Store Owner Peg Breiholz’s Personal Farmhouse Style

I’ve always loved doing creative things,” states Peg Breiholz, local artist and owner of The White Brick House in Forest. From her upbringing to her current business, Peg has maintained a strong sense of self that drives all her decisions and inspires others to do the same.

Staying true to roots
The Minnesota native grew up on her family’s homestead in Springfield where they farmed livestock and crops; Peg remembers they “had acres and acres of strawberries and cucumbers in the summer.” As one of 13 children (she calls herself “the lucky middle”), she pitched in around the farm along with her nine brothers and three sisters. She attributes this lifestyle to helping establish and nourish an entrepreneurial spirit within the family.

Peg came to Virginia for the first time when she was 20 years old: “I worked as a camp counselor over in Goshen, a couple of hours away from here, and I just had this distinct feeling that this is where I belong.”

Raising a family
As soon as she and her husband married, he attended a technical school in Hutchinson, Minnesota and moved to Alabama for a brief time so he could complete his studies. “After he finished, he had a job offer there and one at Babcock and Wilcox, and I already had two brothers who were living here in the Lynchburg area, so we came here!” Peg explained.

That was 28 years ago. Since then, Peg became a mother of two, educated her children, ingrained herself in her artwork and family life, and opened several small businesses—it’s been a busy time of life.

The Breiholzes live in Forest along with their daughter, who just finished her master’s degree in counseling at Liberty University, and her cat Sasha. They also have a son who recently began a doctoral program in electrical engineering at the University of Virginia.

Tending creativity
Peg refers to herself as “a junker” because she loves finding objects that others might pass over and enjoys making them beautiful and useful again.
She acknowledges that “most items I work on aren’t visibly valuable; they often have minor cosmetic issues to begin with. I like to give them a new life.”

She found herself doing this so frequently that she and a friend began selling their personal creations at Peddler Antiques in Forest six years ago. This wasn’t Peg’s first foray into the world of arts and crafts; she has been an artist as long as she can remember, working as a graphic designer for a local newspaper before staying home to raise and homeschool her children.

As a young mother, Peg turned to her art as a fun and creative outlet. “I started doing pastels when my son was two—it was something I could pick up for a few minutes and come back to.” She especially enjoyed dabbling in pastels and watercolor, and her original work is not only on display within her house, but it has also made appearances and won awards around the area, such as Best in Show in Bedford’s Centerfest one year, a ribbon from the Bedford Council for the Arts, and several ribbons from the Lynchburg Art Show.

Around the time her youngest child was graduating from high school, Peg opened a small shop on Etsy, and eventually moved into business for herself and opened The White Brick House, a home goods store named for the building’s façade on Ashwood Park Drive in Forest.

The store carries goods made by Peg and several local artisans, most of which would fall into the category of farmhouse style, which has been a mainstay in American decor far longer than HGTV and Pinterest might indicate—and who would know more about authentic farmhouse style than someone who grew up on a legitimate Midwestern farm?

Building a white brick house
The owner of the booming Forest business calls a white brick house home herself. An easy drive down a pastoral Forest road leads to a lot with a clear view of a Blue Ridge panorama overlooking the rolling green hills of the neighboring farmer’s land.

It was that view that ultimately sold them on the lot six years ago and the landscape dictated many of their final decisions.

“The fireplace was originally supposed to go on the back wall, but we asked Deitz Lilly, our builder, to move it so we could add windows and really capture the view that we loved so much, and we wanted to bring in as much natural light as possible,” Peg explained.

Her inspiration comes from light, which she finds quiet, clean and peaceful. “I need a lot of white and bright lights, especially in the dullness of winter,” she admits, and even the briefest moment spent here makes it clear. Visitors who enter through her quaint front porch walk into a bright, open space, made to feel even more airy with high ceilings and flowing white custom curtains from every window.

Even though Peg lives in and loves the mountains, she enjoys decorating with the colors of the ocean: blues, greens and sandy beiges. She achieves this palette by incorporating jute rugs, white furniture and a striking collection of countless aqua bottles and mason jars that reside in a front-and-center hutch she rejuvenated with new hardware and paint, anchoring down the space between the foyer, living room and dining room in the open floor plan.

Sowing a sense of style
The dining room draws the eye up, beginning with hand-scraped hickory floors to its board and battens all the way to the blue ceiling “so it seems endless” like the sky. Vintage tablecloths hang on a wooden ladder, and antique corbels add a bit of old-fashioned charm. Peg designed the mantelpiece that frames the see-through gas log fireplace. She coated the chairs, mantel and hutch in Westhighland White (Sherwin Williams) for a crisp look that balances the other pieces Peg made over in the milk paint she carries at her shop.

Peg points out that milk paint helps provide the timeworn and time-loved chipped look on furniture.

Opposite the dining room is a small hallway and one of Peg’s own framed pastel drawings of her son as a little boy. The hallway leads to the office and a hall bath featuring Meador Blue walls, subway tiling, and glow in the dark tile as an accent. “I thought that would be fun!” Peg laughs.

Straight ahead of the foyer lies the family’s living room with an entire wall of windows highlighting the bucolic scenery that persuaded them to purchase the property. In spite of having a dining room and a kitchen nook, this is where the family typically eats dinner and relaxes with the view (or a show on the huge TV that sits atop a reclaimed buffet). She isn’t worried about spills or stains on the custom white slipcovers that adorn the sofas. “Even when my kids were little, I had white slipcovers. With upholstered furniture, if you spill something, you can’t always get the stain out.

With slipcovers, you just take ’em off and bleach ’em!”—and this practical nature is the sentiment behind farmhouse style.

