I don’t really know why I’ve become so obsessed with recalled home-related goods. Some kind of personality disorder? A perverse interest in the wrongdoings of others? It’s baffling. But here’s another example of something gone wrong in the manufacturing process. These log swings, made in China, are missing just one nail. But that nail holds…
At the urging of reader “tarbubble,” I asked the designers at Pamela Burton & Company what lawn substitutes they used on their award-winning Malibu landscape (which was featured previously on this blog). I got a response from Burton associate Stephen Billings. First of all, regarding grasses in lieu of lawn, he recommends referring to the…
<p><a href=”http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/05/29/malibulandscapegrasses.jpg” onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=679,height=430,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0′); return false”><img alt=”Malibulandscapegrasses” title=”Malibulandscapegrasses” src=”http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/pardonourdust/images/2008/05/29/malibulandscapegrasses.jpg” width=”480″ height=”303″ border=”0″ style=”float: left; margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px;” /></a></p> <p>At the urging of reader “tarbubble,” I asked the designers at <a href=”http://www.pamelaburtonco.com/”>Pamela Burton & Company</a> what lawn substitutes they used on their award-winning Malibu landscape (which was <a href=”http://www.kathysremodelingblog.com/2008/05/santa-monica-la.html”>featured previously</a> on this blog).</p>…
What’s the best part of a vacation? It’s coming home, right? So why not make the whole vacation the best part and stay home in the first place. You save $50 to $120 on each tank of gas you don’t use. You save $15 on each piece of luggage you don’t put on an American…
Pamela Burton & Co. won an Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects for the gardens and hardscape (seen above) at a Malibu beachfront home. At first, the owner wanted lots of bright green turf. But the designers explained how that would be out of place with the sand and chaparral of the…
A proposed amendment by the Canton City Council in Ohio could put homeowners who let their weeds and grass grow too high in jail. As the law stands now, according to The Repository in Canton, more than 8 inches constitutes high grass or weeds and first-time violators face a minor misdemeanor, which carries up to…
SoCal swimming pools don’t seem as popular as they once were. Maybe it’s the $40,000 to $80,000 or higher price tag? But how about looking at a photo of a pool? That I can afford. And color studies have shown that we are tremendously affected by the colors we observe. Blues and greens make us…
If this was my house I’d be really fit, and here’s why: Every evening, I’d walk back and forth, from street to front door, over and over again, just to enjoy the sensation of this lit walkway. I’m sure this would make the folks at the International Dark Sky Association happy. After all, this is…
Out on my daily walk around a golf course community, I watched this Craftsman house being built. I watched it being framed and plastered and sided. I watched the windows go in and the roof go on. (This is the back of the house, the angle I see from the walking path.) All the while,…
This week’s Home section features a new book: “Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways: Big Ideas for Small Backyard Destinations” by Debra Prinzing with more than 200 photographs by William Wright, Clarkson Potter, $30. Pictured here is a 124-square-foot shed, inspired by midcentury modern architecture, in the Mount Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles. Designed and built…