maison21 puts out! (a little bit more)

just finished another installation of furniture over at the bachelorette's, and not to toot my own horn, but it looks fabulous...

BUT, today's installation notwithstanding, the living and dining rooms are not quite ready for their blog debut just yet (90% completed on both, but that remaining 10% is enough to keep m21 from reaching for his instamatic).

so we thought we'd show you a little more of the completed entry- this much you've already seen:


and we thought it might be interesting to show you the rest of the room via before and after.

before m21


after m21

to goal was to take the unused space at the end of the room and give the bachelorette a place to open her mail and file her bills- the numerous compartments and cubbies in the client's existing chinoiserie desk offer plenty of storage and m21 converted the 1970's brass storage chests to hold hanging file folders, so the space is actually useful, not just decorative. (vintage brass chests purchased at the 111 antique mall in palm springs- one of our favorite sources!).

we particularly love the floor treatment- what looks like wall to wall sisal is actually a roll out vinyl flooring! it can withstand mud being tracked in, or pets having an accident on it- simply mop or even take a scrub brush to it- can't do that with a real sisal carpet! m21 thinks it's perfect for high traffic areas, like this entry, or it would also work well in bathrooms or covered outdoor rooms. a couple different suppliers manufacture the flooring- ours is by design materials, purchased from linoleum city (one of l.a.'s best flooring resources, btw- you'll see every set decorator and designer in town there).

here's a view of the flooring right after it was put down. the only difficulty in using this material is that it is only 6'6" wide, so outside of halls, it will almost always need to be seamed. since our room was long and narrow, we incorporated the seams as a decorative element by adding a contrast border of the same material in a darker colorway, and quite loved the results...

more from the bachelorette's as we get the rooms finished!

oh, hi.

a federal case...

maison21 recently came across this website while browsing for a dramatic brass lantern for a client's front porch, and thought that the image of all these chic and classic convex mirrors was too pretty not to share (love the internets for that kind of happy accident). there's lots more good stuff on their site as well, so if you love a little federal style, it's worth a visit (don't miss the pagoda tulipieres, under "accessories"). go visit the federalist here.

today's obessesion

maison21 needs a fornasetti rug from roubini rugs. sigh.

glam is right!

the aptly named "glam sconce" from cb2- how freakin' amazing are they for $29.95? you can be sure maison21 will be using them somewhere, sometime soon!

maison21 puts out!

always teasin', never pleasin'? not m21!

just finished our first room installation over at the bachelorette's- hope this first look at her new entry hall meets your needs until we are finally ready to go all the way!

vintage baker furniture asian modern credenza, and vintage c. jeré brass, chrome and lucite lamps via ebay; faux clamshell, z gallerie; vintage gilt sunburst mirror, client's own; wall paint, benjamin moore #2008-10 "ravishing red" in gloss; trim in benjamin moore "super white" in semi-gloss.

more to come...

a better way to enjoy the monkey on your back...

maison21 is a self-confessed monster in the mornings- he is NOT one of those people that wakes up happy to be alive and ready to face the day's challenges with a smile (hate them perky bitches).

but he does tend to mellow out after his first couple cups of coffee, so he's always on the lookout for a good caffeine injection system, to both quick start his conciousness in the a.m., and yes, feed his full blown caffeine addiction. after figuring out that his twice daily quad-soy latte, at five bucks a pop, might be putting a crimp in his financial freedom, but having no intention of going cold-turkey or surrendering his daily vice, he made a vow to start brewing at home.

we've tried our own expresso maker (hassle), and enjoyed a french press for a while, but kept relapsing and returning to the starbucks. we now think we might have hit upon the secret to delicious, relatively hassle free brewing at home: the toddy cold brew coffee system.


we first read about the toddy system in an old issue of domino, and it's been percolating in the back of our mind until we decided to take the plunge about a month ago (who says you can only get decor tips from a decorating magazine?).

