Strange Closets

It’s impossible to wander into the excellent Lakeview shop Haystack and not find reason to smile, to not feel at least a fleeting moment of nostalgia.   The aesthetic, a sort of Renegade Craft meets Anthropologie with a little touch of Pulp Fiction thrown in for interest, entertains with whimsical vignettes using the everyday (vintage glass [...]

Smythson Yeats owner Dick Rosen just received the container of goodies he bought during his recent European shopping trip (so help me God, if he complains about his job, I’m puttin’ my dukes up).   Take a look at this gorgeous antique buffet that was spirited out of a Paris flat (above), one of two priced [...]

“Frances and I were talking about you earlier this evening,” wrote James in his response to my email.  “Are you a mind reader?”

While not technically a design destination, I stopped in at Lakeview’s Yellow Jacket the other day and was impressed with the shop.  I have no issue buying vintage clothing but no appetite for looking through messy racks that mix sexes, colors, sizes and styles.  I just can’t do it.

Dave and Laura are a funny, sexy and interesting couple living their dream after gut rehabbing an stately old brick home in Wilmette.  You may recognize top-notch Interior Designer Laura from the piece I wrote about her most excellent garage a few months ago (I used to drive by that garage sometimes, but I quit [...]

A longtime loyal reader recently complained to me that I wasn’t featuring more Chicago shops on Strange Closets. Luckily I just happened to be holding a cream pie so that took care of that. Still, as I walked home hungry and sans pie I realized they had a point. Belmont Avenue (west of Ashland Avenue) [...]

Owner Jeanne Steen bought Figaro Antiques and its entire inventory when she relocated to Chicago after a lifetime on the east coast. While Figaro’s merchandise had its own charms, it just wasn’t Jeanne. But over the past year, many of the legacy pieces have been sold off and replaced with the bounty from Jeanne’s periodic [...]