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Park and Oak

0 In Updates

Glen Ellyn Housewalk

We are so fortunate to live and work in a community that places a high value on giving back. It is one of the things that really sets Glen Ellyn apart, and makes us so proud to live and work here. An example of this philanthropy that is near and dear to our hearts is the annual Glen Ellyn Housewalk, sponsored by the Glen Ellyn Infant Welfare Society.

The Infant Welfare Society was founded nearly 100 years ago as a means to improve the lives of those in need in Glen Ellyn and our surrounding communities through fundraising and community service. They partner with over a dozen area organizations to reach at-risk children, and 100% of the funds they raise through their various events go directly to these partners.

It is sometimes easy to get caught up in our own trials and tribulations, but with nearly 10% of DuPage county residents living at or below the poverty level, there are others who need our help. Our support of the Infant Welfare Society allows us to make a direct impact on our communities, and of course, the Housewalk is an event that intersects with our work, so it is all the more meaningful.

It was a gorgeous day for the 38th Annual Housewalk leading into Mother’s Day weekend, and an impressive turnout, with 750+ tickets sold. Park & Oak Collected was called in to provide styling services for one of the homes on the walk, and it is a stunner. The homeowner is responsible for the overall design of the home, and we all agree that perhaps she should pursue a second career as an interior designer!?

Enjoy a few photos of 706 Forest below…

📷: Park & Oak

0 In Research

Boxwoods

Oh, how we love a boxwood. Is there any more classic element to traditional landscape design? For gardening enthusiasts and fans of elegant landscapes, boxwoods are must-have. Evergreen, with dense foliage and a neat, compact appearance, boxwoods have been an integral part of formal gardens and landscapes for centuries, thought to have originated in north Africa in 4000 BC.

via Park & Oak

Like many plants originally designed for the outdoors, boxwoods can do double-duty as houseplants also. Of course, as with any live plant, boxwoods require maintenance: watering, pruning, sunlight. So, for many, boxwoods stay outdoors or may deck the halls only as the occasional holiday wreath. But, a nifty alternative has emerged for those wanting an option with less maintenance – preserved boxwoods.

Preserved boxwoods are boxwood plants that have undergone a careful preservation process, allowing them to retain their natural beauty and vibrant green color indefinitely. Through a specialized treatment, the living foliage is dipped in an eco-friendly solution and then dried to maintain the shape and texture of the leaves. This process results in real boxwood plants that require no maintenance, making them perfect for indoor use.

At Collected, we have partnered with topiary artisans to offer a large selection of these preserved boxwoods. They are the perfect touch in any space that would benefit from a little greenery, and are especially handy in the nooks and crannies that don’t get enough light for live plants.

via Park & Oak

Eyeing the topiaries in the cover photo? Those are faux, but we carry them as well!

0 In Inspiration

Waiting for Summer

Our friends in California and the southern East Coast are already deep into summer weather and the decorating that goes along with it, but here in the Midwest we are still wildly spinning — sometimes daily — between 40° and raining and 85° and sweltering.

While we patiently wait for the weather to catch up with our summer mindset, we’ve stocked Collected with all the rattan, linen and white we can find. Here are a few of our favorites.


Pretty new pillows are in! We cannot get enough of these block-printed pillows


Let’s face it, we’re going to need this for awhile still. Plus, summer comes with storms, too.


Summer always makes us dream of the coasts. Whale-watching anyone?


Trays are the ultimate all-purpose decorating tool.


These charming little bowls are food safe, but can also be used throughout the house wherever you need to catch little what-nots.


Much more of summer to enjoy on Collected or in-store. Come see us!

0 In Color Story

Color Story: Soft Blues

Have you noticed more soft blues in your feeds lately? We have. Whether in a kitchen or a cocktail room or a bedroom, soft blue has been making its case as a go-to neutral, and this is one trend we wholeheartedly endorse.

We have turned to soft blues like those pictured above in many homes throughout the life of Park & Oak, and if you’ve been following for awhile, you probably recognize some of our frequently shared projects.

Here’s one from the early years, featuring Boothbay Gray, which our designers love for its balance of warm and cool undertones, and perfect saturation level.

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This is another earlier project, also in Boothbay Gray.

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More recently, we used Boothbay in this impossibly charming kitchen.

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And in this sophisticated dining room.

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But it can also be perfect in a kids’ bedroom.

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Or a bath.

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And even a laundry room.

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Looking for something with just a little more warmth? Try Duxbury Gray.

via Park & Oak
via Park & Oak

Metropolitan is an even softer option, and contrast trim makes such an impact.

via Park & Oak

Van Courtland Blue is probably the purest blue in the soft blue lineup, and it really makes this kitchen shine.

