Star-Telegram.com: Home & Garden

Woman's life-threatening illness leads her to a Red Shed

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:31 CST

By BEATRIZ TERRAZAS

At the Red Shed Cottage Chic Antiques in Grapevine, Michele McKechnie and her business partners infuse the castoff objects of others’ pasts with airiness and light, giving them new, sometimes whimsical uses.

They’ve paired vintage chandelier crystals with old keys in necklaces, and framed an illustrated French translation of Beauty and the Beast in a vertical tableau. They’ve painted an early 1900s fireplace mantel an eggshell white and a round dining table with a black and white Harlequin pattern for a striking effect.

Vintage French hair ribbons, rolls of antique lace and a white chicken perched on a high shelf give the store a fun, eclectic feel. But for McKechnie, 52, with honey-blond hair and blue eyes, this business is about more than the objects themselves. She’ll tell you that these lovingly restored items reflect her own rejuvenation in the wake of illness and that they’re a reminder that life is too short to not do something you enjoy.

"When you feel yucky and ugly and horrible and you take something that is yucky, ugly and horrible and you spit on it and clean it up . . . it’s a creative outlet that makes you not think about pain or sickness," she says.

In 2003, McKechnie and business partner Valarie Jolly were running their two-decades-old travel business in Arlington. Whether it was across the country or in Paris, both women loved to travel. And wherever they happened to be, they picked up a vintage object or two for display in the office.

That January, McKechnie, a single mom with an 8-year-old, was found to have cancer in her right breast, an aggressive ductal carcinoma that radiologists hadn’t seen on a mammogram just two months earlier. Eight months of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation followed, and later, a mastectomy of the other breast to prevent a recurrence.

During the time she was lying in bed feeling lousy from all the treatment, she wondered, "If I ever get my health back, what would I like to do?"

"I wasn’t exactly pulling a lot of satisfaction as a travel agent," she recalls, though she still enjoyed the travel part of the job. "The more I thought about it, the more I was determined to do something more fulfilling."

One day a vision of life post-cancer came to her. "Wouldn’t it be nice to have our own building and do travel and antiques?" she told Jolly. Both had often paged through home magazines playing "what if" with their love of found objects.

Was it that age-old wisdom of being able to reach those dreams you can see? Or was it the simple act of being open to what the universe has to offer? Either way, no sooner had the idea popped in her head than the pieces of this new life began falling into place.

She began scouting locations in Grapevine, a city she considered the perfect place to combine the travel agency with an antiques store. In 2005, she stumbled on a property for sale between historic Main Street and the residential neighborhood to the west. It had a house, a large garden and a tumble-down shed. The place needed work, but she knew how to make old things shine again. Since then, 317 Church St. has been headquarters to Riverside Travel Gallery and the Red Shed.

The shed on the property is repaired and actually painted red now, and the two women have added a third partner, Michele Jones. Where the original partners had maybe a half dozen pieces between them, the three now have hundreds.

But these aren’t the heavy, imposing armoires or buffets found in other antiques stores. Think 1950s yellow-gold Italian coat rack with mirror. Or pale green 1930s piano bench that Jolly layered with a sheet-music decoupage. Then there’s the pharmacy book from Caldwell Sweet Co. in Maine that holds prescriptions from as far back as 1912.

The Red Shed has also added a new twist: Paris trips specifically for clients who enjoy vintage shopping. The fourth such trip will take place next April, and there are still a few spots available.

Every other month, the Red Shed hosts a Saturday French flea market sale. October’s sale is always themed Blanc and Noir With a Touch of Pink, and aimed at raising breast cancer awareness. Some proceeds from this year’s sale benefited the next Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3-Day walk, taking place this weekend.

As horrible as cancer is, it has changed McKechnie’s life for the better in ways even Jolly sees. Her friend’s life, Jolly says, is now shaped by the "concept of bliss," and she often reminds Jolly that they’ve "got to stop and smell the roses."

McKechnie agrees, saying that the illness not only gave her a vision for her business, but one for her life as well. It allowed her, she says, pointing to her heart, "to just go with what I have in here."

Riverside Travel Gallery and the Red Shed Cottage Chic Antiques 317 Church St., Grapevine

817-310-6006

Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays

Capture some New England fall color with showy Texas natives

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:41 CST

Neil Sperry

You’re not going to confuse anyone into thinking your landscape was sliced out of Vermont and trucked here to Texas. Fall color is not one of our Southwestern hallmarks. But you can brighten things up as the season winds down. It just takes a little careful planning.

