Wallpaper

Knitting, pleating, embroidery, quilting -- you would think this was a craft fair. And in a way, the 15th annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair, which was held recently in New York and featured more than 450 exhibitors as well as a slew of design events around the city, was something of a touch fest. As contemporary and modern design goes, there are periods when austerity prevails. Sharp lines and right angles define products. Texture is viewed as excessive. Machine is god. And then there are moments when the opposite is true and curves return.

Hans and Linda Underwood wait at the end of the front walk to their Abingdon home, escorting visitors to their foyer entrance with ITS natural hardwood flooring. Inside, the openness of a winding oak staircase leads to a loft and a home office that features a cherry wood wraparound desk. "We need more wall space," Linda says, laughing. Hanging frescos from Italy, framed prints from Greece and family photos adorn every available space. Linda, 52, and her husband, Hans, 54, a technology consultant at Loyola College, purchased their Harford County home in 1997 after living in Heidelberg, Germany, for 19 years.

William Morris, a leader of the 19th-century arts & crafts movement in England, was a polymath who created designs for textiles, wrote poetry and published magnificently crafted, illustrated books. During his lifetime, he was something of a contradiction: a well-born aristocrat who championed socialism, a Renaissance man of the industrial era and an unapologetic romantic who drew much of his inspiration from the Gothic art of the Middle Ages. Now Morris' wide-ranging interests are highlighted in a small but delightful show of his designs for fabrics, wallpaper and tapestries at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The show includes many beautiful examples of Morris' elegant woven woolens, block-printed cotton fabrics and floral designs inspired by Near Eastern and Asian art. As an interior designer, Morris aimed to create total environments that would surround a home's inhabitants with beauty.

If you never made it to the Polka-Dotted Zebra, that quirky little store in Cockeysville, don't fret. Owner Jill Bosse has just moved her artsy store to a much larger space in Towson. The old place was basically "a shoe box with things stuffed in it," she said. The new space has a front section filled with funky items, such as mosaics, painted brooms and mailboxes, and a large back section set up like an art gallery. The store features unique collectibles -- some acquired, some created by Bosse and other artists.

Anyone walking down Westminster's Main Street can see signs that the old Carroll Theatre is being restored. The faM-gade, in recent years flat and nondescript, includes a three-sided marquee that is a nod to the theater's heyday. Less visible is the work inside, where a performing arts center with galleries, a stage and classrooms is taking shape. A key piece of the project was put in place this week, when 263 seats were installed in a theater that will feature plays, dances and musical performances - and movies.

When Bard Wickkiser first laid eyes on an empty Greenmount Avenue rowhouse on the edge of Guilford, he knew he had something special. For months, Wickkiser searched Charles Village and the areas nearby, looking for an older home that was sound but needed some tender loving care. "The house sat on the market for over a year and no one bought it," said Wickkiser. "I did a lot of homework and a lot of sniffing around before I found this. I thought someone had moved the decimal point on the price or maybe a `1' was missing.

The Calvert Street home of Shaun Carrick and Ron Griffin is a house in a permanent state of decorating flux. To walk through it is to bask in a palette of rich colors and styles brought in from numerous travels to places ranging from India to Egypt, from rural Pennsylvania to San Francisco. Make no mistake, the house is no souvenir shop for high-priced trinkets from foreign lands. Sometimes, the influence might be as obvious as a contemporary Indian tapestry framed to dazzle visitors by the front door.

Dear Mr. Azrael, We just bought a house in Bel Air and feel we paid too much for it. Why? The day we came from New Jersey [for settlement] and finally saw the house (without furniture) it was filthy. The owner was supposed to cut the grass and get the pool in working condition but did not. The wallpaper was falling off the walls. (The wallpaper was not falling off when we first looked at the house.) The walls were not painted as they had said they did, etc. The biggest thing was the amount of dog hair all over the house.

Ever wish your kitchen were more spacious? That you had a water pond gracing your back yard? Or that your den was a shrine to Elvis? Haven't we all? Well, OK, maybe not the Elvis thing. But sure, we'd all like to make some home improvements and save a bundle in the process. Luckily, with the fall season comes an abundance of home improvement, interior design and gardening courses in Baltimore and the surrounding area. Here is just a sampling of classes and workshops being offered. INTERIOR DESIGN "New Home Decorating" Looking to stylishly furnish your new home?