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Chicago Treasure Houses

~ An admiration of historic, noteworthy and simply beautiful homes in the Chicago area

Chicago Treasure Houses

Monthly Archives: April 2012

Estate Sales: The Dark Side of Decorating

14 Saturday Apr 2012

Posted by M.K.E. in Uncategorized

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Playboy

I confess:  I am an habitué of estate sales.  A good friend of mine and I haunt them regularly. We attended one this weekend, and I believe we stepped into the Black Hole of Home Decor.  Let me preface: Whenever I go to an estate sale, I can’t help but wonder about the home and the people who live or lived in it. Were they relocating? Was the sale the outcome of a foreclosure or bankruptcy?  I always feel uneasy upon entering one of these houses, as though I am treading on someone’s hallowed ground that is now reduced to piles of clothing and trinkets on a dusty floor.

Having said this, I was just plain scared at this sale.  I couldn’t help but whip out my camera to capture some of the decor elements.  Have you ever seen a teenage boy’s bedroom door adorned with a hand-painted Playboy logo?

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Now, you have. Enter the chamber of desire, if you dare.

This house has been sold to a new owner. The place actually has a nice-looking exterior, and is situated on a large lot in a beautiful neighborhood.  The new occupants have a world of work ahead of them, but I wish them well.  And I truly hope that better, happier days lie ahead for the previous owners.

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Don Draper’s Treasure (Apartment)

12 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by M.K.E. in Uncategorized

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Cheever, Don Draper, Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, glazed white brick, Lauren Bacall, Mad Men, Marilyn Monroe, New York Apartment, postwar, Robert Bien, Sylvan Bien, The Jeffersons

He spent his young-married years in a frumpy old house in Cheever Country. He did time as a divorced dad in an existential-nightmare flophouse in the Village.  Now, Don Draper finally has a home that speaks to his success. And to the tastes of his new trophy wife, Megan. In watching Mad Men and viewing the photos of this Deluxe Apartment in the Sky (cue the theme song of The Jeffersons), one can’t help but be reminded of the Fabulous New York Apartment sets of memorable 1950s and 1960s films.  Think of Doris Day’s career girl apartment in Pillow Talk.  Frank Sinatra’s bachelor pad in The Tender Trap. Conjure up Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable sunning themselves on the terrace in How to Marry a Millionaire.  Recall Uncle Bill’s posh space in Family Affair.

The Sunken Living Room/Conversation Pit!  The white carpet!  The hanging lamp!  If Darrin Stevens had a pied-a-terre, this would be it.

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Look at the kitchen in the Drapers’ apartment, and one expects Alice from The Brady Bunch to saunter into the sea of orange plywood, Harvest Gold and Formica.

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According to Mad Men production designer Dan Bishop, the apartment is supposed to evoke a unit in a high floor on one of those ubiquitous glazed white brick high-rises designed by Sylvan and Robert Bien. Incidentally, Robert Bien, in a 2000 New York Times interview, defended his use of the building material, as well as the simple functionality of the boxy apartments.  Does Draper’s building look like this?

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Will Don and Megan live happily ever after?

Will I go back to focusing on Chicago Treasure Houses?  Yes, and thank you, dear reader, for indulging me in my homage to my favorite TV show.

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