a horse of a different stripe (thanks, shelterpop!)

m21 just wanted to thank writer amy preiser, for remembering his love of zebras and including him in a piece on the very same animal for AOL's shelterpop blog (reprinted on ebay's insidesource blog as well).

thanks, shelterpop! now go check the article out!

love.

this crazy pop modern meets beidermeier pedestal sofa popped up as an ad on our maison21 facebook page, and it was love at first sight. m21 lives for quirky pieces that combine the best of two opposite worlds, in this case, fine biedermeier antiques and 60's pop modern styling, and this unique sofa charmed the pants off him immediately (normally, that takes a cocktail or two ;-).

we know nothing of the austrian company who manufactures this lovely item, gaisbauer furniture (their larger oeuvre seems to be more traditional biedermeier repros), or if gaisbauer even has representation for those of us living in the united states, but we thought we'd share anyway.

love.

ps- if you visit gaisbauer's facebook page, you'll note the sofa has a contrasting patterned fabric on the back. ick. we had to change that in photoshop asap, so we could fully express our love. apologies for taking liberties with your product, mr. or ms gaisbauer furniture person.

shopping on beverly blvd: emmerson troop

when we last visited beverly blvd, we took you to a fab store called orange; today, we visit their next door neighbor, emmerson-troop.

like orange, emmerson-troop has a selection of vintage treasures and a few edited items of their own design, but their store has a bit more of an organic, californa vibe- being a california boy, we love that. (it's also bit ironic, since william emmerson, the store's owner and designer, was born in london- i guess the california vibe is international!).

m21's inner drag queen LOVES these witty cigarette tables with giant diamonds as table tops (an emmerson-troop original, available in several finishes). we see one in a ladies bath, next to an chic, modern, free-standing tub...

love this pair of blanc de chine lamps with some great custom shades. this style of lamp is a favorite 'classique' for m21- we have several in the 'permanent collection' here at the atelier (one in our work area, originally was our grandmother's) and they occasionally pop up in our marketplace as well!


we love these multi-globe vintage chandeliers, of which ET has several on the sales floor. the top one is *perfect* for a residential project on our drawing board, should it ever progress to reality. if not, maybe it's perfect for the atelier, too- we love it that much!


a selection of chandeliers and sconces.


how chic are these henry moore lithograph triptychs? again, we want!


m21 is mad for the vintage metalwork of phillip and kelvin la verne, particularly their etched bronze chinoiserie pieces like this coffee table, the perfect blend of traditional and modern, brutal and refined, and functional yet decorative. the laverne's work was never mass produced (limited editions) so is the kind of timeless furniture that will always remain both fashionable and valuable.

a bit of what we consider the store's "california vibe", exemplified by these driftwood poofs and a screen of emmerson's own design.

EMMERSON TROOP INC.
8111 BEVERLY BOULEVARD, LOS ANGELES, CA., 90048
TEL.: 323-653-9763 FAX: 323-653-5445
EMAIL: info@emmersontroop.com
MON - SAT, 11:00AM - 6.00PM

the name game (introducing 'ted')

a big thank you to everyone for all the great name suggestions! so many good ones, i wish i had a pack of puppies to name! oliver was by far and away the most popular suggestion, and i loved it for it's little orphan "oliver twist" connotations, but alas, it's also a popular name here in the 'hood, and with a couple other olivers running around, i didn't want little guy to suffer the indignity of being known as "oliver m" at the dog park; plus, as a child, yours truly was obsessed with "green acres" reruns on tv, so i also didn't want myself to suffer the indignity of calling out his name in lisa douglas's hungarian accent, "all-lee-vahr", as i knew i eventually would... :-)

naming him would have be so easy if he was a girl- he would have been "sister bertrille" in a heartbeat 'cause of those bat ears. c'mon, it's not just me who sees the resemblance, is it?

we literally tried dozens of names from the absurd (joey ramone) to the exotic (francois & juan carlos), and had a great time doing it, but knew in the end his name would reveal itself. and it did- as little guy was snuggled in the crook of my arm with his head laying on my chest, i remarked to him that it was like sleeping with a real life little teddy bear, and there it was, his name, revealed:

ted.

