Going Back In Time With Coyle & Herr

Recently, I was invited to attend an intimate gathering at Coyle & Herr in Chicago. It was just a casual event to get to know the owners and walk around the space. Coyle & Herr is a premium outlet for the talents of established local artisans with decades of experience in furniture refurbishing. It represents a vibrant update of the consignment concept. Their collective represents the good taste, refined skills and global design awareness of people whose first love is the world of home furnishings. It's a great place to completely lose yourself in and if you're looking for updates in your home, I'm positive you can find something. I'm actually taking my aunt to look for bar stools soon. I will say though, if you see something you love, get it because there is no guarantee it will be there after you give it a few nights' sleep.

I took a ton of photos while I was visiting Coyle & Herr, thus the slide show at the bottom, but I have to say my absolute favorite part of the space was the giant table of old books. I kept coming back to it over and over again. I love the tables full of old things. There was one with an old telephone, one with a set of crystal goblets and another with a bunch of sea shells and knick-knacks. This is definitely a place where you can let your imagination wonder and make up stories to go along with the items. Coyle & Herr was founded by Dorothy Coyle and Mary Beth Herr. Dorothy is a marketing and public relations pro who spent over ten years promoting Chicago as a premier cultural destination to domestic and international leisure travelers as executive director for the Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture. As co-founder and owner of Coyle & Herr, she utilizes her skills to promote a retail destination where home decorators and professional interior designers find an eclectic collection of hand-selected, consigned furnishings, artwork and home accessories.

Mary Beth is a designer with parallel careers in both the public and private sectors. She had the privilege of working for Lois Weisberg for 20 years with Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs, specializing in special event production. During her career, Mary Beth also worked with the talented Chicago designer, Berta Shapiro, in residential design. Through her work with Shapiro, she gained broad experience working with designers, architects, millwork fabricators, upholsterers and furniture refinishers. She has a love for all things furniture.

You can tell when you walk into the warehouse that this is a place of passion. Everyone who works in Coyle & Herr loves what they do and are passionate about design. The pieces are picked strategically and are in great quality. There's a lot of range as well. I saw beautiful chandeliers that would fit perfectly in a foyer or above your dining room table and I saw some quirky accessories that would be fun for an accent in your office. There were mirrors, chairs, tables, lamps, art and so much more. Whether you're in the market for some new home furnishings or not, Coyle & Herr is a great space to wander. Who knows? Maybe you'll find something of interest. After all, the prices are remarkable and extremely competitive compared to similar businesses. I saw some things for under $25! The inventory is constantly changing too. So if you go tomorrow and nothing looks good, try in a few weeks. You may want to buy the whole store!

If you do happen to wander inside and find yourself leaving with a rather large piece of furniture, right next door is Recovered Interior. They are a full service furniture design studio offering everything from reupholstery of one-of-a-kind statement pieces to producing custom upholstery for large scale restaurant and hotel projects. They are completely invested in each piece of furniture they touch and are happy to help clients with design ideas, fabric options and also offer interior design consultations. If you're interested in doing a little DIY yourself, they also offer classes. This could be fun if you want to dip your hands in projects like these but are not sure where to start.