L.A. Times - Home & Garden

Living room design: Decorating ideas, inspiration, strategies

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:28:00 PDT

Looking for design ideas specifically for the kitchen? Or the kids' bedrooms? Or space-crunched bathrooms? The L.A. at Home team has been developing Home Inspiration galleries where you can click through, see different types of rooms and borrow inspiration (and perhaps a shopping resource or two) from real Southern Californian houses, condos and apartments. Today we're starting with the living room.

Ana Serrano: Everyday L.A., captured in cardboard and paper

By Alissa Walker — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:54:00 PDT

Los Angeles artist Ana Serrano creates vibrant neighborhoods filled with color and complexity, yet she produces them out of the most humble materials: corrugated cardboard, construction paper, glue and paint.

How to grow your own coffee: It's easy, sort of

By Jeff Spurrier — Tue, 21 May 2013 08:58:00 PDT

Growing coffee isn’t hard. It’s the time-consuming extraction of the beans that defeats would-be backyard growers.

'Behind the Candelabra' explores '70s home design, Liberace-style

By Leslie Van Buskirk — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:57:00 PDT

For all the razzle-dazzle of costumes worn by Michael Douglas in his uncanny incarnation as Liberace in the HBO film “Behind the Candelabra” — the crystals! the sequins! the furs! — the revelation for design fans will be lavish sets that sparkle with late ’70s and early ’80s style.

Tyre House: Cool elegance and the art of A. Quincy Jones

By David Hay — Sat, 18 May 2013 06:00:00 PDT

The Tyre House, designed by A. Quincy Jones in the 1950s and recently restored by the Silver Lake architecture firm Escher GuneWardena , is a dreamy testament to Los Angeles' age of cool. Step inside the house's expansive, all-white living area and an 11-foot-high ceiling angles gracefully down toward a white brick fireplace that floats toward one end. Sliding glass doors open to a courtyard and pool on one side, to a steep driveway that disappears from sight on the other. Cork floors and a white sofa effortlessly sweeping along the wall add to the sensation of visual harmony.

A. Quincy Jones, overlooked genius? Hammer Museum makes the case

By David Hay — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:19:00 PDT

The Hammer Museum exhibition opening May 25, "A. Quincy Jones: Building for Better Living," redresses what curators consider a major omission in the history of Los Angeles Modernism.

Inside the California Poppy House that has sprouted in Venice

By Carren Jao — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:30:00 PDT

When it came to designing their new home in Venice, Jonathan Ward and Jin Ah Park drew inspiration from their two-year backpacking trip around the world. The couple, who work for the international design firm NBBJ , traveled from Britain to Thailand, Australia to Peru, Morocco to Mali -- a journey that they said has given rise to a modern dwelling that draws from cultures around the world yet still evokes a sense of California living.

Mosaic tile house open for Venice Art Walk

By Lisa Boone — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:02:00 PDT

Every surface is a canvas for artists Cheri Pann and Gonzalo Duran, who have covered the walls, floors and landscape of their Venice home with mosaic tiles, broken plates, figurines -- even teacups. See it for yourself Sunday when the artists open their home -- the subject of an L.A. Times piece in 2003 -- for the annual Venice Art Walk & Auctions .

Mouse melon, a.k.a. Mexican gherkin: Tiny fruit is big on cute

By Jeff Spurrier — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:42:00 PDT

It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t appreciate the cute factor of mouse melons. Also known as Mexican gherkins, the fruit of Melothria scabra looks like watermelons shrunk for a dollhouse tea party. Each is the size of a grape, speckled white with green striations.

Matthew Rolston turns heads with 'Talking Heads' at JF Chen

By Craig Nakano — Mon, 13 May 2013 13:33:00 PDT

Matthew Rolston packed the cavernous JF Chen gallery in Hollywood on Friday night to introduce L.A. to his latest project, "Talking Heads: The Vent Haven Portraits," a series of photographs featuring all-too-human ventriloquist dummies.