though it seems to fly against the laws of nature (cold coffee?), the coffee brewed is delicious, lasts for days and it provides a much lower level of acidity (my stomach lining is seriously thanking me). though it's makers tout it as "super concentrated", we find we like it mixed one to one with soy milk (and lots of sweetener- it is strong). it does take 10 hours to brew, so some advance planning is involved, but since the results last for several days, that advance planning is easily beat by by the hassle of avoiding the daily grind (sorry).

get a toddy- if you are a coffee lover, it will change your life (and, yes, they have an associate program, but m21 didn't sign up- he just wants to reach out to other java junkies, as a service to his fellow addicts. if he can help just one person get free from the starbuck's daily money suck, than that's all the payment he needs).

now, back to decorating...

the decorator and the bachelorette (project preview backstory)

oh god- not m21's sofa again! doesn't he have anything better to do than take pictures of the pillows on his g-- d---- sofa?well, in this case, the pillows aren't even m21's own- he took them out of their wrappings just for the photo- they are actually part of our project tchotchkefication process (you might recognize them from our post on the trina turk residential store way back in may. m21 fell in love with them, and so did his client).

close-up of the print- how cheery and colorful is this?

which brings us to the actual subject of today's post- m21 has been posting quite a bit on this particular client & project as it is one of those fantastic, fun, and easy-breezy projects- the kind of project that makes m21 love his job even more than he already does! so here's a bit of the project backstory:

the pillows will sit on this custom updated chesterfield white sofa

maison21 met his client a while back when she bought some great vintage furniture pieces from him- she loves a good vintage score, almost as much as m21 (btw, from now on we''l refer to our client as "the bachelorette", in reference to habitually chic's current "bachelor pad" project). the bachelorette purchased the pieces as she was in the process of redecorating her home, turning it into something more in line with her status as a major figure in the l.a. fashion industry- i.e. a home as stylish and chic as she is!

the updated chesterfield sofa under construction in the workroom.

the bachelorette soon realized that her redecorating project was taking too much time away from her family (she is the mother of two great kids), as well as her business, and being the savvy business women that she is, decided that her bottom line would be better served by calling in a professional, so re-enter maison21.

m21 initially suggested he just do one room to see how they got on together, but by the end of their first meeting it was clear that the two of us just clicked, both in personality and in decor sensibility. as the project has proceeded, in addition to creating a beautiful home for the bachelorette and her boys, we've also become good friends- all working relationships should be so fun!

rear view of the chesterfield frame- maison21 specifically choose this style of sofa because of the tufted roll arm/back detail. the sofa's actual placement in the room is such that unless you are sitting on it, it will mostly be viewed from the back or side, so we had to keep those views visually interesting. a plain box of a sofa never would have served.

the bachelorette's decor requirements were simple: she wanted a family and pet friendly home, somewhere where the kids could have friends over, and the dog could jump up on sofa, without worrying that a gazillion dollars worth of velvet mohair would be ruined by spilled fruit juice (or claws). life is too short for that kind of worry! so things needed to kept practical, comfortable, and multi-functional, but without sacrificing an ounce of style or chic.

other than that, m21 had just two dictates to constrain him- one, that we reuse the bachelorette's favorite sunburst mirror, and two, we use some insanely great wallpaper. done and done. see why this is a dream project?

one of the insanely great wallcoverings we've used- a gorgeous sapphire blue grasscloth in the bachelorette's dining room (and a sneak peek of things to come).

together, the bachelorette and the decorator have rocked her house out, and maison21 is awfully excited about our first room installation, happening next week. soon, we'll have some finished product to show you, and you can see how all the bits and pieces fit together!

poolside hospitality

featured in today's new saturday home section of the los angeles times was this cool, almost 4 foot high, outdoor (synthetic) wicker hamper. maison21 thought it was pretty chic for the dirty towels that accumulate by the pool on a hot summer's day, but you know him- he can't leave well enough alone- so he'd probably have it sprayed white or black to up the chic factor just a bit. still, used as-is, it's still a bargain on-sale at frontegate for $195.00.

ps- we LIKE having the home section in the saturday paper- it was such a dull read before- so thanks LAT!