merry xmas!

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automatic xmas

we have pretty much every light in the house on a dimmer and a timer, including our xmas tree, and tonight, we finally got around to adding both to our new garland. richard approves.

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winter wonderland, LA style

the other day, while walking to starbucks for a cup of xmas cheer to help put us in a holiday mood (m21 lurves an eggnog latte- thank goodness they don't seel them year 'round or we'd weigh 10,000 lbs), ted and m21 were greeted by one of our favorite local phenomena, the raucously loud and colorful flock of parrots living in our 'hood. they never fail to bring a smile to our face, and on a gorgeous crisp, sunny december morning, we thought ourself especially lucky to see them. we may not have traditional white christmases in los angeles, but that's okay- we'll take a bright, sunny, and loud xmas any day!

can you see my loud friends? the parrots are up there, trust.

now can you see them? click to enlarge if you need to (yes, resolution is crappy -sry, taken with my iphone)

click to play to hear my little feathered friends (video is brief 'cuz it was taken completely by accident while attempting to snap a photo. once again, darn iphone!)
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greystone 'maison de luxe' showhouse

a couple weeks ago, i had the pleasure of being material girls' jill seidner's date for the press preview of the luxe magazine sponsored 'maison de luxe' showhouse at the amazing greystone mansion in beverly hills. luxe gathered some serious talent for the showhouse, and it shows in the results- fabulously inventive and beautiful rooms... all pretty, some jaw-droppingly so.

since the show house is now open to the public we thought we'd show you some of the rooms and details that made our heart sing, so you can be sure to buy your tickets and get your booty on over to greystone.  if you are in los angeles anytime between now and december 22nd, you'll not want to miss this one as it's pretty darn amazing...

when we grow up, we want to wrap the m21mobile in the same print...

...we used on our showhouse chairs.  kudos to michelle nussbaumer of ceylon et cie for this extra credit brilliance to her beautiful room. we also met michelle briefly for the first time,  and my companions, jill and alyssa swedlow of the goods and i, all decided we want to have cocktails with her some time! fun lady!

jamie drake's living room was over the top gorgeous! (photo courtesy of luxe)

ah-mazing.

kendall wilkinson's twilight room was also a showstopper- so cool! (photo courtesy of luxe)

really digging the custom cowhide rug martyn-lawrence bullard designed for his room (from kyle bunting, of course)

mlb also used one of our favorite mirrors from rose tarlow for this serpent inspired vignette

wendy schwartz made fantastic use of a hallway with this oversize rope chandelier, and the most gorgeous abstract (removable!) wallcovering from black crow studios! imma use some black crow studios wallcovering soon, as it's the coolest sh*t, ever.

i mean, it makes even a fire extinguisher box look good!

wendy also used a marc phillips rug in her chic dressing room, which you can enter to WIN over at the marc phillips facebook page!

oliver furth swathed his chic bedroom in black, and must have pulled every cool piece of art avaible from the vintage shops of LA to use in his room (it was dark, so most of my pictures sadly didn't turn out, but trust, it was chock full o' art beside this chic c. jere vignette).

jaime and ron of woodson and rummerfield's house of design seemed to be inspired by a color, i think, for mrs. doheny's glamtastic boudior-  though i can't quite put my finger on which color... ;-)

speaking of jaime and ron, this picture taken with jaime's adorable son, jack, was the highlight of my day! such a lil cutie pie! (taken in front of brad ford's woody trailer/party bar). would it be weird to use people to whom i'm not related on my xmas card?  'cuz i just might...

ok- now run , don't walk, to the greystone maiosn de luxe- there are many more amazing rooms to see which sadly our lil iphone pics were too blurry to preview- as showhouses go, this one is a winner!


note: our apologies in advance to the good people at luxe- we were given a stern warning not to publish any photos but the ones in the press kit until february, but as we've seen pictures of the showhouse all over the blogosophere, we're presuming that prohibition has been relaxed.  if we are in error, we'll happily pull the post, but we wanted to get something published while the showhouse is still running so everyone's hard work gets the attention it deserves!

MAISON DE LUXE SHOW HOUSE

905 Loma Vista Drive
Beverly Hills, CA  90210 

December 2-22, 2011  

Tuesday-Sunday 

10am-3pm

ADMISSION: $35*

DESIGNER LECTURE SERIES

December 2, 9, & 16

Fridays, 11am or 2pm

ADMISSION: $50*

(includes Show House) 

Dec. 9th, 11am Lecture is sold out!

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in the closet

the first step is admitting you have a problem, and we admit, we are powerless over gingham (and obviously a little mad about plaid as well...)

do you think there is a connection between one's wardrobe, and one's decor? well, while there isn't a single bit of gingham or plaid in the atelier (upholstery-wise), we suppose this is a fairly accurate reflection of our personal taste as we love plenty of bold color and pattern, all mixed up with some classic black and white.

how about you? is there a connection between your wardrobe, and your decor? come out of the closet and let us know!
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white xmas, fakedy-fake style (and thanx, treetopia!)

you know maison21 likes his christmas white, and he also likes it totally and completely fake. i mean what's the point in trying to recreate a traditional winter wonderland when it's 85 degrees and sunny outside? also, although we incorporate lots of traditional and vintage into our decor, at the end of the day, we consider ourselves a modernist, and frankly we find layering traditional xmas decor over modernist interiors to be jarring, and usually not so nice (we said *usually*, so before you start to yellin', like everything else in life and decor, there are, of course, exceptions to every rule).

