holiday season kicks off in los angeles with some great events

the holiday season kicks off this week with some great book signings and gatherings:

first up, i was invited by my good buddy, andrew joseph PR, to attend a book signing for the wiseman group's new book, inner spaces at the beautiful therien showroom on la cienega this wednesday, december 3rd:

next day, on thursday 4th, mecox on la cienega in the LCDQLA is having a gathering to celebrate vignettes created by my friend, christos prevezanos, amongst others- always a good time at mecox!

black crow studios at westedge design fair.

last night was the opening of the westedge design fair at barker hanger, and i hope you are planning on stopping by if you live in the los angeles area- lots of great design will be on view!  i am particularly excited because for the first time all five colorways of my "memphis" wallpaper for black crow studios will be on view. the ecru colorway looks completely different than the black and white everyone is used to seeing- who says neutrals have to be boring?

 tracy will also be introducing her new line of pillows with her signature gorgeous prints (yay! memphis again!), and well, her new flower mural wallcovering has to be seen to be believed!

friend to the atelier, jaime derringer of designmilk, also has a curated exhibit, #superPACdesign, of some pretty hip designers, including this wolfrum teepee, so there is something for everyone!

WestEdge Design Fair
The Barker Hangar3021 Airport AvenueSanta Monica, CA 90405
Open to the public
Fri, October 17, 11am–8pm (5-8pm Cocktail Party to benefit the A+D Museum)
Sat, October 18, 11am–6pm
Sun, October 19, 11am–5pm

architectural digest westweek kickoff @ jasper

westweek kicked off last night as margaret russell and architectural digest hosted a packed house at michael smith's beautiful jasper showroom:

naturally the party was a who's who of the LA design scene, and i attended with my LA partner in crime, jill seidner of the material girls blog (middle) and jill's good friend, morgan lund yen of m-l design:

 jasper carries one of my favorite lighting lines, vaughn:

though i have to say, the highlight of my evening was meeting the fabulous tula jeng, author of one of my favorite blogs, the equally fabulous, whorange. tula and i have been planning an in person meeting for, like, ever, and our dreams finally came true last night at jasper:

this morning,  i'm off to a client meeting, then heading over to the PDC, to cover the real westweek madness! hope to see you locals there, and for those of you out of town, be sure to follow along on twitter!

maison21 does westweek!

on wednesday, march 21st & thursday march 22nd, please join me in the shadow of this (the blue building of the pacific design center actually, but the red building is new, and thus exciting):

to attend cool panels like this:

one of the great keynotes during westweek- for a complete list, click here. everyone is invited, btw, so come on down!

m21'll be there of course, as the PDC invited me as part of the “best design voices in LA”, a group of LA's top social media supahstars, including these lovely ladies:

Vanessa of Turquoise

Tamara of House of Honey

Alissa of The Goods Design

Jill of the Material Girls, Los Angeles!
(who i stole all these logos from- thx jill!)

if you're gonna be at teh PDC, please say hello- i'll be the super-duper handsome, bearded, gentleman with a glass in my hand, and a smile on my face (and if you don't see me, trust, you'll hear me- imma loud one!):

remember, if you can't attend westweek in person to suck down a plastic cup of cheap fine wine with me, you can still be part of the highlights if you follow along on twitter & facebook- we'll do our best to put down our glass every once in a while, and tweet out a picture or two! ;-)

are you a fan?

are you a fan?

no, not of our maison21 facebook page (though we think you should be a fan there too), but rather, are you a fan of ceiling fans?

residential lighting magazine recently asked a panel of designers with a twitter presence to vent their feelings about ceiling fans (as you may know, designers and ceiling fans are usually natural born enemies in the wild), and much to our shock and delight, we found several models we were a fan of!

take a look at the article and let us know if you are a fan of our choices! Tweet

patina style (thank you, brooke!)

coming home from vacation is always a bittersweet thing- i'm always glad to be sleeping in my own bed again, and to be with my best pals, ted and richard; but knowing that the next morning i have to hit the ground running, and it's no more cocktails, pool time, and naps all day, is like a slap in the face!  but you know what helps that transition a bit?  coming home to find a beautifully wrapped parcel with my name on it, sitting on my doorstep! 

such was the case this week, when a lovely "brown paper package, tied up with string" awaited to greet me as i arrived home- the talented brooke gianetti, of velvet & linen, sent me a copy of her new book, patina style, co-authored with her equally talented architect husband, steve,  complete with a thoughtful personal inscription, no less.  a lovely gesture from a truly lovely woman, and also a nice distraction from the sobering return to everyday life, as i lost myself in the pages over my monday morning coffee...