In spite of all the white, the room doesn’t feel cold; it seems welcoming, cozy and warm thanks to a layering of textures and the comfortable couches.
For instance, a collection of skeleton keys rests in a wooden dish on an end table, and Peg’s husband fashioned the lamps from porch posts. Exterior light fixtures are hand-forged and made with hand-blown glass. A glimpse up the staircase reveals an original watercolor of Peg’s two children.

Harvesting history
Peg points out that she loves to tie in forms of local and personal history in all her designs. This is evident from old Bedford County license plates that hang over a doorframe to a pile of yardsticks placed in a primitive milk can bearing the name Roanoke and the old general store scale that provides a perch for a topiary. Of her massive collection of blue glasses, her most special pieces preside on a shelf over the kitchen table; these came from her parents’ home in Minnesota.

Peg loves to bake pies and cakes in her custom kitchen that displays a kitchen island her husband created out of a cast-off workbench; Peg ordered the zinc for its counter and added beadboard along the trim. Although her kitchen contains some modern, high-end features like the Carrera marble countertops, her favorite aspects of her kitchen are her farmhouse sink (“the raised sides make it look like an important statement, like art, instead of just a plain sink”) and her separate drink cooler (“it’s so helpful instead of having drinks take up room in the fridge”).

Would she describe her style as farmhouse chic? “Not chic,” she laughs, “just farmhouse style. Shabby chic isn’t really a term that people use anymore, and it differs from farmhouse in that it’s a more feminine style that uses pastel colors in a neutral palette along with small florals. Farmhouse is more simple, direct, and clean.”

Simple and direct—a perfect example of this comes from Peg herself: “I buy things because I like them, not because of their supposed value or because they’re considered antiques. I like old things with a history, I love seeing chippy paint, and I’ve always decorated with aqua.”

Peg’s sense of style and self is just as spot on as her intuition about living in Virginia. “I have always felt like this is where I belong,” she emphasizes.

A conversation with Peg and a visit in her personal home reveals so much more than figuring out how you want to style your home or how to pursue your craft, but how to stay true to yourself, your roots, and your own personal history.

By Charlotte Farley
Photography by Tera Janelle Auch

The Benefits of the Growing Trend

Selling your home these days is a fierce competition. HGTV shows are popular; professional photography is expected. Upon seeing your listing in their inbox or social media feed, a buyer’s first impression is critical. It’s either, “Show me that home, now!” or “Not interested”—with very little gray area in between.

So, how do you make your home stand out? How do you make sure a potential buyer who sees your home’s listing…asks to see it in person? Then, how do you turn that showing…into a sale?

The answer could be home staging—giving your home a facelift that makes it more appealing to potential buyers. According to a 2015 report from the National Association of REALTORS®, 81 percent of home buyers say it is easier to visualize a property as their future home when it is staged.

RE/MAX realtor Nadine Blakely provides the service for free when a seller lists their home with her—something she has been offering since 2007.
“I’ve been trained to have a keen eye for the little things that make a big difference,” said Blakely.

She explains how “staging is different from decorating.”

“I don’t necessarily decorate your home but work with a client to help them show off the really good side of all aspects of their property,” said Blakely.

Staging in occupied houses for sale focuses on the elimination of “things” to attract buyers to the spaciousness, organization and cleanliness of rooms. And sometimes, they aren’t major tasks. For example, Blakely tells homeowners to take the magnets off the front of the refrigerator or, her pet peeve, remove cereal boxes from the top of the fridge.

“[Doing that] screams that the kitchen is too small to even store cereal boxes in the cupboards,” said Blakely.

If you don’t currently live in the home, Dan Vollmer, associate broker with RE/MAX, says staging is “incredibly important.”

“Buyers sometimes have trouble envisioning the way a space can be used, particularly if it’s empty,” Vollmer said.

But does all the effort pay off? In the decade since Blakely started offering free professional staging, she says, “It works.”

“Many of my homes sell in a matter of days, and even for more money, once I’ve staged them,” said Blakely.

More statistics from the National Association of REALTORS® back her up. Their report says 32 percent of buyers’ agents believe staging a home increases the dollar value buyers are willing to offer by one to five percent. Another 16 percent believe it increases by six to 10 percent.

But if you do choose to hire a professional to stage your home (or take advantage of a free service), Vollmer has these words of wisdom.

“You should rely on them and their guidance…” he said. “No one likes to be told their paint color choices or furniture or decor is anything less than beautiful! But if you take a step back, swallow your pride a little, and trust the person you’ve hired to give you expert advice, you’ll be much better off.”

If a professional is not an option, prepare to roll up your sleeves and do it yourself. The elbow grease could pay off through a faster sale for a higher price.

…At The Old City Cemetery

Old City Cemetery’s 27-acre public garden includes the largest public collection of antique roses in the state of Virginia.

This spring, see the beautiful blooms for yourself during the 22nd Annual Antique Rose Festival. Get the best selection of this year’s inventory on Saturday, April 15. The festival also includes workshops and guided rose tours in May. View the full schedule at www.gravegarden.org. Photo Courtesy of Old City Cemetery

5 Things You Shouldn’t Skip!

After being cooped up inside for several months, there is something satisfying about deep cleaning your home—but man, is it a lot of work. “A lot of our clients just don’t know where to start,” said Kathryn McDaniel, owner of Polished to Perfection Cleaning Services.

So if you’re pressed for time, what do you really need to clean? We asked McDaniel to help you out. Below, she explains the top five Spring Cleaning tasks you should fit into your schedule.

#1 Windows
Her advice? Divide and conquer; start with a bedroom or two and go from there. Don’t attempt to do all the windows at once because you might burn out. “Windows are a beast! I hate cleaning windows!” McDaniel joked.

Screens are tough to dust or wipe. For the best clean, McDaniel suggests removing your screens, taking them outside and spraying each one with a water hose.

