One of our favorite decorative painting outfits, Simes Studios, is disputing the notion that one needs 14 layers to get a great finish. Simes’ latest newsletter outlines three one- or two-step processes that make for fabulous finishes at a reasonable cost. “We have not found a finish we can’t conquer in five or six steps,” the owners say. “Many of our best surfaces average three steps.” Shown here is the Charcoal finish, a dark pewter wash to be applied over a wood surface or floor. It’s a two-step process over sealed wood and we think it would look equally fab in a modern or traditional home.

–JAN PARR

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One of our favorite decorative painting outfits, Simes Studios, is disputing the notion that one needs 14 layers to get a great finish. Simes’ latest newsletter outlines three one- or two-step processes that make for fabulous finishes at a reasonable cost. “We have not found a finish we can’t conquer in five or six steps,” the owners say. “Many of our best surfaces average three steps.” Shown here is the Charcoal finish, a dark pewter wash to be applied over a wood surface or floor. It’s a two-step process over sealed wood and we think it would look equally fab in a modern or traditional home.

–JAN PARR

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One of our favorite decorative painting outfits, Simes Studios, is disputing the notion that one needs 14 layers to get a great finish. Simes’ latest newsletter outlines three one- or two-step processes that make for fabulous finishes at a reasonable cost. “We have not found a finish we can’t conquer in five or six steps,” the owners say. “Many of our best surfaces average three steps.” Shown here is the Charcoal finish, a dark pewter wash to be applied over a wood surface or floor. It’s a two-step process over sealed wood and we think it would look equally fab in a modern or traditional home.

–JAN PARR

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Year: 2009

Affordable Finishes

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One of our favorite decorative painting outfits, Simes Studios, is disputing the notion that one needs 14 layers to get a great finish. Simes’ latest newsletter outlines three one- or two-step processes that make for fabulous finishes at a reasonable cost. “We have not found a finish we can’t conquer in five or six steps,” the owners say. “Many of our best surfaces average three steps.” Shown here is the Charcoal finish, a dark pewter wash to be applied over a wood surface or floor. It’s a two-step process over sealed wood and we think it would look equally fab in a modern or traditional home.

–JAN PARR

On the Market: Two Houses, One Home in Old Town

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List Price: $4,239,000
The Property: Fifteen years ago, Tom Melk and Sarah Potter paid $500,000 for two dilapidated wood frame houses from 1874. “They were basically leaning on each other to stand up,” Potter remembers. Over the course of ten years, the couple created a distinctive new home by building a glass bridge between the two houses and completely reworking the interiors in a 1930s Modernist style with white plaster walls, crazy-quilt…

Cheap Sandwiches!

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BYO Alert
“I have no restaurant experience,” says Hector Peña, owner of Café Bella (3311 W. Fullerton Ave.; 773-292-5040), a brand-new Logan Square BYO. “I’m a real estate broker. My experience is McDonald’s, when I was 17 years old. My buddy is the chef, and I have always wanted him to open up his own place because his food is marvelous.” The buddy in question is Cesar Casas, a veteran of Ambria who most recently ran…

Caste, One Year Later; Flor’d; Orchid-palooza

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It seems like only yesterday that we introduced y’all to Brad Rowley and Ty Best’s West Town home design boutique Caste, but it’s actually been 17 months since these Montana boys hung their shingle up at 521 North Halsted Street. We checked in with Brad to see how the yearling’s doing, and were happy to hear things are going swimmingly.

Dutch Treat

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Rouw siert Electra (Mourning
Becomes Electra)
 
Eugene O’Neill’s take on the Oresteia trilogy (a.k.a. the House of Epic Dysfunction, wherein son loves mother, murders father; wife murders husband, is avenged by children; and so on) is stripped down to its primal essence by the renowned Toneelgroep Amsterdam. Raw, merciless, and pungent with sexuality, this production incorporates TV, video, and plenty of nudity. In Dutch with English supertitles.

March 2009 Table of Contents

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Cover Story Who Makes What Even in bad times, you can count on our salary survey for an opportunity to peek at the paychecks of hundreds of Chicagoans—you might even spot your neighbor’s. PLUS: Life on the other side Five laid-off Chicagoans talk about coping with the new economic reality. Can Cameras Replace Cops? by … Read more

Simon Pearce Lamps

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The two locations of Sawbridge Studios have created lamp galleries devoted to Simon Pearce’s entire line of lamps. I love this creamy dreamy Low Hamilton lamp (left). It has a crystal base with a ceramic top ($550). The Nantucket, also made of crystal (wonder if those fishies get hot in that water?) is cool, too. It comes with a cream-colored silk shade (not black as shown) and is $495.

-JAN PARR