it's the little things in life that make one happy...

it's the little things in life that make one happy...

like witnessing a barefoot woman inside starbucks carefully painting the soles of her shoes red. equal parts horrifying (eww- bare feet & her shoes on a table, in a place where people eat) and heartwarming (she probably had an important meeting or interview, and she wanted to look her best) but either way, it made me deliriously happy to witness on an otherwise uneventful monday morning.

hope your day was special too. ;-)

it's a doozy...

you know occasionally here at maison21 we like to poke a little good-natured fun at the lifestyles of the rich and tasteless via mansions of questionable decor offered for sale here in los angeles, and boy, have we got a doozy for you today!

ladies and gentlemen, we present an architectural marvel in holmby hills, offered for a mere 28 million clams (which we assume would be the value of the land only, right?  right?) be sure to visit the website too, as every room has been decorated in a slightly different style of um... well, lets just say the only thing in the whole place we'd save from the wrecking ball would be the la cornue range in the kitchen...

 

hoping your weekend is slightly more tasteful than this! (and really, how could it NOT be?) Tweet

it's true...

money really doesn't buy you taste...

what is this? a subterranean dining room? a wine cellar without wine? whatever it is, it makes me want to poke my eyes out.

the 35,000 square foot versailles de LA, the suzanne saperstein mansion, aka the super klassily named "fleur de lys", is back on the market, according to curbed. first listed in 2007 for 125 million, apparently the downturn in the real estate market hasn't affected the price one bit- it's listed again for 125 million (read the original post at the real estalker, and make sure you read the comments too, including the one about the $427 BJ. internet gold.)

now, m21 ain't going to pontificate about the grossness of a 35,000 sq foot house because we'd be a total hypocrite- we welcome any and all clients with 35 thousand square foot homes, okay?  but we do think the need to recreate a 17th century french chateau in los angeles of the 21st century is just weird (fleur de holmby hills was completed in 2002). it doesn't say rich or tasteful or cool, it just says you have enough money to build your own theme park. how very michael jackson of you.

nudies, but not! klassy.

so back to the first line of this post: "money doesn't buy you taste" isn't entirely true. money can buy you taste... in the form of m21!   that means russian oligarchs, saudi princes, and american robber barons, take note- if you'd like to live in the 21st century with the rest of us, and have something unique and beautiful, call m21- somehow, we'll fit you into our schedule; but if you just feel the need to blow 125 mil on a historical theme park (avec not so historical 9 car garage and 50 seat screening room), call suzanne- she has one she'd like to unload, and i'm sure you can get it furnished too- underground dining room and super klassy nearly-nudies included.
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glass houses

as a man who dressed his dog in drag for halloween last year, can i really criticize a woman who dressed her dog like this for a trip to the mall? (answer: maybe)

pup at teh grove, 5/10/11

in her defense, this little guy seemed quite happy and loved...
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a tip when hiring an interior designer:

if they have this on their car...

RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN!

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you gotta be putin me on?

one billion dollars, and they used cheap, architecturally inappropriate, home depot quality windows? (via curbed).

oy.

and you know how *we* feel about the subject...

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a wasted opportunity (wherein we rant about football & architecture)

since the superbowl, los angeles has been inundated with press about the possibility of a new stadium to house a new NFL team, to which m21 responds *YAWN*.

let me preface by first stating m21 could care less about football (a shocking confession, right?) honestly, we would prefer to watch paint dry then to watch a football game- the rules are arcane, there are two brief seconds of action, followed by a whole lot of waiting around and boring commentary; the halftime shows are always lame and dated; and finally- and perhaps most importantly, what's the point of watching hot young guys in great physical shape if they are completely obscured by tons of padding and helmets? ;-)

still, we are adult enough to understand that just because we don't get it, there are millions of people who live for it, and we don't begrudge them their enjoyment, so if LA needs a team, by all means, bring one here. we are a world class city, after all, and thus should have the things that world class cities need to maintain their status as such: 1st class museums, cultural institutions like the symphony and opera, and i guess, major sports franchises, too.

so that brings us to the point of today's post- if we a are to get a new NFL team, let's ensure that stadium being built for it is as world class as the city it's being built in.  it simply goes with out saying that it should be architecturally stunning, and of immediate landmark status- along the lines of our disney hall and getty center museum, and since we are in the 21st century, it should also lead in technology- perhaps being the greenest stadium ever built. instead, what has been proposed is bland and ordinary, and would be more suited to des moines or milwalkee, than to the city that has, for better or worse, come to epitomize american culture to the world (no offense to the residents of either of those assuredly lovely cities, btw).

beijing built this:

montreal built this:

munich built this:

and we are proposed this:

best of the bunch, but two swoops and a gaint LED sign, do not a masterpiece make. it's still an ugly box wearing a church lady hat.

or this:

boring and ordinary.  maybe it would have been impressive in 1978, but we expect more in the 21st century,

or this:

we can't even speak of how dreadful this ugly box of a design is. it looks like a 2nd rate convention center in a 3rd rate town.

what a wasted opportunity. these banal examples need to be sent back to the drawing board, and we need to start all over again to give the city of angels the world class landmark it deserves, and something even us football-phobics can love.  we live here too, ya know, and hundreds of thousands of citizens of los angeles, whether football fans or no, will be forced to drive by these ugly, boring boxes every day- so please AEG, corporate backers of the stadium, as well as mayor villaraigosa, give us a view that inspires, beautifies and makes us proud of our city.

read more in the breathless press release sent to promote this crap as something significant here.

oy.
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TV makes me crabby.

weird. but cute for kids (i guess- somehow i don't think kidm21 would have wanted a crab TV).

spotted this in the hanspree store window while strolling in beverly hills- comes in a whole variety of other wacky shapes, but this one was the  one the made me go huh?

