Ad Categories: Home and Garden

Lots of changes are afoot on Kinzie Street near the Mart. This week the 100 West block is getting a new resident: Pauline Grace, a contemporary furniture showroom that had been on Kingsbury. Pauline Grace joins Thomas Jolly Antiques and Oscar Isberian Rugs , which moved next door to a new space. P. A. Larkin closed its storefront but is now selling its Asian furniture out of Vintage Pine. Evanstonia also closed its River North doors, but is still open in Ravenswood. Got all that?

—JAN PARR

If stuffed deer make you queasy, you’re not alone. We’re over the Aspen lodge look, too. But there’s still a place for faux taxidermy—as long as it comes with a healthy dose of humor. Tamar Mogendorff’s playful hand-sewn animal heads (top row; about $135 to $800), available at Asrai Garden, are delightfully irreverent. Made with pretty hand-printed fabric, the collection of penguins, kangaroos, and horses are friendly enough to hang in the nursery. Look for unicorn heads to debut this spring. Anthropologie is also touting a cheeky take on the trophy head: Savannah Story Busts (bottom row; $68), constructed from recycled cement bags and vintage book pages, feel lighthearted and homemade.

–Bridget Herman

Sub-Zero and Wolf announced the regional winners of their annual Kitchen Design Contest Thursday night at their showroom in Glendale Heights. Mick DeGiuilio of DeGuilio Kitchen Design won an award for this stunning white kitchen with its artful mix of style references. De Guilio, along with Patrick Landrosh of Landrosh Development and Carla Schultz of Carla 1 Design, (winning kitchen shown at right), and Denise Quade of Bella Domicile in Madison, Wisconsin, will be heading to Florida (all expenses paid) to participate in the national competition (winning prize: $15,000). Local winners, each of whom won a $3,000 credit toward their next Sub-Zero/Wolf purchase, were Cheryl Ryan of Kitchens By Design, Elm Grove, Wisconsin; Tina Muller of Drury Design, Glen Ellyn; and James Dase of Abruzzo Kitchens, Schaumburg. The real winners? City dwellers who found out that Sub-Zero/Wolf will open a huge demo/showroom in LuxeHome at the Mart at the end of the year. Why should suburbanites have all the fun?

—JAN PARR

Crate & Barrel and Daily Candy are teaming up on a contest that we think Design Dose readers ought to know about. If you’re engaged to be married and registered at Crate & Barrel, you can enter for a chance to win a wedding masterminded by celebrity wedding planner Jo Gartin, valued at $100,000 (see a photo from a wedding she planned above, from her website). All you have to do is submit 300 words about “your love story” (actually there are more specific directions than this; click here for details). The contest runs until March 31.

—GINA BAZER

Photo courtesy loveluckandangels.com

Yesterday our art director, Megan Duffy Rostan; associate art director Adam Moroschan; and I scoped out the new West Elm store, the first in the city and only the second one in Illinois (1000 W. North Ave., 312-867-1770). Located in the former Whole Foods spot, the store opens today and is bursting with happy colors (think dark turquoise and canary yellow), contrasting textures, and a few brilliant storage solutions. West Elm offers free design services—you bring apartment measurements, they’ll create a floor plan—and a smattering of original work from School of the Art Institute of Chicago students. We saw art pieces, some matted and framed, priced from $100 to $1,000 (see inset). Here’s a round up of what really caught our eye.

—Bridget Herman

Shown clockwise above:

• Centerpiece Candelabra, $39
• Tailored Stripe Coverlet + Sham, $29- $149
• Gray Bone Tray, $39
• Hammered Entertaining Serveware, $5- $99

Right photo:

• Hyounsang Yoo, “Art Book” digital photos, $1,000 each

Not pictured:

• Wood Boxes with Lacquered Lids, $16- $29
• Geo Side Table, $159
•  “Officer Blue” is the moniker of a color we loved. Find it in the Butler Stand + Tray, $59 to $179, or Globe Lamp, $299

I got the chance to meet textile designer Mark Pollack last week at Verde, Michele Fitzpatrick’s showroom in Pilsen. This was my first time seeing Michele’s new showroom (more about that later). Pollack was showing off his new green collection of fabrics, called Pure. A handful of designers and I sat in a circle as he discussed his fabrics and passed them around. It was like a baby shower, with us oohing and aaahing over the gorgeous texture and feel of the fabrics (not to mention how wonderful they looked.) I loved the checkered velvet (shown here), which reminds me of Chilewich’s vinyl creations and also of this Ann Sacks tile I’m considering for my bath. Except the fabric is incredibly, dreamily soft. See samples at Verde.

–JAN PARR

Remember when we told you that Pantone had decreed turquoise the color of the year? More evidence: designer Joe Cariati is introducing the hue to his hand-blown glass oeuvre at the Gift Show in New York this week. Cariati’s got some new shapes, too, in his collection called Angelics. Cariati’s pretty glassware is available here at Barney’s, Elements, and Tabula Tua.

—JAN PARR