http://www.boston.com/yourlife/home House, home and garden stories and advice from the Boston Globe en-us 2009-05-26T14:56:12Z http://www.boston.com/ http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/File-Based_Image_Resource/bcom_logo_140w.gif http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/house/articles/2009/05/21/scrub_then_refinish_a_waxed_oak_floor?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+Your+Life+%2F+House+and+Home-+Gardening%2C+Home+Improvement+ Q. My floor is wide brushed oak that is stained and, I think, waxed. I am trying to clean it, but how? Peter Hotton, Globe Correspondent 2009-05-20T17:02:33Z http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/house/articles/2009/05/14/fixing_a_fieldstone_foundation?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+Your+Life+%2F+House+and+Home-+Gardening%2C+Home+Improvement+ Q. I recently noticed a big rock had fallen out of the fieldstone foundation under the porch of my 100-year-old house. Inspection from the inside of the basement shows nothing, so I am assuming a double wall type of construction. Do I try to put the rock back with regular or hydraulic cement? Do I need a mason or engineer ... Peter Hotton, Globe Correspondent 2009-05-13T16:04:00Z http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/house/articles/2009/05/07/a_permanent_cure_for_cedar_bleed?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+Your+Life+%2F+House+and+Home-+Gardening%2C+Home+Improvement+ Q. When I e-mailed you about a red stain on my painted shingles, you replied that it was extractive cedar staining, the color of the cedar leached through the paint by water. I understand that, but the stains I see are coming from under the shingles and bleeding down the paint of the shingles just below. That is why I ... Peter Hotton, Globe Correspondent 2009-05-07T02:53:12Z http://www.boston.com/yourlife/home/articles/2007/11/08/what_are_the_advantages_of_down_pillows_are_they_hard_to_clean?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+Your+Life+%2F+House+and+Home-+Gardening%2C+Home+Improvement+ For softness, nothing is better than down pillows. Filled with the delicate fluff from the bellies of waterfowl, they're especially popular with stomach sleepers, who tend to like their pillows cushiony, not firm. (If you prefer a firm pillow, consider one filled with feathers. For a medium-firm pillow, try one filled with down and feathers.) Expect to pay at least ... 2007-11-08T05:00:00Z http://www.boston.com/yourlife/home/articles/2007/11/01/pies_for_the_holiday_season?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+Your+Life+%2F+House+and+Home-+Gardening%2C+Home+Improvement+ Once a baker, always a baker. That is what my neighbor, Mr. Maus, would say as he rolled sheets of pate brisee for Mrs. Maus's legendary peach or apple pies. No one could crimp edges like she could - perfect flutes and tucks and ripples, evenly spaced around the outside edges of a pie tin. 2007-11-01T04:00:00Z http://www.boston.com/yourlife/home/articles/2007/10/25/low_profile_yields_high_concepts?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+Your+Life+%2F+House+and+Home-+Gardening%2C+Home+Improvement+ CAMBRIDGE - It's chilly, foggy, and the sky appears ready to spit drizzle, but Erwan Bouroullec has requested outside seating. {bull} "Do you mind?" he asks, already headed for the door. "So I can smoke. I'm French, I need to maintain the stereotype." {bull} Aside from looking Gallic with a cigarette perpetually positioned between his fingers, the wiry Bouroullec also ... Christopher Muther 2007-10-25T04:00:00Z http://www.boston.com/yourlife/home/articles/2007/10/18/greener_than_ever?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+Your+Life+%2F+House+and+Home-+Gardening%2C+Home+Improvement+ The promotion possessed all the subtlety of a Victoria's Secret fashion show. And, much like a catwalk full of lingerie-clad models, it also proved immensely popular. Christopher Muther, Globe Staff 2007-10-18T04:00:00Z http://www.boston.com/yourlife/home/articles/2007/10/18/marvelous_mums?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+Your+Life+%2F+House+and+Home-+Gardening%2C+Home+Improvement+ The production of millions of nearly identical pots of cushion-style chrysanthemums has reduced this versatile plant to being a throwaway American seasonal cliche, kind of the poinsettia of autumn. But in Japan they take mums seriously. In fact, chrysanthemums - "kiku" in Japanese - have been revered for centuries as the crest of Japan's imperial family and, more recently, as ... Carol Stocker, Globe Correspondent 2007-10-18T04:00:00Z http://www.boston.com/yourlife/home/articles/2007/10/18/hunting_a_colorful_enemy_in_the_yard?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+Your+Life+%2F+House+and+Home-+Gardening%2C+Home+Improvement+ I'm not usually in favor of plastic plants. But I was relieved to see a neighbor's harvest table decorated with imitation orange and red bittersweet berries, since the state of Massachusetts, just this summer, made the sale of real bittersweet, even in holiday decor, illegal. Carol Stocker, Globe Correspondent 2007-10-18T04:00:00Z http://www.boston.com/yourlife/fashion/articles/2007/10/11/meet_the_studs_of_furniture_design?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+Your+Life+%2F+House+and+Home-+Gardening%2C+Home+Improvement+ Designer Susan Hornbeak-Ortiz of Shine Home wanted her new line of upholstered furniture to have pattern, but she also wanted to keep the furniture clean and modern. Her solution to the problem was also one of the emerging trends at this fall's International Furniture Market at High Point: Nailheads. 2007-10-11T04:00:00Z http://www.boston.com/yourlife/fashion/articles/2007/09/27/back_to_the_future?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+Your+Life+%2F+House+and+Home-+Gardening%2C+Home+Improvement+ As she sifted through the new furniture, fabrics, window coverings, and accessories being introduced this season by the 80 vendors at the Boston Design Center, vice president Alexis Contant experienced unexpected moments of time travel. Patterned fabrics, metallic wallpaper, deep aubergine and sunflower-yellow textiles, and nature-inspired motifs delivered her to an innocent, and far more adventurous, period in home decor. Christopher Muther, Globe Staff 2007-09-27T04:00:00Z http://www.boston.com/yourlife/home/articles/2007/09/06/frankly_scarlet?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+Your+Life+%2F+House+and+Home-+Gardening%2C+Home+Improvement+ When it comes to home furnishings, most of us fear color, and with good reason. What's trendy now can look painfully dated in a year or two or five. Just ask anyone who grew up in the '70s, surrounded by hideous gold shag carpet and nut-brown kitchen appliances. Still, there's no reason to avoid a good punch of color, especially ... 2007-09-06T04:00:00Z http://www.boston.com/yourlife/home/articles/2007/08/09/green_acres?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+Your+Life+%2F+House+and+Home-+Gardening%2C+Home+Improvement+ The seaside gardens of Martha's Vineyard occupy some very expensive real estate. But a landscaping trend toward naturalism and native plantings predominates. It's a simple aesthetic as sternly enforced by sun, sand, and salt as it is by town conservation commissions. Carol Stocker, Globe Correspondent 2007-08-09T04:00:00Z