House & Home Roundup: 6.1.06

Could be our favorite ever. That is a completely personal opinion, but with a visit to Garrison Keillor's home, a good obsessive article on NY closets and a cool Currents, we have been in heaven over the weekend as we caught up with H&H this week. We recommend you dig in.

Top Stories

• Where All the Rooms Are Above Average: Garrison Keillor opens the doors to his Minnesota digs and also tells us he's buying back his NYC apartment for $2m more than he sold it for in 1993!
• Into the Closet: We blew being interviewed for this article as we hadn't kept up with our email. Crapola. Because we've got a lot to say about closets. However, Stephanie Rosenbloom does a great job of making a case for closets being the "It Room" of 2006.
• A Simple House With a Complicated Past: House Proud goes to Berlin to visit the new home of Eva Wendel and Peter Stenkhoff. Sorta minimal cool.
• Tuscany Distilled in Stone and Slate: Empty nester's Carter and Charles McDowell redo their yard in Virgina, ripping out the basketball court for trees and a reflecting pool. Anne Raver tells us the story.

• Personal Shopper goes Picnic-ing: Colorful, outdoor props for active entertaining.
• Q. I'm taken with the way artificial plants trick the eye, but am I fooling anyone? Graig Kellog lays out some good resources for those who want "good" artificial.

  Currents

  • Black Mesh chairs from Hammacher Schlemmer - Fugly...
  • Amazing new store design by Thomas Heatherwick in Paris
  • Amaridian, is a new gallery on Howard Street (SoHo) that features contemporary African art
  • Mini Alarm - The SafeScout security system by Sentinel Vision
  • Handwoven textiles in metal and polymer and organic by Sophie Mallebranche of Paris. She won the textile award at ICFF this year.