Homeandgarden

What started as a pile of rubble became a patterned driveway that's not only beautiful but also permeable, meaning winter rains will percolate into the ground instead of spilling into the street. Steve Gerischer, owner of Larkspur Garden Design in Los Angeles, salvaged old brick and broken concrete from job sites to create a floral-inspired tapestry over his 14-by-40-foot driveway in Glassell Park. The driveway had been covered with gravel, but over the years it had mostly become dirt.

Actress Sherry Stringfield of "ER" fame has put her Beverly Hills home on the market at $2,895,000. The Spanish-style home, built in 1928, has been updated yet maintains its period charm. The two-story house has a center hall, formal dining and living rooms, a family room, a library/study, an office, two fireplaces, six bedrooms and three bathrooms in about 3,600 square feet. Mature trees surround the home. Stringfield, 42, played Dr. Susan Lewis on "ER" in two stints from 1994 to 2009.

That humble staple of holiday parties, the folding chair, has been getting an artful makeover lately. Whether you're a space-crunched urban dweller or a host with a long guest list, choices are expanding dramatically. We've highlighted a couple from midpriced retailers plus boundary-pushing designs (including Moooi's Clip chair pictured on Page E1) whose creativity very well could filter down to the mass market in the months to come. -- Katherine E. Nelson

Prolific songwriter and "American Idol" judge Kara DioGuardi's Spanish-style home in the Hollywood Hills is on the market at $1,649,000. The gated house, built in 1964, has city and canyon views, wood-beamed ceilings, extensive decks, an outdoor cedar sauna and a spa. There are three bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms in more than 2,700 square feet. The guest unit has its own entrance, living room, kitchen and bathroom. DioGuardi, 39, joined the panel of the Fox singing competition in 2009.

No bomb here. Actors Jeremy Renner, who played the leader of an explosives disposal unit in the critically acclaimed film "The Hurt Locker," and co-investor Kristoffer Winters found a buyer for their restored 1924 Greek Revival in the Hollywood Hills area after five months on the market. It sold for more than $4 million. The four-bedroom, 4 1/2 -bathroom two-story has a library with a bar, a wine room, an eat-in kitchen with two islands and a screening room in 5,800 square feet.

So what if the name, for all its alliterative bounce, seems not quite right? And who cares, really, if the quality has ebbed ever so slightly in the last few days? The website Unhappy Hipsters ( www.unhappyhipsters.com) is the most welcome addition to the often self-serious world of architecture and design in recent memory, not to mention a pocket of satirical warmth in the middle of a soggy, recessionary, earthquake-wracked, Martha Coakley winter. Produced anonymously on a simple Tumblr blogging platform, it adds brief, deadpan captions to photographs from Dwell magazine (and a few other publications)

Don't assume that the enormous, wickedly fanged Agave americana -- better known to some gardeners as the century plant -- is the only agave around. The genus offers hundreds of choices, and some of the most interesting are boutique agaves -- petite selections perfect for patio pots and small gardens. Native to arid regions of the Southwest and Mexico, agaves grow effortlessly in Southern California. The fibrous leaves of these low-water plants form a rosette that can resemble an artichoke, pincushion or fountain.

The belligerent, foul-mouthed man stood less than a foot away from me, jabbing his finger into the air to make his point. "That old man shouldn't be on the road," he said. "He turned right into me. " My 81-year-old father stood nearby, embarrassed and shaken. On a 1-to-10 scale, the accident hardly registered: My dad's car barely brushed the other vehicle, with no discernible damage to either car or occupant. But the bully facing me at that moment acted like he wanted blood.

A Malibu beach home once owned by actor-producer-director Robert Redford has come on the market for $13.8 million. The gated two-story, built in 1948 and extensively upgraded, has walls of glass, living areas that open to expansive patios, and stone and hardwood floors. There are five bedrooms, 4 1/2 bathrooms and two fireplaces in 5,329 square feet. The ocean view master bedroom features an attached spa. Redford, 73, received the first Robert Redford Award for Engaged Artists award from the USC School of Theatre earlier this month for his social activism.

Ronald N. Tutor, president and chief executive of construction giant Tutor-Saliba, has listed his Hidden Hills compound for $18.9 million. The Tudor-style estate sits on 3.4 acres of rolling lawns with a lake, waterfalls, a swimming pool and grotto, gardens and a tennis court. The gated home of more than 19,000 square feet has a master suite with his-and-her closets and six additional bedroom suites in the main wing. A bridge stretching across to the entertainment wing contains a large arcade.

Television writers Krista Vernoff and Kevin Maynard have listed their Los Feliz home at $1,995,000. Designed for entertaining, the 1947 contemporary recently underwent a $300,000-plus renovation. The open floor plan connects the living room, an informal dining area with seating for 16 and the updated kitchen. There are five bedrooms, five bathrooms and a media room in 4,355 square feet. An outdoor living room centers on a fire pit. The swimming pool has a solar-heating system.

