Local designer C. Sheehy’s new line of appliquéd flannel ($75) and retro-cool muscle-car-printed linen pillows ($38 to $65) will give your sofa some serious street cred. Available at Asrai Garden, 1935 W. North Ave., 773-782-0680, asraigarden.com Photograph: Leonard Gertz
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I stopped by Kneen & Co. a week or so ago for the trunk show for the Côté de Bastide fragrance line from Provence, which Mary Jeanne Kneen is carrying exclusively in the Chicago area. Made of all-natural ingredients, the line includes hand-poured candles, as well as soaps and bath salts and other yummy and beautifully packaged items that make great hostess gifts. Speaking of which: check out these notepads with prestige Zip codes.
—JAN PARR
Bleeker Street Antiques CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Vintage American glass apothecary bottles; 1960s green glass Japanese fishing floats in a clamshell; studded nickel and silver Tibetan bracelets; deer antlers in a stone bowl; antique bottles and a circa-1920 Chinese Hubei vase; a 19th-century French armoire Interior designers often tell us how much a personal collection … Read more
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MCM Grand has just received a huge shipment of vintage Danish furniture direct from Denmark. Designers include Kristian Vedel, Hans Wegner, Finn Juhl, Johannes Andersen, Kai Christiansen, Ole Wanscher, Oman Junior, Borg Mogensen, Illum Wikkelso, and H.W. Klei. MCM’s owners believe they now have the largest selection of this style in the Chicago area.
—JAN PARR
Post 27 Husband-and-wife team Angela Finney and Barkley Hoffman bring an indie spirit to West Town’s Post 27. Along with refurbishing funky mid-century modern finds with just the right upholstery (sometimes from Finney’s former employer, Holly Hunt) or choice of wood finish (such as cerusing a dated hutch for a fresh, unexpected look), they carry … Read more
Publican, Sepia, The Violet Hour, C-View Here’s some ambiance we’d love to take home. West Loop gastropub Publican has a cool austerity thing going: sleek pendants, rows of chunky tables and ladder-back chairs, mustard-colored walls—and little else. At dimly lit and shadowy Sepia, designer Gary Lee practically enclosed the round table in the restaurant’s private … Read more
Midnight Sun Swedish Antiques, Stockholm Objects While these two shops both are helmed by native Swedes with mad style, one focuses on new Swedish design and the other tends toward the old. Midnight Sun Antiques has distressed-finish Gustavian settees and benches galore, reupholstered early-20th-century side chairs both clean-lined and carved, and lots of vintage mirrors, … Read more
BoConcept Mega Berlin floor lamp with black chintz shade and Rock armchair in yellow ochre felt Outgrown Ikea but not flush enough for the big-ticket stuff? With a relatively new store here, this international chain could be just what you’re looking for. BoConcept’s furniture is decidedly urban, with space-saving tricks and clever things like coffee … Read more
Slipcover Plus In these uneasy times, perhaps a new sofa is not in the cards. But a slipcover just might be, especially one made at this family-owned, Oak Park–based business. For about $350, plus fabric, you can give an old three-seater a facelift. Provide your own fabric (there’s no surcharge) or choose from Slipcover Plus’s … Read more
The Museum of Science and Industry’s popular Smart Home exhibit is unveiling its totally revamped interiors tomorrow, and if this chic sneak of the dining room is any indication, I think I’m going to heart Smart Home 3.0—seriously, what’s not to like about this room? (Although one of those “pops” of color…
