second look (the maison21 interior design portfolio, reimagined)

like seemingly everyone in the design world, i became obsessed with the waterlogue app a couple of weeks ago, and quickly began compulsively watercoloring pictures of ted, richard and flowers, instagramming them to the world. what i am really amazed by is waterlogue's ability to reimagine my interior design portfolio and make it look fresh and pretty, even when after staring at some of these photos for years it began to look anything but in my eyes. thanks waterlogue for helping me taking a second look at my work, and pardon my (lack of) humility, but, dang, it looks good the second time around...  ;-)

ps- if you like what you see, the real photos are here, and you can email me here for more info.

cart got your tongue? (a bar cart roundup)

lookee what we found this weekend... and since we already have one at the atelier, you know where to find it, if you need one for your very own!

and here's some bar cart images to get you in the mood:

original source unknown, via pinterest

via design*sponge

deborah needleman via lonny

via veranda

via rue magazine

via society social

via the delightful emily henderson

via my living room

the bluebird of happiness (& m21's inner child)

when m21 was a little boy, nothing made him happier then a bird's nest in his back yard, a big lizard sunning on his windowsill, or polliwogs growing in the little stream in the canyon behind his house. and you know what? not much has changed over the years! the natural world, particularly in m21's unnatural urban neighborhood, fascinates him still, and makes our inner little boy smile with delight. when the flock of wild parrots residing in our 'hood raucously lands in the pear tree out front, m21 stops whatever he's doing to watch the colorful (and loud) explosion; same thing when local gang of raccoons is out for a stroll at 2 in the morning, we stop to watch (from a distance & after putting mona inside, of course- those things are big and a little bit scary. m21 isn't quite unconvinced they don't pack saturday night specials inside their fur coats).

lately, m21 has been entertained by a pair of bluebirds building nest about 15 feet from his bedroom window. 'bell' and 'boy' as we call them, are industrious parents, building their nest with non-stop activity. they aren't shy about scolding us when we get too close for comfort either! they don't divebomb like the mocking birds we had last year, rather they like to verbally let us know to keep away, with loud chicken-like clucking sounds. their scolding seems to work, as we haven't seen any squirrels in their tree since they moved in, and they told the squirrels to get the heck out. richard, of course, thought the bluebird/squirrel wars were particularly entertaining, though i doubt he was rooting for the bluebirds to win like m21, rather he just wanted to get outside and kill them all... even knowing that they are permanently out of reach doesn't stop rich, and the minute he hears a rustle in the tree, he is at at the window like a rocket, watching another episode of 'kitty krack tv' (kind of like his dad and VH1's "i love new york 8"- he just can't turn away).

the nest is hidden in a thatch of morning glory vine, so we can't see it to know if there is an egg yet, but mom & dad are still hanging out, so we figure that's a good sign (the vine is great camouflage, btw- see if you can spot boy in the picture). no kids yet, as visible or not, we're sure we'll know when they arrive- nature probably won't be as cool at 4 in the morning with hungry chicks begging to be fed, but the noise will be only temporary, and m21 will be rooting for bell & boy to successfully raise their chicks to adulthood, and hopefully come back again next year!

m21's 72 hour guest room makeover

yikes! last week, m21 was honored to find out an intern from the nearby belgian consulate would be staying with us for 3 months, but our guest room was hardly ready for any guest, let alone a long term one- it was basically empty, not even a bed, so we had to start from scratch to furnish it. to make the whole situation even trickier, m21 found out on monday that he was having a guest who was arriving on thursday, leaving us only 72 hours to transform our extra bedroom from drearily empty to fully furnished fabulousness! plus, m21 had to try to make it as chic as possible- don't want anyone reporting back that american decorators aren't as good as those from the continent!

