Home design ideas

The August issue of Southern Living is worth picking up for the 101 house ideas from the their 2012 Idea House. My favorite ideas include the dogtrot-like central hall, an old wooden horizontal filing cabinet used as a coffee table, hand-sanded wood floors, and grouping a collection together tightly to give the impression of "one element" (but, please, not little skulls!),

And they had ideas I didn't much like. I don't like subway tiles unless they're not white, and a random pattern is better. Btw, two interesting shades of white are Pearly White and Spinach White (pale green) by Sherwin-Williams. And I would never lean a mirror over a sink! Or put a modern vessel sink into a distressed table. Something I wouldn't do, but is a cool idea, is painting a room in a large-scale gingham pattern.

There is also an article on crape myrtles, which include some of my favorites; unfortunately they're at our last place; the crape myrtles here are old varieties. Other articles focus on a moss lawn, Preserving Summer (canning), chickens, watermelon recipes, Tex-mex recipes, and fig recipes.

Travel articles visit Charlotte (Deomcratic convention) and Tampa (Republican convention); North Carolina Highlands; and Mobile, Alabama; a Miami restaurant; and Winter Park, Florida.