Remember as you plan, however, that fall color is just one aspect of good plant selection. Those brilliant shades last only a week or two. You still have to make choices based on quality, durability and yearlong good looks.

That said, let’s look at some of the best sources of fall color for North Texas landscaping. We’ll hit only the highlights, and you may very well have other favorites. These, however, are the most reliable sources.

Japanese maples: We’ve fallen in love with these great little trees. They’re superior accent trees, and they’re well-suited to shady locations. With many dozens of varieties on the market, they’re available in mature sizes ranging from just a few feet to 25 feet tall and wide. Summer foliage is either green or maroon, depending on the variety. In late fall, usually around Thanksgiving, they turn many shades, primarily of red and burgundy. And, unlike other trees, Japanese maples hold their colorful leaves just a little longer than average.

Shantung maple: This midsized tree made its way into the everyday Texas nursery industry thanks to a great deal of research and promotion from Texas A&M horticulturists. Its orange-red fall color is outstanding and reliable, and this maple is adapted to a wide range of Texas soils and climates, including those here in Fort Worth and surrounding areas.

Shumard red oaks: Perhaps our finest native source of fall tree color, this tree is superior in all seasons. Summer color is richly dark green, and fall colors range from rust to cherry red, even yellow and orange. It exhibits better fall color some years than others, but it’s such a superior tree the rest of the year that it should be a top consideration wherever we need a high-quality, large shade tree.

Chinese pistachios: We’ve had these trees for decades, but they’ve become everyday players just in the past 25 years. They grow to 40 feet tall and wide, and they’re dark green all summer. Fall color, by comparison, is fiery red. This is a high-quality landscaping tree as well.

Ornamental pears. Granted, these trees have some blemishes (weak branching, susceptibility to cotton root rot and occasional iron deficiency), but they are on-target when it comes to fall foliage. Choose a type such as Aristocrat to avoid the broken branches. Mature height of most pears: 25 feet. Width: 20 feet.

Sweet gums: These stunning East Texas trees require acidic soils. If you live in the Mid-Cities, where soils are red and sandy, you’ll be happy with sweet gums. The rest of us with alkaline soils probably should just forego them — iron deficiency and its downhill decline are only a few years down the road. Where they’re adapted, however, sweet gums are a top source of fall color each autumn.

Dogwoods: These grow in the East Texas forests alongside, and beneath, sweet gums. They share the same need for acidic, moist soils. However, since they’re smaller trees than sweet gums, it is possible to amend their soils enough for them to thrive. Give them morning sun, with protection from the hot afternoon sun in the summer. Their floral bracts are most commonly white, but grafted red and pink types are also sold. Fall color is a rich, deep red. Dogwoods are good companion plants for azalea beds, as they all require the same highly organic, acidic soils.

Crape myrtles: We generally grow these shrubs trained as small trees, and most of our use is because of their great summer color. However, crape myrtles typically turn to a kaleidoscope of reds, oranges, yellows and green in the fall. Red-flowering varieties tend to have the reddest fall color.

Ginkgoes: If you want something to contrast will all the red trees, ginkgoes’ gold is a showstopper. The slow-growing trees are vase-shaped, eventually to 30 to 40 feet tall and wide. Their medium-green summer foliage turns the richest buttery yellow imaginable each autumn. Buy a grafted male variety such as October Gold to avoid the smelly fruit.

Boston ivy and Virginia creeper: So far, we’ve dealt only with trees (and the shrubs that pretend to be trees). However, two of our best vines also go colorfully crazy in the fall. They’re cousins, in fact, and the smaller of the two, Boston ivy, has the widest range of fall shades. It’s a lush, deep green clinging vine in the summer, and reds, oranges, yellows and green coat its leaves in the fall. Virginia creeper is a very large vine. You’ll see it natively in our woodlands, and in fall it turns a rich, deep red before going bare for the winter.

Prince grass adds height, movement and drama to garden

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:36 CST

One to grow

Prince grass

The popularity of ornamental grasses grows each year as gardeners discover the value of these tough perennials that add height, movement and drama to a landscape or container. This grass has wide purple leaves that get darker as summer progresses, unlike most purple-leaved plants that fade in the heat. It grows quickly to become a sizable specimen with dramatic, dark foliage that arches into a graceful fountainlike shape.

