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5D REAL ESTATE/Sge Charlotte $08t Thursday, April 27, 2006 Wallpapers that speak to passions and pastimes Continued from page 4D wallpapers and borders. TUm the pages in the sample book and you can imagine its designers rummaging throi^h boxes of ephemera at antique stores, thrift shops and grandma’s attic to create these nostalgic and heart- warming designs. TVailways celebrates the era of the pas senger train with actual post cards,. route maps, ticket stubs and dividend checks. Ttopical takes a sentimental journey to vacations past with its color-tinted vintage postcards, some revealing handwritten messages and postmarks from the 1920s. Golf Motifs are a mainstay of novelty wallpapers, but here. you’re given the keys to the coimtry club with' a print pieced together with vintage brochures, course maps, rules of play and score sheets. Since laundry is more a chore, than a passion, the designers at Gramercy had fun with Laundry a wallpa per, of vintage advertise ments for laimdry services interspersed with pithy phrases such as “Laundry days are nothing more than meaningless black holes of time that suck the life out of you.” These detailed and dimen sional patterns are also astonishingly versatile. In a great room. Sun suggests using a novelty print on one wall and a coordinating stripe or subtler pattern oh adj acent walls. Says Sim, “Mixing designs adds drama and can make latter rooms feel more intimate.” In smaller rooms, the novelty prints are such statements that they still have major impact when hung above or below a chair rail. While the m^ority of the patterns have a vintage feel ing, this need not dictate the style of the room. Sun says, “They work equally well with contemporary traditional or antique furnishings.” Gramercy’s Echo Collector’s Home Collection is available at wallpaper retailers nation wide. For more information. Put patterns in your decor with today’s easy wallpaper Continued from page 4D about your color scheme. Your room provides a lot of visual clues. Bring some thing- a fabric swatch, pillow or favorite accessory - to guide you as you consider your choices. Hitting the books Sipce you’ve done your homework ahead of time, you’ll be able to narrow your selection fairly quickly Don’t be intimidated by the wide assortment of sample books. Just focus on those that fea ture the colors and patterns you came to find. Bring a stack of Post-Its so you can tag the patterns you hke. The markers will help you quickly compare your choices finm the assortment of books. Don’t feel pressured to decide on the spot which wall paper to buy Talk to your local wallpaper retailer about ordering take-home samples of the wallpapers you best. Order two samples of swatches you really like so you can see how they look in different places on the wall. For example, if you have a large picture over the sofa, you may want to bookend the paper at either side of it to see how the artwork will look against the pattern. Picking a pattern At home, tape -the samples to the walls and move them aroimd to see how they look in direct h^t and in shadow. \dew them fiom the distance of an adjoining room as wdl as at close range. Live with them for a few days and you will be able to whittle away at your choices. For some in search of the ‘^rfect” pattern, the selec tion process can be agonizing, especially if you think you’ll have to live with it for the next 10 years, as once was the norm. But remember that today with the netv ease in wallpapers, you can afford to be a little more carefi^ in your decisions. Getting the hang of it While pre-pasted papers have been around for ages. breakthroughs in how they’re made mean they go up easier than ever. Forget those images of Lucy and Ethel hanging wallpaper on‘T Love Lucy” But if wallpaper flat out scares you, ask your retailer about the new easy-hang wallpapers, called non-woven wallpapers. “If you’ve never hung wallpaper, I highly rec ommend these new non- woven wallpapers,” says Alan Rada, a veteran paperhai^er and owner of Decorada Wall paper Installation in -Brook- ' lyn, N.Y. “They’re a pleasure to work with, they save time, adhere very well and seams virtually disappear. This is very forgiving wallpaper, so just read the directions, and you’ll love the results.” For step-by-step-instruc- tions on how to hang, addi tional help and a wealth of information about wallpaper, visit www.wallcoverings.oig;. Gorgeous gardens inside and outside PHOTO/ARA CONTENT Building a gorgeous garden is simple when you nurture plants from the inside out. ARTICI£ RESOURCE ASSOCIATION Gorgeous gardens are sim ple to cultivate when you nur ture plants fiom the inside out. So say scientists at Eden Bioscience who manufacture a plant health regulator called Messenger. According to these garden ing experts, the difference between a gocxi gardaier and those with a bright green thumb is the knowledge of how to help plants reach opti mal health. Tb have the healthiest plants in the nei^iborhood, Jeff McClellan, a horticraltur- al specialist with Messenger advises that gardeners first make sure that plants, trees, shrubs and anything else gar deners grow receive the basic nutrients they need, “That puts the necessary building blocks in place for success, but it doesn’t guar antee it,” says McClellan. “The secret that separates an average garden and an out standing garden lies within the plant itself” Eden Bioscience’s plant health regulator, Messenger, promises to unlock a plant’s natural abflity to super-per- form in the garden. The active ingi'edient is a natural ly occmring protein called harpin. When applied to a plant’s leaves, the harpin pro tein boosts the plant’s ability to defend itsdf against dis eases and helps it to better absorb nutrients, “Enhancing a plant’s natur al defenses is one of the best ways to make sure that plants reach their full poten tial,” says McClellan, “and Messaiger imlocks that abili ty” It’s an inside-out