home + garden
Welcome to Homegirls. You'll find a sassy sampling of décor and design tips, frank conversation about everything from holidays and homekeeping to home improvement and our picks and pans of new products, stores and events.
Contributors: Kim Palmer, Lynn Underwood, Connie Nelson, Kim Ode and Nicole Hvidsten.
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Posts about Minnesota newsmakers
Best neighborhood for old houses
Posted by: Kim Palmer Updated: February 28, 2012 - 11:34 AM
Photo by Tracy Loso
Looking for a great old fixer-upper? Look north -- to the Old Highland neighborhood in North Minneapolis, to be specific.
That's the advice from This Old House magazine, which recently released its annual list of "Best Old House Neighborhoods" -- 51 in the United States and 10 in Canada. (www.thisoldhouse.com/best-places.)
Minneapolis' Old Highland also made the magazine's "Top 6 Editor's Picks" and "Best Place for Fixer Uppers" list.
What makes Old Highland so great? The 30-block Victorian-era enclave boasts architectural diversity, craftsmanship and "preservation momentum," along with walkability, safety and community.
Much of the housing stock was built in the 1880s, when architects were designing residences for well-to-do merchants who operated nearby businesses. The neighborhood got its name for its location, high above Bassett Creek and Oak Lake.
Old Highland fell into decline during the 1970s when middle-class residents migrated to the 'burbs, and were replaced by absentee landlords. But residents fought back, forming an active neighborhood association.
"This area has always been stigmatized as a rough part of town, so it wasn't on my radar," resident Amy Narum told the magazine. But after moving into her partner's duplex, "I quickly realized that people here are really friendly and really close."
Old Highland (bordered by Plymouth, West Broadway, Aldrich and Girard) has a website, www.oldhighland.org.
What's your favorite "old house neighborhood" in the Twin Cities? And what do you love about it?
Best neighborhood for old houses?
Posted by: Kim Palmer Updated: March 2, 2011 - 2:37 PM
Not Lowry Hill.
Not Summit Avenue.
Nope, the best "Old House Neighborhood" in Minnesota is Prospect Park in Minneapolis. That's according to This Old House magazine, which just released its annual list. (St. Cloud made the cut last year.)
Prospect Park, known for its "Witch's Hat" water tower, is tucked between the University of Minnesota campus and St. Paul.
And it's a treasure trove of well-preserved old homes, according to the magazine. With nearly 800 dwellings, 92 percent are considered historic, in architectural styles ranging from 19th-century Stick Victorians to midcentury bungalows.
This Old House also liked Prospect Park's "mazelike streets," century-old trees and plethora of private gardens. The houses themselves are relative bargains. "It's common to find a fully restored 2,000-square-foot home built around the turn of the century for less than $400,000," the magazine noted. "Bargain hunters may find deals as low as $150,000 for a 1,200-to 1,500-square-foot house in need of updates."
I lived in Prospect Park -- twice -- during my early 20s, first in a nondescript duplex, then a grander four-plex with a front porch and ornate leaded-glass windows. Neither was architecturally distinguished. But I did love the neighborhood's leafy charm and easy proximity to the U.
Do you agree? Is Prospect Park the best "Old House Neighborhood" in Minnesota? If not, what is?
How green is your sex life?
Posted by: Kim Palmer Updated: March 31, 2010 - 8:50 AM
Earth Day is right around the corner (April 22), which means my computer is filling up with information about green this and eco that. I've got info on green cleaning products, energy-efficient lighting, water-conserving showerheads and eco-friendly bedding, to name just a few.
But a wire story offering tips on greening your sex life caught my attention.
For starters, sex has never struck me as something in need of greening. It's sort of the ultimate low-tech, organic activity. And, frankly, with kids, pets and dueling work schedules, finding time and opportunity is a more pressing sex challenge for me and my spouse than making sure our conjugal relations are Earth-friendly.
I figured it was just the desperate musings of a lifestyle reporter struggling to come up with a new angle for yet another Earth Day story. (I've been there.) But then I turned on the radio to hear Lori and Julia dishing about green sex products available at local pleasure emporium the Smitten Kitten (www.smittenkittenonline.com).
Well! Clearly, green sex is a trend that I had overlooked. I did some sleuthing and even found a website, Planet Green, offering the Top 10 Green Sex Tips (http://planetgreen.discovery.com/go-green/sex/sex-top-tips.html). Apparently many sex toys contain toxic chemicals called phthalates, a substance used to soften hard plastics (and now banned from use in children's toys). Who knew?
