Cork, Popped!
Cork flooring is becoming fairly common, but some designers are exploring other possibilities that this popular sustainable material offers—and the results are lovely.
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Ideas for using a fireplace to create a focal point?
Q. I live in a 750-square-foot condo with a fireplace that seems like an afterthought instead of a design focal point. My TV sits in a space over the fireplace, which looks strange to me, and the finishes on that wall are a downer. Ideas?
Buyer's Guide
A brief listing of products and professionals involved in the designing of the homes we show in our pages.
Hog Heaven
We fell in love with the leather pig standing guard in Nate Berkus’s master bath (featured in our July/August issue), and decided everyone ought to have one. Turns out we’re not the only ones in the design community who’ve gone hog-wild—pigs are everywhere. Here’s the 411 on Berkus’s pet and a few others.
Delicious Details
The sleek interiors of these three new restaurants made us hungry for more information. So we zeroed in on the touches most applicable to residential design and asked the creative minds behind them how to bring these ideas home.
Gifts under $50
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At Cambium, very cool salt and pepper shakers made of water buffalo horn ($24); a three-bowl pewter snack set (round or square; each $45). The Simon Pearce crystal tea lights ($30 each) are from Sawbridge Studios.
—JAN PARR
Amazing Space!
We stopped in at Diana Ostreko’s Amazing Space in Oak Park a couple weeks ago and snagged this great vintage floor lamp—which is made of paper but looks like ceramic—for just $37. It’s about 16 inches wide and throws off great light. Everything in the store—including new and cool accessories from Roost and Global Views—is half off through the end of the month. Ostrenko is closing the store in January but will continue to sell online.
—JAN PARR
Take it Off! Take it All (Half) Off!
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You need a PhD from MIT to figure out the sales at a lot of stores this time of year. Discounts on this-but-not-that; special extreme bonus savings on Monday and Thursday (but only on items that start with A-M); knock an extra 23% off if you bring in a can of turkey chili…it’s too much. That sort of thing drives me crazy, which is why I’m thankful that Stuart from Architectural Artifacts is keeping it simple this year at his twenty-first annual holiday sale. Everything from soup to nuts in this crazy-cool store is 50% off, now until December 23. A.A. is just the place for meeting those quirky pieces that will add soul, history, and humor to your home and yard. So get over and save big bucks on things like this cast-aluminum clown head (was $895), the swiveling table and chairs set (was $4,200), or a circus banner (was $3,800). Thanks for cutting us a deal, Stu.
—BRADLEY LINCOLN
'Tis The Season
How a design pro decks his halls and throws a high-class holiday bash
Uber Modern
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Paging Bob, Carol, Ted, and Alice: The funkiest bed I’ve ever seen—a large round vintage number that converts to an oval—is on display at Uber Modern, a great little store in the burgeoning Grand Ave. design district (of COURSE I forgot to get a photo of it; you’ll just have to go see for yourself). I was there for a little holiday cheer (Brandon, the owner, poured champagne into cool vintage glasses he’s selling) and fell hard for this bar cart. There’s also wonderful glassware, pony-skin end tables/benches, and tons more authentic midcentury treasures.
—JAN PARR