Ad Categories: Home and Garden

When the new CB2 catalog arrives in your mailbox this month, you’ll probably find yourself either perfunctorily or obsessively (depending on your mood) perusing a bunch of sleek-looking sofas, beds, and tables set against backdrops of exposed-brick walls decorated with bold-colored prints featuring either Andy Warhol-esque urban scenes or tree branches. Sound about right? Well, this month, at least a few of those prints—one featuring the Sears Tower and others some local tree branches—will be by Chicago artist Matthew Lew. Somehow the fact that these are images of Chicago branches and Chicago buildings shot by a Chicagoan makes me like them all the more.

—Gina Bazer

Though I admire Arts & Crafts style (in fact I live in an Arts & Crafts bungalow), it can get a little dull. Andrew Stansell, a local furniture maker, has reinterpreted Arts & Crafts in metal in a new line. I particularly like this bookcase.

-JAN PARR 
 

As my boss put it, “Gina went insane” at the 600 N. Michigan Ave. Linens ‘n Things liquidation sale over lunch. I came hobbling back to the office with two huge bags full of Nate Berkus linen window panels and a bed skirt. According to my receipt, I saved $350. All sales are final, but if you’re willing to commit on the spot, you’ll be very happy with the deals.

-Gina Bazer
 

Interior designer Hillery Estes and her associate, Meredith Smerchek, noticed an increase in their clients’ desire for pillow talk.  (To see more on this subject, check out page 68 of our current issue!) Always looking for just the right “toss-on” to add to their effortlessly chic rooms, over time, they generated enough ideas and sketches to suit hundreds of beds and heads, and thus, the Estes Home Pillow Collection was born. Look for lots of leather applications and designs inspired by vintage belt buckles. I’m a big fan of the one with the cream-colored Greek key stitching on chocolate leather. Find them at Zella Brown in ready-to-buy designs or order up a custom creation. About $300 each.

-BARRI LEINER

Photos Courtesy of Estes Interiors
 

I was on vacation last week in Three Oaks, Michigan, where I always make a point to stop at Ipso Facto, a great antique/salvage shop that Larry Vodak says was his inspiration for starting Scout in Andersonville. Ipso’s owner, Brandon Nelson, a transplanted Chicagoan, stocks a cool mix of odd Americana pieces, art, sculptural objects, and retro furniture. It’s just an hour or so drive from Chicago—a great day trip.

—JAN PARR