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And finally, Santorini Blue was just perfect in the boys’ bedroom.

via Park & Oak
0 In Updates

Welcome to The Parlour at Park & Oak

We’ve been a little busy these last few years at Park & Oak. Growth is inspiring and fun and exciting, but boy it requires a lot of hard work, late nights, and sometimes impossible to meet demands on time and energy. Today, it’s all worth it. Today, we open the doors to our expanded Collected showroom and retail space. Within the new space is The Parlour at Park & Oak, a cozy cocktail lounge where people can gather and feel welcomed, whether it’s a quick stop for a cocktail and conversation with an old friend, or a special event like a birthday celebration or graduation. 

One of the great joys of our lives has been working with families to create timeless and classic homes that are a true reflection of themselves. And it occurred to us along the way that we wanted the opportunity to host friends, family and clients in a place that felt like one of our own homes, a curated experience that would bring our portfolio to life. To that end, almost a year ago, we opened phase one of Park & Oak Collected, a brick and mortar and e-commerce manifestation of our goal in designing homes: to create a warm and inviting atmosphere, where the details tell a story. The new expansion of the Collected showroom — over twice the size of the original — is broken up into different areas of the home, each specifically tailored to exhibit the design concepts we feel most passionate about. It includes furniture lines available to order and customize, a full textile library to help with selections for carpets, window treatments, tile and more, and a display kitchen so you can see and feel the quality of our cabinetry and finishes. There are stylists available by appointment, and of course, a wider selection of what you’ve already come to love about Collected: vintage art and rugs, home decor, barware, small furnishings and curated gifts for every occasion.

The Parlour at Park & Oak is the final piece of the Park & Oak puzzle. A place where we can welcome the community to enjoy cocktails, bites and conversation in a space that feels like being at home. Historically, the parlour is the room in a home dedicated to entertainment and festive gatherings, and to stay true to our interior design roots, the name was a natural choice for our new space. 

This is a wild ride. Thanks so much for being on it with us. We can’t wait to see you at Collected and The Parlour!

Chris & Renee


Enjoy these photos from our preview party with our Glen Ellyn neighbors, family and friends.

0 In Research

An Interview with Annelise Madsen, Associate Curator, Art Institute of Chicago

Annelise Madsen is the Gilda and Henry Buchbinder Associate Curator, Arts of the Americas at the Art Institute of Chicago. As part of our ongoing effort to highlight women who inspire us, we spoke by phone with Ms. Madsen about her role at the museum, her entrée into the study of art, and her thoughts on reexamining the role of women artists. Following are excerpts from our interview, edited and condensed for clarity. You can follow Ms. Madsen’s work at the Art Institute of Chicago on an ongoing basis on Instagram at @akmcanvas.

First off, can you tell us a little bit about what you do at the Art Institute? What does a typical day look like for you? Is there a typical day?

As a curator for Arts of the Americas, my primary role is to care for those collections. Day-to-day, that can mean supervising an installation or rotation in the galleries; digging into research to understand the objects in our collection better; collaborating with conservators on the treatment of a painting or sculpture; presenting research in the form of lectures or tours in the galleries; writing blog posts. And then on an ongoing basis, I am always considering the impact of our collection and thinking through what acquisitions we might make to enhance the experience and help tell the stories we want to tell. That means working with dealers, staying on top of the art market for various kinds of works we may want to add to our collections, and doing research on provenance, which is the ownership history of an object. Of course, planning, conceptualizing and collaborating on special exhibitions is also a significant part of the role.

Arts of the Americas Gallery 262
via the Art Institute of Chicago

When did you know this was the career you wanted to pursue? How did you get to this point?

It was really an “aha” moment for me. I entered Washington University in St Louis as an art student, and as part of that curriculum we were required to take an art history class in our very first semester. Many of my peers weren’t interested in this intro to Western Art…they wanted to go work on their 3D art project, or what have you. But I loved it. I didn’t realize at the time that this could be a potential path to a career. I switched my major to art history almost immediately. I had always enjoyed studio art, but am an academic at heart, so to study history through the visual, the marriage of those two components felt like home to me.

And once you had moved to art history, did you know this was the path you wanted? To become a curator?

Most art history majors who move on to a PhD take one of two paths when they complete school: teach in a college or university, or work in a museum. I was initially open to either career path, but I found that after I was done with my teaching requirements in my program, I didn’t miss it. It was the research and writing I really loved. I eventually was offered a post-doc fellowship at the Art Institute through the Terra Foundation, and that ultimately turned into permanent employment as a curator.

Do you have a favorite moment in your career? A lecture or exhibition that was particularly momentous or meaningful? Or a point where you knew your work was really reaching people? 

