you like me, you really, really, like me!

maison21 received an email from suzy, of studio annetta this last evening, informing him that she had chosen his blog to receive a "brillante weblog premio 2008" award. maison21 was quite excited to receive the award- even though he's not quite sure what it is- because he hasn't won an award since the 8th grade when he was national merit scholar semi-finalist for an essay he wrote on thomas paine. that's a very long time to go between awards, so he's glad suzy has broke his 32 year dry spell!

he was also excited because suzy- a talented designer, whose blog he very much admires- chose m21 for the award, and just like an actor accepting an academy award, while it may be a cliché, it really is an honor to be acknowledged by your peers. especially when maison21 looks at the list of the 7 blogs suzy bestowed the honor on:

1. The Peak of Chic
2. Habitually Chic
3. Maison 21
4. All The Best
5. Mrs Blandings
6. Absolutely Beautiful Things
7. Decorno

maison21 looks at that list and thinks "which one of these things is not like the others?", because when he started his blog just this past november, those established blogs (along with suzy's) were all blogs that he looked to and admired, and hoped to be as good as one day. so really, to be included with them by suzy, truly is an honor...

so now, according to the "brillante weblog award" rules, we now have to pick 7 more blogs to give the award to, link to them, and leave a comment letting them know they are now an award-winning blogger. several of my picks would have been from suzy's list as well as they've become blogging friends over the last nine months, but luckily we've made lots of blogging friend, so we can easily name 7 more without repeating from suzy's list. so from the list of blogs of which we read every single post in our google reader, we choose:

1. alkemie
2. all things bright and beautiful
3. cote de texas
4. katiedid
5. material girls
6. pigtown*design
7. things that inspire
8. topsy turvy

yeah, we know- the rules said pick 7, but we all know that rules are made to be broken...

and congrats to the latest crop of "brillante weblog premio 2008" award winners (we still don't know what the heck that means, but who cares? we're now award winnning bloggers!).

true confessions (it really is an illness, people)

hi, my name is maison21 and i am addicted...

to bright and shiny things.

yes, you heard m21 right- he is going public with his struggle with bright and shiny object disease.

below, behold the 1000 kilowatt splendor of the maison21 showroom- formerly the garage where m21 parked his car, but as our addiction grew, it had to be housed somewhere, so the m21 mobile got kicked to the curb. literally.
if only there was a 12 step program for our disease. but alas, the betty ford center for addiction to bright and shiny things has yet to be opened, so we've turned our liability into an asset, namely the maison21 ebay store- where you can find the above beauties, as well as some more recent additions since the photo was taken (just one month ago).

pretty things like this:


and this:


and this:

would you believe that there's even more that we haven't even had time to photograph yet? there is.

now some of you might think of this post as blatant self-promotion- fine, go ahead, judge maison21. BUT if m21 can just reach one other person struggling with bright and shiny object disease, and let them know they are not alone, well, it will have been well worth risking your scorn- m21 only wants to help...


***above post sponsored by the american council for bright and shiny object disease

GO, GO, GO!

we have another participant in the "design blogger's challenge"!

the ever delightful mrs. blandings has created the most sophisticated gentlemen's club, using our beloved moscow mafioso chandelier as inspiration- lots of pretty pictures (again, none posted here lest the surprise be spoiled). when you visit, make sure not to skip all the pesky words that we bloggers sometimes insert between those pretty pictures, as mrs. b's lovely writing style is NOT to be missed- always warm, educated and informative, just as m21 imagines mrs. blandings would be if he were lucky enough to meet her in person.

so GO, GO, GO see mrs, b's fantastic take on "bordello chic"!

(btw, this game is getting SERIOUSLY fun- we can't wait to see what our other fellow bloggers come up with!)

design blogger's challenge 1st entrant!

ladies and gentlemen (i guess means you, easy), we have our first respondent to our recently issued design blogger's challenge- to design a room around the now iconic "moscow mafioso" chandelier- and boy, is it a doozy.

we're not going to post any pictures, as we'll let the splendiferousness of the ever-hilarious tobi et al's moscow millionaire bathroom speak for itself. m21 will say that he thinks tobi tobivitch has a future as the official interior decorator to the russian mob (and saudi royalty and dictators everywhere... )

put on some sunglasses, and go check it out HERE.

project preview (in process)

our responsibilities as a decorator include not only conceptualizing a room, but also troubleshooting the process along the way. today we visited one of our workrooms to review some pieces in progress, in order to ensure that the end results are just as pretty as originally planned.

the overall concept of this project is sort of "trad meets rad"- combining both traditional and modern elements in adventurous and colorful ways for our hip and modern client, and her family.

for a long blank wall in the client's living room, we've opted for panelized handpainted chinoiserie wall covering (yes, you've seen them in a prior "project preview" post, and will see them again once the panels go up- any day!). in front of the panels, we are pairing a sleek and modern 8 foot polished brass parson's table (in process at a metal fabricator) with a pair of more traditional cerule base benches:
here's the elevation of the living room wall, incorporating the benches, initially presented to the client:
pretty, no? we think it strikes the right balance between modern and traditional. we also wanted to dial back the femininity of the wall panels by pairing them with more masculine surface textures, like the polished brass table, zebra skin (cow hide) chosen for the seat cushions and ebonized wood with antique bronze nailheads on the bases of the benches, (not upholstered as the workroom's sample).

so today, we were very pleased when we visited the workroom for a progress check. we were also able to make any last minute adjustments needed, and after laying out the zbra print cow hides, we eliminated the top row of nail heads on the seats- seemed too busy- but other than that we couldn't be happier with the in-progress results:
we are looking forward to the finished product, and we'll share that, as well as some more in progress items, as we go!