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If you find yourself near Bannockburn Tuesday evening, join me at the Scottish Manor, a concept home by Orren Pickell. I’ll be leading a tour and discussion with Pickell’s Tracy Konrath, the designer who chose the finishes in the 9,000-square-foot manse. If you’re into the barrel-vaulted-ceiling-tons-of-tumbled-stone-and-wood look, you’ll love this 9,000-square-foot home. The event is free, and takes place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at 30 Aberdeen Court (call 847-572-5200 for directions).

—JAN PARR

After three years on Division Street, Robert Wayner’s Black Walnut Gallery has moved to the West Loop gallery district. If you love rustic, rough-edged wood tables and benches with a modern sensibility, and contemporary art with a political slant, this is the place to get both. (Through the rest of July and all of August, check out Tolerance of Belief, a group art exhibit featuring 10 Arab and Jewish artists from around the world, “who are making a stand for peace and understanding in the Middle East by displaying their artwork side-by-side.”) Wayner, an artist and furniture maker, is a very friendly man who loves to share stories about the origins of the reclaimed wood he uses to make his furniture.

—GINA BAZER

We just got word from Steven Burgert, owner of I.D., that the shop is now the exclusive Chicago retailer of Trove wallpaper. This gorgeous paper feels more like art than a wall treatment. I actually would like to buy some just to frame it. It costs about $13 to $16 a square foot.

—Gina Bazer

    A stylish crowd of about 200 people came out last week for the opening party of

I saw some of these silhouettes, sort of the modern equivalent of a portrait, in a family home designed by Julia Edelmann. Local photographer Maggie Meiners does them.

—JAN PARR

I really hate starting a post with an expression of farewell, in any language. Another of my favorite shops, River North’s Le Magasin, is closing July 31. The impossibly charming owner, Didier Milleriot, is moving back to his native France to be near his partner, who is off to Germany for a fellowship. The good news is that many of Milleriot’s lines—including Point à la Ligne vegetable-shaped candles, glassware, and linens from Garnier Thibaut (shown here) and Alexandre Turpault—will now be carried at Oak Park’s year-old Botanica. Milleriot reports that there’s not much left in his shop, but what is there is all 50 percent off. Milleriot will make a special appearance at Botanica on October 16. Details to come.

—JAN PARR

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
 

Architect Lisa Elkins of 2 Point Perspective, a firm that specializes in eco-friendly design, just sent over a snapshot of her kitchen. Look at the LED-underlit bamboo panel on the ceiling—I love how this sustainable material continues from the cabinets and draws the eye upward (making for a cool lighting fixture to boot!). Also notice the slate-colored walls and how they play off the recycled-glass countertops, which are sort of blue-ish gray in color. The look is sleek, warm, and unified.

—GINA BAZER