Sheds and hideaways like you've never seen
No longer a dusty shelter for plants or gardening tools, the backyard shed is assuming a new architectural role in the landscape.

Home & Garden
DIY DESIGN
It's checkout time
Forget the mini shampoo bottles and mints on the pillow. Three new hotels are loaded with fresh ideas to take home — distinctive looks and money- ...
DESIGN
Cooper-Hewitt design awards go to Tom Kundig, Olin Partnership
The Smithsonian branch's annual honors recognize innovative work in various disciplines, including a nod to design that blends with the environment.
 
SET PIECES
A futuristic, midcentury movie set for 'Speed Racer'
While John Goodman tinkers with cars and Emile Hirsch races one in the Wachowski brothers' movie, Owen Paterson's bold colors and automobile ...
Gianni Versace's South Beach mansion reopens as a Miami restaurant-hotel
Once a playground for some of the world's best-known celebrities, Casa Casuarina is opening its doors to anyone who can afford lunch or dinner.
 
GARDEN
She found no inspiration after cleaning out. Then Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman, authors of 'A Perfect Mess,' offered some perspective.
THE SCOUT
Mod Mom Furniture: Children's furniture made by a mom
Kiersten Hathcock's experience as a marketing executive proved useful when she decided to launch Mod Mom Furniture, a line of handmade midcentury ...
 
THE SCOUT
Air plants of the '70s make a comeback
The 1970s redux doesn't mean having to be as funky as some looks of the era. Take air plants, known botanically as tillandsia, which are back in sleek ...
THE SCOUT
Furnishings: James Magni's Jewel line
Jewels for the house? The idea has intrigued designer since the days long ago when he was making jewelry. His ring-like design for the side table ...
 
AND I THOUGHT last week's party for 80 teenagers was bad (it was). Now I'm hosting a party for 30 adults. Each week, the celebrations get smaller, ...
DATEBOOK
Landscapes designed by Nancy Goslee Power, Sandy Koepke, Schwentker Watts Design, Pamela Volante, and Jim Yoch and Tim Scott are included.
 
BOOKS
Signature suburban style
Review: 'Cliff May and the Modern Ranch House,' text by Daniel P Gregory, photography by Joe Fletcher.
INTERIOR MONOLOGUE
Lyndall Hobbs calls the shots on her own L.A. remodel
The artful renovation turns a quaint Spanish-style home into a midcentury-style retreat, reflecting the owner's eclectic tastes.
 
Preview: Venice Garden & Home Tour backyards
Residents share their retreats for the 2008 Venice Garden & Home Tour.
INNER LIFE
A Spanish Revival home, aged to perfection
A Pasadena couple adds history to their 1921 home with murals and vintage architectural elements and patina.
 
THE SCOUT
L.A. Garden Show at the L.A. County Arboretum &   Botanic Garden
Volunteers, crews and landscape designers are sprucing up the grounds for the Arcadia show, which starts Friday.
THE SCOUT
Sasha's Living With Style in Belmont Heights
Interior designer Sasha Witte blends contemporary with traditional furnishings at her Long Beach store.
 
THE SCOUT
Bill Miller at Frank Pictures Gallery in Bergamot Station
The artist crafts mosaic-like images out of pre-World War II linoleum.
BOOKS
'Sow and Grow: A Gardening Book for Children' by Tina Davis
The illustrated book combines basic science lessons with monthly growing experiments.
 
Man of the House by Chris Erskine
When your birthday girl invites 80 of her closest friends, send out the alert.
TEST CASE
Fur Fighter vs. lint roller for pet-hair-covered furniture
Compared with your standard lint roller, the new Scotch Fur Fighter is an object of beauty.
 
DATEBOOK
Featured: Asian modern by Jack Simison, Anglo-Colonial by Paul Williams, Casa de las Fuentes by Everett Phipps Babcock, and a midcentury house by ...
ARTISANS
'Danger dog' signs by Nepal artists are in demand in L.A.
A Santa Monica resident tries to keep an old tradition alive by selling works by artists in Nepal.
 
PRESERVATION
Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House moves toward rehabilitation
A monumental retaining wall that had crumbled is fixed, and concrete blocks that fell down have been replaced on the Wright building that looms near ...
THE CALIFORNIA GARDEN
A garden designer transforms a Manhattan Beach yard using old design elements
Sandy Koepke gathers castoff furniture and room décor to outfit a newly planted yard to give it that lived-in feel.
 
More eye candy from the 2008 Milan furniture fair
Highlights of the most innovative collections from over 2,500 exhibitors.
DESIGN DISPATCH
At 2008 Milan furniture fair, top designers trade flash for class
In tune with economic woes in the U.S. and beyond, the gilded looks that ruled Salone Internazionale del Mobile last year are yielding to spare shapes ...
 
