Ad Categories: Home and Garden

Hailing all the way from Valencia, Spain, sculptor Ernest Massuet, who creates pieces for Lladro (such as Sunset at the Pier, shown above), will be demonstrating how a Lladro creation is made at Pierce Interiors at 6177 N. Lincoln on Thursday, Oct. 22 from 5 to 7 p.m.

—GINA BAZER

A few things that caught our eye from the new accessories collection from Roche Bobois: enameled ceramic leaf plates by Edith Terrier and the Trench pillow. See more at 222 W. Hubbard St.

—JAN PARR

I knew I never should have brought home the Dux Bed brochure. My husband started flipping through it, becoming more and more engrossed, and disparaging about our “inferior” bed. Thank God I hadn’t taken him to the opening party of Duxiana at Tree Studios! It’s truly hard not to get hooked on what they’re selling (Champagne helps, too): The secret is 4,980 springs in a Dux bed compared to about 1,000 in most mattresses, organic, all-natural materials, headboards that tilt down for reading (and which come with zip-off cover so you can change colors on a whim), zip-off mattress covers (since the bed will likely outlast its cover), and easily customizable support for each side of the bed. Not convinced? You’re welcome to take an up to four-hour nap in the lower-level “sleep room” (shown here). It’s basically a little hotel room outfitted with the silkiest Dux mattress and bed linens. It’s one of the company’s three sleep rooms in the U.S.—in New York, says area manager Mark Wilson, 70 percent of shoppers who take a nap on the bed emerge with credit card ready. (Actually, at between $5,000 and $12,000, it’s not much of a hit for a luxury bed that will likely be the last one you buy.) May my husband never learn of the sleep room.

—JAN PARR

Furniture designer Bladon Conner, who has been featured on this blog and in our magazine several times (his groovy designs are carried at Scout and Post 27), is going to be on TV this weekend, talking about his “edgy sustainable furniture,” which is the topic of the NBC show “Open House” Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Connor will also be hosting an open house of his own at his new studio space at 1845 W. 35th St. in McKinley Park (near Bridgeport), Saturday, November 14, from 3 to 8 p.m. Check out the designs that will be on the show, and plenty of his other fantastic work. Snacks will be served. Check his Web site for more details as the event approaches.

—GINA BAZER

Vintage junkie Katie Ernst, who has a great eye and has amassed loads of furniture and accessories from estate sales and flea markets over the years, has just opened Revision Home in West Town. It’s by-appointment-only, but every few months, for back-to-back weekends, it will be open with regular business hours. The first sale of this kind will start today (Friday, Oct. 16) and go through Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day; next Friday through Sunday, there will be a repeat performance, same hours. After that, the next sale will not be until February, but you can order select pieces online or call Katie at 312-226-2221 for a private viewing. The showroom is clean, pristine and put together, thanks to the stylings of interior designer Susan Swanson, who has purchased a lot of Ernst’s inventory in the past for clients. Prices are good, as is the quality: lamps hover around $200, smaller accessories are less than $100 (the Deco stool shown above was $95; it sold). At a press preview, we also saw a cool factory-cart coffee table for $800 and a set of four white-lacquered Hollywood Regency-style chairs for $1,600. I bought the bronze bird above ($35) and it’s already perched on my mantel.

—GINA BAZER

I love the idea of a modern-day grandfather clock. The one on the left, from Anthropologie, $128, is a fun riff on the classic; the hands are actually mounted on wallpaper. The one on the right, available at Stitch, $230, is more of a glammed-up glass mantel clock, available with a bronze- , silver-, or blue-tinted mirror back. Both styles run on a battery.

—GINA BAZER