Home + Decor: Coffee Tables

Neiman Marcus Starbust Coffee Table \\ Base $1425 \\ Glass Top $695

1. Crate & Barrel Era Round \\ $499

2. Macy's Celeste \\ $399 

3. Design Within Reach Platner \\ $1495

I am having a little too much fun decorating our new home. We have the bones (sectional, dining table, bed) and now comes the equally expensive  fun part -- the details! We've been playing God the last few weeks and precariously balancing wine glasses, pizza plates, coffee mugs, etc. on the couch. While our luck has held out and we haven't done any real damage yet, I am the world's biggest klutz. When I kicked over yet another water glass on the floor tonight it was apparent: it is time to make a decision.

We've looked at juuust shy of a zillion options and my endless browsing has helped me to decide the following: it needs to be round to break up all of the angles and lines in here, it needs a glass top to take up as little visual space as possible, and it needs to be a chrome or metal finish instead of wood.

While I'm head over heels for that gorgeous little Neiman Marcus Starburst table, a $2K+ table is not in my stars. I've found some great alternatives, and while any would fit the bill (and save me from red-wine-spill-induced tears) I'd love your opinion...

Any favorites?

Houzz

I'm moving in just a few weeks out of my vintage East Lakeview apartment to a condo in Streeterville and am mildly freaking out. Its always such a rush of excitement, planning, nostalgia, list-making, etc. You're picking up your ENTIRE LIFE and taking it from one collection of square footage to another. Rather humbling to realize your life can be packed up, isn't it?

I've moved a lot in my life, but it never gets much easier. (Except I now know to wrap vases and picture frames in kitchen and beach towels and shove jewelry into my shoes... every inch counts!)

So beyond the lists and the "ONE-LAST-MEALS" at my favorite neighborhood joints, I am trying to remind myself that this is actually really fun. And mostly because I get to decorate a whole new place! Its a BLANK SLATE. I have picked up a fun (but temporary, I swear) penchant for talking interminably about paint colors and whether we should get the white couch of my dreams or be practical and get a darker color.

Enter Houzz, a collection of photos by interior designers, complete with product listings and searchable by room, city, color and style. As much as I love Pinterest, the search functionality is limited at best and on the hunt for some inspiration photos, I am praising the interior design gods for sending me stumbling upon a course that led to Houzz.

Here are some of the photos I've saved to my Idea Book recently - I clearly am loving a soft, gray color scheme.

Have you tried Houzz? How do you find inspiration for home decor? And most importantly, any moving tips?! :)

Contemporary Living Room by Toronto Interior Designer BiglarKinyan Design Partnership Inc.

Modern Dining Room by Minneapolis Architect Peterssen/Keller Architecture

Contemporary Bedroom by Chicago Interior Designer jamesthomas, LLC

Contemporary Living Room by Boston Interior Designer Terrat Elms Interior Design

Contemporary Living Room by Vancouver Home Staging Fluff Designs & Decor

The Langham Chicago

The word "slack" does not even approach the piles of neglect we've heaped on our poor little blog here. But I've been a travelling machine lately (not complaining! Just, you know, making excuses...) and here we are, a week later again.

On a flight recently, I saw a mention of The Langham, a new hotel slated to open in Chicago in summer of 2013. You may remember my love of luxury hotels from this post on Public Hotel, and it's looking like The Langham is certainly going to hold its own here (even with it's next-door location to the Trump!). They're moving into the  first 13 floors of the IBM building, which sounds, well, less than appealing -- but the building is actually a Chicago landmark thanks to its design by famed architect Mies van der Rohe.

With it's River North location off of Wacker, I'm guessing there's going to be a cocktail lounge or restaurant with some pretty serious river views and (fingers crossed!) patio seating.

But, to the important part -- the design, by Richmond International. The muted grey, the Greek key patterns, the soft golds... too beautiful for words. Can I just move in now? Can I be the 28 year old Chicago-based Eloise here, please? Or even the Nanny?

Did that get weird? Sorry. Enjoy!

// All photos from The Langham's Website

More on The Langham:

• PopSugar Hotel Watch


• HauteLiving.com


• Dexigner

24 Hours in Denver

On Sunday night, I flew out to Denver for a meeting Monday afternoon with my company. Though it shortened my weekend, Denver's been on my list of cities to visit for a while now and I'm glad I got a chance, albeit a quick one.

I stayed at the Hotel Monaco, a Kimpton brand hotel. Chicago has a Monaco too, but I've never been inside so I didn't really know what I was in for.

It was amazing. I was greeted by a glass of strawberry mint water and two golden retrievers in the lobby. (In case you were wondering, they were not hotel dogs, though I seriously did ask the doorman that. What is wrong with me? "Um, no, miss - we're just dog friendly." Ah, right.) Then I looked around, took in the hand painted ceiling, crazy light fixtures and chairs with cow-hide pillows and decided I never wanted to leave. The two guys behind the front desk were great too, super friendly and full of recommendations for dinner that night.



The ceiling in the lobby. I need these light fixtures in my future!



Even though my room had a rather sad view of the parking garage, I loved it anyway - the design was so crazy but it totally worked. Check out all of the patterns! (I'm looking at you, Jessie!)



On the recommendation of the concierge, we wandered over to check out the Denver Chalk Art Festival at Larimer Square and I am so, so glad I did this. I'm a sucker for anything with twinkly lights, and the beautiful chalk drawings were just icing on the cake.







Though literally every single entry was ridiculously beautiful, these three were my favorites. Can you tell I like faces?

We wandered into a wine bar called Cru for dinner outside on the patio, and it turned out to be another huge win. I couldn't take pictures of our dinner because I was with work company, but please believe me when I say that it was to die for. The lamb lollipops (I hate that name) were ridiculous and the tuna tartare was amazing too. Paired with a great glass of pinot noir, I was pretty happy despite technically "working" on a Sunday night!



I did manage to snap one shot of Cru's interior - wine bottles all the way up the walls and great chandeliers.

The next day, we had lunch at Panzano in our hotel. Again, no pictures, but phenomenal food. I had the Panzanella Salad - which loosely translated means "the least-healthy salad of all time", but so worth it. I want to go back to Denver just to eat everything I had between Sunday and Monday over again!

It was a whirlwind but a great trip. I'd totally go back with friends for a ski trip (and by "ski" I mean... sitting in a ski lodge drinking hot chocolate with Baileys). Chicago may be the most beautiful city in the world, but it is flat as a board and I am totally fascinated by mountains. I'd love to check out some of Denver's outdoor activities. Who's in? :)

Chicago Home Tour

Between brunch and my appointment with the eye doctor yesterday, I spent a glorious two hours in Starbucks doing absolutely nothing but drinking mint green tea and browsing Chicago Magazine Home + Garden on my iPad. In retrospect, I should have continued with that lovely afternoon instead of heading on to the optometrist; I got talked into getting my eyes dilated and spent the afternoon looking like a shark and trying desperately to read work emails without going cross eyed. I decided it was a sign and spent the evening watching HGTV and The Client List  on demand... I am ashamed to admit just how much the latter.

I digress.

I saved some of my favorite photos from my virtual home tour to share with you. Chicago is known for its gorgeous architecture and I love that it's just as beautiful inside as it is out. I hope you enjoy too!