets around.

“Don’t be afraid to reach out to teachers and peers about anything you need help with.”

Mary Kate Comerford is a rising senior at Heritage High School. “When starting a new year and a new grade, it’s a big change and adjustment,” she says. Comerford says she has a lot of questions at the start of each year and utilizes those around her for answers.
Normally, she asks upperclassmen about teachers—what to expect about their personality and workload. However, last year she had a history teacher who was new to the school. Since none of her peers could offer any information, Comerford went straight to the teacher to get answers. The teacher responded by laying out all the expectations for the year, a timeline Comerford could use to anticipate assignments, and guidelines for assignments. Comerford says, “Reaching out to her made me more comfortable. I didn’t have to go in blind.”

“Stay on top of your grades.”

As the director of Heritage High School’s Future Center, Leidra McQueen helps prepare high school students for college. “Your GPA starts ticking on day one of high school, and it’s important for students not to let it slip,” she says. The clock starts even earlier for those who take high school classes while still in middle school. Even though GPAs carry over from year to year, McQueen says each year is still an opportunity to start fresh and recommit to doing well.
For those who struggle with a low GPA, assistance is available. Both E.C. Glass and Heritage high schools offer assistance through Beacon of Hope. The two Future Centers offer tutoring, SAT and ACT prep courses, financial aid assistance and college admission guidance.

After a devastating fire, a couple rebuilds with a focus on simplicity and comfort

Photography by Josh DeVries

Nothing can prepare you for those paramount junctures in life when everything crumbles and all seems lost. However, it is in the moments when life hits the hardest that we draw closer to each other and learn what is truly important.
For a Bedford couple, their trial came in the form of a house fire that destroyed everything they owned. But Stu and Carrie Young’s resiliency through it all taught them to withdraw from tradition, embrace hardship and find contentment through simplicity.

“I came home from work one day and said, ‘I’ve got steaks, let’s grill,’” Stu said.

Not long after those words, the Youngs heard the grill explode and saw it go up in flames. The entire side of their garage then caught fire with flames shooting up to the ceiling. The regulator on the gas grill was apparently not working properly and was feeding the flames.

“It was unbelievable the amount of flames shooting out of the grill. We were very lucky nobody was hurt,” Carrie said.
The Bedford Police Department arrived on the scene very quickly, but by that point the fire had spread and burned the entire back of the house. The Youngs realized too late that the grill had been too close to their home.

Firefighters tried to cover some pieces of furniture with fire proof blankets, but only a few of their things were protected. They lost almost everything to fire, smoke or water damage.

“What the fire doesn’t really get, the smoke and water damage get,” Carrie said.

After the smoke cleared, the Youngs were tasked with sorting through the ashes.

“It was the hardest thing we had to go through,” Carrie said. “You now have to look and try to determine what this stuff is that is burnt to a crisp, then sift through it, [to determine] what it was and value what you paid for it. It’s not like you get your life back quickly. It takes a long time to get your life back.”

The Christmas before the fire, Carrie had asked her children to get her a fireproof safe box—a place she could place old family photos, important documents and mementos. She didn’t get around to putting things in it until the following March. But it was just in time—the fire occurred in May 2012.

“[The box was located] where the fire was the worst—upstairs where I had a crafting room,” Carrie said. “I dug it out of the fire—the box did its job. I’m really thankful I asked for it and used it.”

Nearing retirement, the Youngs found themselves in a unique position of starting over. They considered moving somewhere else and downsizing, but it took one of their grandchildren to change their perspective. (They have five children, 12 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.) One of their grandsons, who lived just one road behind them, said, “If you move Grandma, I can’t walk to your house.” So, they decided to rebuild on the same property.

“Our house is always full of kids,” Carrie said.

While they rebuilt, the Youngs lived in a 36-foot fifth wheel camper in their backyard. It took nine months to get the insurance settlement, which gave them a lot of time to think and design their new home.

“We had no experience building a home,” Stu said. “We had done a lot of home projects. We’ve lived in homes where we’ve remodeled a lot, but not professionally.”

Stu and Carrie sat with their builder and mulled over a half dozen designs before they found one they liked—a unique barn-style exterior with a tall center section and two shed roofs.

With the vision of a new house before them, the Youngs began to let go of the classic, traditional style of their former brick Cape Cod.

