The Character of Wood

After graduating from college, most people try to find a job in their field. Furnituremaker Philip Culbertson took a different route. “I got a degree in behavioral zoology at the University of Michigan in the 1970s,” he says, “but I was tired of using my brain, so I got a job in a cabinet shop outside Washington, D.C., and I stayed there for six years.”

The Anatomy of Art

 A childhood dream of becoming an animator led painter Marcus Gannuscio to become interested in learning to draw the human form. “When I was 12, I saw ‘The Lion King’ and decided I wanted to be an animator,” he says. “My mother actually contacted someone at Disney to find out what I’d need to do to become one, and the person’s advice was to concentrate on learning to draw figures and anatomy.”

19 tips for fireplaces and firescreens

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Only a tightwad would make do without a firescreen, right? Sadly, we’ve seen plenty of sparks flying toward unprotected spendy Oriental rugs. And don’t even get us started about the looks-like-a-double-oven trend of hanging a TV above the mantel. Oregon Home asked two interior designers, a fireplace resurfacer and two firescreen makers for tips to ensure that you end up with a fireplace that sizzles.

Old Town Chinatown II

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Think there’s nothing in this Pearl District-bordering neighborhood besides Chinese lanterns and Foo Dogs? Spend a couple of hours in the OTCT shops and you’ll score everything from chartreuse leather to cowboyobilia to architect-cool eyeglasses.

Old Town Chinatown

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Think there’s nothing in this Pearl District-bordering neighborhood besides Chinese lanterns and Foo Dogs? Spend a couple of hours in the OTCT shops and you’ll score everything from chartreuse leather to cowboyobilia to architect-cool eyeglasses.

Astoria I

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Hey, Frugal One! When your staycations become too boring to adhere to, gas up and get away to Astoria, “The Little San Francisco of the Northwest.” The oldest American city west of the Mississippi—it was founded in 1811—the town was once the Salmon Capital of the World. These days, it feels as if gentrification is just around the bend, so get there while the funky and the refined still stand side by side.

15 Tips For Home Offices

Image Whether you work out of a home office because your company encourages telecommuting or because you’re newly self-employed, you need to think about form and function when it comes to an at-home workspace. Oregon Home asked a sound engineer, two interior designers and a home designer for advice on what works once you leave working in a cube.

Full Color Metal

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Issuing an artistic challenge to his industrial design students at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., metal artist and industrial design professor Arunas Oslapas took it up himself.  “I asked them to intercept garbage and make something from it—and I’d do the same,” he says.