well, theodore actually, but i'd imagine i'll only call him by his full name when he's doing something bad, like peeing on the car door instead of hopping into the car (twice, now), and let's just not talk about him peeing in a client's kitchen today (yes, ted takes meetings, and in my defense, the client invited him, fully aware that his manners aren't that polished yet).

an instance where the use of "theodore" would be appropriate: "um, i'm a lapdog, not a hiking dog, and i absolutely *refuse* to take another step!" the other walkers along the trail at runyon canyon were highly amused at the man trying to lure his dog up the hill with liver treats...

so he's officially ted, as in my little teddy bear, tedders, teddums, teddy boy and all the other disgusting baby talk variations i can come up with. thanks again for all the fun suggestions- maybe we can do this again in a year or two if ted gets a little sister!

ted
aka
theodore may

back to biznets (mostly)

maison21 must admit due to recent events, he's been ignoring his biznet somewhat (with sincere apologies to my clients, FYI). so this weekend, we got things back on track by putting in a call to our inner junque whisperer® to come out to help us with a current project. our IJW® obliged us by producing (amongst other things), a set of these fabulous hand-carved faux bois chairs for a client's dining room. they may be a little rough around the edges now, but once their finish is refreshed, and we add a fun and colorful modern fabric, they will be showstoppers- you'd never know we obtained them from a sketchy source. we guarantee they'll look like a million bucks, but at a significantly lower price tag! (side note- in our deep dark past we worked at a furniture showroom that sold a similar, if not identical chair, and we purchased FOUR for a third of the cost of what a single chair sold for waaaay back when- can't beat that!)

this is one of my favorite things about a design project- finding inexpensive, yet cool, old things and rehabbing them to complete chicness. these wrecks will look great- trust.

the quirky hand-carved faux bois detailing was what sent us over the moon when we saw these chairs. pretty darn unusual, and since several other elements of the room are being ordered straight from a catalog, it's important to have some standout vintage style happening.

we're using 3 of our faux-bois chairs around a saarinen style tulip table (to keep things feeling modern) and instead of the fourth chair, we are using an upholstered bench along a wall. space is tight in the open plan kitchen/dining area so a settee style bench is more versatile to squeeze in more than four guests when needed, and also an upholstered piece along the one small wall of the space visually looks a bit more finished than a single chair.

this photo is the original saarinen table, offered by knoll, but we'll probably use a reproduction version for budget reasons. hopefully NOT the ikea version- we have it in our own kitchen, and hate it. it's wobbly and if you even *look* at the laminate wrong, it peels off...

a snippet of our floor plan to give you an idea of the tight space we are working with. you can tell just from the floor plan that a banquette style bench works better then a single chair on the side of the table next to the wall.

to keep things feeling mixed up, above our modern table and the quirky faux bois chair/bench combo, we are hanging a big ol' french reproduction lantern from wisteria, a total bargain at @249.99. we first saw the lantern on brooke's blog way back when, and thought it was one of those "more dash than cash" items which can really help make a room sing, so we filed away it away for future reference (and when we say "sing", we mean sing on a budget- it's not so hard to make a room sing when money is no object!)

the bargain wisteria lantern- see it in action @velvet & linen. i think it's interesting how a contemporary antique reproduction can be used in a traditional way by brooke, and then used in a more modern way by moi. decorating is like cooking- you can give the exact same ingredients to 6 different chefs, and somehow each will turn out completely unique, yet equally tasty dishes!

last, though we spent a good portion of the weekend getting caught up on work, we of course spent lots of quality time with our new friend. many of you have written to ask how we are getting along (and to see if he has a name yet), and the answer is, we are getting along famously- he couldn't be a bigger love bug, and sadly outside of "good boy", he doesn't have a name yet. it will come, in time.

he-who-is-yet-to-be-named on our unmade bed, meaning richard is *under* same bed- he's still scared of the new guy...

what other blogger will show you pictures of himself in his jammies? after we went outside sunday morning, we crawled back into bed together, me to read, new guy to nap. he slept for almost an hour curled up against me, with his head on my shoulder. luckily my camera was on the nightstand so i could snap a self-portrait to immortalize the occasion, bed hair and all... i've been joking that i should name him 'tissue' because he's been so good at helping to dry my tears!