They chose materials that would hold up to children and dogs and decided they didn’t want anything too fragile that could break or stain. Simplicity was the objective, but with the comfortable elements indicative of a family home.

“We did not want to be afraid to put our feet on a coffee table,” Carrie said.

Known to hold up to spills and heavy traffic, the Youngs chose rustic natural heart pine plank floors. They also opted for concrete countertops in the kitchen and a concrete shower in the master bathroom for ease of maintenance. Instead of maintaining grout, all they have to do is wipe the concrete down when it’s dirty. As with most of her designs, Carrie tried to think of things that would reduce the burden of cleaning. Asking herself, “What can I do to make things easier?”

The Youngs knew this was their only chance of having their dream home, so to save money, they did a lot of work themselves.

“When you lose your house, you have insurance, but not an unlimited amount of funds,” Carrie said.

You’ll find an industrial farmhouse style throughout the home. One example of their budget-conscious, do-it-yourself spirit is seen through the old oak sliding barn door that leads into the master bedroom, which Stu made and hung himself. His handmade wood pieces are also found in the laundry room, master bathroom and other places throughout the house.

They used reclaimed wood as a focal point on the dining room wall, the center island in the kitchen and in the master bathroom. The unique ceiling fans in their living room alongside the exposed ductwork also add to that industrial aesthetic.

The stairs were constructed using wood from an old apple storage barn off Perrowville Road in Forest, which was repurposed into the treads and risers. They used rebar as spindles, and they didn’t even clean the railings since it just adds to the home’s aesthetic.

Even the pantry was thought through with great detail. Being shorter in stature, Carrie chose not to put upper cabinets in the kitchen. The pantry provides ample storage for her kitchen items and allows her to see everything easily.

“The pantry might be my favorite spot,” Carrie said. “It’s the size of a small bedroom. It’s a blessing.”

The couple had fun shopping for little touches and upcycling things along the way. For example, in the hall bathroom, they mounted a Habitat for Humanity Restore sink onto an old sewing machine base for a conversation piece that came together for around 50 dollars.

When they designed the house, one of their main objectives was to make it big enough for family get-togethers. With an open floor plan, they find they use every inch of space—including an entertaining area downstairs large enough for a large screen projector, a place to shoot basketball hoops and a dart board. The space designated for the dining room is also among one of the family favorites with a 10-foot custom built table, made from a standing dead oak tree in Amherst. It is so large it was assembled on site by local furniture maker, William K. Perdue Furniture.

One of their favorite pieces of home décor is found in an inconspicuous spot in the kitchen. Distracted by the 22-foot tall ceiling, warm reclaimed wood throughout the home and unique décor choices, you might not even notice it’s there at first.

But the Youngs pointed it out—a wooden sign hanging near their table that reflects the new philosophy they adopted during their tough journey: “There is always, always, always something to be thankful for.”

Living in the Moment

He has a cave. She has a shed. Both have a sanctuary. A place of refuge—an oasis, retreat, hideaway. A place to call his or her own.

She sheds are a trendy thing, at least as far as vernacular, catchy phrases and marketing soundbites go. But language aside, the thing itself is as old as human history. When in the world haven’t women found a special place for escaping the demands and challenges of everyday life?

For Women and Budding Women
Oh, how memories flood back of times as a young girl in Richmond whiling away endless happy hours in a tiny, exquisite white frame, green-shuttered play house set among the daffodils and rose beds of my best friend’s mother’s backyard garden. Anne Gordon Harrison (double first name in traditional Southern style) and I fancied ourselves as two grown-up ladies hosting tea parties for our favorite dolls in this little organdy-curtained wonderland. A genuine English porcelain doll-sized tea set and miniature flower arrangements of forget-me-nots, candy tuft, and lily of the valley that we arranged ourselves in tiny glass vases completed the scene.

In our make-believe world, our dolls were our children—and we shared their, and our, innermost dreams and secrets. This was seven decades or so ago, and I can still retreat into those sweet innocent memories.

Was this play house a she shed? Absolutely—even if, as little city girls, we didn’t yet know the meaning of the word “shed.”

It was our happy place where imagination ran wild and we were free to be our true pretend-lady selves under Anne Gordon’s mother’s hawk (yet unobtrusive) eye.

