This fall the entire first floor of the Merchandise Mart, previously home to GNC and Casual Corner, became LuxeHome, the World’s Largest Collection of Luxury Boutiques for Home Building and Renovation. Talk about a makeover–the Mart’s art deco corridors feel almost plain compared to the sleek, shiny kitchens that make up LuxeHome. They’re kitchens as stage sets, as glamorous and as unreal as the nightclubs in old Fred Astaire movies.
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Most days the showrooms are as empty as Mother Hubbard’s cupboard, but this week they were full of drawer slammers and tile strokers. The Chicago Gift & Home Market show was in full swing upstairs, and if anybody could loosen up the spotlit perfection of LuxeHome it was these professional clutter junkies, wired on Starbucks and buzzing about which themes are in and which themes are out. Monkeys and palm trees are history. Leopard is ancient history. Apparently the latest theme, coming soon to a catalog near you, is Strawberry Shortcake. Heaven help us. On the elevators, every other word is cute.
