words fail.

chatty. talkative. verbose.

all terms that have been aptly applied to maison21. yet after viewing the real estate ad for the home of dr. phil, recently put on the market for 16.5 million, m21 is speechless. stunned. without words.

behold:





and for those of you not already stunned senseless, those whose brains somehow have the capacity to process more, you can take the grand tour here.

be strong, chilruns, be strong...

magnificat!

i may be biased, but this is one damn handsome cat:

sir richard the lion-hearted, displaying every bit of his royal lineage as a descendant of the king of beasts.

*this post funded by the FFD (Feline Fairness Doctrine- 'cuz the dumb dog seems to get all the press around here!)

do you know bo? (a field trip to our local BoConcept store)

existing in the no man's land of the furniture 'spensiveness spectrum, somewhere between cb2/ikea and b&b italia/minotti, lies a store not many people seem to be aware of when searching for slick, modern furnishings: BoConcept. it's the kind of place where you can get a cute stool for $129, or plunk down a couple grand on a chic italian lacquered media center or platform bed- but your eyes won't fall out of your head at the most expensive thing in the store and you may even score a totally cheap bargain or two. really, m21 thinks it fills a needed market niche...

m21 recently paid a visit to his local boconcept near the third street promenade in santa monica, to see what he could see, and since we liked much of what we found, we thought we'd share a few of our picks with you:

loving this modern take on a hans wegner ox chair, and at $2199, though not cheap, it's significantly less then a real 10k ox chair...

boconcept has all kinds of variations on the task lamp, including this cool 3 head floor lamp @599.

kinda digging this grasshopper-legged chaise, though we'd prefer it in a bright color, not in 80's bachelor pad black leather...

this slick and shiny $229 pendant lamp would be super chic suspended over a kitchen island...

this $129 stool/occasional table might be m21's favorite item in the line- a whole lotta chic for the price!

these falvio poli seguso lookalike vases were on sale, and would set you back less then a hundred for the pair- hard to tell from the photo, but the tall one is fairly large, maybe 16" high...

more lookalikes- the only real difference between these chic tiny ball vases and a vintage per lutken 'rondo' bud vase for holmegaard, is that the bo concept version lacks the etched signature (and were probably made in china, six decades after the original :-). still, they look damn good, and on sale at 6 bucks a pop, m21 snatched up several!

judging by the above map, there is room for expansion of the bo brand, so m21 suggests if somebody wants to make some money (well, maybe serve a need more then get rich ;-), you could open a BoConcept franchise store in atlanta- after los angeles and new york, atlanta sends us the most readers, so we know y'all in the south likes yourselves some good design! until then, y'all can shop online!

drag queen architecture

it is m21's personal opinion, that sequins, hot glue or glitter (well, paillettes, in this case) are not appropriate architectural ornamentation, and are more suited for grade school crafts, low budget parade floats, and of course, home-made tranny wear.

so, sorry, mr. bloomingdales, your new store in santa monica is:

DRAG QUEEN ARCHITECTURE FAIL

summer smile (super sappy sunday)

this beautiful creature on my agapanthus, started my morning off with a smile. no matter how old i get, a big, colorful butterfly, or little buzzing hummingbird, or even a lizard sunning itself on a rock, all make me stop for a minute, and feel like a happy 6 year old, all over again.

(lordy- did *i* just write that? has a hallmark card brain-eating zombie virus taken hold over me?)

have a super sappy sunday, kids- i hope it's filled with rainbows, unicorns, and kittens!

happy beautiful summer weekend!

whether your weekend is...

uneventful...


or interesting...


or full of comings and goings...


we just hope you enjoy!


happy beautiful summer weekend, y'all!

good swatch, bad swatch...

the name and the appearance of a tiny chip in a fan deck can be very misleading. for instance take benjamin's moore's "driftscape tan" which is neither a driftwood nor a tan, but rather a sickly purple (we could tell it had a purple-ish undertone from the chip, but never expected this. it was worse in person, trust).


