Strange Closets

Having a shop like Scout in the neighborhood can be dangerous for the pocket book, but I’ll gladly accept the risk when it means access to owner Larry Vodak’s terrific finds. My favorites this time around are the Ted Harris lamps, the wall desk salvaged from the shuttered writing collective and somewhat surprisingly, the fish! [...]

Thanks to Scout owner Larry Vodak for giving me a great deal on what looks to be a 50′s Alvin Lustig Ring Chandelier. I first spotted the chandelier in Chicago Home + Garden’s feature on Larry’s Andersonville apartment, and I thought it was so cool that I ripped the page out for my inspiration file (you [...]

Trends either explode upon the scene (to varying results) or slip seamlessly into place as if they’ve always been popular and always will be. Rural chic feels like the latter. Characterized by wood antiques and taxidermy pieces staged with a contemporary twist (bold colors, clean lines or eclectic odds and ends), rural chic is on [...]

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you breaking news about kelly green. It’s back, it’s fresh, and in my humble opinion, it was high time(s). Don’t you agree illustrious readers? Unlike olive (yawn) and hunter (hsss), Kelly’s near-promiscuous ubiquity puts a certain something-something in my skip. Which hue do you prefer? While I’m incredibly [...]

Welcome to my first Friday Roundup in a long, long time. My apologies for the Monday release. And I’m afraid I left my notes for today’s opening remarks at Dollop Coffee, so I’m going to make this short. One of the last good old fashioned coffee houses, Dollop Coffee offers tons of space, free WIFI [...]

Friends come and go. It’s just the ebb and flow of life, and it’s perfect. Because people change over a lifetime, sometimes dramatically, and sometimes the new you doesn’t get along with your old friends. But my friend Marla and I didn’t evolve away from one another. Circumstances just got the best of us; life [...]

House Beautiful’s January 2010 issue features a neat little piece Today’s 4 Big Design Forces; which are: The Glams, The Ruralists, The Accesorators and the subject of today’s post The New Victorians (aka The Steampunkians).  For those not familiar with steampunk, it was inspired by literature written during the beginning of the industrial revolution – [...]