Last night, the Chicago Architecture Foundation hosted a lecture by HGTV‘s Frank Fontana, the guy who does the “Design on a Dime” show- you know, that show where they tackle a room or a problem area of a house, all for under $1,000. Since the extent of my design skill being limited to whatever is at Crate and Barrel during any given season and my friend Linda is sick of looking at her white walls, we figured seeing what Frank had to say couldn’t hurt.
Highlights:
- Re-purpose, re-vision, re-paint
- Asking yourself “What is my design style? What is my personal style in dress and do I want this room to reflect that….or not?”
- the Craftsmen Experience (on Huron and Franklin-can’t wait to check it out!)
- Have a pizza and painting party- invite great people over, eat pizza, slap some paint on a wall, make a night of it! (This is happening, Linda!)
- Check out hotel furniture resellers for amazing pieces at cheap prices. In Chicago, we have Cooper Hotel Furniture on Halsted and Fork Pit, out by Midway.
- There’s a guy named Saul at the Fabric Outlet on 21st and Ashland- I guess this man is the go-to guy for amazing fabric imported from all over the world at rock bottom prices.
Frank said that laziness is the biggest holdback from home design. Considering that I still haven’t put together the 4th chair of my dining room table and I’ve lived in this apartment for 6 months, I’ve got to agree. Note to self: go to hardware store, find the right screws, seat 4 guests for dinner. Step 2? Recover the chair cushions. I might have to go see Saul for that.
Oh and Frank is a Chicago man! He tapes Design on a Dime here, has a gorgeous loft downtown and recently wrote a book called Dirty Little Secrets of Design. Ordered mine this morning. Keep you posted on any divine inspiration beyond painting more walls and recovering these lame cushions.