INSIDE & OUT : Birthplace Birdhouse

It isn’t the White House, but it’s definitely fit for a President.

And for the birds.

The Birthplace Birdhouse, a re-creation of Richard Nixon’s boyhood home, was built for a temporary exhibit set up for the opening of the late president’s library in Yorba Linda in 1991.

The birdhouse ($45), which is hand-painted, was such a hit at the opening that it has become a permanent part of the library’s gift shop and catalogue collection.

“It’s our all-time best-seller,” said Kevin Cartwright, a spokesman for the library, which earlier this month became a state historic landmark.

Not only is the birdhouse a hit with visitors, it also brought joy to the late President. His daughter, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, gave her parents a birdhouse for their 51st wedding anniversary.

The birdhouse, designed and built locally, is available at the library and birthplace gift shop, 18001 Yorba Linda Blvd., or through the catalogue by calling (714) 993-5075.

Newsworthy

If you don’t have time to read the newspaper, maybe you have time to sit on it.

Chicago designer Michael Culpepper, wanting to create some furniture pieces with non-traditional materials, found his resources “right under my nose.”

“The idea came to me when I was looking at some old papers in the corner of the room,” said Culpepper, 32, a Mississippi native who attended Cranbrook design school in Detroit.

“After several attempts at trying to structure the paper, I found a way to give it some form but keep it functional.

“I’ve always been intrigued by the materials I use, and I wanted to push the newspaper to its limit.”

That is something he also wants to do with his current material--industrial felt. “The felt, which is 100% wool, is thick and luxurious-looking,” he said. “It will last forever.”

To make his newspaper chair ($600), Culpepper uses about 600 sheets of newspaper, which he laminates with a nontoxic adhesive. He leaves the edges unglued for “cushion,” so that it crunches down and takes the shape of the user’s body.

“It’s a very comfortable chair, and it can take some weight,” said Culpepper, who prefers the classic black-and-white look of papers that don’t use color.

“USA Today is much too colorful for me,” he said. “And with everybody else using some color, I’ll probably have to switch to using the Wall Street Journal.”

For information or to purchase Culpepper’s newspaper chair or his other designs, call (312) 975-0161.

Follow the Formula

Since she was a child, Carole Talbott has been rearranging furniture.

“From age 8, I was changing rooms around with my grandmother,” Talbott said. “She’d push, and I’d point to where the furniture would go.”

Today Talbott is a room make-over specialist who conducts nationwide country seminars on decorating; she’s even made an appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s show. Talbott, whose company is based in Dallas, has compiled her decorating knowledge into Homeprints, a mail-order kit ($79.95 plus shipping and handling) that she says will make anyone an expert at enhancing a room or home.

“Decorating is an absolute science,” Talbott said. “If you put 10 people in a beautiful room and apply my formula, it would make it better, and all 10 people would agree.

“You don’t need to go buy new furniture or accessories. Just use the formula,” she says. “It always works.”

The Homeprints kit includes a 45-minute videotape, a how-to guide, an audio cassette and her mainstay flash cards, which detail steps for decorating success.

To order, call (800) 622-7656.