The Sargent exhibition (note: John Singer Sargent and Chicago’s Gilded Age, ran from Jul 1-Sep 30, 2018) was definitely a key moment. It was the first exhibition where the idea was my own and I saw it through from this tiny kernel of an idea to a full-scale exhibition in our main space. I was able to tell the story that I thought I could, starting with the set of works in our own collection, and then leaning on the resources of peer institutions and some, frankly, dream loans, that came through to pull it all together.

I was able to walk that exhibition with Sargent’s grand-nephew, Richard Ormond. That was an incredibly special moment. He is also an art scholar, and to be able to form a friendship with him and share in the excitement of the exhibition and celebration of Sargent’s work was a once-in-a-lifetime treat.

from John Singer Sargent and Chicago’s Gilded Age, 2018, via the Art Institute of Chicago

We’ve been talking lately about the role of women in art history, and how few widely recognizable names there are. For the average person, they’ve probably heard of Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keeffe, maybe Mary Cassatt and a smattering of others. It seems like there is some momentum for reexamining the role of other women artists, and we noticed in your bio that this is something you are focused on, as well. Who should we be looking for? What was their impact?

There are so many names. It’s hard to elevate some and not others. One thing we have done recently at the museum, in our modernism galleries that have Grant Wood’s American Gothic and Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks and some of our other more frequently visited works, is re-install these spaces to feature an expansive roster of artists alongside those icons. So, for example, right next to Nighthawks we have a painting by Gertrude Abercrombie, who was a Chicago artist working in the first part of the 20th century. She was a surrealist, and her name has pretty good traction here in Chicago, but I think she’s certainly gotten more attention in recent years outside the city. In that same space, we also have amazing large-scale ceramics by an American artist of Japanese descent, Toshiko Takaezu, who made these huge closed ceramic forms and then applied phenomenal glazes to them.

The Past and the Present, c.1945
by Gertrude Abercrombie
via the Art Institute of Chicago
Dancing Brush, 1990
by Toshiko Takaezu
via the Art Institute of Chicago

I also wrote a blog post recently about Bessie Potter Vonnoh, who was a Chicago sculptor who attended the School of the Art Institute in the 1890s. And as I did my research, I realized that she was the first named women sculptor with artworks to enter the Art Institute’s collection. And, it’s not a household name, not even a name that all my colleagues in American art history are going to know. But she has a past that is really important and is tied very much to the institution, and a trail-blazing career for a woman in the late 19th century.

Girl Dancing, modeled 1897, cast after 1906
by Bessie Potter Vonnoh
via the Art Institute of Chicago

There are so many historical women artists who just need to be named and revalued, elevated and celebrated in the galleries, because that’s the work we can do. We can continue to expand that list of names and to share those stories and objects with our audiences.

Along those lines, what can someone who appreciates art, but doesn’t have the clout of say, a curator or collector, do to help further the cause of recognizing women artists?

I think it’s really just paying attention. Like, if you’re spending a day at the museum and you’re going through the galleries, take note of what the names are for the objects that jump out at you. Who’s the maker? What is the story that you can learn there? And then share that out in a usable way. Or, pick up a book on an artist whose name is not very well-known. Those stories are being written more and more. So, if you are looking to seek out a richer, deeper story about an artist, the resources are there.

Do you have any exhibitions or events upcoming at the Art Institute that we should be watching for?

Yes! On the topic of women artists, I’m co-curating an exhibition with my colleague, Sarah Kelly Oehler, called Georgia O’Keeffe: “My New Yorks.” “My New Yorks” is how O’Keeffe referred to the works she created of the city. And, even though she is now primarily known for her large-scale flowers and paintings of the southwest, she also lived in a skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan with her husband, the photographer and gallerist Alfred Stieglitz, and the works she created of the city while living there are mesmerizing. So the show will take a look at those works that have New York as subject matter. That will be summer 2024.

The Shelton with Sunspots, N.Y., 1926
by Georgia O’Keeffe
via Art Institute Chicago

0 In Updates

Wrapping Women’s History Month

The end of Women’s History Month always sneaks up on us, as it coincides with so many school breaks. But we did not want to pass up the opportunity to once again recognize this incredible team of women (plus one lucky man!) who pour their hearts and souls into helping Park & Oak clients turn their homes into cherished family spaces. We love standing side by side with this team every day. Their support, humor and hard work make it easy to do what we do.


During Women’s History Month, we highlighted a few women outside the walls of Park & Oak who we find inspiring. Take a look if you missed them earlier in the month: Dolly Parton, Tory Burch & the Tory Burch Foundation, Hilma af Klint. Also, keep an eye out soon for an wide-ranging interview with Annelise Madsen. She is the Gilda and Henry Buchbinder Associate Curator for Arts of the Americas at The Art Institute of Chicago. One of her passions is re-examining the roles of women artists throughout history (check out her IG for the women artists she featured throughout women’s history month!), so we loved connecting with her, learning about her role at The Art Institute, and getting her thoughts on how we all might better contribute to recognizes female artists.


