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!
· Within hours on Mon., January 3, 10 new luxury properties hit the market.
· A Los Angeles septuagenarian admits to sharing her home with 113 people over the years.
· Ikea pulls the plug on incandescent lightbulbs in all its North American stores.
· The house-arrest hideaway of shamed Wikileaks founder Julian Assange becomes available as a rental.
· Cameron's house from Ferris Bueller's Day Off hits the market.
· Lindsay Lohan, fresh from rehab, rents the place next door to ex-girlfriend Samantha Ronson.
· Bernie Madoff's brother's wife lists her place in Palm Beach, Fla.
· Courtney Love, ever bashful, reveals some gorgeous English interiors on Twitter.
· In Pittsburgh, a contractor screws up by accidentally demolishing someone's house.
· Cliff Lee buys a place in Philly, leaving hopeful Yankees fans in the dust.
· News breaks that homemaking maven Martha Stewart will actually help make homes.
· Someone creates a couch that bears the likeness of Stephen Colbert.
· Facebook honcho Mark Zuckerberg rents a new house in Palo Alto.
· Former House Beautiful editor Stephen Drucker out as editor in chief of Town & Country; Jay Fielden in.
· Stephen Colbert eschews blankets, proposes "Coma Cozy" instead.
· The list of President Obama's 2010 gifts goes public; on it are some crazy-sounding home decor items.
· Designer/talkshow host Nate Berkus puts his Chicago apartment on the market.
· Announced: a partnership between Hearst and HGTV.
· The massive new Florida home of Derek Jeter is revealed, and it's quite large.
· Home Depot debuts a collection of paints inspired by man caves.
· Google announces that it's about to pull Google Maps Real Estate forever.
· Woman returns rescue dog because it clashed with her curtains.
· Hearst officially buys Hachette, thereby acquiring Elle Decor.