apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Lightening Up A Spanish Revival Bungalow. The home belonging to Alan Smart and his partner, Michael Uhlenkott, is decorated in a lightened up version of the classic Spanish Revival style. Perhaps not unexpectedly, given that Smart's the Emmy-nominated director of SpongeBob Squarepants, it also has a distinctly zany side. Note the Tiki bar in the basement. If this home's your style, don't forget to check out the list of resources.

Halloween: The Spooky-Chic Season Perhaps it's the generally somber mood of the last few weeks that has the Goth overtones of Halloween feeling appropriate beyond the holiday but, depending on your decor, and your sense of humour, as Grace pointed out many of these pieces can work year round.

Christmas-Halloween mash Perhaps in the recognition that Halloween's the second biggest decorating "season" after Christmas, many decorations now merge the two sensibilities and include Halloween lights, ornaments and wreaths.

Modernist Architecture: feeling the pinch too? If the stock market's ups and down haven't affected you and you've always wanted a mid-century home, now might be the time you've been waiting for.

The Scout A store on Fairfax the owner describes as "granny on psychedlics;" designer Kenneth Wingrad goes retail; Artecnica opens a showroom in West Hollywood (which Laure got a look at it); and an upcoming gallery opening features the beautiful and disturbing photographs of Wiliam Curtis Rolf.

Reviving a Greene & Greene ClassicTwo new exhibitions, one at the Pasadena Museum of California Art and the other at the Huntington Gardens, Art Collections and Botanical Garden, spotlight the work of Arts & Crafts architects Charles and Henry Greene, perhaps best known for the Gamble house.

[images: Lawrence K. Ho for LA Times; Lawrence K. Ho for LA Times; via Grandin Road; Stephen Osman for LA Times; Tim Street-Porter; William Curtis Rolf; California History Room, California State Library]