After a continental breakfast and a presentation by Nancy Novogrod, editor of HG magazine, more than 1,000 Midwestern consumers fanned out through the Merchandise Mart recently to browse, sample the hospitality and information dispensed at a variety of showrooms and sip tea while viewing the work of a panel of Chicago interior designers.
”A Day with HG” is the first time the huge local design center has teamed with the national magazine to open its doors to consumers, who paid $25 each for the privilege.
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Some consumers may have come out of curiosity, but many appeared to be attending with a more concrete agenda: finding a solution to a home design dilemna.
The second-floor conference room where area designers voluntarily gave 15 minutes of free advice was packed with a stream of consumers, many of whom came equipped with photos, blueprints or fabric swatches.
”We bought at 3,200-square-foot house, and I have a lot to do,”
explained Anne O`Callaghan of Racine, Wis. ”This was chance to come down (to the Mart) without a designer and look around. It`s a lot less pressure than when you are with a designer.
”It`s still pretty much an art,” O`Callaghan said of decorating a home. ”There`s not just one answer.”