If you’re looking for an easy and personal decorating touch, just send Vana Chupp a favorite family photo and let her work her magic. The Mt. Prospect–based designer who runs Le Papier Studio turns photos into silhouettes and puts them on pillows, stationery, jewelry, and wall decals. Silhouettes are kept on file for future use, but if you want to experiment and make your own (we’re reminded of failed attempts in our fourth grade art classes, but it’s worth a try), Chupp has you covered with her helpful book Silhouette Art. Also handy, for couples who like celebrating their courtship, the poster shown here will make keeping track of those special dates much easier as the years go by.

I’m always surprised to find myself considering buying anything other than earrings at an art fair, but some ink drawings I saw at the 57th Street Art Fair this summer stopped me in my tracks, and I love the one I bought—a rural scene crisscrossed by power lines. The artist is Taylor Mazer, and his moody, painstakingly detailed landscapes include scenes of Chicago that are far lovelier than the sentimental, boosterish images that art fairs tend to have too many of. He draws from photos he takes of vistas that grab him, everything from thick clouds gathering over farmland to city streets washed by soft morning light, as above. The 24-year-old native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, now lives in Grand Rapids, but he often comes here to see what there is to see. His work is available through his website and also at Cureeo.

It seems there’s always more in store when it comes to Frank Lloyd Wright, even if you’ve already tackled the Chicagoland tours of his designs. Less than 200 miles from Oak Park lies Wright’s Taliesin estate near Spring Green, Wisconsin. Wright—who lived there on and off from 1911 to 1959­­—designed the home for himself and continuously changed the landscape, adding additional structures to the 400-acre estate. Several (somewhat physically demanding, we’re warned) tours of Taliesin are offered through the Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center, ranging from a one-hour visit to Wright’s Hillside studio tour ($16) to a four-hour estate tour ($80) that passes Wright’s gravesite at Unity Chapel. Four new specialty tours are on a rotating schedule every Friday, May through October, including one that focuses on the exterior landscape that so inspired the architect. Reservations are highly recommended—along with some comfy walking shoes.

Serious collectors know all about the Fine Books and Manuscripts auctions Leslie Hindman holds from time to time, and they’re sure to be all over the Hemingway and Fitzgerald first editions at the next one, Wednesday, August 8 (preview Sunday through Tuesday). But people just looking for something interesting and/or lovely to hang as art in their homes would also do well to check it out. The selection includes everything from Audubon plates from Birds of America to large-format Civil War–era photos by Mathew Brady to delicate 17th-century Dutch hand-colored botanical engravings. Not feeling that high-minded? Check out the three lots of original production celluloids featuring Betty Boop, including the one above, from about 1950.

Granted, we’re suckers for vintage china and cloth napkins, generally, so it’s no surprise that one of our favorite new places to eat is Antique Taco in Wicker Park. The food is sublime and the decor is about the cutest thing we’ve ever seen—an artful mix of reclaimed-wood tables and antique kitchen tools and tableware, some of which is for sale. It reminds us that we haven’t been to a country auction in a while, and now our juices are flowing. If you’ve never been to one, you should try it. It’s not a quick way to shop but you can get great buys on furniture, dishes, tablecloths, all sorts of stuff, and it makes for a nice outing on a summer weekend. If you’re oriented toward the northwest exurbs, a good place to find out about upcoming auctions is the Classifieds section of the Northwest Herald; another is the listings at Stade Auction, a firm that handles many of the sales out that way. This week, both places mention an auction happening Friday that’s described as “extremely clean” and will include cake plates, ice tongs, and a “kraut kutter,” among many other items, belonging to one Ruth Schwartz. This is mighty tempting.

When it comes to design, sometimes the only thing to do when disaster strikes is to start from scratch. This high-rise condo on East Chestnut Street—with spectacular views of the lake and city—survived a major fire, though much of the furniture did not. The homeowners enlisted the help of Lake Forest–based interior designer Tina Dann-Fenwick, who gave old pieces a new lease on life with great upholstery, an excellent strategy for anyone looking to spice up a piece instead of tossing it. She chose a fiery red for a wall in the dining room and repeated the color in an oversize damask pattern for the backs of the dining chairs and in another bold print for a baroque-style armchair in the living room. Dann-Fenwick says the apartment’s new look restored the owners’ love for living in their home, post-fire, and we can certainly see why.

Our phones sure are smart, so why can’t our fridges be brainy, too? Although we’ve yet to see Siri make her way to the kitchen (we’d probably all benefit from a reminder that we’re out of milk or that we shouldn’t touch that piece of cake), she might arrive sooner than you’d think. The latest model in the ActiveSmart refrigerator line from Fisher & Paykel, newly available, uses smart technology to monitor how you and your family use it, adjusting airflow to keep food fresh longer. With new LED bulbs replacing halogen, the fridge needs 88 percent less power for lighting than before. A faster ice machine, quicker water delivery system, and more storage capacity are sweet additions that make this the crème de la crème of refrigerators.

We recently spotted a Franco Albini chair outfitted with cushy Mongolian wool for sale at the WPA Chicago showroom (where his son Marco looks extremely comfortable). Only 100 were made, and WPA has the last one manufactured. Priced at $5,000 and looking super soft, the chair is tempting us to take a seat, too.

We don’t know about you, but this summer is driving us bonkers. The triple-digit temps, the way-too-much sun, the stickiness, the power failures—waaaaah! To calm ourselves, we’ve been thinking about old-fashioned solutions to surviving heat waves, and reflecting fondly on inexpensive, off-the-grid devices that used to be common but now have mostly disappeared. Why don’t we carry fold-up fans anymore? But even more urgently, I wish we could bring back the parasol. Talk about a great invention—a personal shade provider that moves when you do, can be positioned this way or that, that weighs almost nothing and requires no lithium battery. Parasols are easy to come by at gift shops in Chinatown, but we also found some terrific ones in a dazzling array of colors and shapes at Luna Bazaar; some of our favorites are shown above. While you’re there, check out the equally inspiring and varied selections of fans and paper lanterns. Backyard party, anyone?

There’s still time to take on an ambitious summer project, and here’s an extra incentive: the 26th annual Chicago Finest Painted Ladies and Her Court Competition is underway and accepting entries. An event of the Chicago Paint & Coatings Association, the contest (which isn’t exclusive to Victorian-style homes) considers homes and creative projects painted between Labor Day 2011 and Labor Day 2012. The entries are judged on how paint was used to enhance the appearance of the property, along with how well the design fits into the neighborhood. Winners will be awarded a professionally photographed picture of their home, matted and framed, and the grand-prize winner will also receive an engraved plaque. The entry form is available online.