If you follow us on social media, you know we’ve been busy getting ready to open an expanded retail space. Stay tuned for more on that…doors open April 19!

0 In Inspiration

Contrasting Wood Tones

We get a lot of questions about how we decide which wood species and stains to use in a space, and how to ensure that everything will add up to a cohesive look. While every project and every room is different, we have a few rules of thumb to share that will help you on your way.


Mix it up!

Much like our approach toward contrasting metals (go for it!), we always try to use a variety of wood species and stain tones in each individual space. When everything matches, it’s difficult for the eye to know where to land, and all your woods start to blend together. When you introduce different tones in same space you create a layered effect, and the eye can rest for a bit on each piece and take a moment to really appreciate each individual element as part of a cohesive whole.

The bones of the #POglenviewreno home below included beautifully detailed trim and casework that we highlighted with a darker stain to contrast the lighter white oak floors. The hickory island is a foil for both.

via Park & Oak

White oak floors, a warm wood ceiling and a burl desk all work together in perfect harmony in the #POhinsdalenewbuild office.

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The original trim at #POlagrangehome is peeking out from the background. Working around that trim was important, so the island and floors were chosen to provide contrast.

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Know where to start.

In room that may have a large number of different wood tones, knowing where to start is key. In a remodel, we suggest starting with your floors. Often, you won’t be replacing those throughout an entire home, so you need to work with what’s there. Re-staining is always an option, but you’ll want to choose that stain first — and know how it behaves with the species you are staining — before you move on to other considerations. Be sure when selection stain for floors that you see it in your home in different light. Once you’ve chosen your floor stain, bring a sample with you when you go choose any other elements.

via Park & Oak

In a new build, we suggest starting with the kitchen island. This is a big impact point in any home, as kitchens have become a central feature of modern living. An island can also be built from a variety of wood species — hickory, walnut, ash, cherry, oak — while new build floors are nearly always oak. Once your island has been designed, you can choose a custom stain that plays well with that particular wood species and that you will love as a prominent feature of your home. Floor stain can come next, and then any additional wood elements later.

via Park & Oak

Think high contrast.

Contrast is your friend, especially for wood elements that touch each other, such as a floor and kitchen island, as in many of the examples above, or floor and fireplace, as below in the #POgrovenewbuild. Contrast helps the choices look purposeful, and lends the layered look that helps a home feel cozy and lived in.

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Staining the interior of a built-in or bookcase is a great way to highlight the pieces held there, and provide the kind of contrast that makes wood elements interesting. #POglenellynstudy

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Working with beautiful original wood details that would be difficult to re-stain? A rug can help break up wood elements that are too similar, as below in the #POsouthbendlawoffice.

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A final thought on contrasting wood tones: often homeowners steer away from mixing wood tones and wood species out of a desire for perfection. But, if everything matches just so, you can wind up feeling like you are living in the pages of a magazine rather than a real home. We are here to say: embrace imperfection. Mix those woods. You won’t be sorry.

0 In Inspiration

The Three Seasons Room

It’s time!!! March is here, and just because it’s 35° and snowing in Chicagoland doesn’t mean that three seasons room weather isn’t right around the corner. And you’re going to want to be ready. Imagine those first truly warm, sunny days. A Sunday afternoon lounging with a book and a lemonade soaking up those rays will feel so good. So get that room ready! Our designers had some tips for what makes a great three seasons room or sun room…


1. Multi-functional furnishings

Arguably the best feature of a sun room or three seasons room is plenty of seating arrangements for lazy day activities like games, lounging and napping.

You’ll want a table for games. (And some for cocktails, too. 😉) Keep extra chairs tucked away in a closet in case the urge to play spreads. A sofa is a must for little cat naps in the sun. Comfy chairs for reading or chatting with friends and family. A stool or ottoman for quick visits from the kids or pets. Add pillows and throws with a abandon. Before you know it, this will be your favorite room in the whole house!

2. Natural textures and sturdy fabrics

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Depending on how you use the room and its exposure to the elements, you’ll want to consider performance fabrics, especially those that can withstand a lot of sun. After all, sun is the primary feature of any three seasons or sun room worth its salt. This is also the perfect place to incorporate natural textures like wicker, seagrass and rattan to echo the outdoors.

3. Lots of windows

Windows are the true stars of a three seasons room or sun room. Play them up with with woven blinds, or if privacy is not a concern, let their natural beauty shine.

via Park & Oak
via Park & Oak

4. Greenery and other extras

As in any room, the extras are the jewelry that finish off the outfit. Botanicals are arguably the most important of these, since a sun room or three seasons room should really feel like an extension of the outdoors. Add books, candles and trays to achieve the layered, collected feel that makes a house a home.

via Park & Oak