effect that boosts a plant’s resis tance to stress and disease that puts Ihe plant in control of its own health. Crazy for camellias in Carolina Ann CuUy of South Caroli na raves about the way Mes senger transformed her gar den last summer. “It had an amazing impact on my camellias,” says Cully “All of my plants were so healthy and robust last sea son, and I attribute that to Messenger. “ Cully says that she was most amazed when her cameUias bloomed for six weeks longer than usual. “Cully’s experience is not imusual,” says McClellan. “Because the Messenger- treated plants are better able to absorb nutrients, they tend to bloom earher and longer than non-treated plants.” Purist gardener from Pittsburgh Messenger is not a fertiliz er, plant hormone or a fungi cide, whidi is why gard^ers hke Betty Labutis of Pitts burgh, Pa., are comfortable gardening with it. ‘T am a purist when it comes to gar dening, and I won’t use pesti cides or fungicides on my flowa:s or vegetables,” says Labutis. After years of trying to grow disease-fi:ee roses organically, Labutis was about to give up. ‘X.ast summer I had consid ered removing my climbing roses, and then I heard about Messenger,” she says. “I was skeptical at first, but two weeks after the first appHca- tion I saw a dramatic improvement. My roses were gorgeous, no black spot or powdery mildew and they were blooming like crazy” Plants, like people, require proper nutrients and look and feel their best when their immune system is up and stress levels are down. For more information on how Messenger worl^, to find a retailer or to learn how it has transformed American gardens, visit www.mess^- gerinfo. _’World @ OF REALEffTATE Realtors, Mortgage Funding, Investors, Contractors, and More! To join this page of ADVERTISERS Please call Yonr Personal Executive: Pat McNair ext. 106 • Jeri Thompson ext. 104 Sheryl Bradford ext 107 Fran Farrer-Nash ext. 113 Dennis Darrell exL 105 Honesty the best policy in loan application Continued from page 4D Derogatory credit reporting will affect your purchasing abflity Never sign a blank docu ment or documents that con tain blanks. Any information inserted in blanks spaces after you have signed a legal contract, then you are now boxmd to the terms of the said contract. It may be in your best inter est to insert “N/A” (i.e., not ’ applicable in any blank spaces or cross them out as a precaution. Be sure to read everything carefully and never be afraid to ask questions for clarifica tion. Don’t feel pressured to sign anything that you do not imderstand Prior to signing a real estate contract it is advisable to consult with a real estate professional or an attorney skfll in such maters. If however, you do not have access to anAttomey you can receive help fixim a HUD- approved housing counseling agency This help is either fi^ of charge or at a reason able fee. If a home is intended to be an investment property do not falsely imply you intend to occupy it. Although you may get a better interest rate as an owner/occupant loan applicant, such false implica tions violates federal law and is a serious crime. Also against the law is predatory lending. Again, never allow any loan repre- s^tative to persuade you to lying about yoiu- income, expenses, or cash for down payments in order to get a loan approval. If you feel that you are being charge a higher interest rate because of your race or national origin and not a result of your credit pro file do not accept the loan. If you suspect any loan discrim ination report it immediately to HUD and/or your local banking department. Btii^ charged hi^er lending fees for unnecessary or nonexis tent products and services could fall imder predatory lending review. Beware of mortgage preda tors that target vulnerable borrowers that are in need of fast money to take care of imexpected expenses, med ical expenditures or other financial emergencies. These lenders may attempt to pres sure borrowers to accept higher-risks loai^ such as balloon loans, interest only payments, and excessive pre payment penalties. Avoid being a victim of loan fraud b^ leaking out for the warning signs. If it seems too gcKxi to be true, it probably is. ROLAND K. HAWKINS is a Real Estate Agent with Caldwell Banker United Realtors. He can be reached at (704) 840-5762 or the internet www.roland- hawldns.com Charlotte www.thecharlottepost.com OWNING YOUR FUTURE Homeownership is a national priority. HUD is the nation’s housing agency committed to increasing homeownership and dedicated to helping first-time buyers and minority families become homeowners. Each year, HUD programs and services help tens of thousands of families accomplish the dream of a life time: owning a home. Most likely, you’ll need to borrow money to buy a house. Getting a fair deal will help you to keep your home and boost youi- home equity wealth. Home equity is the part of the value of your home that belongs to you—^the value of your house minus what you owe on the mortgage. Your goal is to ge't a loan that doesn’t include high fees or a high interest rate. With low fees and a low interest rate, you can pay down your debt more quickly and own more of your house. Watch You Wealth The wealth you accumulate in a house is no different than money in a checking or savings account. Be as careful and attentive to your home equity as you would be to your bank account. Be cautious about refinancing or boiTowing against your home equity. Remember, refinancing isn’t always a good idea. Don’t let someone sell you a loan you don’t need or can’t afford. Be wary of pitches like "NO CREDIT, NO PROBLEM" or random mail promising favor-_ able mortgage rates. If it sounds too good to be Uue, it probably is. For more information, call 1 (800) 569-4287 or go to www.owningyourfuture.gov and select "Buying a Home."
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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April 27, 2006, edition 1
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