A Place for a Poet
Reaching even further back in history, on Pierce Street in inner-city Lynchburg, the Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencer, 1882-1975, created her own special she shed. Her backyard cottage, according to Jane Baber White, author of Lessons Learned from a Poet’s Garden, was a “charming, cluttered one-room sanctuary built for her by her husband Edward as a place where she could write.”

According to Jane White, Edward was industrious and imaginative in building the structure, using slabs of greenstone to make the chimney and floor. All materials were salvaged or gifts from friends and neighbors and ingeniously repurposed.

And they cleverly named her cottage Edankraal, which “combines Edward’s name with Anne’s to form a pun on the word Eden and the South African word for dwelling, ‘kraal’.”

Edankraal’s front porch was framed by trumpet vines supported by massive turned posts in aqua blue. And over time, her beloved garden, for which she is also famous, spread around Edankraal and overflowed with roses, bulbs, grapes, lilacs, poppies, peonies, rose of Sharon, daisies, phlox, coralbells and much more.

Edward and Anne’s hospitable home and garden of ever-changing seasonal color blossomed into an intellectual oasis for notable Black scholars and civil rights activists, including Paul Robeson, Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Dubois, and James Weldon Johnson. And when she could grab quiet moments amid all this intellectual stimulation, Anne would submit to the pull of her passion for gardening, then retreat to the solitude of Edankraal and draw from her garden inspiration for her poetry and musings:

Being a Negro woman is the world’s most exciting game of “Taboo”: By hell there is nothing you can do that you want to do and by heaven you are going to do it anyhow—We do not climb into the jim crow galleries of scenario houses we stay away and read I read garden and seed catalogs, Browning, Housman, Whitman, Saturday Evening Post detective tales, Atlantic Monthly, American Mercury, Crisis, Opportunity, Vanity Fair, Hibberts Journal, oh, anything.I can cook delicious things to eat…We have a lovely home—one that
money did not buy—it was born and evolved slowly out of our passionate, poverty-stricken agony to own our own home.Happiness
—Anne Spencer

Out of passion and love, Anne not only had her own home, but also her very own she shed. And it opened the spigot for her creative literary juices to flow.

Jean’s Sugar Shack
After reading my story in Lynchburg Living about my country cottage garden, a previously unknown-to-me lady named Jean Springer invited me to visit her own beloved country cottage garden in Amherst County. Recognizing that we were kindred garden spirits, I drove out Elon Road five or so miles beyond Woodruff’s Store to discover the spiritual soul of her lovely garden, a she shed she calls the Sugar Shack.

This she shed is a small space, but within its 8×10 walls are so many objects of memorabilia spanning generations of family and friendship that it’s almost impossible to take it all in. Dolls, baby clothes, shaving brushes, lace from a wedding gown, mini-quilts, toys from her childhood and much more. Every single item punctuates a story of a relationship she cherishes and memories of magnanimity. And every feature and flower that grace the Sugar Shack’s surrounding garden—the little waterfall and stream lovingly built by her grandson, a plaque, “Remembering Andy,” and a fabulous assortment of spectacular irises—has its own story of generosity of spirit.

Jean says she sleeps in the main house up the hill (well, most of the time), but her heart is always in the Sugar Shack. And she has even slept there with a passel of grandsons lined up like cordwood in a mini-loft that extends under the porch roof.

She shares stories of sleepovers with the kids, with checkers (no electronics allowed), night-time stories, round-robin bedtime prayers, and heart-to-heart talks after lights out, followed by crisp mornings with hot breakfasts of eggs, bacon and toast fixed on the hotplate. Adding a little stove for wintertime warmth, Jean has created cozy, intimate, and never-to-be-forgotten memories with grandma—coated with lots of grandma’s sugar—in the Southern colloquial sense of the word.

It’s Jean’s happy place, her joy, her gift to herself and to her family. It’s also her quiet place, and she makes time every day for the peace and tranquility it brings her, rocking on her porch or reading her Bible inside.

What’s the Purpose?
Women like Anne Spencer and Jean Springer have been creating their own happy places in their gardens since the beginning of time. Yet, she sheds as a named trend in pop culture are just now catching up with the well-established institution of man caves or other traditionally male pastime places.

