An iron gate greets visitors to Urban Garden Habitat.

If you're headed toward Snoqualmie Falls on an autumn color trip, it's worth taking the time to turn down a long driveway between two stone posts and an ornate metal gate. There you'll find a gallery surrounded by forest and a stone wall, with open sky as its ceiling, grass and stone as its floor, offering art in a naturalistic outdoor setting. Urban Garden Habitat in Fall City is a new gallery devoted to the idea of displaying numerous Northwest artists in the presence of nature. It features fountains and sculptures as well as benches, gongs, lights and other functional pieces for the garden, made from wood, stone, concrete, metal and glass, all with finishes tough enough to hold up outdoors. Here, in a serene garden setting overlooking Mount Si, you'll find the work of ceramic artist Larry Halvorsen, who won best-of-show at the Bellevue Art Fair this year, as well as Barry Namm, artist-in-residence, offering visitors a chance to see him at work creating fountains out of stone, metal and ceramic. The gallery is open by appointment year-round, and from April through December is open Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., at 4002 287th Ave. S.E., Fall City. For directions, call 206-910-9843, or visit the Web site at urbangardenhabitat.com.

This Time, Next Year

Mark your calendars for the first ever Seattle Interior Show, planned for Oct. 30 to Nov. 3, 2002 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. "Because interest in home décor has never been higher, there definitely is a need for a show of this caliber on the West Coast," says Duane Kelly, chairman of Salmon Bay Expositions, the same group that produces the Northwest and the San Francisco Flower and Garden Shows. This first venture indoors will showcase more than 100,000 square feet of interiors, plus educational exhibits, high-quality seminars and commercial booths.

Hot New Colors

Like everything else, interior colors are more complex and change faster than ever before. This autumn's colors are described as lighter and softer. Blue continues as "the most important color of the decade, with orange foreseen to be the hue of optimism and happiness in 2002," according to Hall Dillon, president of the Color Marketing Group.

The 2002 color palette, according to the 1,600 color designers who are members of CMG, will be strongly influenced by nature, with botanical hues reflecting the desire for a respite from technology. A Latin flavor is strong, along with influences from Morocco and Italy warming up reds and yellows. Pearly neutrals are important, and new technologies make possible innovative textural and special effects.

Don't you wonder who makes up the names, let alone the descriptions, for fall's hot new colors? Sycamore: The evolution of a classic brown — edgy but luxurious. Lemoncello: The hybridization of nature and technology into a sophisticated yellow, calmed with a touch of green. Gingko: The botanical green of dried grasslands, bridging the fresh excitement of mustard greens with the relaxing feel of a forest's treasured mosses. (Didn't anyone tell them Gingko is a tree?) Oxygen: A blue sky as seen through glass block. There's lots more. If you want the description for new colors like Langostino or Moon Shadow (hint: it's a hueful neutral), check out www.colormarketing.org.

The rubber handles that define Good Grips kitchen ware are now on the company's garden tools.

Good Grips Go Outside

Never underestimate the luxury of a tool that fits your hand comfortably — a pleasure nearly as keen as finding a perfectly fitting shoe. OXO Good Grips have cushy black handles, ergonomically designed to answer the question, "Why do ordinary kitchen tools hurt our hands?" The processed-rubber handles have flexible "fins" that bend and conform to individual finger grips, leaving no excuse for discomfort. Made of the same kind of rubber used for dishwasher gaskets, the handles let you control the tool even when it's wet and slippery. You can even stick it in the dishwasher when it gets dirty.

Since first introduced in 1990, the Good Grips line has expanded to more than 300 different products, ranging from barbecue basters and carrot peelers to corn-on-the-cob holders. Perhaps the most useful products are the most recent introductions. Good Grips have moved outdoors. Gardeners are the ones who really need that control and cushiness. After all, you may peel carrots for a few minutes, or baste frequently, but gardeners grasp a trowel or weeder for hours, and the handle is all too often wet and dirty. Good Grips makes a trowel, cultivator, fork, weeder and transplanting trowel, all in the effective, clean-lined shapes they're known for, complete with the black rubber, finned handles. Can you think of another product line that would win awards from both the Tylenol/Arthritis Foundation and the Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design?

Design Assistance

Which is worse: deploring that ratty old couch and carpet or figuring out how to get help in sprucing the place up? There is the intimidation factor, as well as just not knowing where to start (let alone what design services might cost). The Seattle Design Center offers these tips for choosing and working with a professional interior designer:

·		Take the time to think about your space, how it's used and the result you'd like to achieve. Keep a file of visual images clipped from magazines and catalogs that reflect your taste and functional needs.
·		Ask friends about designers they've used and liked , or call the Northwest Society of Interior Designers referral service at 206-763-8799.
·		Interview several designers, asking questions about their educational background and professional accreditation. Ask to review a portfolio, and discuss your timeframe, budget and the designer's availability. Choose the designer who has the professional experience you're seeking and with whom you feel the most comfortable.
·		Understand how the interior designer chargers for his or her services. Designers may work on a fixed fee, which is a specific sum to cover the cost of the project, with allowances for furniture and expenses; an hourly fee based on actual time spent on the project; or a percentage fee of the construction costs and furnishings. Once you've discussed cost, time and your ideas, the designer will move ahead to help you assess your needs and develop a list of priorities and a long-range plan tailored to your budget and time frame.

Valerie Easton is a horticultural librarian and writes about plants and gardens for Pacific Northwest magazine. She is the co-author of "Artists in Their Gardens" from Sasquatch Books. Her e-mail address is vjeaston@aol.com.