#2 Kitchen Cabinets
Yes, this means you take all of your items out of the cabinets. Everything. Every cabinet. Every drawer. “Start with that cluttered catch-all drawer. We all have one,” she said.
Then, McDaniel suggests using Murphy’s Oil Soap on both wood and laminate cabinets. This is also a great time to declutter the kitchen. For example: throw out those pieces of Tupperware that don’t have lids.

#3 Baseboards
McDaniel says this is often one of the most overlooked spots in a home because there are several steps involved. But you don’t have to spend hours crawling around on the floor.

“We will actually sweep the baseboards first. Then, we go back with an attachment on the vacuum cleaner,” McDaniel explained. She finishes the job with an inexpensive mop and Murphy’s Oil Soap/water.

#4 Indoor Fabrics
Dust loves to hide in your curtains, couch cushions, etc. Most of these can be washed in your washing machine. Nicer, more expensive fabrics may be dry clean only. If you can afford it, take those to the cleaners. If not, try to spot clean.

McDaniel says a carpet cleaner, like a Bissel Green Machine, works great on your couch cushions.

#5 Declutter
Just like with the windows, break this down by room. Start with the kids’ rooms then go from there. And McDaniel says—get your children involved in the process! “It’s a teaching moment. Explain how there are tons of nonprofits that take donations that can really use them,” said McDaniel.

Even adults have a hard time letting go of things. McDaniel’s rule of thumb for clothing: “If you have not worn it in two years, you aren’t going to wear it.”

For those family members who have a hard time letting go of things, allow them to pick a select number of items from the pile to keep. That makes them pick what’s really important to them—then the rest has to go!

So, what is ikebana anyway? It’s where East meets West in an art form. A spiritual practice. A channel for connecting with nature. A mental and physical discipline of concentration. A proven meditation practice and stress reliever. It’s about being here and now. And it’s pronounced EE KAY’ BAH NAH. But what IS it, and what does it have to do with gardening?

Philosophy and History
The Japanese characters for the word ikebana most simply translate into “arranging flowers,” but it’s much more than how we Westerners often define flower arranging as making attractive groupings of cut flowers and other plant material for pleasure and to enhance our surroundings. Ikebana is that too. Plus, it goes deeper. It’s a way of communing spiritually with our physical environment through understanding the natural world of seasonal cycles, flowers, and other plant material—and becoming more fully aware of our own nature as humans in the natural order of life.

It is rooted in the concept of spiritual enlightenment central to Zen Buddhist philosophy. While the very word ikebana is Japanese, the practice of ikebana originally came from India and China to Japan over 600 years ago, and it remained for centuries the exclusive province of priests and royalty.
Interest in ikebana expanded from Buddhist ritual to secular art form by mid-17th century and then spread geographically around the world. Aided by ease of travel and speed of communications, a robust following has emerged worldwide.

Schools of Ikebana
Numerous schools of ikebana focus on different aspects of the art form, with the oldest, the Ikenobo School, dating back about 500 years. My firsthand encounters with this school of ikebana were at its birthplace at the Rokkaku-do Temple in Kyoto, Japan in the late 1960s and again in the 1980s. An ikebana temple arrangement featuring a massive construction of logs was so inspiring that I later captured its essence in an etching,
Kyoto Arrangement II.

The Ohara School, founded in 1912 (or up to 50 years earlier, per other sources), is now claimed by many as the foremost authentic school of ikebana after the Ikenobo School, emphasizing the importance of closely observing seasonal aspects of nature and valuing the beauty of natural environments. When I visited London’s Hampton Court Palace Flower Show (the largest flower show in England) in 2012, an entire section of the rose marquee was devoted to ikebana arrangements representing the Ohara School.

I once took a class at the Ohara School of Ikebana in Tokyo that combined philosophy with strict rules and rulers to ensure exact proportions. It was a bit intimidating and tedious for this free-form, broad-brush gal, albeit the beginning point in learning this new discipline, I concede.

The Ichiyo, Sangetsu, and Sogetsu Schools join the Ikenobo and Ohara Schools with global following. The Sogetsu School, formed in 1926 with the philosophy that ikebana should expand beyond Japan, is today the largest and best known internationally. This school believes that ikebana is to be appreciated by people from all cultures all over the world, rather than remaining exclusively Japanese.

I witnessed this inclusivity at the Festival of Flowers in Christchurch, New Zealand, which featured intriguing free-form arrangements and installations through Ikebana International to promote “friendship through flowers.”

Ikebana International was founded in 1956 by the late Ellen Gordon Allen, “…to create an organization uniting the peoples of the world through their mutual love of nature and enjoyment of ikebana.”

Its website, www.ikebanahq.org, notes 161 chapters in 50 countries with approximately 7,600 members. Ikebana is now in Virginia in Northern Virginia, Virginia Beach, and Richmond. Ikebana of Richmond (www.ikebanaofrichmondva.org) holds monthly meetings at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden that feature certified demonstrators, classes and workshops.

The Art of Arranging
It’s no surprise that ikebana requires carefully considered and immaculately fresh plant material. Withered leaves, flowers or fruit may be used only as an intentional part of the concept of the arranger in making a statement featuring that stage of the life cycle of the plant. The arranger can combine unlikely plant material (dried twigs or surprising combinations of shapes and colors) to convey a message or an emotion—and can also include objects such as rocks, driftwood, or even metal or plastic.

Ikebana can even feature just one plant, such as bamboo for an assemblage (as in the construction pictured on page 87). As my friend Janice Berkley, who also studied ikebana in Japan, says, “…they can be quite elaborate, but they need not be. Whatever you have that speaks to you is a possibility!
This makes ikebana less intimidating.”

