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Category Archives: Design
Hastens is the BEST Mattress in the world!
We spend about one-third of our life either sleeping. Or attempting to do so!
If you live, say, 75 years, that’s 25 years asleep, or 9,125 days!
After sleeping on a subpar mattress for the past decade, I recently decided to make an upgrade. Why? My old queen mattress was very basic, and my thirtey-something-year-old body didn’t mind sleeping on it. Ten years later my fortey something body started telling me something was very wrong with my mattress. I was waking up sore and not well-rested. We knew we wanted to upgrade for our health’s sake.
In all of my research, this company came up again and again, as the BEST! Hästens has a rich history running back through six generations and the journey to where they are now is one filled with passion, skill and the pursuit of making the best handcrafted beds in the world. The bond that ties all of Hästens together is their Spirit of Excellence, a way of working and thinking that brings you the best sleep you’ll ever have.
Hästens was born in Sweden in 1852 and from the day they made their first bed, natural materials have always played a fundamental role. In 1852 cotton, horsetail hair, wool and flax were superior to other materials and, surprisingly, even today… that remains the case. And, then as it is now, the best way to craft using these materials is by hand. This tradition of hand craftsmanship gives their bed makers a deeply rooted understanding and mastery of both their art, and the natural materials that are so crucial to its consolidation.
It is one of the most expensive mattresses I have come across. But there is good reason for the high cost.
NO SHORTCUTS. NO ‘GOOD ENOUGHS’.
HAND-TEASED
Layer upon layer of genuine horsetail hair, cotton and wool, in a rigorously calculated composition, is placed by hand and distributed evenly. The horsetail hair is carefully hand-teased, an ancient artisanal task, to achieve a ventilating structure with superior humidity absorption. This is just one of the crafts we use that takes skill, experience and time.
Their craftsmen know with the slightest touch whether the perfect balance has been reached. If not, they begin again. There’s no compromise where your comfort is concerned. Matressess come with a 25 year guarantee!
The Beds: 2000T – HERLEWING – EALA – MARANGA
Bloomingdales is so proud to now be representing Hästens in our Mattress Gallery located in our Medinah Home Store at 600 North Wabash Avenue. Please feel free to come in and feel for yourself what all the buzz is about! Go see or call Derrick Sorles, he is a fantastic Furniture and Mattress Specialist at Bloomingdales. Reach out and make an appointment and he will be happy to showcase how Hästens Sleep Systems can change your life!
Bertrand Goldberg Hidden Gem in Uptown Buena Park
4251 N Clarendon is the home of Joseph Brennemann Elementary School.
It’s a long, rectangular structure, with a wall of glass on the first floor, and on the second: a massive, steel enclosure not unlike a self-storage unit.
Under the steel facade though, are intricately curved concrete shells, coverings for still intact windows long hidden from the outside – and the 24 classrooms below –for three decades.
The school’s architect was Bertrand Goldberg.
You may recognize Goldberg’s famous Marina City, the twin corncob towers on the Chicago River. Some of his other Chicago buildings include River City in the South Loop and Hilliard Homes near Chinatown.
Goldberg, a modernist Chicago architect with a flair for curving concrete forms, designed some of the city’s most distinctive buildings in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Some, such as Marina City, are beloved city treasures. Others, such as Prentice Women’s Hospital, have met the fate of a wrecking ball. WBEZ did a great story recently on the building and the architect!
I firmly believe that there is need for schools which are scaled both in concept and in size to young people who will be using them and who, I hope, will grow as individualists.-from letter written by Bertrand Goldberg, July 1962
At a cost of $851,000, Brenneman School was the most expensive school per square foot than any yet approved by the Board of Education. However, for years following its construction it retained the reputation of having one of the lowest costs per pupil of any contemporary facility. Unfortunately, because of Chicago’s dramatic fluctuations in temperature, the building was subject to leaking due to expansion and contraction of the roof structure.
The entire roof structure has since been covered over. 🙁
Lincoln Yards and 78TH – Biggest Developments in the History of Chicago
Expected to cost between $5 and $6 billion. This proposed mega-development is ONE the largest development in the city’s history!
The plan is to revitalize an old industrial district, 55 acres, but raises question about who benefits from such big projects?
From CURBED – Blair Kamin, the Chicago Tribune architecture critic who shot down earlier versions of the plan, still says the latest version is rife with negative consequences—“snarled streets, bland street facades, and concealed park space”—while three of the city’s largest papers, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, and Crain’s Chicago Business, have all proposed braking or halting the city approval process. “Anyone have a crowbar we can shove into the conveyor belt’s gears?” the Tribune editorial board said of what they called a rushed process.
WTTW PBS reports, There is growing opposition among members of the Chicago City Council to the $6 billion Lincoln Yards development proposal that would bring several high-rises, retail outlets and new parks to the Near North Side.
Why? Two words: affordable housing.
This is not going to happen overnight! One to watch!
THE OTHER MASSIVE PROJECT is The 78.