There are vegan condoms for those who want to avoid a milk enzyme that is often added to latex. And apparently the jury is still out on whether latex condoms are biodegradable.
If you want to green your entire boudoir, you can stock up on renewable bamboo sheets and organic-fiber lingerie. Then there's the delicate problem of finding an environmentally appropriate partner. If he or she is hot but drives an Escalade and refuses to recycle, that can be a real libido-killer. (Planet Green suggests trolling for love at the farmer's market or the Whole Foods checkout aisle.)
I might just go home to my hubby tonight and do something crazy with hormone-free dairy products. Or I might just go to sleep.
How about you? Do you care abour your bedroom's carbon footprint?
The politics of green
Posted by: Kim Palmer Updated: February 10, 2010 - 8:17 AM
Look at this house. It's really eco-friendly, built from recycled materials. Now that you know that, are you making any assumptions about the owner and his or her political leanings?
I'll bet you are. Why? Because I drive a Prius, which means I hear a lot of cracks about "treehuggers" and what my car supposedly implies about who I vote for.
I'm not even all that green. Yes, I recycle, at home. But when I'm away from my single-sort bin, I'll toss cans and bottles into whatever trash can I can find. And our other car is a gas-guzzling '97 Cadillac that we bought secondhand from a relative (the price was right).
But I'm thinking green this week. Partly because I just wrote a story about a super-green house in Minneapolis and had to do some research. But also because of an interesting convergence of blips on my cultural radar.
First was a press release from the National Association of Home Builders (www.nahb.com) quoting an industry expert who says we've reached "the tipping point" in green building, that it's now moving from custom homes to high-production homes.
If the masses are going green, that means it's no longer a "liberal" thing, right?
That's what environmental lifestyle expert Danny Seo (www.dannyseo.com) thinks. "I don't agree that it [green] is a divisive topic," he said. If you asked people on the street, "Do you care about the environment?" virtually all would say they do, he predicted.
Maybe. But then came news that Rep. Michele Bachmann would not be speaking at the National Tea Party Convention (www.nationalteapartyconvention.com). What does that have to do with green? Her replacement was Steven J. Milloy, author of "Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Control Your Life and What You Can Do to Stop Them." 
The Tea Party movement doesn't represent all conservatives, of course. Republicans for Environmental Protection (www.rep.org) has been advocating green conservatism since 1996, for example.
But clearly, green is still pushing some buttons. Do you consider yourself "green"? And do you think the label has political connotations? Let's discuss.
The politics of green
Posted by: Kim Palmer Updated: February 10, 2010 - 8:17 AMLook at this house. It's really eco-friendly, built from recycled materials. Now that you know that, are you making any assumptions about the owner and his or her political leanings?
I'll bet you are. Why? Because I drive a Prius, which means I hear a lot of cracks about "treehuggers" and what my car supposedly implies about who I vote for.
I'm not even all that green. Yes, I recycle, at home. But when I'm away from my single-sort bin, I'll toss cans and bottles into whatever trash can I can find. And our other car is a gas-guzzling '97 Cadillac that we bought secondhand from a relative (the price was right).
But I'm thinking green this week. Partly because I just wrote a story about a super-green house in Minneapolis and had to do some research. But also because of an interesting convergence of blips on my cultural radar.
First was a press release from the National Association of Home Builders (www.nahb.com) quoting an industry expert who says we've reached "the tipping point" in green building, that it's now moving from custom homes to high-production homes.
If the masses are going green, that means it's no longer a "liberal" thing, right?
That's what environmental lifestyle expert Danny Seo (www.dannyseo.com) thinks. "I don't agree that it [green] is a divisive topic," he said. If you asked people on the street, "Do you care about the environment?" virtually all would say they do, he predicted.
Maybe. But then came news that Rep. Michele Bachmann would not be speaking at the National Tea Party Convention (www.nationalteapartyconvention.com). What does that have to do with green? Her replacement was Steven J. Milloy, author of "Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Control Your Life and What You Can Do to Stop Them."
The Tea Party movement doesn't represent all conservatives, of course. Republicans for Environmental Protection (www.rep.org) has been advocating green conservatism since 1996, for example.
But clearly, green is still pushing some buttons. Do you consider yourself "green"? And do you think the label has political connotations? Let's discuss.
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