Isn’t creating ikebana beginning to sound like the fun we had as children when gathering wildflowers, interesting rocks, and other found objects and arranging them on our bedroom dressers?

Ikebana avoids formal symmetry, and the arranger thoughtfully considers negative space: where not to place plant material as well as where to place it. And combinations of shapes and colors can certainly seem odd and discordant compared to traditional Western principles of design and color in the Western tradition of arranging flowers in harmoniously colorful masses or lines.

If thinking in Western terms, consider contemporary ikebana as something Picasso might have created after his departure from traditional painting. For some, it’s an acquired taste. For me, each arrangement is an exciting work of art that encourages the creator and viewer to consider nature and the visual world in challenging and exciting ways. As an art form, ikebana is more like performance art—ephemeral, expected to return to the earth after making a powerfully evocative statement that rises from a discipline of the inner spirit.

Arrangement Styles
Among the plethora of ikebana styles, let’s start with the basics of two historic styles practiced by the Sogetsu School: moribana and nageire.
Moribana is the upright style with three primary elements or lines representing heaven (shin), man (soe), and earth (hikae) as the innate symbolism of ikebana. They are positioned in varying heights according to formula (here’s where the ruler comes in) in a flat, low container and held in place by a spiked frog (kenzan); and while shin is upright, the other two are angled in the round so the arrangement does not appear flat. Or the entire composition can slant. In either case, it’s important to camouflage the kenzan with plant material, stones or in other creative ways.

Basic nageire arrangements are natural or casual looking in vertical containers, hence the translation of being called “thrown in.” Yet, they’re anything but thrown in. Rather, they are carefully and artfully assembled with traditional cross-bar mechanics (or currently any way that works) to hold the elements in place. The heaven, man and earth concepts still preside. But in today’s world, anything goes!

Ikebana 101: Let’s Try One!
It’s not hard. It just requires you to put aside your daily concerns and move into a creative zone: First, think about what plant material and containers (and perhaps other objects) to use. What’s growing in your yard or other places where you may gather? Look at it carefully. How does it speak to you?

Here are a few simple attempts of my own that I hope will give you the idea (see photos). It was winter, and I was longing for spring, so I chose branches that I knew I could force to bloom inside to tell the message of approaching spring. Oh, and it helps me to create haiku poems (5-7-5 syllables) to aid in focusing on my message. Here goes:

#1 Spring Arising
Quince sings heaven’s song
While aucuba braves earth’s chill:
We bow low in praise

What I was thinking: Quince branches forced to bloom indoors in winter reach upward toward heaven, paralleling the uplifted arms in the stained-glass window next to the arrangement. Stalwart aucuba leaves, representing earth, remain firm throughout winter months. We humans, hothouse flowers like orchids, pay homage to heaven and earth.

#2 Forced Flowering
Dangling golden charms
Add bling to copper and jade:
Spring’s jewel box opens.

What I was thinking: Fantail Willow catkins are early blooming flowers (inflorescence) that brighten winter’s brown and green landscape and foretell the multitude of jewel-tone spring blooms to come. Glossy green magnolia leaves with velvety copper undersides symbolize man’s outer shell, yet inner tenderness; arranged in a fired clay pot with trailing ivy reaching for earth.

#3 Saucy Saucers
Stealing stage center
Eager to please, always zapped
Spring frost says, “Tricked you!”

What I was thinking: Saucer Magnolia puts on its early spring show of beautiful blossoms before the last frost, which inevitably kills the blooms. These blooms force easily indoors, as shown in this winter arrangement, where they are paired with a casual cluster of winter jasmine.

Want to learn more?
This is the year for getting hooked on ikebana right here at home in Lynchburg! Opera on the James (www.operaonthejames.org) will feature ikebana at Madama Butterfly’s Garden Cabaret, along with kimonos, lanterns, Japanese art (on display and at auction) and more, on Saturday, April 22 at the Academy Center of the Arts. Then on April 25, Lynchburg’s Garden Day will also include ikebana at all houses (including our own) as part of the Garden Club of Virginia’s annual Historic Garden Tour (www.vagardenweek.org).

Give it a whirl and see how ikebana can become a way of more deeply understanding nature and your garden. A way of personal philosophical and artistic expression. And a way of melding cultures and celebrating worldwide respect and friendship.

Story and Photos by Susan Timmons

Your Virginia529 Questions Answered

Years before Tamara Parker adopted her daughter, Jenna, she and her husband were already thinking about how they’d pay for a child’s college education. “It was before she was even born,” Parker said, referring to 4-year-old Jenna.

Lately, Parker has been thinking more and more about the cost of college. After all, according to CollegeData.com, “a ‘moderate’ college budget for an in-state public college for the 2016-2017 academic year averaged $24,610. A moderate budget at a private college averaged $49,320.”
Multiply that times four and a bachelor’s degree—what Parker envisions for her daughter—can easily run six figures. For a lot of parents, that’s a shock.

“One of the largest misconceptions about college is it’s a lot more expensive than most people think it is or plan for,” John Hall, certified financial planner at Lynchburg Wealth Management, said.

“A lot of folks, they’ll look at, ‘What are my tuition costs?’ Books can be a couple hundred bucks. Supplies, room and board is expensive. It all adds up to be your combined college cost. Sometimes, folks will pay for the tuition but still have a financial burden because they haven’t planned for all the expenses of college.”

To tackle this problem, Parker is thinking about a 529 plan.

As described at Virginia529.com, 529s—named for the IRS section code that established the tax advantages for such plans—“help you plan and save for qualified higher education expenses at eligible educational institutions.”

There are two basic options: Virginia529 prePAID, in which tuition costs are more or less locked in, and college savings plans, which act much like an investment account. In the savings plan category, there are three options—inVEST, CollegeAmerica and CollegeWealth—which have subtle differences and are further explained on the Virginia529 website.

