The designer gives her take on brightening a room with color.

HomeGoods ( http://www.homegoods.com ) "Great for affordable accessories and accent furniture pieces. They offer different styles [modern, traditional, vintage, etc.], and you can find furnishings for every room in your home. I also like that they bring in new items weekly."

"My biggest challenge is the slanted cathedral ceiling causing an extremely tall wall."

How to fix chimney stains and water marks on wood.

Picasso had his red period and blue period. Right now, Franklin Park Arts Center and Gallery 222 are in their pink period. "Thinking Pink" is an exhibition of paintings and sculpture that began in October in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This weekend is your last chance to see the...

Nov. 5 CHRISTMAS SHOP Twenty vendors sell jewelry, clothing, toys, gourmet treats and home and garden accessories. Thursday-Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Emmanuel Church, 105 E. Washington St., Middleburg. 540-687-6297 or http://www.emmanuelmiddleburg.org . $5, age 11 and younger free.

When Halloween ends, disposing of your fading jack-o'-lanterns becomes yet another chore. Great Country Farms found a nifty way to deal with those unwanted orange orbs: smashing 'em! Bring your leftover pumpkins here to smash them yourself (methods include the Silo Drop or the Zip Wire Sploosh), or...

A look at how the first frost affects garden herbs and vegetables.

How to get rid of bindweed.

These sales were recorded in Loudoun County and supplied to The Washington Post by the Loudoun County Assessment Office. To find sale and assessment records for homes in Loudoun and other Washington areas, visit www.washingtonpost.com/realestate .

Loudoun County Animal Shelter, 39820 Charles Town Pike (Route 9), makes pets available for adoption by eligible residents 18 and older. More pets can be seen at http://www.loudoun.gov/animals . Adoption hours are 1 to 6 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays; 1 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays; and 11 a.m.-6 p.m....

LEESBURG, Battlefield Pkwy., Oct. 28. A woman reported that a white Labrador-type dog was running in the road and that when she tried to move it, the dog bit her hand and ran into a neighborhood. An animal control officer met with the woman and filed a report. The dog was not found.

An escalating fight over a proposed sidewalk is pitting Leesburg's lovers of bucolic, old-style streets against those seeking to protect kids from speeding cars.

The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office announced last week that the county has more than 100 active neighborhood watches.

Leesburg officials released fairly rosy budget projections last week that count on revenues rising and costs staying flat next year. The preliminary forecast, if it pans out, will mean a local government that is in stronger financial shape than the county and state.

"MOMS' MORNING OUT," mothers can stay with their children or run errands. 10:30 a.m.-noon Thursdays, Douglass Community Center, 407 E. Market St., Leesburg. $35 for five sessions. Register. 703-771-5913.

These were among incidents reported by the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office and the Leesburg, Middleburg and Purcellville police departments. For information, contact your police or sheriff's department.

Using bold paint colors and a list of budget-friendly resources, Ellicott City designer Kelly Porter transforms a fusty family office into a modern and colorful space to call her own.

Paint colors in Porter's home office, all from Sherwin-Williams. Rhapsody Lilac (SW6828) Brevity Brown (SW6068) Aquatint (SW6936)

( 1 ) DESK http://www.overstock.com $300 ( 2 ) BLUE TABLE LAMP

Sales at Rockville Interiors haven't been as robust as in the past, says manager Ilan Fulop. To attract shoppers, the store is offering holiday discounts, marking down window treatment fabrics 20 and 25 percent off retail prices.

1. Springtails 2. Box elder bugs 3. Multicolored Asian lady beetles

Gardening tip of the week.

MONTGOMERY CHILD CARE ASSOCIATION 5K RACE AND WACKY FUN RUN The 5K is a challenging rolling-hills loop in Lake Needwood Park. For the Wacky Fun Run, participants are invited to wear costumes or decorate a stroller. There is also a half-mile run for children and beginners. Proceeds benefit the...

Froot Loops are not part of a nutritious breakfast. Moisturizer will not make your skin look and act younger. And watching videos will not make your kids smarter. They will entertain them, amuse them and maybe even inform them -- and personally, I'd argue that that's enough.

Sputnik got me into algebra early, almost. The Soviet satellite frightened the U.S. government into approving lots of money to accelerate math instruction just as I was completing eighth grade in San Mateo, Calif., in 1959. Hillsdale High, where I was to attend ninth grade, got some of these funds...

The number of charter schools in the District has skyrocketed over the past decade, and charters are on track to claim 38 percent of public school students in the city. The charter scene is a comparative desert in Virginia and Maryland, but that might be changing.

These food establishments were closed because of health code violations. The list, compiled from health department reports, reflects actions taken by the departments.

Animals find shelter in our homes, unnerving millions of people and generating a multibillion-dollar pest control industry.

Here's some help in handling one of the most awkward conversations between parent and child: Robin Sawyer, a public health professor at the University of Maryland, gives a lecture, "Beyond the Birds & the Bees," at 7 p.m. Nov. 12 at the National Cathedral School at 3612 Woodley Rd. NW. Sawyer will...