Producer-director Bud Yorkin and his wife, actress Cynthia Sikes, have listed their Holmby Hills estate for $49.5 million. The gated traditional home, built in 1938, has five bedrooms and 7 1/2 bathrooms in about 11,900 square feet. The house has an oversized living room with a sunken bar, a wood-paneled study and a projection room. The master bedroom suite has his and hers bathrooms and walk-in closets, a sun room and vaulted ceilings. The nearly 2.75 acres of park-like grounds include a swimming pool, a tennis court, a gym and rose gardens.

A Palm Springs estate built in 1977 for Oscar-winning actor William Holden has come on the market at $5.5 million. Sitting on 2.5 acres in the gated Southridge neighborhood, the 8,000-square-foot desert retreat has mountain and city light views, custom-carved double entry doors, high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows and a master bedroom suite with dual fireplaces, a 36-foot-long walk-in closet, a TV area, a sunken terrazzo spa tub and an...

Commercial real estate giant John C. Cushman III and his wife, Jeanine , have sold their Monterey Colonial-style home in Pasadena for $3.25 million. Designed by Roland Coate and built in 1933, the 5,000-square-foot gated house has four bedrooms and five bathrooms. Among architectural details: A balcony spans the entire front of the house, a bay window in the dining room looks out on the rear garden, and the library features a fireplace and built-in bookcases. The master bedroom suite has a sitting room.

Technology entrepreneur and philanthropist David Bohnett has listed his restored Holmby Hills estate for $18.9 million. Designed by A. Quincy Jones in 1955 for actor Gary Cooper, the wood, stone and glass house has four bedrooms and 4 1/2 bathrooms in 5,721 square feet and sits on nearly 2 1/2 wooded acres. Paths and low rock walls traverse the grounds and gardens. A canopied walkway leads to the open entrance hall. The living room features terrazzo floors, a raised stone fireplace and floor-to-ceiling windows that look out onto the swimming pool.

Music industry executive Phil Quartararo has listed his walled and gated Brentwood home for $13.25 million. The hacienda-style residence was built in 1936 and designed by John Byers, known for the Spanish Colonial Revival style. It was expanded during Quartararo's ownership in keeping with its Mexican and Spanish architectural roots. The six-bedroom, 7 1/2 -bathroom house has about 7,200 square feet of living space in two stories and sits on nearly a 1 1/2 acres, about 85% of which is flat.

Nightclub impresario David Cooley , who started the Abbey Food and Bar in West Hollywood in the early '90s, has listed his Beverly Hills home at $9,195,000. The gated Trousdale-area contemporary has four bedrooms and seven bathrooms in 6,350 square feet. The rebuilt and expanded 1964 house, designed and developed by Cooley's real estate partner Scott Unger for indoor-outdoor living and entertaining, sits on nearly half an acre with city views visible through walls of glass. The 2,000-square-foot master bedroom suite contains a sitting room and cocktail bar, a massage room and dual walk-in closets.

PBS commentator Huell Howser has listed his 60-acre Newberry Springs compound with its dome-shaped home for $750,000. Vard Wallace, who built a business selling drafting machines and airplane parts to Lockheed Corp. and other aircraft companies during World War II, had the high desert retreat constructed for himself as a getaway, according to Los Angeles Times archives. The home sits about midway between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Completed in 1968 and designed by Harold Bissner Jr., the spaceship-shaped home was envisioned to resemble the information center at the construction site of the nuclear generating plant at San Onofre.

Two-time Stanley Cup winner Oleg Tverdovsky has purchased a Mediterranean home in Bel-Air for $5.4 million. Built in 2008, the five-bedroom, seven-bathroom, 7,000-square-foot home sits on nearly 2 acres with ocean, mountain, city and canyon views, according to Multiple Listing Service details. It includes a massive two-sided fireplace in the great room, a gym, an office, an outdoor kitchen and dining area, and a swimming pool and spa. The Ukrainian-born Tverdovsky, 33, helped win the Stanley Cup in 2003 playing with the New Jersey Devils and in 2006 with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Palomino Hacienda, the Las Vegas estate leased by Michael Jackson from 2006 through 2008, is listed at $12.8 million. If a buyer is not forthcoming, it will be sold at a luxury home auction in April. The 1.7-acre compound was the late pop icon's last residence in Las Vegas. The 20,638-square-foot main house has a chapel, several living rooms, four bedrooms, 4 1/2 bathrooms and a maid's or guest quarters with a kitchen. The house includes an 8,500-square-foot basement, which the 15-time Grammy winner used as storage for his memorabilia, book and art collections and as a studio.