Some kind of 529 plan is offered by all U.S. states and the District of Columbia, and money saved is tax free when used for college. In Virginia, there are additional tax benefits as well.

Parker shared some of her questions with Lynchburg Living:
My biggest concern is if Jenna doesn’t go to college, what happens to that money? I don’t want it locked in and we can’t touch it. If we have an extreme emergency and we have to touch that money is it even an option?

According to Hall, all money saved through a 529 plan is “tax free, as long as it’s used for education. It works the same way as an IRA or 401K. So, as long as you take it out for the purpose it’s intended for, you’re not paying taxes on it when you take it out.

“There are scenarios where you do [pay taxes]. If your child ends up not needing it…or might get other ways to pay for college—a scholarship—you have to do something with the money. You can transfer it to an immediate family member … and that’s a tax-free transfer, but if you take it out for no educational expenses, there would be a penalty and taxes on it at that time.”

Are 529s just for four-year, Virginia colleges or can they be applied to community college, or even a university in another state? Can it be used for a trade school?

“It just has to be a qualified higher education expense,” Hall said. “It can be trade school or community college. It includes books. It doesn’t have to go to tuition. In some cases, room and board. It depends on how it’s classified. No apartments, but on-campus housing.”

And you’re not limited to Virginia schools. “A lot of folks think if my kid doesn’t want to go to U.Va. or Tech, and wants to go to Alabama, it won’t pay for them, but it will,” Hall said.

Michael Farris, dean of enrollment management at Central Virginia Community College, added a caveat, however. While a 529 plan will pay for out-of-state schools, he said, out-of-state tuition is more expensive.

“The best bang for your buck … would be to stay in state,” Farris said, “because if you’re going to a school out of state—I’ve seen this often—money they save, that could effectively be paying the in-state rate … is only going to go about half as far.”

Does Jenna have to use it immediately, right out of high school? Can she delay going to college?
According to Virginia529.com, college savings plans—inVEST, CollegeAmerica, CollegeWealth—require that funds be used within 30 years “after the beneficiary’s projected high school graduation date.”

If the account was opened after graduation, funds must be used within 30 years of that point.

For prePAID plans, funds have to be used within 10 years of high school graduation.

Another common question involves whether you need a financial advisor to set up a 529 or if you can do it yourself. “You can do it on your own,” Hall said. “For lots of folks, particularly here in Virginia, I recommend going directly to the Virginia529 website.

“You can purchase a plan or invest in a plan there. It’s cheaper than if you went to a bank or financial advisor, unless the financial advisor chooses not to charge you. For a lot of folks, that option makes sense and I do encourage people to look at that.”

Not intending to put himself out of business, however, he added, “Financial advisors can help parents plan for education expenses, keeping the family’s entire financial picture in mind. I simply wanted to state that there’s an easy option in Virginia to invest in a 529 plan directly online, and it’s a good option that I often recommend.”

No matter what route you take, local professionals say the 529 is a good plan. “I recommend it, most definitely,” Farris said. “I don’t say that lightly. Saving for college is a challenge, and an extreme challenge because of the cost and so many variables and unknowns. If the family has the means to do it, I’d highly recommend doing it.”

A Glimpse into the Social Movement

Instead of thinking big, more and more people across the country are choosing to downsize their living spaces. The average American home is around 2,600 square feet; the typical “tiny house” ranges in size between 100 and 400 square feet. In our area, Dusty and Ashley Foster set out to embrace the social movement and even caught the eye of a television show. While zoning issues have kept them from living in their tiny home for now, the couple and their experience is a lesson to all of us on how to choose quality over quantity.

The Fosters used to travel with Children of the World, the child sponsorship program and extension of World Help, a local humanitarian organization. As team leaders, they traveled for over two years living in a Fifth Wheel Camper. When they finally came off the road, they began to make plans for a more permanent dwelling. The Fosters were most comfortable with a small, compact space since that is what they were used to.

Since an RV takes a lot of maintenance and can’t be altered to reflect their personalities, they opted to build a tiny house instead. It helped them achieve their dream of building their own home and was an efficient way to stay within a budget.

Once the Fosters officially decided to build a small house, Ashley got in touch with the television show “Tiny House Nation.” After going through the application process, they were accepted and signed a contract with the FYI Cable Channel. With television cameras rolling, the couple built their tiny house over the span of just three weeks.

Since Dusty owns a home remodeling business, building the tiny house himself was only a natural progression for this young couple.

“They filmed it all. We built it,” Dusty said. “We built it from the ground up. We were the contractors, roofing and electrical—the whole family was out there working. We could have saved a lot of money, but we wouldn’t be where we are today without the show. We spent more because we did it in such a short time frame. It’s supposed to be our home, so we really had to go all out. It’s a very nice, upscale tiny home for a fraction of a bigger [home].”

When the Fosters started the building process, they purchased home plans based on a layout they liked the best that would accommodate sleeping up to six people. The entire house is only 310 square feet; it’s 28 feet long, 8.5 feet wide and 13 feet at its tallest point.

With limited space, they found ways to maximize every inch throughout the house. Since they enjoy cooking, they made the kitchen a priority and installed a huge kitchen sink, decent-sized apartment fridge and a five-burner gas stove and oven. They were able to do a trade out for their granite countertops in the kitchen thanks in part to the television program. Underneath the cabinets they installed Mason jar lids that screw into the upper cabinetry base, holding common pantry items such as nuts and chocolate for easy access. Their small space is equipped with all the essentials including a washer and dryer combination unit. There are even two loft spaces in the house that function as both bedrooms and a sitting room for reading or watching TV. By enhancing the footprint they have, the guest loft bed turns into a couch when they push a lever, utilizing the area not just for a guest bedroom but for watching movies and escaping from their two dogs. The bathroom door is a barn door that slides to cover a bookcase, maximizing both vertical and horizontal space.