Common name: Prince grass, ornamental napier grass

Botanical name: Pennisetum purpureum "Prince"

Why you want it: This tall, elegant grass creates a stunning background for a large flower bed or border or as a focal point in a circular bed. The broad, burgundy leaves combine well with pink, yellow or white flowers and make a striking contrast to chartreuse foliage.

Foliage: Long flat blades, 2 inches wide, emerge green with a dark midrib and turn purple as they mature. The hotter the weather, the darker the leaves, eventually turning a rich purple. The leaves grow upright from a central clump to a height of 4 to 6 feet, then arch like a waterfall.

Flowers: Foxtaillike plumes of pink flowers form when days are short.

Size: Prince grows to be very large. I have grown mine for only one season, and it is already 6 feet tall and equally wide. In a dry location without irrigation, it may not reach such lofty proportions.

Hardiness: Prince is perennial, listed to be hardy in zone 7b, which includes the Metroplex. It has survived temperatures as low as 15 degrees Fahrenheit for a brief duration. Time will tell how truly hardy it is in our area.

Make your own mulch

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:36 CST

Make your own mulch

Raking up leaves and bagging them to place on the curb for pickup is not the best landscape practice. Using the leaves as mulch or a soil amendment will provide plants with nutrients and moisture so plants will thrive. After all, no one rakes or fertilizes the forest, which thrives on the nutrients provided as leaves and other organic matter decompose on its floor.

Chip up the leaves to use as mulch under shrubs, groundcover, and perennials and even, in a light amount, on the lawn. Mow over the leaves in the yard, then empty the grass-catcher bag under all shrubs, roses, herbs, around trees and in groundcover and flower gardens. If your mower does not have a grass bag, rake or blow the leaves onto the driveway, mow over the leaves, sweep the leaves into a container and spread the chipped leaves as mulch. Most landscaped areas benefit from a 2- to 4-inch layer of mulch. Mulch moderates the soil temperature in winter and summer, slows evaporation of water from the root zone, allows rain or irrigation water to penetrate the soil efficiently and breaks down into nutrients that plants require to thrive.

Cindy Crawford's home-decor line is classically stylish

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:36 CST

Shopping bag

If anyone should know how quickly trends come and go, it would be supermodel Cindy Crawford. So it’s only logical that the classic beauty would stick mainly to timeless pieces in her new home-furnishings collection, Cindy Crawford Style. Available at JCPenney and JCP.com, the line includes elegant and stylish designs in bedding, bath, decorative accessories, window treatments, accent furniture and lighting. From accent tables and wine racks to dinnerware and flatware, you’ll find something for every room. Other pieces include serving trays, candle holders, shower curtains and bath rugs.

— Martha Phifer, Orlando Sentinel

'Tossed & Found' suggests creative ways to repurpose castoffs

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:36 CST

On the shelf

Ever wonder what to do with, say, that pharmacy funnel you picked up at a yard sale or that Astroturf mat you rescued from a Dumpster? OK, probably not. But Linda and John Meyers did, and the solutions they share in Wary Meyers’ Tossed & Found: Unconventional Design From Cast-Offs ($27.50, Stewart, Tabori & Chang) make for some fairly entertaining reading.

The Meyerses are husband-and-wife designers who love turning castoffs into unique home-decor items. Their aesthetic is bohemian and whimsical — a tabletop made from a basketball hoop, for example, and Chippendale chairs reinvented with new backs in the design of a skeleton’s spine and rib cage. The funnel, by the way, became a hanging light; the Astroturf, some throw pillows.

Not exactly what you’d find at Target.

The Myerses note in their introduction that their designs might be a little extreme for some readers. But their idea is to inspire and get people thinking creatively about the things they otherwise toss out.

— Mary Beth Breckenridge, Akron Beacon Journal

Shop talk: Check out Jon Hart luggage at trunk show

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:36 CST

Shop talk

Who wouldn’t want to get a fabulous piece (or set!) of handcrafted, San Antonio-made Jon Hart luggage as a holiday gift? Get yourself a deal by attending the Jon Hart Design trunk show Saturday and Sunday at Lawrence’s. Receive a 15 percent discount on all orders. Each piece of Hart luggage is personalized, and by attending the trunk show, you’ll also get a free hot stamp. Lawrence’s, 4601 West Freeway, Suite 224, Fort Worth. 817-731-2772.