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needed google feature...

so we always keep the google "safesearch" option off.  ya never know what you'll find, and honestly, we don't mind running across some naked people when googling- helps to break up the day!

but really, there oughta be a "safedecorsearch" so if someone googles, let's say "gold floor lamp", they don't come up with this:

 they rotate too! why wouldn't they?

or this:

really, a larger then life gold and crystal eagle floorlamp? just because it can be made, doesn't mean it should. 

there, now your eyes hurt too.

don't blame m21, blame the google.
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a simple and tasteful los angeles christmas tradition...

new york may have the bergdorf's windows and the tree at rockefeller center, but here in los angeles, we have a christmas tradition of our very own...

ladies and gentlemen, i give you the tasteful simplicity of youngwood court:

ok, so it's neither simple nor tasteful, but it is something of a christmas tradition.

the cardboard cut out is a portrait of youngwood court's owner, norwood young, a singer/songwriter whom no one but janet charleton seems to know about.

the home is often called "the house of davids" because of the kajillion copies of michelangelo's david which line the front.

the davids are up year round, but really shine in their bottomless xmas best.

black power santa and mrs tranny claus, rising from a cupcake, are a nice touch.

versace/cowardly lion santa is pretty brilliant too.

we are happy that youngwood court exists, yet equally happy we don't live across the street, having to stare at its blazing glory every night...

somewhere, liberace is smiling, and wishing everyone, everywhere, a fantabulously over-the-top christmas...
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it's a small (and unscrupulous) world.

first let me apologize that today's post ain't so funny, rather a bit on the angry side, but hey- that's how i'm feeling today,  so i  hope you'll bear with me while i vent:

on tuesday, we published a snarky little post on "chateau d'omg", an over the top mansion for sale in bel air.  turns out an acquaintance of ours actually knew the decorator who furnished said chateau, so of course, we asked them not to point out our blog to the decorator- we would hate for anyone to get hurt by m21 being a smarty-pants at their expense, especially because in all probability,  he just gave the clients what they obviously wanted.   also, in truth, m21 doubts that le decoratuer would care less about our snark- after all, he is working on chateaus and cashing big ol' mansion-sized checks, while m21 merely works on homes and cashes mere powder room-sized checks, all the while writing this lil' blog and toiling in relative obscurity.    ;-)

but then i googled the dude, and you know what?  frankly, i don't care if his feelings get hurt!

why?

because he is using other peoples work in his design portfolio, passing it off as his own...

how do i know this?

because a project *i* worked on over a decade ago, while working for my former firm, is on his site as an example of his work!  on that project, three people, and only three people designed and executed  the interiors of a beautiful home, later featured in florida design magazine, and i can assure you, mr. kenny, most certainly was NOT one of the three!  i've even kept my original hand drafted elevation of the fireplace surround i helped to design (as well as the drawings of the custom furniture pieces i was responsible for), as i was so proud of the way the project turned out.

the screen capture from dude's site:  

second row of photos is the project i assisted on, and which has NOTHING to do with the dude who is embarrassingly posting it as his own work. did he really think no one would ever notice?

my original elevation sketch for the picture in the middle of above:

original elevation sketch of a bollection mantle/overmantle surround to highlight the client's prized dubuffet painting.

it is simply unconscionable to post another person's work and claim it as your own.  you are cheating the original creative team behind the project, as well as the original client who PAID for the work to be done, and also misleading your potential new clients by promising a level of talent and sophistication to which you clearly cannot rise, or else you'd already have that quality of work in your own portfolio!  and if there is one project i KNOW this dude didn't have anything do with  posted on his site, are ANY of the pictures his own work?  who knows?

does he really expect anyone to believe that the guy who designed this...

and who claims to have designed this...

also designed this?

or this?

or this?

no matter how you slice it, appropriation of another person's work is never kosher, and it gives all of us design professionals a bad name to have this sort of blatant plagiarism in our ranks.

shame on you, mr. kenny.  shame. on. you.

and no, i prefer not to directly link to mr. kenny's site.  if you are really curious, you can google his name from the above screen capture...  first thing that comes up is his site, and the second, is work done for his most famous client, and  *that* name will tell you everything you need to know about the decorator in question- if chateau d'omg didn't already, that is...

moving day!

yes, that's right, kids- we're moving!  our present digs are just too small, and frankly, not grand enough for such a important personage as moi-self.  so we've made an offer on a humble, yet tasteful, new abode in a little known nearby neighborhood by the name of  bel air.

the chateau d'or, which we will be renaming the chateau d'omg, because if ever there was a property that will make you exclaim "oh mah gah", it is this one...

the sellers were asking $39,995,000, but m21 being no dummy, recognized the priceless and exquisite antiques inside, so offered them an even 50 mil if they'd throw in all the furnishings- and they agreed!   suckahs!

see? a complete turnkey property.  we don't need to load anything into the m21 moving truck other than our clothes!

we plan on hosting many an intimate dinner here!

the builders of the chateau d'omg certainly spared no expense- look at this stunning kitchen designed by the premier cabinet-making firm of l'home d'epot!

how could one not have anything but 'suite' dreams in this elegantly appointed master?

well, we stated it was turn-key ready, but there is one change we'll have to make:

just a little minor repainting, and we can call the chateau d'omg our home!

all of you are invited to come visit!  and don't hesitate to bring your personal staff- we have the room!