Attend it
Fans of Frank Fontana, host and lead designer for the Chicago-based version of HGTV’s “Design on a Dime” and lead designer for the network’s “Takeover My Makeover” show, can see the man/creative mind live and in person on Sunday [June 22] in Western Springs. Fontana is giving a design seminar in conjunction with the 11th annual Pillars House Tour, which features six homes in LaGrange, LaGrange Park and Western Springs. Fontana’s seminar, though, takes place at Lyons Township High School South, 4900 S. Willow Springs Rd., Western Springs.
Cost: $10 for seminar; must be purchased at any of the six homes on the tour. Seminar hours: 11 a.m., and 12:15 and 1:30 p.m. Tour hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit pillarscommunity.org for the list and location of houses. The Pillars is a social service organization serving families in 38 communities around LaGrange.
— Karen Klages
Learn it
Learn to take better nature photographs, including garden photographs, in a class from 9 a.m. to noon July 19 at McDonald Farm, headquarters of The Conservation Foundation, 10S404 Knoch Knolls Rd., Naperville. Photographer Jack Shouba, a retired biology teacher, will aim his instruction at beginning photographers who have some familiarity with their camera’s features. Bring the camera with its instruction manual and preferably a tripod.
Cost: $10; registration is required. See theconservationfoundation.org or call 630-428-4500, ext. 10.
— Beth Botts
Learn it
The Chicago Public Library’s theme this summer is “Read Green, Live Green,” and there are not just free preschooler story times and reading clubs but information and crafts programs at branches all over the city. Most programs will be repeated at several branches on different days, so to find activities near you, go to chipublib.org/events/ and put “green” in the keyword field of the search box. Don’t live in the city? You’re still welcome. Here is just a sample of events:
* At the “Be Green Bag Workshop for Adults and Teens” at 1 p.m. Wednesday [June 25] at the Hegewisch branch, 3048 E. 130th St., you can learn to crochet plastic grocery bags into a tote (bring bags and a big crochet needle, Size K or larger).
* “Green Cleaning,” a program on using natural and home-made cleaners, is at 1 p.m. Saturday [June 28] at the Bucktown-Wicker Park branch, 1701 N. Milwaukee Ave.
*”Science of Green” is a program for grade-schoolers at 10 a.m. June 30 at the Woodson Regional branch, 9525 S. Halsted St.
— Beth Botts
See it
It’s funny enough for kids and sharp enough for gardeners, so make a family outing to see “War Garden: An Experiment in Patriotic Agriculture,” a short musical play being presented this summer in community gardens throughout Chicago by Walkabout Theater Co. The 50-minute play chronicles an imaginary battle between a Progressive-era ladies’ gardening group and Capt. George W. Streeter (based on the real 19th Century squatter who claimed some of the choicest real estate in downtown Chicago). Many jokes will appeal to the grownups: garden club politics, war politics, campaign politics, community garden politics. (Hey, this is Chicago. It’s all politics.) But the broad comedy will appeal to kids, as will certain food-fight aspects. See it at 5 p.m. Sunday [June 22] at Hoxie Prairie Garden, 106th Street and Hoxie Avenue Or, for locations and schedule of other performances through July 27, see walkabout theater.org or call 773-527-0341. Suggested donation is $10.
— Beth Botts
Shop it
Two reasons to get to Design Within Reach’s Kingsbury studio Saturday [June 28]: It’s the final day of their weeklong sample sale and a day to get free advice on entertaining and design. The sample sale begins Monday [June 23] with approximately 20 furnishings — including a Reid leather sofa and a Leggero chest of drawers — marked down from 20 percent to 50 percent off. What items remain Saturday are open for further price negotiation. While you shop, catch a presentation from Pret-a-Habiter interior designer David Cieslak on how to entertain in small outdoor spaces. After his presentation, Cieslak will offer free one-on-one design consultations to shoppers on a first-come, first-served basis.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; presentation begins at 11 a.m. 1574 Kingsbury St., 312-482-8661, dwr.com; reservations recommended. E-mail your RSVP to northkingsbury@dwr.com.
— Shaila Wunderlich
Shop it
Restoration Hardware has joined the likes of competitors Pottery Barn and Land of Nod by entering the world of children’s furnishings. Baby & Child, as it’s called, exists strictly online and in catalogs right now, though the company does plan to roll out stores later this year. The brand targets the infant-to-6-year-old crowd and features a mix of bedding, bath, rugs, furniture, lighting and accessories in coordinated palettes of whites, pinks, blues, greens and coffee browns. In both color and design, the brand hearkens to that of Pottery Barn Kidsand Land of Nod. But Restoration will tell you the difference is in the materials and craftsmanship, specifically its European linens and American hardwoods. The difference also is in the price (although only slightly), with prices ranging from $14 for an embroidered throw pillow to $1,549 for a customized swivel glider chair.
Visit rhbabyandchild.com or call 800-762-1751 to request a catalog.
— Shaila Wunderlich
Read it
There are books — like our favorite titillating beach reads — that draw you in with colorful characters. Then there are books that get you writing your own story lines, starring (who else?) you. “Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways” (Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 224 pages, $30) by Debra Prinzing had me hooked; one good look at the 28 studios, garage conversions and elaborate back-yard hide outs featured here, and I had (mentally) cleared space beside my garage for a glass-wrapped studio where I would spend peaceful hours gazing out over the garden-swathed recesses of my idyllic back yard. Somewhere, a brook was babbling. And so was I, since of course this scenario bears scant resemblance to my reality. (Hello, yard full of plastic trucks and half-crushed Hula-Hoops.) The “sheds” featured here will be more inspirational than attainable for most of us. But there are plenty of ideas worth borrowing, fascinating spaces to look at and some interesting reading too. I’m adding it to my bookshelf. Hey, we can dream, right?
— Cindy Dampier
Do it
Switch from bottled water to free, safe Lake Michigan tap water, like the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe (chicagobotanic.org). The garden — which is developing into an international center for environmental research as well as a spectacular display garden — no longer sells bottled water (in 2007, it sold more than 96,000 bottles). According to the garden, making bottled water requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100,000 U.S. cars for a year. Even more energy is used and greenhouse gases emitted to ship the water, often around the world, and to recycle the bottles, though only about 25 percent of U.S. plastic water bottles are recycled. The rest will take hundreds of years to break down in landfills. At the botanic garden, tap water is available free in the cafe and at water fountains; reusable bottles are $2.99 at the cafe and gift shop.
— Beth Botts
Tell us
Are you a beginning gardener? Did you have a garden for the first time this year? Or finally get serious about the landscape of the house you moved to two or three years ago? What were your triumphs, difficulties, questions? We’d like to know for future stories. By Aug. 15, post your story at chicago tribune.com/homeforum (the Gardening 101 topic).
— Beth Botts
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kklages@tribune.com; ebotts@tribune.com; swunderlich@tribune.com; cdampier@tribune.com