— Catherine Mallette

Two Festivals of Trees offer chance to shop and help others

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:36 CST

Festivals of Trees

’Tis the season for philanthropic parties that include some high-end holiday shopping, and these two upcoming Festival of Tree events fit that description.

What it is: The third annual Festival of Trees presented by Kappa Alpha Theta Fort Worth Foundation

When: Friday

Where: Colonial Country Club

What: "A Southern Christmas" evening, including dinner and displays of decorated trees and tables, all of which are for sale. Also, an afternoon high tea with Santa for kiddos.

Whom it benefits: Local organizations that help children, including CASA of Tarrant County, the Parenting Center and Presbyterian Night Shelter.

Tickets: Evening event tickets start at $150; tea tickets are $12. For more information, contact Lauren Puff, 817-738-7118.

What it is: The second annual Southlake Festival of Trees presented by the Greater Southlake Women’s Society

When: Nov. 20-22

Where: Hilton hotel in Southlake Town Square

What: A mix of events (fashion luncheon, Glitter Gala, breakfast with Santa and Radio Disney and more) and displays of decorated trees, wreaths and holiday decor, all for sale.

Whom it benefits: Eleven charities, including Battered Women’s Foundation, Cook Children’s Health Foundation and Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains.

Tickets: Prices range from $5 (adults) for the Gallery Open House to $125 (per couple) for the Glitter Gala. Buy them at www.southlakefestivaloftrees.com.

— Catherine Mallette

Places To Go: Find kitchen ideas, clean up Benny's place, and wrap the right way

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:36 CST

Places to go

If you are looking for inspiration for your home, hit the 14th annual Kitchens Tour. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. today, eight homeowners in the Riverhills neighborhood in Fort Worth will open their kitchens and dining rooms for tours, as well as tastings and interactions with some of Fort Worth’s famed chefs. All proceeds from the events will benefit the Communities in Schools foundation. Advance tickets are $25; day-of tickets are $30. An all-day pass is $40. Tickets are available at Williams Trew Real Estate agency (3707 Camp Bowie Blvd. and 2821 S. Hulen St.) and Kitchen Source (3116 W. Sixth St.). For more information, check www.cistarrant.org.

The co-founder and former president of the North Texas Native Plant Society, Benny Simpson, has some old research plots that are in need of cleaning. You are invited to assist when the project begins at 7:30 a.m. today. The North Texas Native Plant Society suggests bringing a bow saw, chain saw, loppers, pruning shears, string trimmer, rakes, gloves, sunscreen, hat, refreshments and anything else you might need to help clean up. The address is 17360 Coit Road, Dallas, 75252. For more information, call Dottie Woodson at 972-953-9688 or e-mail d-woodson@tamu.edu.

The Container Store is offering free demonstrations on how to wrap gifts beautifully and artfully. The event is 1-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and continues at the same time every weekend through Dec. 20. Each store will give you the chance to wrap your present in a professional manner. For more information and to find the store nearest you, check www.containerstore.com.

Find the right pot to bring fall color to your doorstep

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:10 CDT

By KATHY HUBER

Welcome November with an inviting entry.

Pick a pot

Containers come in all shapes and sizes, from elegant urns to rustic troughs to long toms for vertical impact.

Choose pots to complement your home’s style. Scale matters: Select the appropriate-size pot for the space. A common mistake is to go too small.

Frame your door with a pair of large containers to make a symmetrical statement. Or group containers for greater impact. A group of three to five similar-style pots in varying sizes is pleasing.

The color palette

There’s no shortage of plants that celebrate fall’s traditional colors of plum, purple, gold, bronze, red, orange and yellow. Overwhelmed with choices? Go monochromatic or stick to two or three colors. A simple approach: Plant one variety per pot, and group the pots.

Or plant a harmonious, one-color container whose plants have varying leaf shapes.

One mix to try: golden oregano, creeping jenny and 'Cuban Gold’ duranta.

For a larger container with multiple plants: Choose a specimen for the center of the container. Then surround it with complementary plants in equal distances, like numbers on a clock.

For example, place purple fountain grass in the middle for height. Add mums at noon, three, six and nine o’clock. Tuck cascading ornamental sweet potato vine at other positions to soften the edges.