Because you can't move forward without looking back, here now is The Year That Was, wherein Curbed briefly and by no means exhaustively recaps important things that happened in the realms of real estate, interior design and decor, architecture, and shelter media. Month by month, here it goes: sayonara, 2011!
· NBA star Ray Allen lists his place in Seattle.
· Dwell is revealed as having the most Twitter followers of all the shelter mags.
· Benjamin Moore names "Vintage Wine" its 2011 color of the year.
· Bud Light debuts TV commercial featuring a house made completely out of Bud Light cans.
· Elle Decor announces plans for its first-ever NYC showhouse.
· The new Trad Home online magazine unveils its 20 "New Traditional" designers to watch.
· Zillow merges with Yahoo.
· March issue of Arch Digest unveiled, considered editor in chief Margaret Russell's official debut.
· Diane von Furstenberg launches her first-ever home collection.
· Interior designer Kelly Hoppen lists here townhouse.
· Martha Stewart Living editor in chief Vanessa Holden leaves to head West Elm.
· A woman in Portugal buys a home, only to find the dead body of the previous owner inside.
· Indiana government building may be named "Harry Baals."
· Whispers emerge the Jennifer Aniston may be shopping around her Arch Digest-kissed Beverly Hills manse.
· In Lithuania, 661 pounds of chocolate are used to make a room vignette.
· The Playboy Mansion starts making party-going people sick.
· BoConcept promotes 213-foot-long sofa in speed-dating event.
· Man builds 2,300-square-foot man cave in 7,600-square-foot home.
· Interior designer Kelly Wearstler launches a clothing collection.
· Mattel announces its newest creation: Architect Barbie.
· Britney Spears buys a ridiculous-looking new home.
· Someone tries to smuggle $9M of opium into NYC by stuffing it into decorative cat figurines.
· A-Rod buys a swank 35th-floor condo in NYC.
· Interior designer Michael Smith chosen to dress Oscar green room.
· A bunch of big-name architects plead for the salvation of London architecture.
· AIA releases new guidelines that could help reduce obesity in NYC.
· Listed: one of Gerald Ford's former homes.