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Mother's Day: The Rural Intelligence Gift Guide

Mother's come in all sizes, shapes, and persuasions.  Whether yours is an earth mother, a soccer mom, the Queen Mum, as modern as MOMA or as comfortable as an old slipper, the perfect gift for her lies close at hand; no shipping required.   Some thoughts... Early-blooming, bird-pleasing Shad

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Playing by the Rules: The Faulkner 14

Many interior designers, when pressed for useful advice, will say, "It's impossible to generalize--there are no hard and fast rules." Not Frank Faulkner. An artist who also practices interior design (he says) by default or (we say) by popular demand, Faulkner speaks of his sideline in

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Shopping: Our Lady of The Lamps

We all know someone who grows lettuce for a living and people who spin their own wool, blow glass or bake bread the old-time, labor-intensive way, fashioning a career by keeping craft and tradition alive. When you first walk into Susan Schneider's lamp shop in Millerton, you wouldn&

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Hands On: Stone Walls and Stone or Brick Paving

Nothing classes up a property like a bit of stone hardscape.  It is that rarity in design--a thing that is at once humble and grand (indoors, a fine old wood floor makes a similar contribution).  This Saturday (or, in case of rain, Sunday), at the Berkshire Botanical Garden, Mark Mendel

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A Tiny House With A Big Heart

When you visit Kimberly Rock and Eric Haggard's doll-sized house on Main Street in Falls Village, it's immediately apparent that they're a child-centered family. The grandest room in their 1840s eyebrow colonial is their daughters' playroom, an addition they built for Jessy, 5,

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Wake Up and Smell the Bargains!

“Back in the early 90s, there were properties that went as bargains," says Pat Best principal broker at Best & Cavallaro in Salisbury, CT, "and a lot of people, including myself, missed some buying opportunities.  This feels a lot like that.”  Chuck Bartolo of Beach and Bartolo in

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A Garden Blog Especially for Us

Margaret Roach was planning to finally spend some quality time in her Columbia County garden when she left her executive job at Martha Stewart Omnimedia in New York City and moved to her weekend house this winter. But like her former boss, Roach is apparently indefatigable and ambitious so it&

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Shopping: Green Living 101

How many college graduates does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, if you consult Brian Torrico. A 2007 graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the nation's oldest engineering school,  Torrico recently opened the Grenergy Solar Store in Sheffield, MA (he grew up in neighboring Mt.

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Hudson: Revising History on Warren Street

Hudson resident Belinda Breese relates the saga of her house, one of the town’s earliest and among its proudest.  Built in the late 18th century by a whaler from Providence, R.I., it later became a brothel; still later, welfare apartments.  Now it has come full circle and resumed

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10 Tips for Selling in a Buyer's Market

● Don’t try to wait it out.  "I don't see a major turnaround for at least 18 months," says Nancy Kalodner, owner and principal broker at Benchmark Real Estate in Otis, MA. "It's not like day trading. You don't sell a

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Tweaking Tradition: Sprucing Up A Vintage Sears Colonial

It's a Leave It to Beaver house with a Queer Eye sensibility. The couple who lives full-time in this 1930s house are both flight attendants with American Airlines, the sort of guys who you'd expect to live in a luxury high-rise within commuting distance of an

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