Ad Categories: Home and Garden

Geoff Daly, who owns a company that sells wine preserving systems to restaurants, called to tell me about his new home system. The N2Vin uses nitrogen gas and temperature control to keep five bottles of wine fresh for up to a month. Open bottles don’t last very long in our house, but we did think this little guy was stylish and practical for oenophiles who like to do tastings or flights at home. The company is based in Holland, Michigan, and is looking for a distributor in the Chicago area. Until then, you can buy from the company direct. 

—Jan Parr
 

I went to a swell cocktail party recently at Lumen to celebrate the first of three finalists Nate Berkus chose in the Basil Hayden’s Tastemakers Design Chicago competition. The event was a joint presentation of Chicago Home + Garden and Out magazines, and Basil Hayden’s bourbon. The gal of the evening was Sarah Tranum (pictured above with her entry), a Chicago design grad student who has envisioned a curvilinear lounge chair that evokes the BH packaging (that’s the criteria for the contest—design whatever you want, but use Basil Hayden’s as the inspiration). The other two finalists will be feted at events coming up at Stone Lotus (RSVP here) and Angels and Kings, before Berkus puts the prototypes up for a vox populi judging on Oct. 16 at Crimson Lounge, over at the Hotel Sax. The bad weather didn’t stop the stylin’ crowd from coming out for fun Basil Hayden’s cocktails and passed pupus. I chatted with Project Runway alum Steven Rosengard, Oscar Tatosian from Oscar Isberian Rugs , Anthony Almaguer and Steven Burgert from I.D., and my neighbor Bryan Lump, who designed a table that earned him one of the other two finalist slots. His wife is hoping he wins, so they can spend the $10K prize on fixing up their basement. 

—BRADLEY LINCOLN

Photography by Frank Failing

We just finished writing up an item on the Toms-Price sale this weekend when news came of a sale at Design Studio’s new outlet in Elk Grove Village. Find savings of 50 to 75 percent on Design Studio’s high-end contemporary furniture, as well as on art, furniture, lighting, and rugs. After this weekend, the outlet, which stocks discontinued items, odds and ends, and customer returns, will be open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., or by appointment. We’ve shown a bedroom here from Design Studio’s Web site to give you an idea of the sorts of things the store carries; these items aren’t necessarily available at the outlet.

—JAN PARR

Got a thing for Stickley? Then head to Bloomingdale this weekend for Toms-Price’s annual fall warehouse sale. Sofas, chairs, dining and bedroom furniture, rugs, accent pieces, lamps, and art will be marked down 40 to 70 percent. Delivery available.

—JAN PARR