something's afoot...

would you hire or fire a design team who pitched a giant 5 foot foam rubber foot to you during a presentation? we'll find out, as that's exactly what maison21, and his design collaborator for the project, rudy calvero, did yesterday at a client meeting...

the foot in question

faced with a odd, large space between a kitchen/dining room and an outdoor terrace, m21 & rudy decided to turn the underused area into sort of a lounge, with the 5 foot sculpture/seat/table/foot as its centerpiece (along with a custom lucite console to serve as a bar for both humans and pets- the bottom shelf has built in dog bowls!). the style of the architecture of the home is sleek and modern, so a funky, and highly architectural, iconic piece from the italian new wave of design of the late 1960's/early 70's, isn't entirely out of context; but it is unexpected, and admittedly, not for everyone.

the m21 design team's presentation- lots of textural materials like fur (real and faux), velvets, and felts, plus shine in the form of lots of brass, chrome, lucite and black mirror; as well as some truly amazing graphic wall coverings, and a box *full* of floorplans, elevations, sketches, and tear sheets of suggested ideas for modern furniture, lighting, and accessories- some of which might even make the foot look, well... *pedestrian*.

will m21's clients be head over heels for bigfoot? or will we get kicked to the curb for not toeing the line? only time will tell, so stay tuned...

up3, polyurethane and plastic foot, designed by gaetano pesce in 1969, and available through b & b italia

a night at the atelier

a little under 3 months ago, richard spent his days (and nights) cowering under the bed. how things have changed!

"look how cute and playful i am, ted. i wouldn't hurt a fly- swear!"

"fooled you- i'm actually a ferocious killah"

"play with me or else, dog!"

though i think ted would like to return to return to the good ol' "under the bed" days!

not such a bad working environment...

the view from a jobsite above the sunset strip, looking towards downtown los angeles. if the coastal fog wasn't hanging over the ocean, you could see the pacific and catalina island too. not a bad thing to stare at as i waited to meet a painter and my wallpaper guy.

hoping wherever you are, your working environment is just as pretty!

dog days of summer (another infectious confection)

yes, it's the doldrums of summer- when questionable escapist fare is leaked into the theaters which other might not stand a chance at the box office at busier times of the year, and so it goes with this blog as well... :-) no, m21 isn't busy saving up lame material to dump, but he is busy working on a couple new design projects, so while he as is consumed with his love of design as ever, unfortunately he can't share his current passions with y'all until we share them with the peeps who are actually paying for our passion (maybe we'll have something to share with you after a client presentation next week, if the design gods will it so...)

so we return to youtube yet again, for another infectious retro-influenced concoction- this one introduced to us by our beautiful and talented friend, yvette. every bit as deliciously hooky as ceelo, but with a title you can actually say in public (i defy you to NOT sing "t-t-t-tip on the tightrope" outloud), and if the choreography on this one doesn't make you happy, we recommend you see your doctor to have your prozac prescription upped...



happy summer. hope you are enjyoing the bittersweet countdown to fall...

don't get offended, k?

but maison21 can't stop singing the vulgar chorus from what has to be the catchiest 'dumped and angry' song ever. you'll be singing it too... and then washing your mouth out with soap! don't put it on your ipod either- singing along to this one at the gym could very well get your ass kicked! ;-)

warning- strong language and offensively additive hooks ahead:


sure to be number one with a bullet in schoolyards across america this fall, dontchathink? it sure makes m21's snotty inner 12 year old smile!

a thank you (pet portraits @DogArtLA.com)

maison21 has been hinting for years that he would like one of his good friend eileen zegar's beautiful art pieces- she does the most amazing abstracted landscapes, and we've loooong admired them while visiting her home and office. we also noticed and loved the portrait she did of her dog, montana, which we glimpsed in her bedroom one day when we were over at eileen's place doling out a bit of free decorating advice.


well, eileen repaid my free decorating advice (and desire to own one of her pieces) in spades when she recently gifted me with the above oil portrait of my girl, mona. eileen perfectly captured mona's happy personality, and the portrait is now above my desk, so while mona may no longer be with me physically, her sweet spirit smiles down on me daily. thank you, eileen- it is a wonderful tribute to my girl, and makes me happy whenever i view it.


eileen has also recently launched a website to offer her commisioned pet portraits to wider audience at www.dogartLA.com, and m21 encourages you to visit and view her work. her fine art pet portraits are a chic and sophisticated way to immortalize your loved ones, but they avoid the schmaltz and cheeze factor due to eileen's tremendous talent. they truly rise to the level of "Art" with a capital "A".


again, thank you eileen- my girl is smiling down at me as i type...

"use blue, so my eyes will pop"

"don't you think blue, so my golden brown eyes and fur will pop?" exclaimed teddy ever so helpfully, as he threw himself down on a contract grade carpet sample book...

the exposure in m21's boudoir is exactly the same as the room where the carpet will be installed, so m21 and his project collaborator, rudy calvero, plopped the sample book on m21's bed to take a look, and ted, seeing two people who could potentially be petting him, took the opportunity to hop up, and throw himself into the mix (the contract grade carpet is for a residential, not commericial project- a cost-cutting measure so we can use more luxurious area rugs elsewhere. no point spending money where you don't need to, and as a bonus, the contract carpet will be impervious to wear and tear).