Both reflect their owner’s purposes, needs, tastes and preferences. Some men prefer to be cocooned in a dark room with a comfy chair positioned for the best angle to the TV or lined with books. And others would rather have an entirely different set-up to suit hobbies such as woodworking or tinkering away idle hours. Their man caves are their very own space to suit their purposes.

As with men, women’s ideas for garden she sheds are as unique as they are themselves. The purpose, look and feel of Edankraal was right for Anne Spencer, and the Sugar Shack is right for Jean Springer. Others may prefer a pleasurable escape from everyday responsibilities in the form of a different kind of private place to meditate or entertain, enjoy arts or crafts or simply hang out.

She sheds may, of course, be multifunctional. My friend Clarkie Eppes and her husband Tom live in a charming renovated, expanded, and modernized 1930s log home on Fox Hill Road with beautiful landscaping, terraced gardens, and a spectacular view overlooking the James River. Her delightful she shed is a free-standing log cabin in the garden, most likely a garage originally, now converted to accommodations for living, sleeping, desk work, and dining—plus a bath and private terrace. It’s tastefully furnished with family antiques and collections and serves as a get-away for Clarkie. It also doubles/triples as a comfortable guest house for visiting grown children and short-term rental for UVA students doing rotations in family medicine in Lynchburg.

Creating Your Own
The first step after deciding on your purpose(s) is to see if existing space can be converted or adapted: a garage, tool or potting shed, a greenhouse, or kid’s play house. If not, you’ll want to explore options for a pre-fabricated, kit or custom-built structure. A simple Google search will bring up lots of options.

According to author Erica Kotite in her recently released book, She Sheds: A Room of Your Own, you can “plan on spending about $500-$1,000 to rehab an existing shed, $2,000-$5,000 to build a shed from a kit, $6,000-$15,000 for a more customized and pre-assembled kit shed and then $15,000-$35,000 for a top-of-the-line designed shed with installation and landscaping.” Of course, if you want marble floors and crystal chandeliers, you’re out of this range. Pricing is also affected if you want/need electricity, running water or appliances—or if you add HVAC and special insulation to create a multi-seasonal shed.

Next, decide on external visual appeal and internal décor. Do you want your she shed to have a consistent look with your house, à la Clarkie and Tom, or take a daring plunge and go for a big splash? If your décor style and budget say “no” to all new furnishings, why not scout around for early attic, late basement, flea market or consignment shop treasures that could be jazzed up with a fresh coat of paint? Are you yearning to have fun personalizing your space with a fanciful color combo or other touch of whimsy?

How does your she shed fit into your landscape and garden? You may want to add climbing vines or roses to surround the entryway, window boxes spilling colorful annuals, or whatever else works with your existing yard and garden design.

She Sheds Without Walls
Not all she sheds have walls. My own country cottage garden at our farm featured a gazebo that was my happy place. It was as much a she shed to me as any cleverly and artfully designed enclosed garden space. When there, I sat quietly surrounded by nature, and that was all the décor I needed. The rest of the world stood still.

I felt the cooling breeze from the mountains on a sweltering summer day as gaura danced and swayed along the fence line. I saw bluebird mamas and papas taking turns feeding their eagerly awaiting young and butterflies and hummingbirds flitting from flower to flower. I smelled antique roses and heard bees buzzing in droves on purple vitex spikes. And I savored the flavor of ripe homegrown tomatoes. It was my place of mindfulness.

It was there that I came to appreciate more deeply that my place of personal freedom and happiness can be a play house with Anne Gordon or a gazebo at the farm or even the garden bench under a canopy of viburnum at my new home at the Woodstock. A she shed in the form of a physical place can indeed provide peace and joy. As can the self-knowledge that comes from living in the moment.

Meet the Gardener
Susan Timmons served in the 1970s as Virginia’s first Environmental Impact Statement Coordinator, then Assistant Administrator and Acting Administrator of Virginia’s Council on the Environment and editor of The State of Virginia’s Environment. During that time she also served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Environmental Professionals and received the National Wildlife Federation’s Award for Environmental Communications. More recently, she worked in higher education and nonprofit management and, in retirement, she serves as a member of the Speakers Bureau of the Hill City Master Gardeners Association with a series of talks on “Gardens of the World.”