you can see that the options of our swatches were quite varied, but several very different options can help one visualize the directions a room can take (there were actually MORE swatches then the selections shown, and in the end, the choice was clear to the client). though it goes against logic, having a clunker in the bunch- like driftscape tan- can help narrow choices in a good way. sometimes having something to react against helps to facilitate a decision for a different color. (remember, there are no mistakes when swatching- it's all gonna get covered up in the end).

so just a timely reminder to swatch, swatch, swatch before you paint, paint, paint, and if you are still in doubt after all that swatching, buy a quart of your favorite swatch or two, and paint a whole wall (don't worry about neatness- that comes once the real painting happens). it will tell you what you need to know before you the go to the time and expense of painting an entire room. a small investment in a quart can save hundreds of dollars in heartache! also, let your paint selections settle for 24 hours before you decide- some paints continue to change color as they dry completely.

last tip, pick your paint color last in your decorating scheme timeline- fabrics and carpets come in limited palettes, but paint is virtually infinite- there is always another color and another company to choose from (which is one of the reasons it can be so damn hard to pick- too many choices!)

shop for a good cause...

water should look like this:

not this:

that's why when suzanne from bluegirlart contacted me to help spread the word that she is donating 15% of her sales to clean water action.org, m21 was glad to help spread the word. i think we've all learned how important clean water is since the deepwater horizon catastrophe happened, so donating to cleanwateraction.org seems especially timely right now.

so stop by suzanne's website, and see if anything like the waterfall photo art (top), or one of suzanne's recycled art creations (below) catches your eye, knowing that a portion of your purchase is going to a good cause.


and suzanne, thanks for walking the walk, as well as talking the talk.

(disturbing photo of oil infested water, courtesy of the guardian)

what a pair!

LOVE this pair of chairs from ulivi, recently spotted at modern living on beverly. retro/traditional + contemporary modern = total fabulousness! to m21's eye they are looking fresh and fairly unique on the market- no small feat!

things have really gone to pot around here...

m21 at the linea showroom, wishing he had an outdoor space big enough to accommodate the gargantuan goodness of these giant planters from serralunga.

new york, from above

boy, are these photos of new york city making m21 long for a visit (though we think we'll wait until the weather is a little more tolerable- it's freakishly muggy and warm here in los angeles, so we'd imagine NYC with a projected high of 95 degrees today is like a steambath). lots more amazing pics here.

have a nice weekend, kids! stay cool!

really, i would...

the art of cooking has always held little interest for m21- it's always been easier to order out, or even better yet, just go out.

but i swear, i would learn to cook if i had a stunningly beautiful poliform kitchen like this:

really, i would...

completely crazy...

but m21 loves them anyway!

no, they aren't from a new line of dr. suess licensed outdoor furniture, but rather tord boontje for moroso. m21 spotted them this weekend as he strolled the design district in west hollywood, soaking up inspiration for a fun, new project in the hollywood hills that will require a few really modern statement pieces to make it sing. (m21's young and hip new clients needn't worry- these chairs SO aren't for you, and frankly, m21 can't imagine any project where they'd work, but we love that they exist, nonetheless).


this chic vignette from the same showroom is more up our alley, though we'd ditch the chairs in the top photo and replace them with the leather sling numbers below- just to butch things up a bit.


all the fabulousness is from the GGM italy showroom on beverly at robertson.

ancient decorator's secret

tip #1- if you are an absentminded decorator like m21, and you find you've left your measuring tape in the last showroom you visited, or at home, or on the roof of your car- where it later skids off and smashes into pieces in the street (leaving a nice scratch in the process), a dollar bill can be a good substitute. it's a smidge over 6 inches long, so the longer you measure, the less accurate it becomes (add an inch for 8 bills), but it can be helpful in a pinch.

tip #2- if you want to feel like a real fancy-schmancy absentminded decorator, use a benjamin!

is it just me?

or is there a resemblance goin' on here?
(i know, i know- again, with the damn dog, but he's here and so is my camera, so it just kinda happens...)

have a happy weekend, kids!