It's time for this to come full circle. We first saw this clever Ikea hack (the alteration of an Ikea Lack unit into a sliding-doored media cabinet) on a NY Flickr Find: the apartment tour of Portland-based Artdsgnr, aka Matt. Then a similar hack appeared here on the SF blog, in Ryan's tour of his media room. Reader jp commented that instructions on how to make the cabinet had been posted on Ikea Hacker...

This is an oldie, but a goodie. Back when Berkeley-based ReadyMade was still just a gleam in Meredith Corp's eye, Shoshana Berger made a splash with a preview issue that included instructions on how to make a "meat cart" platform bed. Sound sexy? Well, it actually was. With just casters and a simple ladder frame as supports, its minimalism rivals that of the Ligne Roset Maly bed -- but for a whole lot less green.

If you're familiar with safety spoons (spoons with heat sensitivity properties that turn white if the temperature is too high), you might be intrigued by Hansacanyon -- a line of color-altering, heat sensing faucets that do what the safety spoon does, albeit via an entirely different technology.

Wallpaper for renters? That's one way of thinking about Inhabit's bamboo wall flats. It's a great solution to the "no-painting" restriction so many renters are faced with, or for walls with a bumpy texture.

Renters are often frustrated by the oppressive ugliness of a landlord's taste in light fixtures. So, we've come up with some good resources on how to take matters into your own hands... without electrocuting them.

A reader pointed us in the direction of Aubuchon Hardware's unusually large selection of contact papers, and all the options there. Their selection got us thinking about this sticky substance.

We were blown away by the impact of this flowering quince tree mural when we accidentally ran across it in Robert Lachman's article for the LA Times on the revival of wall murals. We love the way it anchors this room without overwhelming the other elements, an effect accomplished through its well-chosen scale and silhouette.

Battery-powered white paper lanterns saved our wedding reception. It was held outdoors in a Point Reyes Station garden patio and, being city folk, we hadn't anticipated just how dark it would be after nightfall. The night before the wedding we tested out the existing garden lights and atmospheric table candles and realized that together they would provide just enough light to keep our guests from falling asleep.

This is a small space DIY that's clever, easy, and cheap. AT:SF reader Killorn wrote to us and told us how she turned an IKEA LACK shelf into under-bed storage.

Can a store be coveted and admired? Can it be an idol of design and good taste to be worshipped?

If so, Russian Hill's Swallowtail is definitely our latest idol.

We have loved this shop from the day we walked in, and have often contemplated moving into Swallowtail and living there permanently. It's quirky, eclectic and full of beautiful objects that we love to dawdle over when visiting. It's a bit like an art museum of the odd, classical and collectible. Where else would you find a life-size geisha living alongside antique anatomy charts, vintage chandeliers, contemporary Noguchi lamps and Lucite chairs?