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January 2010
Table Jewelry
   

Over the holidays I went to a party at my friend Jeanne’s home (she of Figaro Parisian Interiors) and met Janet Torelli, who makes handcrafted silver napkin rings (featuring semiprecious stones), serving pieces, ice tongs, martini pics, cocktail stirrers, and more. Her designs, some of which have a Michael Aram vibe to them, would dress up any table. Shown here: sterling/semiprecious gem napkin rings ($675 for eight) and a ginkgo bonbon server ($160).

—JAN PARR

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A Gallery of Low Prices
By Dennis Rodkin
Price cuts, short sales, and foreclosures cross my desk in herds these days. Since the start of the new year, it seems that the sellers of houses, townhouses, and condos who are eager to unload their property have become markedly more serious about making it happen.
Today I have pulled together a gallery of low-priced properties in the city and suburbs. Some of these homes are being sold at auction, and others are... Read more
The Band Played On: Hairbanger's Ball tonight at Uncle Fatty's
By Amalie Drury
Remember that sweet, soaring flute solo in the 1992 Guns N' Roses heartbreaker "November Rain?" I do. "November Rain" was released at the beginning of my estimable high-school flute-playing career. I watched the wedding-themed video and the subsequent MTV Video Music Awards performance on VHS at least once a day, and I always wished I had the sheet music and my own cover band so I could recreate the song's... read more » Read more
New Custom Jeweler in Lake View
By Bridget Maiellaro
Black Tie to Tank Top
At 10, Erin Estell started making jewelry using only floss and beads. Two decades later, her years of practice paid off. Read more
Lovely Soaps
 

I just got an email from the Careful Peach in Oak Park about these soaps by Savon de Marseille. Don’t you just want to eat them? Perhaps I felt this way because it was about 4 p.m. and my stomach was growling when they appeared, in all their lusciousness, in my InBox yesterday. Available in five varieties (including unscented, rose petals, and lavender) these guys are made of Mediterranean sea salt, ash from Mediterranean sea plants, olive oil and, in some cases, crushed flowers or herbs. You can use them not only to clean your skin, but to do laundry, and wash your dishes (just don’t eat them). They come in 300-gram bars (unscented $8, with pressed flowers/herbs, $13). What a lovely counterpart to any sink.

—GINA BAZER

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Weekend Photos: Ice Bar at Vertigo Sky Lounge
It turns out Saturday night’s low of 34 degrees was just chilly enough to keep Vertigo’s new outdoor bar, a ten-foot-long counter made from some 3,000 pounds of ice, cold—and most patrons indoors. Still, we spotted a clutch of jolly bar-hoppers hanging out on the 26th-floor terrace, ordering spiked snow cones and enjoying the view. Read more
Pouf!

These fabulous poufs have just arrived at @Work Design in Forest Park. Think of them as throw pillows for your floor. Frank (red), 13½ inch diameter by 15¾ inches high, $617, and Henry (black), 16 by 16 inches, $317.

—GINA BAZER

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Gold Coast Condo Combo
By Dennis Rodkin
List Price: $3.95 million
Sale Price: $3.5 million
The Property: A ten-room condo on the fourth floor of the 12-story 219 East Lake Shore Drive building was sold on January 20th for $3.5 million, the first sale at that prestigious address since mid-2007. Read more