Green Getaway
Hightail it up to Harbor Country this Saturday for Susan Fredman’s third annual Revive Your Green Retreat, a day’s worth of talks, demos, and activities focused on practical applications of eco-strategies in residential design. Learn how to save some green by going green, get an insider’s angle on color trends and psychology from Colori, watch a Chopping Block chef make strawberry jam and butter, consider composting and water reclamation systems with a master gardener, and, by all means, don’t miss Chicago Home + Garden editor Jan Parr’s 3 p.m. discussion on keeping it au courant in the cottage—responsible ways for you to bring the fabulous (and Jan knows fabulous) into your daily life. All this and more, on the grounds of Fredman’s At Home With Nature store, right on Red Arrow Highway in Union Pier, Michigan. That’s Susie with Dennis Rodkin, our gardening contributor, at last year’s event.
Working Launch
More and more of us seem to be punching the clock from home these days, by choice or otherwise, and graphic designer Julia Archer is determined that we do it in fine form and function. She opened @WorkDesign in Forest Park to showcase office furnishings and products that don’t conjure up stale-coffee-scented cubicles or the blandly laminated offerings of most big-box supply stores. We welcomed the store last month in the blog, and this Friday, May 29, they’re having an opening celebration with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and wine reception from 4-8 p.m., with Forest Park Mayor Anthony Calderone on hand to say a few words. RSVP to julia@atworkdesign.com.
Do Division
Summer’s here and the time is right, for dancin’ and shoppin’ in the streets. It’s art-fair season again, and this weekend brings us the Do-Division Street Fest and Sidewalk Sale, a ten-block hullabaloo of live music, food, fashion, and fun, with special curbside offerings from local boutiques and specialty stores along the Division strip from Ashland to Leavitt, including Porte Rouge, Renegade Handmade, and Symmetry. This year DoDi also happens to take place on the same weekend as the down-but-not-out Around the Coyote Spring Arts Festival, so if you’re not familiar with this lively neighborhood of shops and eateries this is a great chance to explore. Doesn’t matter what you wear, just as long as you are there!
Stop and Smell the Peonies
Pagoda Red invites you to check out some newly installed acquisitions of Chinese statuary, tip a glass or two of bubbly, and meet-and-greet an expert event planner at a garden party on Wednesday morning, June 3, 11-12:30 p.m. (RSVP to 847-784-8881). The style-savvy Tom Kehoe will be sharing hints and inspiration for outdoor entertaining in Pagoda Red’s wondrous Winnetka scholars’ garden, which we shared with you in the March/April issue. Champagne and peonies sounds like a super-civilized way to spend a midweek morning and take home some ideas for your own al fresco fetes.
Discount Dining
If you want to completely modernize your mess hall, or just add a little Gallic je ne sais quoi, now’s the time to act. The French family-run furniture company Ligne Roset is knocking 15 percent off all dining-room tables, chairs, and sideboards through the month of June. Merci, Roset famille!
Mission Accomplishments
The fourth annual Arts and Crafts Chicago Show takes place this weekend at Concordia University in River Forest, so heads-up, all you Mackintosh maniacs and bungalow buffs—this is a good one. More than 45 top dealers from across the country will be exhibiting and selling antique and high-quality reproductions of the original “clean-lined” furniture, pottery, metalware, textiles and art. There will be plenty of experts to consult with on period-appropriateness, cohesive design, and other arts and crafts services, including reps from the Historic Chicago Bungalow Association, the Taliesin Preservation, and the Unity Temple. As a collector and enthusiast of this aesthetic myself, I’m happy to see some of my local favorites on the exhibitors’ list, including John Toomey, Michael FitzSimmons, Just Art Pottery (a simple-sounding name, yes, but with a serious inventory of ceramics from Teco, Van Briggle, Grueby, et alia), Toms-Price, and Sawbridge Studios. That’s a handsome Frank Glapa mailbox pictured here, from FMG Design.