Hosta la Vista, Baby

the Witt family nurtures elaborate gardens chock full of hostas

After moving to Eau Claire to continue their education, Richard and Karen Witt also wanted to continue another tradition of theirs: their big, beautiful gardens. However, they found the climate in Eau Claire to be completely different from their previous home just a ...

Adrienne Dorig: Next Level Design

award-winning interior designer takes home prestigious awards for kitchen/bath project

Adrienne Dorig is a interior designer and California transplant who moved to the area after her husband got a job teaching at UW-Eau Claire. She specializes in artfully designing kitchens and bathrooms with sophistication and functionality. A seasoned designer with ...

Recycling Your Pad

carpet installer can trim landfill waste

The aesthetic benefits of installing new carpet in your home come with a big downside: waste. Worn-out carpet and padding are cumbersome and costly to dispose...

The Anti-Hoarder

local organizing expert lends her tidy advice

Well Chippewa Valley, spring is just about sprung. The river is flowing and so are the sidewalks. For those of us with dogs, children or, well, feet, this can mean constant clean up.

The Apartment Gardener

Spring makes us all gardeners at heart. Unfortunately for many renters and apartment-dwellers, having an outdoor garden just isn’t possible. Brent Stelzer, of Brent Douglas Flowers For Everyday, and Ben Polzin, of Down to Earth Garden Center, have some great ideas for gardeners of all spaces and abilities about bringing the green world indoors.

Common Lawn Alternatives

Using Plants for Interior Design

local plant experts lend their advice

Remember that surge of warm weather we had recently and maybe you thought this would be a great time to get a head start on beautifying your home’s exterior with the flower garden? That warm weather ended and now it’s back to normal spring ...

'Old' is the new 'New'

local hotspots for antique furniture and decor

This past summer while hitting up local rummage sales with my husband and parents, I made the find of the day when I stumbled across a magnificently old but perfectly solid chair. I loved it immediately; with its very worn but original yellow ...

No-Mow Lawns

a new movement away from the traditional grass yard

It wasn’t the mowing that drove Linda Soltis to an alternative lawn – it was the moles. Mole tunnels riddled the postage-stamp-sized patch of grass that she labored over watering, weeding, and fertilizing, and she was tired of it. Her solution? ...

Recession Chic

rethinking your home’s interior in a down economy

Most people might assume that during a recession, an interior designer might feel pretty discouraged. No one is remodeling, restoring or upgrading, right? Not so, says Bonnie Feltz, owner of Department of Interiors in Eau Claire.