*speaking of impervious, m21 always feels the need to add a disclaimer whenever we show pictures of the kids lounging on the cheapass zebra blanket we throw over our bed, which totally looks straight out of a tienda in east l.a. ;-) but i'm telling you, that 30 dollar 100% acrylic blankie is the best investment ever- it can take whatever stains the animals adorn it with (um, icky, m21- TMI!), and can also be thrown in the washing machine more then once a day, if need be- and it has been, trust me...

treasure trove

on a recent visit to walnut wallpaper scouting for a new project, maison21 discovered these fantabulous wallpanels by trove. incorporating manipulated digital images, they are hauntingly beautiful, completely modern, and quite different from most wall coverings m21 has seen on the market. for reference, each panel shown is 9ft high, and the second image is just a detail so you can tell what you are looking at (sorta- they are manipulated, after all). lots more patterns are available (including the one m21 might just be presenting to his clients), so if you like what you see here, we suggest you visit trove's website.

jet set interiors (questionable taste of the rich & anonymous)

m21 doesn't know whether to laugh or cry, looking at these photos of jet interiors from private aviation photographer nick gleis. on one hand, m21 grow up watching roger moore as james bond movies on TV, so we think the first two pictures are kinda cool in a "so bad it's good", moonraker-y, kind of way, but on the other hand: oh my god! all that money spent on supremely rotten taste, as evidenced in the last two photos, particularly the icky bordello-futurist bedroom in the last photo. how frightening is it that mr. billionaire dictator felt the need to hang a cheap nudie painting on the wall? bet that was a real turn on for mrs. billionaire dictator!

i have seen the future, and it is tacky...

see more so bad, it's almost (but not quite) good, tastelessness at telegraph.uk.

do m21 a favor, k?

will someone do m21 a favor and go the DWR on the 3rd st. promenade and buy the floor sample of the luxo great-1 floor lamp, one of our favoritist things ever? yes, it's still kinda 'spensive at $3800.00, but when compared to ordering it new from the catalog at $9500.00, it's a total bargain.

we'd totally go buy it ourselves, but we seemed to have misplaced our wallet (which of course contained 38 crisp benjamins set aside just for lighting), as well as misplaced the ginormous loft-like living room with 12 ft. ceilings needed to house such a beast.

thanks ever so much...

a whole different animal (a 2 month tedaversary update)

the tedster on our walk tonight

ted and i celebrated our two month anniversary this week, and the 60 day mark must have been a milestone of sorts, because all of a sudden, ted is a whole different animal (in a good way).

ted, two weeks ago- happy, but a little guarded and subdued

he's been a quiet little guy since he's been here, happy, but never really exuberant in the way an excited dog normally is. i didn't know if that was his disposition, and he was just a super mellow fellow, or if he was still a bit shell shocked at the changes in his life. turns out to be the later, i think, as in the last week, a spunky, confident, little personality has rather suddenly emerged. he's gone from being the quietest dog i've ever known, to letting out surprisingly deep barks when excited. when i return from a day with a client or shopping, i don't just get a wagging tail, now i get acrobatics! last, since ted arrived, i've tried to interest him in play session with a toy, but he's never shown the slightest interest but as of last week, for the first time, he played with me! still showed no interest in the toy, but he did that cute little downward dog thing, and ran in crazy little dog circles for a few minutes (yes, i might have got a little verklempt at this milestone).

the new, improved, jaunty lil' theodore

he's just become smilier and happier, and that makes me smilier and happier too. i can't wait to see how his little personality continues to unfold- so far, so good!

ps- ted and richard get along great now too. richard has come to adore ted, and gives him regular headbutts of affection. so cute.

lets pretend! (this isn't a totally recycled post!)

"omg, peg-a-licious," (my pet name for margaret), "congrats on the new gig!"

"thanks, m21!" (margaret's pet name for moi) "i'm super excited about the change, and have all sorts of great ideas for freshening up the old gal, but mostly i'm excited because AD has long been the banner title of the interior design industry, but sometimes the content hasn't always lived up to its reputation. that will change, now that i'm in charge- i'm going to drag AD into the 21st century if it kills me!"

"well, pegster," (my other nickname for margaret), "if anyone can do it, you can! let me know if i can help, k?"

"well, mon petit maison," (margaret's other, fancier, nickname pour moi), "now that you mention it, we'll be needing lots of fresh new looks for our cover, so save your next multi-million dollar project for AD, alright?"

"you got it, lady p!" (making a mental note to self: **must find multi-millionaire client asap!**)

congrats to margaret russell, and to architectural digest! maison21 thinks you'll make a great team, and in anticipation of good things to come, he is actually going to resubscribe as soon as he finishes typing this recycled fantasy of a post!

schumacher schic (a pretty palate cleanser)

after our last post, m21 thought y'all might need sumpthin' pretty to cleanse your palates, so we thought we'd share some of our favorite schumacher prints with you. popular prints, too- when we went to the showroom last week to pull these for a client, 6 of the 8 were not in stock, but they arrived on our doorstep this morning- a bright n'pretty spot in an otherwise rather dreary monday morning.

so what's your favorite of these fab prints? everybody can have an opinion, but of course, only our client has the final say...