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player ready...VISIT IT: Chicago’s 5th annual bungalow expo has morphed into something bigger this year. It’s now the Historic Chicago Bungalow & Green Home Expo, and it’s running 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at The Merchandise Mart, 8th floor.
“As a city, we’re excited to have `green’ in there, as a core part of the expo,” says Sadhu Johnston, commissioner of Chicago’s Department of Environment. “We have been distributing composting bins and rain barrels around the city” and giving presentations. “This expo brings it all together in one place to help homeowners integrate these ideas into their lives.”
Targeted to owners of bungalows, graystones and other Chicago homes, the event is designed to give people resources and knowledge for restoring their home, renovating it and/or making cost-saving and environmentally sound improvements.
More than 100 vendors will be on hand, ranging from stained-glass artists to companies that deal in tankless water heaters, energy-efficient windows and salvage lumber. Some 51 workshops/seminars also will be offered, about one-third of which have a bent toward sustainability. How to build a rain garden, using bamboo flooring as a green alternative, figuring out the city’s green permit process and geothermal heating are among the topics to be addressed.
Admission to the one-day expo is free. Discounted parking ($6 for the day) is available at the InterPark parking garage at Lake and Wells Streets. Bring your ticket to the expo registration table for the discounted ticket.
The Merchandise Mart is at Kinzie and Wells Streets. For more information, visit www.chicagobungalow.org or call the city’s non-emergency number, 311.
— Karen Klages
TOUR IT: Coming on the heels of the bungalow/green home expo is Chicago’s first-ever Cavalcade of Homes, set for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 7, starting at the University of Illinois at Chicago campus, 750 S. Halsted St. A free one-day series of tours, the Cavalcade has on its itinerary hundreds of homes, townhomes and condos that are for sale at more than 40 developments across the city, where City of Chicago investments have made some or all of the units more affordable to buyers.
There are five free tours in all — covering the North, Midsouth, Near West, Southeast and Far South Side of the city. All start from the UIC campus. Participants can ride along on a free tour bus (reservations required) or go it alone. Tour guidebooks are available at the starting point where staff from the Chicago Department of Housing will be available along with representatives from lenders to discuss programs available to homebuyers.
The Cavalcade is sponsored by the Chicago Department of Housing and the Chicago Department of Planning and Development in partnership with dozens of developers and other institutions.
The last tour bus leaves at 12:30 p.m. Tours last approximately three hours. Self-guided tours run until 3 p.m.
To learn more about the developments and the neighborhoods and/or to make a reservation for the tour bus, visit www.cavalcadeofhomeschicago.org. Or call for a tour bus reservation, 312-377-3409.
— K.K.
SURF IT: Country Living magazine has ratcheted up the concept of “Web site.” The monthly home/decorating magazine, which is in the Hearst Magazines fold, recently launched a how-to (and ever-changing) video series available exclusively online.
It’s called Country Living On Demand (www.countrylivingondemand.com). And it’s not to be confused with the magazine’s other Web site (www.countryliving.com). The latter is like scores of other magazine Web sites, a portal into the magazine’s monthly content.
Country Living On Demand, on the other hand, offers “bonus editorial” (a.k.a. info that’s not in the pages). And it offers it in the form of six to eight video segments, each two to five minutes long and looking very much like mini-TV shows.
Segments are hosted by a Country Living editor or featured contributor. And topics include cooking, crafting, decorating, collecting and gardening. How to bargain at a flea market, how to make a fun-looking corkboard and how to make a floral arrangement using grocery store-bought flowers are among the first video segments on the site.
For those visitors/viewers that need info in hand, a tip sheet (downloadable and ready to be printed) accompanies each video.
The site is free (streaming advertisements and commercials are planned). Videos will change monthly.
— K.K.
SURF IT: Noted Chicago interior designer Susan Fredman has launched her online store, Susan Fredman At Home (www.susanfredmanathome.com), featuring products for retreat living — city or country. “Live well and surround yourself with beauty” has been Fredman’s credo as a designer for 30 years, and her offerings for every room of the house — in furniture, furnishings and accessories — are manifestations of that concept. To introduce her Web site to online shoppers, she is offering 20 percent off your entire purchase through Friday. Fredman is the principal of Susan Fredman & Associates, 350 W. Erie St., as well as of the retail store, At Home With Nature, 15998 Red Arrow Hwy., Union Pier, Mich., a favorite stop for Chicago celebrities, designers, architects and design fans en route to Harbor Country.
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— Mary Daniels
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