“It feels like a regular house to us,” Ashley said. “We utilize every nook and cranny. We’re constantly thinking of ways to improve that.”

The couple admits there are challenges to living in a small space. There is limited storage for items such as clothing. Tiny homes also have to be cleaned more frequently since dirt and clutter are more noticeable.

When the Fosters consulted with the television program about the layout and design of the house, the network asked for their design desires. The couple’s preference for the interior was that the house reflect the outdoors. They achieved this aesthetic by installing wood-paneled walls, airy, fresh accessories and nature-inspired colors (teal, light aqua and sky blue) that are much like the wide open skies that Dusty flies as a pilot.

While prepping to be on the television show, the Fosters gave the network a certain amount of money for some of the furnishings and finishing touches, including accessories like bedding. Then the network staged the house for a surprise reveal. There were many aspects that were a complete surprise to the Fosters during the reveal, reflecting their true reactions.

“The main perk was we were able to do trade outs on the windows, insulation, floors, cabinets and countertops,” Ashley said. “We didn’t pay the full value, just taxes on trade outs.”

Though the Fosters did much of the design themselves, program staff lent their expertise. While consulting about design, the producers wanted to know if they could “go wild” decoratively or if they preferred to keep things within a normal design. The Fosters told them that on the outside, they could go as crazy as they wanted, but on the inside, they wanted a clean, rustic, natural aesthetic. On the exterior, they built the house with a shed roof to maximize head space instead of an A-shaped roof. Then, they wrapped it in sheet aluminum to reflect an old polished war airplane—something dear to Dusty’s heart as a pilot. From the side, it even looks like an airplane wing.

Incorporating aviation elements throughout the house reflected the Fosters’ personal interests. Ashley is a professional advisor for Liberty University’s School of Aeronautics. Dusty has a bachelor’s degree in Aviation Maintenance and is currently a student with Liberty’s aviation program. Some of the more creative aeronautic details magnified throughout the space include a pilot tube for a toilet paper holder, a Magneto Box from a 1940s AT21 Gunner as their kitchen light switch and an airplane propeller as their ceiling fan in the main living area. Taylorcraft airplane elevators from a little airfield in North Carolina were used for the upstairs loft railings.

A wing rib was used as a decoration on their guest loft wall, and an altitude indicator became a decoration built into their moving stair case, which was designed to look like an airplane stewardess cart.

“There are so many little things that speak to who we are inside the house,” Dusty said.

The Fosters always intended the house to have a permanent location, so after building the house on wheels while airing on “Tiny House Nation,” they tried to find it a permanent home. In most cities, tiny houses are hard to classify—they are not mobile homes or RV’s. They are built to last like traditional houses by using traditional building techniques and materials with aesthetically similar designs to larger homes. These homes are built to the standard of a permanent house, but many times building committees don’t know what to do with them. To be a legal residence, the house needs to comply to all international resident codes, which means the home needs a permanent foundation, it needs to be connected to permanent power and it should have running water at all times.

As the Fosters searched for land, they ultimately found a location with a house already on the property that is 10 minutes from everything and inside Lynchburg city limits. But when city officials found out about the tiny house, the couple was told they had to move it off the property unless they made some big changes.

“They told us, ‘In order to keep it there, you have to put it on a foundation,’”

Dusty said. “So we started going through the process of that and started to realize that to do everything they said, it was going to cost us close to 10 thousand dollars to put it right where it’s at.”

Unable to justify that expense since both Dusty and Ashley are back in school, they are now trying to sell their tiny house.

As this issue went to print, they were working with one interested buyer, but no deal had been finalized. If a sale doesn’t happen, Dusty says they may reconsider putting the tiny house on a foundation.

Despite the discouraging ending to their tiny house story, Dusty and Ashley are trying to stay positive about the entire experience.

“It brought people together. It brought my family together,” said Dusty. “So much work went into [the house], so you hate to see it go,” he said.

For more information about Dusty’s Home Repair business, contact him via: dustyjfoster@gmail.com.

Heather’s Helpful Hints For Your Home:
Maximizing small spaces in tiny houses, apartments or lofts.
1. Re-think Walls: Retractable curtains can create privacy in small spaces without the commitment of walls. Avoid partitions when possible in tight areas. Open floor plans create the illusion that a room is larger than it actually is as long as clutter is contained.

2. Make Rooms Versatile: No space should be given just one function. By using all of your space for as many purposes as possible you can achieve a home office, dining room and guest bedroom all in one area.

3. Look Upwards: Installing floor to ceiling bookshelves or cabinetry is an excellent way to utilize space and create additional storage. Floor to ceiling shelving can also generate effective storage for more than just books—it can hold dishes, clothing or baskets to organize items. Open storage draws the eye upwards and forces you to live organized since everything is so visible.

4. Let in the Light: Skylights and windows bring in natural light, making a home feel larger. Light colors and carefully selected lamps or task lighting can make a space feel more open and expansive. Strategically placed mirrors can increase the visual size of an area and semi-opaque materials allow light into windowless rooms.

5. Invest Outdoors: Design an outdoor living space to add the feeling of square footage without the cost of a lot of building materials. Patios, decks, porches or a gravel oasis can function as an extra room, adding to the value and footprint of your home’s livable space.
Heather Cravens is a Lynchburg native with over 10 years of experience in the interior design industry, including owning Becoming Designs. Heather is passionate about creating environments that inspire and build families through the hospitality of their home. She mirrors that passion with her own family by spending time with her husband, their two-year old son and their newborn baby girl.

By Heather Cravens
Photography by Tera Janelle Augh

Feeding Body and Soul

Miss Minnie brought us eggs from her backyard chickens.