This $7 billion, neighborhood-sized development could include 13 million square feet of office, hotel and residential space on a 62-acre parcel in the South Loop. Related Midwest won key city approval for the project last week, with work on infrastructure improvements starting within the next couple of months. The site was toured by Amazon officials and was in the running to house the company’s second North American headquarters before the e-commerce giant passed on Chicago.
The 78 will be modern placemaking in action and will transform the largest parcel of undeveloped land in downtown Chicago into the city’s 78th neighborhood. It will be a vibrant, unique, mixed-use community that will include residences, boutique retail options, curated restaurant offerings, cultural institutions and office space that will be home to major companies and organizations.
Cool stuff!
Inside Glimpse of One Bennett Place
LUXURY! High-quality materials and thoughtful design!
Rents in the newly opened Streeterville tower range from $3,705 to $18,500 per month.
Chicago’s current building boom has delivered dozens of high-end rental buildings over the past five years, but few so far rival One Bennett Park when it comes to pushing the upper edge of the luxury envelope.
Monthly rents at One Bennett Park command a unsurprising premium. According to Related, pricing currently starts at $3,705 per month for one-bedrooms, $4,795 per month for two-bedrooms, $7,995 per month for three-bedrooms, and a jaw-dropping $18,500 per month for one of the four-bedroom penthouse units. One of the two-bedroom model units pictured above falls somewhere in the middle at around $6,050 per month.
See more on Chicago Curbed
Interested in a tour and renting, feel free to call me at 773-206-8359
Luxury Apartments Come to Uptown
1500 new apartments, some of them luxury, are coming to Uptown! Bringing hundreds of new residents to the area!
Located at 4337 N. Hazel St. and originally built in 1901, the three-story brick building is being renovated by Chicago-based Arbor Investment Management LLC, which has retained Spaces as the exclusive leasing brokerage. A decorated model is now available for tour, with first move-ins scheduled for May.
“When this property was built in 1901, it was one of the first luxury apartment buildings in Buena Park, so it’s a landmark within the neighborhood that has been reimagined for a new generation of renters,” said Bentley Phillips, founder Spaces Real Estate. “The building’s vintage charm, modern floor plans and amenities, and walkable location near the lakefront make Hazel Place a true standout in the North Side rental market.”
Hazel Place offers two- and three-bedroom floor plans – each with two or 2½ baths – ranging in size from 924 to 1,358 square feet and priced from $2,625 per month. Finishes include red oak hardwood flooring; modern kitchens with two-tone cabinetry, quartz countertops, tile backsplashes and stainless steel appliances; baths with sleek subway tile tub/shower surrounds; and bedrooms with spacious walk-in closets. Every residence also includes keyless smartphone-ready entry, smart lighting
controls, Nest thermostats and full Amazon Echo integration, as well as in-unit laundry.
Other big projects in the neighborhood include 811 Montrose with 373 apartments.
Stewart School Lofts with 64 apartments.
5050 Broadway will bring over 700 apartments!
975 Wilson and Sheridan will build about 140 more apartments!
A total of 4 new buildings are breaking this year!
Let’s find YOU a Space you LOVE!
Call Michael “LOVE” Snell
773-206-8359
Apartment Leasing Specialist / Renter’s Agent
Spaces Real Estate
3223 N Sheffield, Suite C, Chicago 60657
Chicago HOT Restaurants 2018
SOOOOOO many restaurants to choose from in Chicago! There is no way to keep up!
In December, Chicago Mag speculated, “Is Chicago’s dining boom over?
Staff shortages, massive competition, rising rents: The day of reckoning is coming.”
The article reveals, When Rob Katz and Kevin Boehm opened their flagship Lincoln Park restaurant Boka 14 years ago, more than 600 people lined up around the block looking for jobs. How times have changed. These days, when the duo launches a new place, “you put out an ad, you might get 10 people,” Katz says. “What was once a very fertile ground for talent is not any longer. People are fighting just to put a staff together.”
Such is life in the restaurant bubble.
Every month the HOT LIST changes! Yesterday a new list of hot spots came out.
I am so happy to see the Pump Room come back! (Above)
I do agree, how can all of the restaurants survive? This is not New York.
Chicago’s Most Iconic Buildings
Chicago Skyline
Chicago has some amazing examples of truly wonderful architecture! And the building never seems to stop! There are currently 33 cranes in Chicago working on new projects!
The buildings and architecture of Chicago have influenced and reflected the history of American architecture. The built [constructed] environment of Chicago is reflective of the city’s history and multicultural heritage, featuring prominent buildings in a variety of styles by many important architects. Since most structures within the downtown area were destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 (the most famous exception being the Water Tower) Chicago buildings are noted for their originality rather than their antiquity.
Chicago is world-famous for its plethora of unique architectural styles, from Chicago Bungalows and Two-Flats to the grand Graystones along Logan Boulevard and Lawndale, from the skyscrapers of the Loop as well as a wealth of sacred architecture such as the city’s ornate “Polish Cathedrals”.
CURBED recently compiled a list of 27 that everyone in Chicago should know about.
Credited for inventing the skyscraper, Chicago and its lasting mark in the world of architecture is internationally renown. The city has an abundance of remarkable structures and no shortage of residents and tourists eager to learn their histories.
Think about…what top 5 come to mind???