brooke and steve's relaxed, weathered, and layered style is on full display in the gorgeous photography of the book, and they also clearly lay out the elements and philosophy behind their signature style, so it's not just a pretty picture book, but practical as well.

thank you so much for the gift of your amazing book, brooke- it has a place of honor on my coffee table, not only as a fantastic addition to my design book collection, but also as a treasured gift from a generous and talented woman i am happy to call my friend.

ps- for those of you who aren't lucky enough to have a talented interior designer and author like brooke as a friend, y'all better skidaddle on over to amazon and buy yourself a copy today! ;-) you can't also get a *signed* copy (like mine!) at giannetti home...



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the internets is for lovers...

but not like you are thinking,  especially given the weinergate headlines of late!  the 'lovers' i'm referring to in this case is lovers of design and specifically how great it is that the internets gives us lovers of design a place to meet and discuss our obsession amongst people of a similar bent-  and you know what? it's even nicer when those kindred spirits get to meet and discuss their obsessions in person, even if they've only known each other electronically beforehand.

such was the case tonight, when 2 east coast design bloggers, 2 west coast design bloggers, and a gen-u-wine design TV star, all got together to discuss our  design obsession over drinks in the magical environment of the garden of the chateau marmont...

nicole cohen's (sketch42) visit to california was the reason for the gathering, and she contacted moiself, as well as rebecca stringham (rebecca june), and hgtv's emily henderson (secrets of a stylist), to do an in-person meet up, and we were lucky enough to be joined by nicole's NYC friend, erica reitman, (design blahg).  most of us had never met in person before, so it could have been awkward,  but joined by our common internets love interest,  the evening was a total blast-  3 non-stop hours of laughter, covering everything under the sun, from to mickey mouse to kelly wearstler (much love for both) and was all brought together through the magic of the internets...

me and my girls:  emily, erica, rebecca and nicole

now i'm not posting this to tell y'all how fabulous my life is- trust me, after a weekend of cleaning up cat throw up and piles of shed dog hair, as well as the impossible task of trying to find the perfect pair of sconces on a tight budget (ie- basically free), my life ain't glamorous at all, but i *am* posting this because i've said this time and time again, and this evening proved it true: the best thing about blogging is the people, and the opportunities to meet and become friends with people who you'd never meet in the course of your everyday life.  so if y'all are reading this, and maybe thinking of blogging or tweeting, but haven't yet, or perhaps if you are blogging, but doing it anonymously (you know who i'm talking to here, missy), my advice is to get to it, and get out there, and start meeting other lovers!

so cheers to my new friends, nicole, emily, erica, and rebecca- the internets is for lovers, and i loved getting to know each of you a little better!

ps- how could m21 have written this entire post without mentioning the boy superstars of the internets we were also lucky enough to meet during the last week?  last monday, we had the pleasure of having drinks with stefan hurray of architect design, and woody, of the houses of hancock park.  again,  the internets is the place where you meet the nicest peoples!
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now that's a kitchen! (congrats, nicole!)

did y'all see sketch42's apartment today in rue? wow! congrats, nicole!

ps- m21 wants her kitchen- bad:

in a case of great minds thinking alike, m21 just ordered two of the same fabulous 'hicks' pendants from circa lighting (in polished nickel) to hang over a kitchen island for a project he's currently working on!

when are we invited to brunch, nicole?

now, get on over to rue to see the rest of nicole's fabulouslity!
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weekend fun

what did you do for fun this weekend? m21 had a lapdance!

if there is a straight guy reading this blog (and chances of that are slim), try not to be too jealous, k? me? i was just hoping they were well paid.

just kidding 'bout the lap dance. the picture was the photo op in the 'dessert and burleseque' room (what a combo, right?) of the "nivea for men mansion", part of the run up to the golden globes madness that is gripping LA this weekend. jill, of material girls, invited us to tag along with her, and her good friend, brooke, for a night of free drinks, free food, free 'nivea for men' products... and a tiger. yes, we said tiger- another of the photo ops was with a playful six month old tiger cub!  (before you say it- yes, we know- we were also very conflicted about the tiger being used as a prop, but trust, that (big) little kitten was having a blast. he had a little dog brought along as a playmate too- cuteness overload.  if we ever find how to access the picture with him, we'll share it).

this is kind of tiger cub they pimped out- a golden tabby.  so ginormously cute.