Curles Neck Dairy delivered bottles of milk from nearby county cows to our back porch. And Farmer John’s rusty pick-up rumbled through the alley behind our house with fresh veggies for sale.

The butcher and grocer at neighborhood Stonewall Market (where delivery was an option) rounded out the basic food groups for our table. This was the food delivery system of my childhood in the city of Richmond. This was before agri-business and super market chains took over.

Waste Not, Want Not and Third-World Nutrition
Mom regularly referenced “Starving Armenians” when admonishing my sisters and me to eat every morsel placed before us (like it or not). Despite only vague awareness of where these poor people were starving (or what we could do about it), I grasped her point that we weren’t to take the privilege of three wholesome meals a day for granted. First-hand experience with those struggling for nutritious meals in less well-fed neighborhoods of our own city came later through Girl Scout, school, and church service projects.

But inadequate nutrition didn’t really wrench my heart until I lived in Korea for two years in the ’60s (then a third-world country).

It dug even deeper into my soul when working more recently in small villages in Malawi, Africa (one of the poorest countries in the world) on several mission trips. With my own eyes, I witnessed the gnawing struggle for food through seasonal subsistence farming in community gardens—pooling resources, labor and sparse produce.

Maize (corn)-based nsima (pronounced see’-ma) is the starchy staple for Malawians. When supply is short, help comes from nearby Zambia—and from around the globe through The World Food Bank—with donated corn, rice, soybeans and more from Spain, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the U.S. and other countries. Seeing this, I understood community gardening on a global scale: A global community of gardeners in spirit—caring, growing and sharing.

Growing food locally to feed the hungry globally. Thank you, Mom, for teaching me not to take food for granted.

Delivery Systems and Food Deserts
As still practiced in Malawi, community gardens supplied food for people since man evolved from “hunter-gatherers” to “local growers” many millennia ago. Then people gravitated to cities, our agrarian economy in the U.S. gave way to urbanization and industrialization, and more centralized agriculture and large grocery stores became the norm, with notable exceptions such as WWII Victory Gardens—promoted by the government to bring our nation together. A swift post-WWII rise in agribusiness, mass-produced foods, and mega-grocery conglomerates, convenience stores, and fast food chains, brings us to today’s efficient and economically viable food delivery system, despite a brief resurgence of community gardens in the U.S in the 1970s inspired by the environmental movement.

But there’s a downside: Agribusiness and grocery conglomerates have not solved the problem of dietary deficiencies in lower socio-economic neighborhoods. In fact, they have exacerbated it. Results of a 2011 study by my former colleague in the Economics department of Randolph College, Professor John Abell, and others on Inner City Food Deserts in Lynchburg, suggest that “downtown Lynchburg is indeed a food and pharmaceutical desert.”

Grocery chains locate where profits are greatest. Business 101.
So, with Lynchburg’s 24 percent poverty rate, many poor residents live in neighborhoods without healthful food markets. I remember when Food Lion pulled the plug on its Bedford Avenue store leaving those without cars looking for bus routes to buy reasonably priced, healthful food. Grocery chains as their food delivery system had failed them.

Granted, we have a thriving community farmers’ market, as well as churches, service groups, and charities. We have Daily Bread, Meals on Wheels, Gateway and others to help feed those in need, so we aren’t reminded of poverty and starvation by dramatic images of skeletal people dying on the side of the road. Yet lack of access to healthful food is linked to an insidious illness here. And it kills.

People living in food deserts—without neighborhood food markets or transportation to healthful groceries—tend to walk to the corner convenience store to grab fast food, chips, candy and sodas to fuel their day. Then what? Poor nutrition. Obesity. Diabetes. And other social ills.

Buses and Beyond
Fortunately, our city has improved bus routes to markets.

Other successful efforts include educational school programs and gardens run by the Hill City Master Gardener Association (HCMGA), under the auspices of the Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE).

But this still isn’t enough. Buses aren’t necessarily the answer for parents corralling a passel of kids, the disabled struggling to schlep groceries home, or shut-ins; and school programs aren’t putting three square meals on the table for these kids every day. Taking it a step further, the HCMGA established community gardens at the Boys and Girls Club, Jubilee Center, Juvenile Detention Center, and more—
so kids can understand where their food comes from, cultivate and harvest a garden, and take fresh produce home.

The answer seems to be community gardens—currently defined as “any piece of land gardened by a group of people.” In some early-adopter, high-density cities, such as San Francisco, a rental garden plot in a premier community garden has a waiting list of many years.

Increasing reliance on these gardens is generating enthusiasm and traction as a movement across the U.S, and state land-grant university extension agents are actively promoting them.

Our own VCE agent, Kevin Camm, is passionately promoting community gardens across our city. And broader efforts are underway to develop a regional agricultural strategic plan for a systemic stable supply and access to affordable, healthful food delivery systems, especially in low-income neighborhoods.

The “How To” For Success
The “Nuts and Bolts” for establishing successful community gardens include bringing together the right partners, sponsors, funders, budget and neighborhood leaders—and a relentless drive for success.

Commitment, cooperation and collaboration are the three critical “C’s”—and we’re seeing our city, VCE, HCMGA, Randolph College, Lynchburg Grows, churches (such as St. John’s Episcopal, Holy Trinity Lutheran and Quaker Memorial Presbyterian), Camp Kum-Ba-Yah, private landowners, and more all coming together to make it work. The HCMGA community garden at Humankind is on the horizon after countless hours of putting these three “C’s” into practice, plus many hours of on-the-ground effort by Master Gardener Richard Givens and other volunteers. This garden will offer everyone in our community a rental plot (San Francisco style) to grow vegetables, fruits, or flowers, and it will serve as an educational center to show people the “how to” as well as provide food preservation demonstrations.