THE SCOUT
Talk at L.A. Antiques Show to honor legacy of decorator Michael Taylor.
Fashion photographer Cecil Beaton called the late Michael Taylor the most original decorator in America, says Stephen Salny, who is writing a book ...
THE SCOUT
A compact version of Tim Street-Porter's 'Los Angeles' coffee-table book
Consider it an end-table version of the coffee-table book "Los Angeles," Tim Street-Porter's enormous (and, at $195, expensive) limited-edition 2006 ...
 
THE SCOUT
Voila gallery relocates, expands apart from Bourgeois Bohème boutique
ONCE confined to a 500-square-foot space within the French design boutique Bourgeois Bohème, the Voila gallery dedicated to works on paper has ...
DATEBOOK
A roundup of home and garden tours and events.
 
MAN OF THE HOUSE BY CHRIS ERSKINE
Classics, biographies and Parade magazine are his drugs of choice. And the kids are the enablers.
LETTERS
RE “Out of the Shadows” [April 17] about ...
 
DESIGN DISPATCH
Kitchen/Bath Industry Show gets into the comfort zone
Bling is out, individuality and function are in at the expo.
THE CALIFORNIA GARDEN
Richard Neutra's vision -- with a tropical touch
The Nesbitt house's garden isn't the Japanese oasis that was originally planned, but it captures the Neutra spirit.
 
PRESERVATION
The clock is ticking for Richard Neutra's VDL Research House II
It could take $2 million to get the architect's personal residence restored and kept open for public tours.
A sneak peek at Milan’s furniture show
New and noteworthy design trends are unveiled at the world's most prestigious design exposition.
 
ARCHITECTURE
A new home rises across from Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House
Architect Barbara Bestor designed the home to showcase the Wright landmark, which towers above the pool wall like a sculpture.
Green scenes from CSUF Arboretum
Garden enthusiasts will descend on Green Scene Plant and Garden Show this weekend, which is interspersed throughout the Fullerton Arboretum's 26 acres ...
 
THE SCOUT
Fabric scraps transformed into colorful gift wrap
Think of it as tree-free paper: textile remnants from garment factories turned into decorative gift wrap.
THE SCOUT
Free Alt Build Expo at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
Self-guided green building tours include Warren Wagner's design for the Beitcher residence.
 
THE SCOUT
Garden artist Tahereh Sheerazie transforms old car parts into planters
Old car parts can be rusty, ugly and useless, unless they're in the hands of garden artist Tahereh Sheerazie.
THE SCOUT
Cleaner and quieter landscape maintenance
Whisper uses only zero-emission, solar-powered equipment that keeps the sound down.
 
Man of the House by Chris Erskine
He's falling all over again for New Orleans, a city on the brink.
DATEBOOK
A roundup of home and garden tours and events.
 
LETTERS
Icommend you for publishing "When the Beautiful Go Bad " [April 10], about invasive plants. This is a serious environmental issue that doesn't receive ...
GARDEN
Hummingbird nest carries a reminder of small pleasures
As a chick is hatched and matures, one yard becomes a lesson in enjoying the little things.
 
THE CALIFORNIA GARDEN
Gardening and environmental groups try to weed out invasive plants
Flowers and grasses have gotten out of the yard and into trouble. A group aims to corral the offenders.
ARCHITECTURE
John Lautner's spirit of invention
His L.A.-area homes showcase his genius for fluid forms and a spatial sense of freedom.
 
PRESERVATION
Restored: John Lautner's Harpel house
The 1956 home near the Chemosphere had been remodeled beyond recognition. It took current owner Mark Haddawy two years to get it back to the ...
EQUIPPED
Lamps inspired by vintage film and photography equipment
FLIP through spring catalogs and you'll probably spot this trend: lighting that takes its cues from vintage film and photography equipment.
 
SOLUTIONS
Tips to help make birds' migrations safer
IT'S migration season, and 5 billion birds are traveling. Millions are in Southern California's skies, where they fly mainly at night and stop in ...
THE SCOUT
Artesanos brings Mexico inside
Artesanos owners Jose and Callie Borraez were going to move to Mexico. Instead, they brought Mexico to them, building the furnishings store ...
 
THE SCOUT
A flower vase made of pickup sticks
Made from metal tubes with hand-finished nodes and detailing, Stacey Hoshimiya's Steel Bamboo sculptures ($320) can be used to display dried flowers ...
THE SCOUT
Paul Evans' art on auction
Working in welded steel with copper, silver and gold, Paul Evans (1931-87) was a prolific artisan whose output from the 1960s has risen ...
 
MAN OF THE HOUSE BY CHRIS ERSKINE
I'M THINKING OF applying those little white silhouettes to the back window of the minivan. You see them everywhere now, those outlines of the family ...
DATEBOOK
THE fifth annual garden tour organized by the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers and Native Plants ...
 
LETTERS
REGARDING "Desert Deconstruction" [March 27], the article on minimalist Palm Springs gardens:
CA Boom home tours
Backyard chickens and a child's play kitchen were some of the distinctive flourishes seen at the annual CA Boom modern design home tours.
 

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