the entry vestibule of our guest room, accessorized with items pulled from other areas of the atelier. we didn't repaint this tiny anteroom, as the blue-gray matches the hall that leads into into it. you might be thinking that a bowl of fruit is an odd accessory for a bedroom, but m21 likes to make sure guests from different timezones have water as well as something to nibble on, should they they wake up jet-lagged at 4 in the morning; that way they don't have to stumble downstairs and rummage through a strange kitchen to stop their tummies from rumbling...

needless to say in addition to the time constraint, budget was also an issue in our guestroom transformation. in the past, our trusty aerobed is where we've consigned our guests (hey, if you are staying here for free, you can hardly complain, right?) but an aerobed is hardly suitable for an extended stay, so we knew we'd have to lay out several hundred bucks for a bed from ikea; which in turn, meant that all the other furnishings had to be cheap, cheap, cheap. (did we mention they should be cheap?) so armed with little more then sweat and fairy dust, m21 set out to furnish his guest room on a budget and a deadline!

our starting point for the project was paint, and you've heard this next bit of advice from a million sources, but m21 is going to repeat it again: when decorating, paint provides the the biggest impact for the least amount of money. normally when conceptualizing a room, m21 likes to start with a piece of furniture for his inspiration; every designer is approaches conceptualization differently- some start with a fabric or wallpaper, or art or a treasured accessory; our old boss always started with a rug, and we once attended a lecture once where a very prominent decorator said she started with nature, a leaf or a stone found on the property (which we thought was odd- most "big" job sites are nothing but dirt in the planning stages so who'd want to start with that?), but anyway, you get the idea, and in a fairly radical departure for us, instead of starting with a piece of furniture, we started this time with paint (heck- we didn't have any idea of what furniture we'd end up with anyway!)

the room was stark white with one blue-gray wall to tie it to the entry vestibule. since maison21 is NOT a fan of an accent wall and has never been sure why he painted it that way to begin with, the gray had to go! (shown here primered over). we also knew that white walls were probably not the best choice so we would need to repaint; the room will be sparsely furnished, and while white walls look great with a minimalist look if the pieces are all of museum quality, but with our planned mix of thrift store and ikea, they would probably just make it all look junky and cold... :-)

we also started off in a way we'd NEVER recommend for others- rather than testing out swatches on the wall to see how they will look in the space and react with the light (truly, the only way to find the right color), we just purchased a gallon straight from a tiny swatch in our fan deck, and went for it. to make things worse, it was a color we've never used before, so we were really taking a chance! but sometimes rules are made to be broken in these types of unusual situations; plus we are confident enough in our mad decoratin' skillz that we knew whatever color we picked, we could work with it, or even around it, if necessary.

when we paint, we roll on our wall color almost to the corners, then freehand the edges- tape is for sissies! just kidding we use tape all the time, but when dealing with the ceiling, it really is easier to freehand a straight line- just use a 1-2 inch angled brush, fully loaded with paint, and go! make sure the brush is of very good quality though, or fahgeddaboutit- use tape in that case.

we choose benjamin moore #1183 camelback, hoping for a classic masculine camel color as backdrop for our guest, but what we got when we put it up on the walls was more toffee then camel- almost too dark- but what the heck, the room is sunny enough to handle dark walls, and in a happy accident kind of way, we even liked it better then what we had originally envisioned (not that we really had a choice at this point with only 48 hours until our guest arrived- we were living with it, no matter what!) oh and btw, in the interest of saving time, we sprung for the premium one coat coverage base- which was total BS- it took us 3 coats to cover, same as always, when painting a saturated color over white! next time we'll save the bucks and use the cheap base.

while we were waiting for the paint to dry between coats, we then hit the local thrift stores to see what we could rustle up for furniture! at our first stop, we picked up a big art glass floor vase (with some flowering branches, a floor vase is a great way of taking up space in a sparsely furnished room), and at our second stop, we picked up a pair of battered black 70's campaign-style chests, as well as a black and white ceramic lamp, and thus our theme was set- black and white was the order of the day! it would be pretty against our toffee walls (we hoped). we also picked up a vintage painting for $25 bucks- the colors were all wrong, but we could fix that with a coat of the same white paint we were using for the trim of the room. then off to ikea for a bed and mattress, and in the interest of saving money, instead of springing for an ikea platform bed to sit the mattress on, instead we purchased a box spring and a $19.99 black box spring cover with which to disguise it. not a perfect solution, but cute enough, and far cheaper then buying an ikea bed we didn't really want anyway!

