Swoon Interiors

interiors that make your heart skip a beat.

If I Had a Million Dollars …

Have you watched Million Dollar Decorators on Bravo?  I must admit, I’m hooked.

 It’s kind of a modern-day … Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Yes, all of the designers and the homes they design are completely over the top … but it’s fun to go inside these extravagant places and see what people do when money is no object.

In tonight’s episode, Martin Lawrence Bullard takes the Founders of One Kings Lane shopping at his favorite hidden gems in London to purchase a collection of items that will go on sale on One Kings Lane tomorrow! (July 6).

I’m anxious to see what made the cut. In the episode, Martin kept coming up with pieces deemed too expensive to sell on One Kings Lane. 

But I do love his style.  Did you ever see Ellen Pompeo’s Hollywood Hills home featured in Elle Decor a last year?

Martin Lawrence Bullard was her designer.

(Swoon.)

If you’re looking for a little guilty pleasure, be sure to check out Million Dollar Decorators on Bravo (Tuesdays at 9pm Central). And don’t miss the One Kings Lane sale that begins at 10 am Central time on Wednesday July 6.

Small treasures

So, as promised, I’ve got pictures of the things I purchased last weekend at the Randolph Street Market … and they were each under $25!   Truth be told, that’s one of my favorite things about this market … the little things I sometimes come across that just make me smile. The big pieces of furniture or mirrors aren’t hard to spot. But the true treasure hunt begins when you stop at a table filled with items and take the time to look and find that one special little thing you just have to have.

My first find was this wonderfully weathered, hand-carved corbel …

(That’s Kyle all dressed for the pool but willing to be my blog assistant before we headed out.)
I like to imagine what old building it came from … and where its siblings are currently residing.
For us, it will reside on a wall in the kitchen as a little shelf.
We haven’t hung it yet, but Kyle wanted you to get the idea.
The cost? $25.
I recently saw another great use for something like this, if you were ever able to snag a bunch of them. This is especially great if you have a rather uninteresting kitchen island that you’d like to spruce up. Like this one.
And this is what Kristen of k.f.d. designs helped transform it into.





Don’t you love it? You can read more about the transformation here.
I also couldn’t pass up this beautiful hand-painted box.
The colors, the pattern … they just made me swoon. I wonder what has been kept inside over the years.  A pearl necklace?  Love letters?
The cost? $16

I also picked up two of these antlers. One for me, and one for a client.
They are kinda like this one from Restoration Hardware … 
that costs … ahem … $129.
(I actually like mine better.)

(And it only cost $15.)
Hope everyone has a Fun, Fabulous Fourth with Family and Friends.  I’ll be back next week!

Randolph Street Market Festival: Take 2

Okay, so if you read my post from about a month ago, you’ll know that my last trip to the Randolph Street Market over Memorial Day Weekend lasted only about 20 minutes before we were hit with a monsoon of epic proportions.

So, my boys promised me we could try again for the next one which happened to be this last weekend, and a beautiful, sunny, 70 degree day.

Lots of interesting things ….

Upon first entering was a huge table filled with all of these wonderful grain sacks:

So perfect for making pillows or table runners.
I loved this old steamer trunk. I wonder who D.R.G.M. is, and what grand ocean liners it traveled in its day.

Think of all the clothes and shoes you could carry in that thing …. even a 7 year old boy!

A demijohn! (love)

My husband and I were eyeing up a pair of these industrial shelves (on wheels) for our office.

Kyle and Braden thought these old movie theater seats were way cool.

I’ve always liked the idea of lining a mudroom with lockers … wouldn’t these be great painted a bright color?

A wonderful old suitcase I’m now wishing I bought.

Mirrors are always fun.

Love this weathered pedestal table … AND the turquoise dresser behind it!

A Louis XVI style chair in a bird print! (Swoon.)

More mirrors … with fantastic old tin frames.

I would love to build a room around these old factory mirrors.

And still … more mirrors. These antique cog wheel mirrors would be perfect in a swanky bachelor pad.

And I was so excited when the lovely Gosia of Architectural Anarchy recognized me as I approached he booth and said hello. I didn’t even know she would be there. She had some lovely things as well, although I realized after we got home that I was so busy talking to her that I forgot to take very many pictures of her booth. I am still overdue in getting to their showroom down in Pilsen.
I did love this antique clock face.  It is not a working clock, but would still make quite a statement on the right wall.

Also loved this chalkboard globe.

And what, if anything, did we purchase? 
I’ll share with you later in the week!

Two Kinds of Salvage

Originally this post was going to be all about our night at Salvage One for a charity event called 3H (Home Help and Hope) benefiting a great organization called Facing Forward to End Homelessness. One of my dearest and oldest friends, Courtney, is on their board and always organizes a great event. The organization helps homeless women and children truly transform their lives.

Salvage One is a 60,000 square foot old loft building on the city’s west side.  They literally save architectural elements … fireplace mantels, staircases. corbels, bathtubs, bars, church pews, you name it … from the wrecking ball … giving them new life in creative ways. They also have become a very avante garde event space, especially for weddings with an urban edge.

Of course, once we got there, I was kicking myself that I hadn’t brought my real camera … so my iPhone photos will have to do, even though camera phones and low-lighting do not generally like each other.

I grabbed a few photos from their website to give you a general idea …

See those price tags? Yes, everything’s for sale.

I mean seriously, how cool would it be to have wedding here ?

All of these photos are from a gallery on their website featuring the various photographers who have done weddings there.  Definitely check it out.
So, my grainy pictures pale in comparison, but I did snap a few of some of the more interesting pieces we encountered.
That’s Dan and I trying to do serious faces outside in the back “garden.” (I can NEVER manage a serious photo face, I always end up smirking.)
And yes, that is a bathtub-turned-fountain behind us.

I think if I were building a house, it would be so cool to come here and pick out an old fireplace mantel to bring in a little history.

What kind of bar is more your style? There’s old-school bar …

Or swingin’ disco bar …

LOVE this mirror …

And this industrial table and sign …
Can you imagine having a house big enough to hold these babies …
Or these …

Or a phone booth?
(Dan had to take a business call.)
Another great way to add some history to a new house … I loved these old knobs and doorknobs.

And I would have loved to take this guy home …
It’s an old aviators globe that you can write on with chalk.
Still thinking about him.
Anyway, that’s where the fun ends. We drove home happily until we exited the expressway and with each block we drove, it began to dawn on us that something had gone terribly wrong.  The streets were a war zone, fallen trees at every turn. What had looked like just heavy rain out the windows of Salvage One was apparently an almost tornado that passed through our town. We began to frantically zigzag towards our house to find my wonderful, unflappable niece who was babysitting and wasn’t able to get through to us on our phones sitting in the dark with her Dad, (my terrific brother-in-law) and my 7 year old who was awake but thankfully calm.  My 4 year old apparently conked out right at the beginning of the storm and slept straight through. We also discovered our neighbor’s tree laying on our roof.
And as I type this it still sits there.  Unfortunately, there are so many trees and huge branches down around town and many of the trees can’t be salvaged. Now, the tree removal trucks have been so swamped that we still haven’t been able to get this one off our roof. Supposedly they will be here in the morning.
We were without power for about 20 hours. Today I just soaked in the coziness of my house with its coffeepot brewing, its TV’s humming and its lamps aglow. Nothing like a long power outage to make you appreciate the comforts of electricity.
A friend suggested I should title a blog post “What To Do When a Tree Falls on your House.”
Well, we still don’t know yet, but stay tuned.