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Letter to the editor

Goodies fit for Mother Nature

By JUDY STARK
Published May 7, 2005

A front porch was rated "essential/must have" by 89 percent of new-home buyers in the South Atlantic region, the National Association of Home Builders reports. Decks got the gotta-have from 83 percent, and rear patios, 75 percent. Call it an outdoor room or just outside, it's where we live for much of the year, especially now. Dress up porch, patio or pool deck with some of these items.

Think of this as Mr. Potato Head for your trees. Polyresin eyes, nose and mouth attach to a trunk. (Can you picture them on an inside wall of the house, though, or painted to glow in the dark?) Forest Faces (Smiley, left; Max, right) are $14.95 each from plowandhearth.com or call toll-free 1-800-627-1712.

Fire or ice at poolside or on the deck? The Chateau line of outdoor furniture includes a 44-inch-diameter stone table with fire pit, $299, and a 24-inch-diameter end table with ice bucket, $99. The fire-pit table is in stock at the Lowe's in Tampa Palms, available by special order at other stores.

Billowy polyester Mosquito Curtains in white, ivory or black waft in the breeze and keep mosquitoes out. They attach with curtain hooks or hook-and-loop fasteners. At $7.50 a linear foot, they're less expensive than permanent screens. They can be removed easily when it isn't skeeter season to provide an open porch, say the inventors, Atlana entrepreneurs Elizabeth and Kurt Jordan. Details at www.mosquitocurtains.com or call toll-free 1-866-622-0916.

[Last modified May 10, 2005, 14:09:45]