Lynchburg’s Department of Parks and Recreation maintains gardens on city properties and a general directory of “What’s in My Neighborhood”—and they just won a statewide award for encouraging healthier eating. Much of the credit goes to cooperative efforts spearheaded by Parks and Rec employees, Howard Covey and Lucy Hudson, who are also Master Gardeners.

Land for community gardens may be rented, borrowed or owned. Randolph College maintains an organic community garden with plots on request. In some community gardens, such as The Veggie Spot on Lynchburg’s Daniel’s Hill, neighborhood leaders came together on a vacant lot to garden and share the produce with fellow neighbors. The success of this garden, as all neighborhood gardens, is in the passion and “sweat-equity” of the people who live there.

Organizational considerations include agreement on methodology, design, physical layout, membership/labor (including regular watering and weeding), membership rules/fees, and distribution of produce, conflict resolution among participants, neighbors and vandalism. Horticultural decisions must, of course, address water, soil, sunlight, plant choice, security, pest control and all the other factors any garden requires.

The Spirit of Community
In addition to feeding the needy, community gardens serve a multitude of purposes, including educational, entrepreneurial, job training and therapy. The communal garden at the Pearson Cancer Center provides focus and hope for the future for patients and their families. The Awareness Garden provides scholarships to assist students whose lives have been impacted by cancer or who plan to work in a cancer-related field. And Lynchburg Grows has given much to our community through remarkably successful entrepreneurial and training programs for youth, disabled and low-income residents; running a food co-op; sending a food truck—or “Veggie Van”—out to take produce to food deserts and more.

The communal garden behind our new home in a condominium at The Woodstock is a peaceful sanctuary for residents to read a book, breathe fresh air and enjoy a sunny day, or give a pet dog some outdoor time. As a newcomer, I look forward to discovering what’s blooming this spring and getting to know my neighbors as we prepare to share our communal garden for Garden Day in Lynchburg on April 25th.

Community gardens are about proven food delivery systems, improving health, developing productive use of eyesore vacant lots or otherwise underutilized land, and building community spirit.

They can be a global effort to feed the starving or a local effort to bring fresh and nutritious produce to our neighbors—or a flower garden to attract pollinators and feed our souls. They’re about people coming together to take care of each other. It’s good to return to the old-fashioned way of doing things of my childhood.

by Susan Timmons

Are you the next bride of the year?

DATE: TBD
TIME: TBD
LOCATION: TBD

We invite you to Central Virginia Bridal Guide’s exclusive Bride of the Year Luncheon, where we will select the 2018/2019 “Bride of the Year”!

Come enjoy a photo booth, lunch provided by four unique caterers, delicious wedding cakes, floral designs, and tons of giveaways! Every Bride in attendance will be eligible to win incredible prizes, including the title of “Bride of the Year”. Best of all, the “Bride of the Year” will be featured in an upcoming issue of Central Virginia Bridal Guide and will win a gift package including a Honeymoon from Travel Lovers.

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Pre-registration is required as limited seating is available.

Tickets are $15 per person. Ticket sales end at 4pm on January 27, 2017. To purchase tickets later than this time, contact Kelly Miller at 434-662-4150.
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Make sure to find us on Facebook – @CentralVABridal – and on Instagram – @VaBridalGuide – for more details to come!

Central Virginia Bridal Guide loves to help brides connect with the area’s most-valued vendors. We look forward to meeting all of you!

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Call 434-660-4150 for more details.

Check out photos from last year’s events: Bride of the Year Luncheon

Heather’s Helpful Hints for Your Home: Holiday decorating traditions of years past that you may want to consider in the future.

1. Evergreen Trimmings: At Christmastime, English homes are decorated with great care and detail. An economical way to decorate with style is to ask a local Christmas tree farm if you can glean the clippings from their cut trees. They typically just discard them, but these “scraps” make great centerpieces and windowsill embellishments when intertwined with artificial flowers or bows and can add fullness and life to synthetic arrangements.

2. Authentic Lighting: We often take for granted modern efficiencies like electricity, but what if Christmas were only lit by candlelight? Candles were a staple in Victorian homes, so take a cue from this era and turn the lights low. Candles can be used on tabletops, mantels, windowsills, bathrooms or stairways. Line a driveway, hang them from trees, place on top of mirrors or mix them in with fruit. The possibilities are endless!

3. Handmade Heritage: Young ladies in Victorian society spent many hours making decorations and gifts by sewing, embroidering, painting and gluing.
Little horns of plenty from colored paper filled with sweets and intricate pouches made of silk and feathers filled with candied fruits and nuts would hang from branches. Rather than purchasing pre-made decorations and gifts, take a stab this season at making some of your own.

4. Glass Pickles: Prince Albert made the decorated Victorian Christmas tree popular. In line with a custom of his German homeland, consider adding a new ornament to your tree this year. In Germany on Christmas Eve, a glass pickle ornament is hidden within the Christmas tree’s limbs. Christmas morning, the first child to find the pickle receives an extra gift.

5. Legend of the Christmas Spider: Do you use tinsel on your tree? It’s a tradition adapted from a Ukrainian legend where finding a spider or spider’s web on a Christmas tree is considered good fortune. Artificial spider webs became an embellishment explaining the origin of tinsel on a tree.

Long narrow strips not attached to thread that mirror icicles are called “lametta.” Perhaps it’s an often overlooked decoration worth reigniting!
Heather Cravens is a Lynchburg native with over 10 years of experience in the interior design industry, including owning Becoming Designs. Heather is passionate about creating environments that inspire and build families through the hospitality of their home. She mirrors that passion with her own family by spending time with her husband, their two-year old son and their newborn baby girl.

By Heather Cravens