we had a fantasy about refinishing these chests, but 72 hours is not enough time for that kind of decorating perfection, so we just cleaned them, then touched up the chips with a sharpie (it's a trick we learned from an professional antiques restorer, so it's not such a half-assed solution as it sounds). m21 finds that people get scared of the battered and damaged, but once you put a bunch of stuff on and around the less then perfect piece, the little scuffs and dents are never even noticed...

last, once we got everything all pulled together, we thought our black, white and camel (ok- toffee) scheme was a actually a little bland; not even the fresh flowers we had added provided enough pops of color... (tip- flowers *always* class up a joint; even a budget makeover gets a 'lifestyle" lift from them!) so we typed "rug" into craiglist to see if we could find something- anything- with a spot of color to help out. thank goodness we found a vintage danish rya rug located not so terribly far away. it had a lovely gradation of blue tones, which would work perfectly with our walls, and was the perfect size for our oddly shaped room. it was also a splurge on our budget, but sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet and buy the pretty, ya know? and talk about last minute- we literally purchased and spread it out with minutes to spare before our guest arrived! like our chests, rug wasn't in perfect condition, but it was clean and colorful, and since the bed would be covering a big chunk of it, it really didn't need to be flawless...

so are you ready for the reveal?

before:

and after:

not so bad we think, and the best part is our guest really likes it!

the painting in photo you may recognize, as we painted and posted about it last year; art glass floor vase we bought specifically for the room and filled it with papyrus snipped from our front yard; the chic vintage white chair we borrowed from a friend who had it tucked away in their garage; and the table we made with our own two hands when we took a woodworking class way back in the 90's- it's been stored in a closet for years, as it doesn't really go with our decor anymore, but we can't just get rid of it since we nearly lost a finger while making it! (not really, but we did discover while taking the class that table saws terrify us, so it easily *could* have happened... ;-)

nightstand ain't so bad cleaned up, is it? told ya so! same for rug! vintage ceramic lamp is topped with a black and silver target lampshade we bought about a dozen of while they were on clearance, many, many years ago; our stock is just about gone now, but talk about a well spent $3.99 (each). they sure are versatile!

the vintage painting was an ugly still life- we painted the whole thing black, including frame, then applied thin artist's tape for the lines and coated the canvas portion with the same white house paint (pratt and lambert "designer white") we used on the trim- all done on the floor of the bedroom while we were painting the walls- talk about multitasking! the duvet and pillows, we again picked up at our beloved target while they were on clearance a few years back (we purchased new white sheets and towels for our guest at target too; we think the thomas o'brien towels are surprisingly good quality for the price, and guests should always have plenty of clean white towels). on the nightstand are a stack of books, as well as a scented candle- m21 thinks reading material and a scented candle are musts in a guest room, in addition to the fluffy white towels and fresh flowers. we also like to provide a robe (pilfered from past vacation spots) for our guests to lounge in, because who has room in their luggage to pack a robe? but they sure are nice to have at your destination...

well, now y'all know why m21 was rather light in his posting last week- hard to type while holding a paint brush! whaddya think of our makeover? would y'all be brave enough to paint and redecorate 72 hours before a guest arrives? is maison21 a crazy fool for even attempting it?

a year in the life of a room... (and a wee bit of design philosphy)

well, a year and a half in the life of this room, actually...

