The latest reports show that the tide of foreclosures keeps rising. Last week, Realty Trac reported that one of every 538 mortgaged homes in Illinois is in some stage of foreclosure. (In the Chicago metropolitan area, Kane County had the highest concentration—1 in 415 mortgages—and DuPage County had the lowest: 1 in 734.) The week before, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that 2.5 percent of all mortgages were...
June 2008
Indie home shops have been hanging up their shingles in Andersonville at a frenzied rate these days, and there’s a brand-new kid in town that really shines. Owner Paul Lechlinski chose this strip of North Clark (5438 North) to open Room Service in part because of its proximity to Scout and White Attic, and there’s definitely a shared sensibility. Lechlinski, a California native, has a background in the luxury apparel industry and moved to Chicago four years ago to head up Oak Park–based Oilily USA. He’s put together a great mix of vintage furniture/accessories and new product lines here, including a collection of Lafco House & Home candles ($52) concocted by fragrance for each room in the house. Cilantro-orange-watercress for the kitchen, fresh-cut grass for the laundry, etc. The mid-century furniture is culled from all over the country, and impeccably reupholstered and refurbished. I was feeling this lacquered blue metal chest ($595) and tubular steel chairs ($250 each). Maybe I can find a denim-blueberry candle to go with them. —BRADLEY LINCOLN
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Everybody was supposed to be there for the fashion, but all eyes were clearly on a considerably pregnant Ashlee Simpson during a Monday morning press conference for Chicago's Fall Fashion Week. Simpson was there—front row, no less; in a long hippie dress and a simple neck scarf—to support hubby (and North Shore native) Pete Wentz, who has just opened a store in Lake View called Clandestine Industries...
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List Price: $3.3 million
Sale Price: $2.93 million
The Property: When this 57th-floor penthouse atop The Heritage at Millennium Park first went on the market in July 2007, the sellers were asking $4.4 million. By the time they sold the 4,668-square-foot space with north, east, and west views, they had cut the asking price to $350,000 less than ...
The best thing about traveling with a baby is that every stranger who passes us says hello and smiles. You start thinking the world is full of nice people.
The worst thing about traveling with a baby is that a high percentage of these strangers want to stop and chat. And then you just want those nice people to go away...
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1,001: A Chicago Odyssey
Ben Hecht’s screenplay The Front Page has launched a remarkable four incarnations to date, including the 1940 Cary Grant/Rosalind Russell classic, His Girl Friday, so it seemed likely his work had some legs left yet. Another item from Hecht’s oeuvre that’s even more beloved...
Highland Park home décor devotees have probably noticed the relocation of the once teeny (well, 1,200 square feet is teeny when your furniture is scaled for North Shore homes) Jolie Maison at 640 Central Avenue to its roomy new headquarters across the street at 643 in the 6,500-square-foot space of a former Banana Republic (phone number is 847-433-4555). It’s kind of refreshing to see a chain being replaced by an expanding independently owned biz (not that I don’t gladly swoop down on the sale rack at Banana whenever given the opportunity!). For those who don’t live in the HP, here’s the DL: In addition to carrying luxurious traditional-feeling furniture, accessories, and bed and bath wares, the store offers design services and in-home consultations. It is the largest distributor in the Midwest of Burton James furniture (see photo of sofa to get a feel for this swanky line). Jolie also carries hard-to-find brands, including the Parisian line R&Y Augousti, known for its signature exotic skins on everything from purses to furniture. This is a no-minimalists zone.
—Gina Bazer
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