Furniture-maker Dave Jensen of Chebanse (just south of Kankakee) has been making tables and beds and cabinetry out of reclaimed lumber for the last 15 years. Old barns — the yellow pine boards that make them — feed his craft. Last year, though, Jensen stumbled upon something different in his hunt for salvage lumber — a hunt that’s getting increasingly competitive as flooring companies send legions of people across the country looking for old timber.
Jensen found a huge stash of old-growth Douglas fir that was once “these old vinegar vats,” he says. A food company in nearby Danville built the vats sometime in the late 1930s to hold the sour liquid, according to Jensen, who has done his research and determined that the plant was sold in 1958 and torn down. A demolition contractor kept the vats — board by board — ever since.
Jensen and his crew of four are handcrafting beautiful rustic tables and beds out of the vinegared-timber. The sealing process erases the pungent sour perfume, says Jensen, who expects to make 50 pieces out of the haul.
Pieces ($4,240 for an 84-inch-long trestle dining table; more to come) are starting to trickle into Sawbridge Studios, 153 W. Ohio St., 312-828-0055, and 1015 Tower Ct., Winnetka, 847-441-2441.
— K.K.
ONLINE AGAIN: Beau Kimball, proprietor with wife Nancy of Kimball & Bean, a resource for the architectural artifact and garden ornament of unusual provenance at 3606 S. Country Club Rd., Woodstock, says lately he has been feeling a little like Harrison Ford’s character who masqueraded as an Amish farmer in the film “Witness.”
That’s because his computer server crashed last November and he has had to do without electronic contact with the outside world since then.
The good news is that Kimball &Bean now has a new active Web site (www.kimballandbean.com), plus a new online catalog presenting even more cool stuff than the previous one.
The Web site is not able to take online orders yet, but should be in the next couple of weeks.
Call 815-444-9000 for more info.
–M.D.
IS IT REAL OR IS IT WALLPAPER? Graham & Brown, a British-based wallcoverings company, recently unveiled a fast and easy way of getting a cottage look going in your home — beadboard wallpaper.
Designed to look like the charming Victorian-esque beadboard paneling (which, of course, would require a more invasive transformation with nails and all), “Beadboard” is a heavyweight paper that is said to be strong enough to cover old paneling and even cinder block. It is one of the company’s “Paintable Texture” designs, which means you can paint the stuff to your heart’s desire.
About $14 for a prepasted double roll, which covers 56 square feet. Available at select Lowe’s stores or through Graham & Brown’s Web site, www.grahambrown.com.
— K.K.
YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION: Felicia Ferrone had no intentions of changing the world — just the look of the elegant dinner table. The architect/designer (who hails from River Forest but now divides her time between New York and Milan) created “Revolution” glassware as a real solution to glass glut on the table. Glasses are reversible, a minimalist’s dream. You simply flip them over to get the vessel you desire.
“Traditionally, water and wine glasses are different heights and sizes. Having the same glass really cleans up the lines of the table,” says Ferrone, who envisions two at each place setting, one used for water, the other for vino. The flat bottom is a “bonus feature,” says Ferrone. It creates a “constantly changing graphic detail” on the tabletop.
Revolution glasses (which won a Good Design award last year from the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design) stand 7 inches tall and are 2 1/2 inches in diameter. $27 apiece at Luminaire, 301 W. Superior St., 312-664-9582.
— K.K.
TEENY TOILETS: When you stop to think about it, you have to wonder, why didn’t someone think of this before: a toilet and lavatories that are just the right size for tots.
“It is funny, as that is the reaction we get from people,” says Kevin McJoynt, director of marketing for Gerber Plumbing Fixtures, of the firm’s new PeeWee collection. Gerber’s mini-sized toilet for tots plus two complementary lavatory options provide non-intimidating bathroom options for small fry.
“They have been around for a while,” he adds, but the child-sized products were always marketed to day care centers or kindergartens. This is the first time it is being marketed, as far as we know, for the home.” The PeeWee toilet bowl seat height is 10 1/8 inches, 4 to 7 inches shorter than adult size bowls. Including the low-consumption slim-line tank, it stands at just 24 1/2 inches tall.
The right toilet height fosters confidence in children, McJoynt says.
He says the PeeWee Collection, available only in white, is catching the attention of custom homebuilders for its value as an upgrade as well as affluent homeowners who want the ultimate in junior bathrooms. It uses standard connections so it is easily removed and replaced with a standard toilet when the child grows up.
The petite ledge type wall-hung lavatory in the collection measures 14 inches wide by 12 inches deep and can be installed at child height, typically 22 to 26 inches from the floor. A corner lavatory measures 14 3/4 inches wide by 14 3/4 deep.
The toilet is $350. The ledge type wall hung lavatory is $45; the corner lavatory, $225; it’s sold through plumbing wholesalers.
For more information call 847-675-6570 or visit www.gerberonline.com.
— M.D.
NEW STUDIO FOR ALBUM ART: Artisan Events, a full-service studio offering photography, videography, album and invitation design, recently moved into a new space at 3021 N. Lincoln Ave. The new space includes a portrait studio offering family and child portrait services. Artisan AlbumsT, a new feature that will be opening later this month within the store, will offer a large selection of custom and handmade albums designed for clients to memorialize family histories, weddings, travels and more. The new portrait studio is open by appointment only for baby, child, individual and family portraiture.
For more information, visit www.artisanevents.com, or call 773-248-9333.
— M.D.
VIRTUAL ART GALLERY: BoundlessGallery.com, part of the growing trend offering art online, offers free Internet postings to artists, giving them a virtual space with a global reach where they can display and sell their work. By using the site, art buyers have the opportunity to view and purchase the work of independent artists’ work from all over the world. The company even offers a ZIP code locator for buyers to find art in a specific geographic area. BoundlessGallery President Peter Gregory says the firm’s combination of high-quality site maintenance and affordable pricing (prices start at $10 for small pieces) will attract the art world. The company soon will offer new features on the site, including a Critic’s Corner, where visitors can rate artwork and student art contests.
— M.D.
———-
mdaniels@tribune.com,
kklages@tribune.com