in the summer of 2008, the late, great domino magazine sent out emails to bloggers asking for shots of their homes for inclusion in a feature on blogger's homes for their october 2008 issue. of course, when domino asked, m21 scurried to take some snaps! unfortunately, m21 didn't make the cut for domino but all was well, as the pictures ran later online on the material girls blog, and were also published offline, accompanying our 'blog watch' profile in home plus scotland magazine.

the reason we mention this, is this morning we snapped the same basic angle of our living room to give a potential buyer an idea of the scale of a chinoiserie screen offered in our marketplace (as you know, that's our favorite part of our "catch and release" personal decorating- we get to use pretty stuff and then pass it on before our decorating ADD gets bored with it!). our living room is basically the same in both photos you'll note- we just moved a few things around, and shifted out one dramatic piece (the etagere) for another (the screen). maison21 is a firm believer in using a dramatic, large scale "something" in a room whenever possible- be it a screen, a sculpture, a painting, an unusual etagere- there should be something big(ish) and a little unusual, to catch the eye and spark conversation. (you can tell by the pictures, we also enjoy the small things- never met a tchotchke we didn't like!)

by switching one major element, m21 thinks the room feels a bit different in each photo, yet hopefully preserves the eclectic vintage modern/traditional tension we love to use in our own personal decor. for m21 and his magpie nature of collecting the newest, shiniest bit of pretty, change comes fairly naturally, but he doesn't think anyone needs to be tied to a particular piece, or to a exact room arrangement. rooms can be fluid and grow, yet still retain the overall look and style you hope to achieve, after changes are made... in other words- if your room isn't perfect now, it can be in the future if you keep working on it, changing and rearranging; and if it is pretty darn close to perfect at this moment, don't be so tied to it that you never attempt to make it even better! it's all part of the fun of decorating...

summer, 2008

january, 2010

which version do y'all like best? or neither? m21 won't take offense- promise! it's all likely to change soon anyway!

holiday cheers! (the junque whisperer™ brings a gift)

the best gatherings are usually those that are impromptu, so that's why maison21 thinks it's important to have a small area in your home dedicated to a bar area to make guests feel welcome and special- even if they've just dropped by for a quick visit. m21 has had an array of bar carts in his home over the years but for the last year or so, he's kept his bar inside a cabinet, but given that he is not hosting a large holiday party this year(not alone on that one, we think), he decided it was important to move the bar to a more visible location for impromptu events this holiday season, and that involved finding a new (vintage) bar cart. we've actually been looking for a brass vintage modern bar cart for over a year, since setting up a similar cart in a client's home during the holidays last year, but haven't found anything in our price range, as alas, our client's budgets are often a tad larger then our own; but with the holidays fast approaching, and m21's need recently launched to a fevered pitch by his friend habitually chic's well-edited compilation of decorator bars, maison21 knew it was time to set the junque whisperer™ to warp drive 10, and find a damn cart! (btw, congrats on the recent lonny magazine feature, chic- both you and your client's kitchen look terrific! yay for you!)

anyhoo, this last weekend, m21 and his inner junque whisperer™ made it their goal to find a bar cart, so we hit the road, and thankfully, our inner voice came through with exactly what we wanted- and for a price less then the cost of a single cocktail! woo hoo! thank you, junquey santa! mind you the cart is a bit rusted, and was never the most expensive thing back in it's heyday (the wheels are plastique, and the frame? cheap steel sprayed with a yellow lacquer finish to look brass), but maison21's #1 rule in decorating is, screw provenance- if it looks good, it IS good. another rule from m21 when buying vintage is "it don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that ding", and our definition of "ding" is the opposite of bling (ie shiny and new)- maison21 likes his vintage to show a little history, a scratch or too, and of course, dents and dings... do we want it to look like it was unearthed from a junk yard? not necessarily, but then again, see rule #1- if it looks good, it IS good!

