Top Shelf
This high-style clear acrylic shelf comes at a not-so-high price ($50). It’s 30 inches long, 6 inches deep—an excellent replacement for that standard-issue glass shelf below your bathroom mirror. At CB2 (cb2.com for stores)
Year: 2009
Tours de Force
A past home on the Heartland tour, by Tollas Construction of Sawyer, Michigan. COUNTRY: The annual Heartland Alliance Celebration of Home & Garden tour, starting in Lakeside, Michigan, is back again, offering summer road-trippers a chance to drop in on seven impressive Harbor Country homes, from an antiques-filled Normandy-style house to a Hamptons-style cottage. Proceeds go … Read more
Coming to Terms with Vintage Bathroom Fixtures
Q: I like the look of vintage tubs, sinks, and toilets and would prefer the real things to reproductions in my soon-to-be-redone bathroom. What should I know before I proceed?
Piazza Sempione Opens on Oak Street
A Milan Icon Comes to Town
Piazza Sempione (34 E. Oak St.; 312-280-1129, piazzasempione.com) recently opened on the Gold Coast, bringing more cachet to Oak Street’s prestigious shopping strip. Located in the former Sugar Magnolia space, the new boutique marks the Milan-based brand’s third stand-alone location in the United States. “We have a very loyal following in Chicago,” says Oriana VanSomeren, the shop’s general manager. “It just made sense to…
Fresh Face
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For one day only, June 17 from 10AM to 4PM, up-and-coming local interior designer Alison Gramenos (above) of Alison Victoria Interior Design will be showing pieces from her new furniture collection at Artistic Tile at LuxeHome. Gramenos has not yet formally signed the pieces with any vendors, so this is a good opportunity to get a sneak peek.
—Gina Bazer
One Kings Lane Access
A reader of our earlier blog about One Kings Lane informed us that she was unable to shop the Web-based upscale accessories discounter without a sponsor. Effective now, all Design Dose readers can consider themselves sponsored. Just log on to the site by clicking here and you should be good to go.
—Gina Bazer
Weekend Photos: The Shrine
Those still mourning the loss of Wicker Park’s long-shuttered Sinibar, take heart: That lounge’s founding father Joseph Russo is back, with a similarly diverse mandate—and a much bigger space. Enter The Shrine, Russo’s new 8,000-square-foot dance club in the South Loop, featuring a musical lineup of DJs and live acts (e.g., Julie Dexter last Friday), plus a more…
Singles 2009
Unlike most superheroes, our top 20 singles don’t need alter egos. We think their real-life personas are pretty extraordinary.
Indie Design in the Spotlight
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Start your week off right by giving props to those local independent designers who often toil away under the radar to give Chicago its bragging rights in the larger design arena. Tonight, from 6 to 9 p.m. there’s the opening reception of “The Promise of this Moment: Objects that Augment the Everyday,” presented by the Mighty Bearcats in collaboration with the Object Design League at 2035 W. Wabansia St. in Bucktown (open through the 22nd by appointment; call 312-560-1532). This show features ceramic gas fireplace logs (shown above) by Materious and Steven Haulenbeek, whose Cumulus Light Canopy has graced our pages as well.
Continue toasting the indie spirit Tuesday night at the Guerilla Furniture and Art Truck Show, 6-9 p.m., at 1052 W. Fulton Market. Organizer Morlen Sinoway says this is the largest event yet, with more than 20 trucks filled with wares by Green Sawn, F2, Brickermade (chair shown here) and others, which will be parked along Fulton Market for your perusing-while-schmoozing-and-beer-drinking pleasure.
—Gina Bazer
Sale of the Week: A Tale of Four Houses—North Shore
List Price: $1.9 million
Sale Price: $1 million
The Property: Today’s house, situated in an unincorporated area near Winnetka, once carried a price tag of $5.1 million. But that price was for a finished home—and not only was this house never finished, but the company that built it ended up handing the home back to its lender, Mutual Bank, last October. On May 26th, the bank…