here's some reruns of our xmas decor...

our wreath:

simple red and white.

our decor:

we keep our decorations simple and sparse- white poinsettias (out of the reach of richard) and some silver balls scattered about.

our tree:

ok, maybe not so simple, but our tree of a million ornaments is pretty, even if a little over the top.

and our newest addition, courtesy of the nice folks at treetopia, who sent us tons of garland to make our christmas just a little bit whiter (and a little bit faker- treeopia is like the holy land of fake):

the view of our new garland from our upper hall. we're stopping here with the decor btw-  we don't want to look like we live in santa's village!

how about y'all? have you finished your holiday decorating? (to be honest, we haven't yet. tree is still in storage and we hope to find time to get it up this week. maybe.) Tweet

whaddyamean where's your turkey?

that's ridiculous. i mean, where on earth would i have room to hide a big ol' turkey around here?

 

happy turkey day!

 

 it may be a holiday for some of you, but not for richard! he'll be hard at work, being a slave to the keyboard all day, and into the night!

happy turkey day!
 

falling in love again...

the crisp cool days of fall are making me fall in love with my beautiful city all over again...

yeah, they are just grainy iphone pics, but like the city of angels, they are a bit gritty, a little out of focus, and completely saturated with glamor.

i love you, LA.

not the missoni throw!

i mean, we've all felt like taking a match to our living room decor before, haven't we? but i'd for sure take the ONE nice thing out of this room before i torched it!

source: "Arson Forensics Sets Old Fire Myths Ablaze" on the NPR website Tweet

are you a fan?

are you a fan?

no, not of our maison21 facebook page (though we think you should be a fan there too), but rather, are you a fan of ceiling fans?

residential lighting magazine recently asked a panel of designers with a twitter presence to vent their feelings about ceiling fans (as you may know, designers and ceiling fans are usually natural born enemies in the wild), and much to our shock and delight, we found several models we were a fan of!

take a look at the article and let us know if you are a fan of our choices! Tweet

high on high point (220 elm and palliser furniture)

today our high point coverage continues as we go on a tour of 220 elm, one of the 188 showroom buildings in the city of high point (and one of the sponsors of our trip). 220 elm has dozens of showrooms, most with a contemporary point of view, and as usual with high point, it's not only the furniture that draws buyers to 220, but also the incredible people working in the building who make it such a wonderful experience. our tour guide, heinz kattenfeld, the chief operating officer of 220 elm, couldn't have been more accommodating, knowledgeable, or gracious, as he escorted us through the building (and the tenants of the building seemed to agree, as we were greeted by choruses of "hi heinz" along with smiles, waves, and hugs, everywhere we went!)

crystal of plush palate & rue magazine,  ashlina of the decorista, heinz of 220 elm, marissa of styebeat, and moiself, enjoying a rest stop on a deep and loungy nailhead studded sofa by outer limits, who fed us lemonade slushies while we waited for my phone to recharge.

also loved these overscale, modern wing chairs around a dining table at outer limits. (thanks for the pictures of this showroom, crystal- as stated, my phone was dead during this stop). and bonus, outerlimits upholstery is made right here in LA- we love made in the usa products!

great minds think alike- ashlina and i simultaneously had the idea to custom color this rug from mat the basics in green tones to resemble malachite.

loving the lacquer at leif peteresen inc- lots of great modern design in this showroom...

"ghost-y" illuminated outdoor pieces at terry seitz inc, another great 220 elm showroom. crystal almost looks like she is floating on clouds, and we can definitely see these used outside in a glamorous palms springs setting.

the last of our high point sponsors was actually another showroom in the 220 elm building, palliser furniture.  palliser furniture is canada's largest furniture manufacturer, and the showroom sprawls across the almost the entire 4th floor of 220 elm (all of their product is made in north america too- another plus!)  as usual, the people who worked at palliser couldn't be nicer, and we were treated to an amazing catered lunch in the company's cafeteria, followed by barista-made cappucinos and dessert!

sometimes, it's the little things that make the difference- loved the branded pens and notepads at the entrance to the showroom to make notes once inside...

palliser is big on leather, with 88 leather options to chose from (in addition to 200 fabrics)

we've had two clients recently request recliners for television viewing, and we were hard pressed to find anything modern and not grossly overstuffed to use, so we are keeping this bristol sectional in mind for the future. it's sleek and modern enough to use in a contemporary interior, especially if we put it in a brightly colored leather, like maybe a hermes orange on white floors...

long days at high point mean taking any opportunity to relax, like ashlina is doing in the bristol sectional.  love the "dream big" on the wall behind ash. if you knew ashlina, you'd know how appropriate that sentiment is- girlfriend is going places!

living in the center of movie making means that lots of show biz clients want dedicated screening rooms, so it was good to see palliser's many options. these recliners have laptop and ipad holders, as well as optional ipod docks. crazy! they do everything but help you out of your chair at the end of the movie...

oh wait- palliser has an ejector option for that too! (no reason you can't have fun while working, right? and boy did we have fun on our tour!)

this rick lee designed sectional for palliser is seriously chic. slick modernism, but without a scary italian import price tag.

thanks again to 220 elm and palliser furniture for being such gracious hosts, and we hope y'all aren't bored with our high point market coverage, 'cause we've got more to share!


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