Strange Closets

Hello folks.  I ran this post on December 4th, 2008 (which was Noelle’s birthday), and ’tis the season, so here we go again: Today I’m going to tell you a good old fashioned Christmas story, a tale so unlikely you may think I’m pulling your leg. Speaking of legs, what’s a good Christmas story without [...]

West side antique dealer Arthur Swirgon knows a lot about a lot:  European antiques expert, jewelry dealer and self-taught mid-century modern expert (he can run circles around most), Arthur knows the history and importance of many of his store’s pieces. So it kills me that he’s doing so well on his Ebay store and developing [...]

First of all, this is not a photo of me (never in a million years); it’s from the New York Times, and it’s a serves as a reminder how important it is for us to embrace our inner quirks.  Once I figured this out for myself, life got better.  For example, if f people are [...]

I meet potential Open House stars in a variety of ways: friends refer friends, Interior Designers refer clients, people email me out-of-the-blue and of course I shamelessly ask everybody I meet (and which often works strangely enough).  But I met Dave while searching for a piece  of furniture on Craig’s List.  As I perused his [...]

Congrats to Paul and Tracy whose family recently increased by one, which means they now have a true nuclear family.  They and the eight other remaining American nuclear families trade emails and get together once a year at a state park somewhere in the middle.  Here’s a second look at their Garfield Park bungalow. While [...]

It would be an understatement to say that Susie was less than impressed when she had her cards read last year.  “I thought she was the worst psychic ever,” says Susie recalling the fortune teller’s prediction that the then single mother would completely redecorate her house, a project that she’d already been working on for [...]

Welcome to the long awaited third installment in the Strange Closets Buchanan, Michigan triology (it’s epic . . . and no ewoks, I promise).  After hearing the murmurs and reading an article in Chicago Home + Garden, I finally visited at the invitation of rural pioneer and longtime Chicago antique dealer Alan Robandt.  In a [...]