I’m a sucker for the words “Paris flea market” or “Paris café.” Use them in the description of your product and I’m like Pavlov’s dog with measuring tape. Yes, I’m very nostalgic about the several months I spent living in Paris after college (though I don’t miss stepping in Pavlov’s dog's poo every day as perfectIy dressed and irritatingly smug Parisian women looked on pityingly). Anyway, I love these chairs not only for how they look, but for their associations. The white one, described on the Willow website as “styled after a 1940's Paris flea market treasure,” caught my eye yesterday while I was checking out Willow’s new offerings online. The galvanized steel chair has been on my radar for a long time. It’s available at DWR and through the Sundance Catalog, where it is described as follows: “First manufactured in 1934, these ever-stylish steel chairs were designed to withstand the wear-and-tear of bistro and brasserie patrons while remaining ever-recherché.” They are still made in France today. Oh charming chairs, take me away!

—Gina Bazer

Photos courtesy of Willow and Sundance

For more than 40 years, these incredible fashion photos by Mark Shaw (best known for his work documenting the family life of the Kennedys at the White House) went unviewed. In the past few years, Andrew Wilder of Svenska Mobler worked with Shaw’s only heir, David (a childhood friend), and his wife, Juliet Cuming, to make the photos available to the public. Svenksa Mobler in River North, the fantastic showroom filled with Swedish Modernist and Argentine Functionalist furniture, has about 15 of the photos, which Shaw shot in the 1950s and early 1960s for LIFE’s coverage of the European fashion collections, on display. They range from about $800 to $2,000.

—JAN PARR
 

Interior designer Hillery Estes and her associate, Meredith Smerchek, noticed an increase in their clients’ desire for pillow talk.  (To see more on this subject, check out page 68 of our current issue!) Always looking for just the right “toss-on” to add to their effortlessly chic rooms, over time, they generated enough ideas and sketches to suit hundreds of beds and heads, and thus, the Estes Home Pillow Collection was born. Look for lots of leather applications and designs inspired by vintage belt buckles. I’m a big fan of the one with the cream-colored Greek key stitching on chocolate leather. Find them at Zella Brown in ready-to-buy designs or order up a custom creation. About $300 each.

-BARRI LEINER

 

Photos Courtesy of Estes Interiors
 

I was on vacation last week in Three Oaks, Michigan, where I always make a point to stop at Ipso Facto, a great antique/salvage shop that Larry Vodak says was his inspiration for starting Scout in Andersonville. Ipso’s owner, Brandon Nelson, a transplanted Chicagoan, stocks a cool mix of odd Americana pieces, art, sculptural objects, and retro furniture. It’s just an hour or so drive from Chicago—a great day trip.

—JAN PARR

—Gina Bazer
 

Images courtesy stitchchicago.com
 

—JAN PARR


 

-BARRI LEINER

Adam Moroschan, our trusty associate art director, had another big idea. Why not head to opening day at the Randolph Market Festival and design a room on location using our favorite finds? We could call it “On the Spot” and post big Chicago Home + Garden signs at the market promoting it.  I believe he used the words “make it a spectacle.” Then, he said, we’ll publish the results in our special September/October eco-chic-design issue (after all, isn’t reusing and repurposing old treasures the best way to recycle?). So in true Adam form, he got it all together, right down to the perfectly art-directed fine weather!

I pull into port on Saturday, May 24, at 7:57 a.m. (the market opens at 10 but we spy plenty of in-the-know early birds.) The first find of the day? Front-of-the-gate, rock star parking. Let this be a sign. I head in, heart already racing (did I mention I am a flea market junkie?) to find Larry Vodak of Scout already perusing the rows (his home will get its close-up in our next issue, after all). I meet the crew  (shown above from left to right; I’m the one crouched at the bottom): Matt Gilson (photog and fellow collector), Nellie Williams (intern of all interns!), David Ettinger (Matt's ace assistant), and the aforementioned Adam. We set up our backdrop and let the fun begin.

Dashing up and down the aisles snapping pics of ideas and taking copious notes (thanks, Nellie), we decide a few of our finds would anchor well on a ruddy red and grey Turkish rug. It is said to have mystical powers. Who wouldn’t want that? We haul it over, and begin to build our room. Pairs of chairs, a settee, a mod coffee table (hey, is that Saarinen?). A wooden ironing board (yes, we repurpose it in our room). Hmmm. Feel like home yet? One of the most exciting parts of the day is that our picks begin to sell right off the set. My favorite part is adding the extras (dealers call them smalls – I call them personality) that make it look like someone lives there. Vintage specs on a side table and a retro cocktail glass. Shells from a vacation destination. Auction catalogs and old books. It’s nearing 11:12 a.m., and Matt snaps some pics. The crowd gathers. They are brimming with queries and offers to buy.

Shown at top right is a sneak peek of a few of our finds. Stay tuned for more in the September/October issue. To hear about some of my favorite ideas on flea marketing, tune in here for a recent interview with Sally Schwartz (owner of the market) and me on Nate Berkus’s Oprah and Friends show on XM Radio. A big shout out to Sally for her support (shown above, to the right of Nate). It’s good old-fashioned fun.

—BARRI LEINER

“Horse Mane,” photo by Ron Seymour

“That Guy’s Gotta Stop,” mixed media on canvas by Peter Mars

—BRADLEY LINCOLN

Images courtesy Maison Rouge

Two posts in a row about Ralph. No, I'm not on his payroll, but I'm definitely fascinated by how a young man named Lifshitz who grew up in the Bronx could create such a deliciously WASP-y lifestyle empire. I bring this up because in the process of hunting down that sweater-style rug by Lauren that I wrote about two days ago (which, sadly, is no longer being made, according to Lauren's press department), I became ensnared by his online marketing vehicle Ralph Lauren Home. You can't shop on this Web site like you can on the regular Ralph Lauren Web site, but you are invited to learn how you, too, can live like Ralph in the "RL Style Guide." Clearly, their MO is to get you to buy their stuff: The SHOP NOW icon appears shamelessly below tips on topics such as "adding glamour to your home without a complete overhaul" and making your indoor space "feel like the outdoors." But the tips are pretty good and it's fun to look at the videos and pictures. The photos are super-styled and super-luxe and their campaigns really do inspire you to live the RL lifestyle, if only in your mind. See you at the club!

—GINA BAZER

Photography: Courtesy of Ralph Lauren Home