Meanwhile, back at the ranch house

Pour a tall Jack and Coke, flip Frankie over on the hi-fi, flop into a Eames leather lounge chair and open your eyes again to that frightfully wacky duck-and-cover age. If your memory is a little hazy, you might want to turn to the pages of a new magazine, Atomic Ranch.

Publisher Jim Brown says the 64-page quarterly focuses on ranch houses and modernist tract homes that attracted -- and still do -- “regular people with good taste on a budget.”

Although millions of ranch houses built in the 1950s and ‘60s were scattered across the nation, the premiere issue showcases a home in Verdugo Hills. It exemplifies all that’s right with these horizontal homes: ease of living, the blurring of inside and outside and the ebullient use of fiesta orange, zinnia gold and bayberry blue on walls, cabinets and ceramics.

Brown, an editorial photographer for auto magazines, partnered with his wife, Michelle Gringeri-Brown, a former editor of American Bungalow, to produce the South Pasadena-based publication.

Readers even get space to brag about their abodes, furnishing finds and renovations. “People love to share what they have,” says Brown, who spent his teen years living in a ranch in Playa del Rey. “But these houses haven’t gotten much respect. We want to dignify them, elevate them for the design marvels they are.”

A copy is $5.95; a four-issue subscription is $19.95. The magazine is available at Hennessey + Ingalls in Santa Monica, Fatty’s in Eagle Rock, Out of Vogue in Fullerton, Sublime and Modern Way in Palm Springs, and Boomerang for Modern in San Diego. For more information, call (323) 258-5540; www.atomic-ranch.com.

Janet Eastman

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Furniture and tools, with legs

Author-artist David Kirk may be best known for his series of bestselling “Miss Spider” children’s books, written in sophisticated rhymes and lavishly illustrated with his own oil paintings.

But before he created books, he designed toys. So it’s only natural that Kirk has a line of children’s garden tools, outdoor furniture and accessories.

Based on the theme of “Miss Spider” -- a sweet-natured, yellow-and-black arachnid who lives in a florid fantasy world -- the Sunny Patch collection began last year and was created for Target stores. This month, about three dozen new pieces were added, including the Buggy Broom ($9.99), Big Bug Barrow ($24.99), Ladybug Cultivator ($2.99) and the Augie Alligator Lounge ($14.99).

And, if you really dig Kirk’s work, he has a new book, “Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Kids,” coming out in May and a computer-animated TV series premiering on Nick Jr. in August.

Scott Sandell

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For homes that smell as good as you do

Demeter Fragrance Library, which has made a mark for itself with wackily named colognes and body sprays, introduced a collection of room sprays and candles several months ago -- with monikers such as Sex on the Beach, Poison Ivy and New Zealand. But it’s constantly expanding the line. The latest: Fuzzy Navel, Chocolate Chip Cookie, Orange Cremecicle, Mojito and, due in May, Cotton Candy.

The scents, which usually smell exactly as their names would imply, come in 4-ounce bottles (about $13) and are designed to bind to fabrics, upholstery, curtains and carpet. They’re available at Anthropologie stores in Southern California and at Larchmont Beauty Center, 208 N. Larchmont Blvd., L.A., (323) 461-0162.

Next up: Demeter is launching its Rare Orchid fragrances at the New York Botanical Garden’s Shop in the Garden for “The Orchid Show,” Friday to March 28.

Jake Klein

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An invitation to buy at a discount

If luxury silk and designer teak are your style, there are bargains to be found at the Dock Downtown, an offbeat sample- and excess-merchandise sale held each month at a secret location by e-mail invitation only.

Furnishings, accessories and gifts for the home are sold at 50% to 80% off retail prices. Merchandise varies from month to month, but inventory centers on boutique items from Asia and Europe such as French bath products, embroidered Belgian linens and Indonesian sideboards. Recent offerings included a Mission-style teak lawyer’s desk for $395 that retails at $850 and a Steven Anthony “Gelespi” chair for $750 that retails for $1,350.

Maria Kojic and Ali Peters, owners of the L.A. kids’ room accessory company Supercouch, run the sales, which don’t follow a set schedule. Now, on the eve of the Dock Downtown’s first anniversary, they are planning to bring the concept to other U.S. cities, says merchandising manager Katherine Kelly.

To get a free invitation, sign up at www.thedockdowntown.com. Once you RSVP, that month’s location and date are sent to you.

-- Dinah Eng