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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 2015)
HOME IMPROVEMENT & CAR CARE PAGE 2 • HERMISTON HERALD/EAST OREGONIAN WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2015 Tips for brightening a home during winter By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer Shorter days and colder weather can put a damp- er on anyone’s mood, but brightening your living space can help counteract that gloomy feeling. Debbie Westwood, own- er of the Hermiston home decor shop Indulge, said she always adjusts the dec- orations in her own home to reÀect the time of year. “With the change of sea- son, if you change things up in your house it will make you feel better,” she said. During the fall months she said she uses warm col- ors, like gold and orange, as she puts up new curtains and pictures around her home, then switches to Christmas decorations as the holiday season approaches. She said colorful throw pillows and blankets in your living room that comple- ment the decor can brighten the room, make it feel cozi- er and help keep you warm and comfortable. The important thing, she said, is to make your living space feel “homier” during the months you spend more time inside. One thing that helps with that is using scented candles and other items to make your home smell “like fall.” “How a house smells STAFF PHOTO BY JADE McDOWELL Decorative candles and lanterns can add extra light to a room during short winter days. affects how you feel,” she said. Increased lighting to make up for a decrease of natural light can also help. That includes decorative candles and lanterns, and Westwood said she has her lights in her home on dim- mers so that she can add just a little extra light to supplement the natural light coming through her win- dows on cloudy days. Other tips to brighten your home during the win- ter can include: 1) If the view outside isn’t very cheery, add some colorful curtains to help brighten the view. Then keep those curtains open whenever there is any nat- ural light to be had. 2) Add house plants around your home. Not only will they provide a bit of that greenery you miss about spring, they have also been shown to increase air quality inside a building and help counteract the dry- ing-out effect of running a heater. 3) Add mirrors to your walls. They amplify light and make a room appear more spacious, helping counteract the “cooped up” feeling from spending more time indoors during the winter. 4) Do some fall clean- ing. A layer of dust and grime on windows and light ¿xtures can dull the light shining through, dim- ming the room. Make sure those surfaces, as well as hard surfaces that might reÀect light, are clean and shiny going into the winter months. 5) Rearrange your furni- ture to optimize the amount of natural light you’re ex- posed to. That might mean moving a couch so it faces a window, or moving an entertainment center from where it is blocking light from reaching the rest of the room. Fall leaves can be fun, even for adults G rowing up. I often was excused from home and garden tasks. I conveniently used the ex- cuse of my allergies and asth- ma to get out of doing things I didn’t enjoy. However, as I’ve gotten older I’ve learned that fall leaves can be fun. So, before you get set to rake ’em and bag ’em, have some fun with the color- ful and crisp leaves that are blowing across your lawn like a snowdrift. A number of years ago, Suzanne Tosten and I felt bad for Terri Dorran because she didn’t have any trees in her yard. Terri was missing out on the joys that fall leaves ul- timately bring. Dressed incognito for a Halloween party as Wayne and Garth of Saturday Night Live, Suzy and I set out to en- rich Terri’s life with a bless- ing of leaves. Oh sure, we could have gone across the street to the park and raked and gathered leaves, but that would have taken too much effort. Instead, we went to then Hermiston Mayor Frank Harkenrider’s house and re- moved several of his large decorative lawn leaf bags. Back at Terri’s house we emptied the bags, creating a blizzard of leaves. It was awe- some fun. Terri’s son, Mitch, was thrilled with the colorful blan- ket in their front lawn. “Look mom, look at all the leaves,” he exclaimed with the innocence of youth. “They must have blown over from the park.” Of course, we couldn’t just steal Harkie’s leaves and call it good. So, a few nights lat- er, we collected Tammy the leaves from Malgesini Terri’s place. INSIDE MY Then, on the SHOES way to Hark- ie’s house, we had another bright idea — let’s collect additional lawn leaf bags and set them up in a football formation. (Note: I’m sure the statute of limita- tions has passed regarding the theft of said leaves, but just in case I want to remind you about something called cre- ative license.) Anyway, along with the three bags we had snagged from Harkie’s lawn earlier, we gathered an additional eight bags between Hermis- ton and Highland avenues. Back at Harkie’s place, we set up a basic T formation. With my husband’s gimpy foot and fall in full swing with the leaves starting to ¿ll our yard, I’m likely going to be the one raking and bagging this year. By the way, can someone tell me where May- or Dave Drotzmann lives? (Many area cities provide its residents with a card or cou- pon to dispose of yard debris, including fall leaves, free of charge at local land¿lls. Con- tact your city hall for details). Tammy Malgesini is the community editor. Her col- umn, Inside my Shoes, runs every other week in the Herm- iston Herald. Contact her at tmalgesini@eastoregonian. com or 541-564-4539. STAFF PHOTO BY TAMMY MALGESINI Carol Greene and Deana Cordell play among the leaves during a fall golf game. FALL SAVINGS! 40% of f Shr ubs , R os es , Per enni al s , Shade & Fr ui t T r ees OPEN Y ROUN EAR D Kale, Mums & Pansies are a fall must! • ROCK • BARK • COMPOST Gift Certificates Available & GIFT CENTER 50% OFF 465 W . 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