maison21 thinks bars should always be in a public room- living, dining, den, library, etc- so ours is tucked in a corner of our living room. we don't like bars set up in a kitchen (too utilitarian to entertain in, in our opinion), nor a family room (not child appropriate), and again, in our personal opinionwe advise setting up a bar in an entry hall (though you often see this in magazines). true, an entry hall welcomes your guests to your home, an da bar sure is welcoming, but it shouldn't also say "hi, i'm maison21 and i'm an alcoholic!" not exactly the first impression we want to make- our guests will figure that out later, as the evening proceeds... :-)

maison21's advice for filling the cart is similar to the david hicks quote used in habitually chic's post: a bar should create a "generous, welcoming atmosphere"- but we of course want to break it down into less airy-fairy decorator speak, and give you the real skinny! the goal of the cart is to gather everything you need to entertain a few guests at the drop of a hat- it doesn't work for large parties, and isn't intended to- BUT it should be crowded with enough crap, so it looks like it could host a hundred! that's how you establish "generous, welcoming atmosphere"- by cramming your bar (table, cart, cabinet) with lots and lots of stuff, so your guests feel free to partake of your generous abundance (kind of like with a birthday cake- people feel free to get second helpings when there are lots of slices available, but when down to the very last piece, suddenly everyone is shy and stuffed. don't want your guests to feel shy about helping themselves to a cocktail, do you?)

m21 likes to keep the bare basics on his cart- always vodka, gin, scotch and vermouth, maybe a bottle of red, and a few random liquor bottles just to prop it out. for mixers, one should always have soda and tonic waters (a must, but not shown in picture because we ran out of tonic- sorry), maybe add in some juice, or soft drinks, if those are your personal faves (soda cans are fine for your display but never a 2-liter bottle of soda or gallon of juice). it's important to have multiple bottles of mixers to keep the bar looking welcoming, yet not junked up, so keep the variety slim, but lots of each (the little individual servings are our preference, but we used tall bottles to make our cart look prettiest for our photo- remember, if it looks good, it IS good). also, you won't please everyone with their particular liquor and mixer requests, nor should you try, but with the above items, you can please 80%, and if the other 20 % bitch about it- oh well! they are guests in your home, not paying customers at a bar; you are a welcoming host, and do your best to accommodate, but you aren't a doormat either... ;-)
for accessories, the most important is the ice bucket- you want to go to the kitchen once to fill it, then spend the rest of your time in a prettier room, enjoying the company of your guests! m21 keeps a bucket, a carafe or shaker to mix, tongs, knife and bottle opener on the table at all times, along with a selection of double old fashioned glasses and stemware (we have skinny wine glasses that can double as champagne flutes if one of your guests- hopefully- brings a bottle of veuve clicquot)! m21 keeps bowls of whole lemons and limes out, because they are pretty & colorful, and if unsliced, last forever- so you are always prepared. last, make sure you have a stack of nice linen cocktail napkins- remember, we are going for pretty on the cart, so save the paper napkins for large events. ps, thanks for the napkins sferra- in our gift bag from a kelly wearstler party, hosted by ronda @ all the best).

finally, please note our choice of vodka: monopolowa, from trader joe's @ just $9.99 a bottle- the old school cool label is beyond chic, and it's just as tasty as brands many times its price. m21 is NOT ashamed to serve it in his home, because (here we go again): if it looks good, it IS good! if ya want grey goose, carry a flask!

cheers, everyone! stop by the atelier for a cocktail some time!

innocent!

whaddya mean what did i do? i'm just sitting here on the stairs, staring at the ceiling, minding my own business.


what fireplace would you be referring to? oh, the one you normally keep blocked off by your grandmother's chinoiserie screen? that one? don't know anything about it...


but- hypothetically speaking, of course- if YOU forgot to put the screen back after YOUR fire, and someone (not me, mind you) maybe investigated inside a little bit during the middle of the night, and then even later, perhaps waged an epic battle with a moth all over the living room and entry hall; well then, it wouldn't really be their fault now, would it?


you have only yourself to blame, m21. but me? i'm innocent. swear.

oxoxo-

richard.