lapdances and tigers- only in LA, right? (actually, we take that back- it was one blackjack table away from "only in las vegas", but still kinda fun in that vegas-y kind of way).

last, the invitation promised us james franco, but we only saw one girl from "the hills" or "the city" or some other show we are far too old to watch or care about; our single other celebrity sighting was 80's fave, taylor dayne, now a respectably coiffed woman of a certain age (getting to pet the tiger cub more than made up for the loss of james franco, btw).

we'll close this post with taylor's insanely catchy 80's hit (been humming it all morning, much against our will. ok, not so much against our will- we LOVED this song back in the day-  if we had known she was going to be there, we would have brought our extended remix cassingle for her to sign!)






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molly luetkemeyer's tastemaker tag sale at one king's lane

m21 is setting his alarm early on saturday so he can be awake and perky to score some bargains at the molly luetkemeyer tastemaker tag sale on one king's lane. molly is a seriously talented lady, with fabulous taste (and a longtime friend to the atelier), so there will be some seriously good sh*t on offer! here's a free taste:

pair of large glazed green/blue lamps with wood finials

deep emerald frame frenchy french chair, with persimmon mohair seat and seat front. seat back is brunschwig & fils "shishi" fabric in indigo cotton with dragon motif.

pots and pears oil still life by yvonne kendall

pllow in "les pommes” by paule marrot edition

ps: molly also has a brand spanking new blog, with all kinds of great info- be sure to check it out as well!

m21's happy place.

so cute!

if there is a happier spot on teh internets then desire to inspire's "monday's pets on furniture", m21 would like to know what it is, so he can visit everyday, rather than just look forward to mondays. thanks to kim & jo for starting off every week on the happiest of notes!

bull in a china shop (kelly wearstler party @tableart)

this evening, maison21 had the pleasure of joining up with the los angeles correspondent for the material girls blog, the delightful jill seidner, to attend a party at table art in honor of kelly wearstler's modern and pretty china designs for pickard.

a kelly wearstler/pickard china table setting. pretty.

the party was also a book signing for ms wearstler's fabulous book, hue, and even though we already own a copy, we decided to take advantage of this smaller and less crowded event to buy another and actually work up the nerve to have it signed by kelly- can't have too many books in the old design library anyhoo, right?

a candid shot of ms. wearstler looking fabulous in chunky jewelry, a fur vest, skinny jeans and tall leather boots, as she tries to figure out why this freaky character is asking for his book to be inscribed with an odd combination of letters and numbers. "what does 'm21' stand for?" ms wearstler politely asked, and i replied "i write a little design blog called maison21 and m21 is shorthand for the title". "that's nice", ms. wearstler hesitantly mumbled, as she looked around for security to escort the weirdo away if he caused trouble... ;-) (photo surreptitiously snapped by jill on her iphone- thank you, jill!)

so have you ever been so nervous about doing something embarrassing, that you cursed yourself into doing the very thing you were trying to avoid? well, during the party, m21 was so self conscious about bumping into one of the tables set with thousands of dollars worth of china (we can be a bit of a bull in china shop sometimes), that we concentrated on not getting within 20 feet of one of the china displays. we should have paid the same attention to the empty wine glass in our hand, as we ended up gesticulating while telling a story and sending it crashing loudly to the concrete floor. sadly, ms wearstler might just remember who we are next time- NOT the way we wanted that to happen!

ms. wearstler's pretty designs for pickard, available at tableart.

after m21's embarrassing lack of coordination, jill and i beat a hasty retreat from the party, and ended our evening at a los angeles stalwart, cobras and matadors for tapas and a bottle of wine- always great fun to catch up with a fellow decorator, blogger and friend! and we are proud to report m21 made it through the entire meal without breaking or spilling a thing!

tobi, tobi, tobi!

2010 is going to be a shiny new year after all! one of my favorite blog writers has rebooted her laptop and started blogging again after an absence of far, far, too long. if you haven't visited tobie et al before her recent hiatus, do make a point to visit now that she's back, as tobi's writing is not to be missed. it's laugh out-loud funny, sometimes dark, sometimes even inscrutable, but always, always entertaining, and one of best, most original blog voices out there. i may not always get what she's talking about, but i "get" this woman. love her.

tobi's new boyfriend from her latest post...

and fer crissakes, someone give tobi a book deal! i have no idea what she does for a living while working for 'mr. fussypants', but i don't think she's being paid to write, and that is a crime. for now though, go visit her blog while she's still toiling for free...