This week on AT:Chicago our hottest posts were a mix of oldies but goodies and great new ideas for the home. Small Space Solutions from our own house tours topped the list, followed by 10 ways to use Ikea shelves, decluttering the bedroom and making a headboard from deeply discounted floorboards. Jump below for links to these and lots more of our hottest posts from the past week:
The first week of September has wrapped up (yikes, 2008 is flying fast) and our hottest posts for the week include several house tours from locales like Venice and Austin, tips on fitting your home to your lifestyle, small space living on four wheels, home indulgences, shelving over doors, the many uses of hydrogen peroxide, the IKEA dream house, and a peek into someone's first home...
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In a city where our rainy season is short (and, for the last few years, almost non-existent), creating a drought-tolerant lawn is something that interests more and more of us. It's a way of both being green and saving money. This week's feature story in the Los Angeles Times Home and Garden section examines the rules on landscaping that exist in the various cities that make up our metropolis. Los Angeles, for example, has few rules (apart from the ban on watering from between 9 am and 4 pm), while Long Beach residents are, among other regulations, encouraged to dedicate no more than 50% of their front yard to concrete. The accompanying slide show highlights low water alternatives; there's also a round-up of articles on turf substitutes. Another story that caught our eye this week was the first in a new series called Lost L.A., which will examine landmarks that have been altered or changed beyond recognition, a subject we touched on this week when we wished our adopted city a happy birthday. Links and more, after the jump...
![image_pepper_index[1].gif](http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/ny/image_pepper_index%5B1%5D.gif)
Pepper, 1930
Faith's post the other week about savoring the beauty of your tomatoes reminded me of one of my favorite photographers, Edward Weston. His honest and straightforward photography brought out the simple beauty of any natural object he chose to train his lens on.
It was his famous photo of the pepper, above, that taught me to look closely at the often overlooked forms in everyday life...
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Click on any of the images above to view these Most Popular Posts!
This week's Hot Posts drew you in and inspired great discussion. Thanks for getting involved, and staying involved, in our community!
Click here to find the answers to burning design questions, great new ideas as well as the hottest of the hot--old posts that AT'ers can't stop reading.
I am sure Mike Pace and his crew (Santo, Brandon, and Lawrence) are rolling their eyes at this title if they are reading this. This past week I happened upon them as they were taking down a tree in Brooklyn Heights.
Although I knew the city provided this street maintenance, it was my first time to see it in action. Mike took a moment to tell us about what they do...
A quick, informal poll among my friends resulted in most thinking pineapples grow from trees. Pineapples do grow from the ground, like a flower, and in fact have stems. And so these 'baby pineapples' were truly fascinating when they appeared at the florist. Feeling the end of summer drawing near I decided to take some home to savor a bit of the tropics.
We're sending a shout-out to all of you who bring home flowers to brighten up your home. Do YOU have some Sat. morning flowers to share? Let me know! You can drop a line with a small description and some pics at matt at apartment therapy dot com
For all Saturday Morning Flowers, click here!
It's no secret that we here at Apartment Therapy are big fans of SF-based artist Rex Ray. His colorful, biomorphic work is captivating and, we've always found, inspiring. It seems we're not the only ones who glean inspiration from his work, as this apartment attests to.
Everyone we know has one. For some it's a maid who does laundry. For others, it's a weekly floral delivery or takeout every night. One friend has a candle habit; another indulges in a nightly bubble bath. For another, it's a refrigerator full of tasty tidbits, ready to whip out for guests at a moments notice. Our personal indulgence?
Through November 1, 2008, Minnesota-based weeHouse is selling their solar-powered SMALL prefab homes (350 square feet) for $99,000 ($109,000 for states west of Colorado). The house comes with an "off-grid solar package" made by Fusion Modular. Click below for details...
Our current stairway in dire need of some love.
There's nothing like your boss telling you he'll be re-visiting in a few weeks to work from your place to get you motivated to do a few touch-ups to the apartment. Well, more than a touch-up...a pretty involved 2-3 weekend project considering our goal is to rip out the unattractive rubber non-slip padding in our stairway, replace it with some FLOR carpet tiles, and repaint the whole stair hallway...
If you're in the Bay Area, you know it's hot out. Too hot. We've been complaining about the heat all week (we so love it, though). We've already told you how to beat the heat, but if that's not working... try looking at these photos. They made us think of (a cooler) Spring, our favorite season.
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Wednesday's Chronicle featured an article on shoe designer Anyi Lu's Tiburon home. What was most important to Lu? Not just shoe storage (which, incidentally, appears to be a common theme today -- see 
