worth it?

1.6 mil at phillips de pury & co for a circa 1988 marc newsom lockheed lounge (4/30/09).
worth it? maison1 says "hell yeah!", but then again, we don't have 1.6 million anything ('cept maybe dog hairs on our floors), so the point is moot...

what do y'all think? krazazy? or wise investment?

via supertouch

revisiting old friends...

way back when, maison21 told you how he practically had a starring role in last year's sex in the city movie (he sold a statue to someone who consigned it to somebody else, who rented it to the production designer of the SATC movie- see? practically a starring role). well, we were recently reminded of another one of our former objet's starring roles (again, slightly third hand)...

you see, we are in the process of freshening up the living room of the atelier- we figured since our living room's current incarnation was recently featured in a magazine, it was time for a new look in the hopes of luring another sucka, magazine into publishing the update... don't hold your breath for that update anytime soon either- due budget constraints, we are doing all the painting ourselves (both walls and new art), as well as some minor refinishing and reupholstery, so we are predicting fall 2012 for the final unveiling- unless a major publication wishes to chronicle the process (and underwrite it)- then we'll be done ASAP!

an image from "modern glamour"- we'll move right in, thank you...

anyhoo, we were moving some of our bazillions of stacks of really heavy design books out of the room in preparation, when we took a lil break to go through a couple of them (see why our project is going to take along time?). one of the books we paused to peruse was a contemporary design classic- "modern glamour" by everyone's favorite ball gown wearing decorator, ms. kelly wearstler, and we were surprised by how good most of the images in the book still looked. ms. wearstler often gets blamed for so many of the high-contrast, high-concept monstrosities that are often (unfortunately) labeled "hollywood regency", so it's hard to remember that she is a case of "often imitated, never duplicated". yeah, she may have spawned many of the overplayed trends we are so often regretfully exposed to, but if you look at her original work, you'll see how bad all those imitations are in comparison to the original.

more from modern glamour- timelessly pretty...

enough about kelly, though- back to our favorite subject: us! the reason behind this post was to show you one of the first items we once owned that later went on to greater fame and fortune, so if you get inspired to pull out your own copy of modern glamour and look on pages xvi - xvii of the introduction, at the photo of the chic yellow chair- we are fairly certain (though not 100% sure) it is part of a pair that once graced the m21 atelier. we sold them to a local dealer (sans cushions), who in turn, sold them to kelly (again, allegedly). the time frame is right, and we know she frequents the shop we sold them to, so...

what do we think? same chairs, different color? or is maison21 just desperately trying to name drop in hopes of adding a little "modern glamour" to his own name?

my last meal.

here in los angeles, we are fortunate enough to be blessed with a plethora of amazing restaurants- it seems as if there is something new and noteworthy opening weekly, and frankly, it's too much to keep up with (at least for an old dude like m21). so that's why maison21 likes to return to the tried and true, and though there are dozens of LA restaurants m21 loves, there are a few he happily returns to over and over again- foremost among them is JAR- quite possibly m21's favorite restaurant in los angeles. seriously- if m21 was on death row, suzanne tracht's pot roast would be on his last meal menu, along with her crunchy and savory fries. delish. jar's sophisticated and timeless decor doesn't hurt either- warm wood paneling, fabulous mid-century influenced black saucer lights, and cool abstract art- hasn't dated a bit in the 8 years it's been open.
a tip for the uninitiated: sit at the bar- margo pours a mean martini- and if you are with a friend, order the pot roast and the off menu burger- split both, and you have a meal made in heaven (or made for death row, as the case may be). yum, yum, yum.

* all images courtesy of the JAR website.

** the jar experience is greatly enhanced by dining with wonderful friends ;-)

yum and yummier (sometimes the internets is not our friend)

maison21 received the latest decorati newsletter, and we were loving all the pretty images of demilune tables and sideboards presented. love, love LOVE a demilune- the shape works in spaces where no other piece of furniture will fit- like our own upstairs hall: it's just wide enough that a piece of furniture is necessary so it doesn't look bare, but not really wide enough for anything to obscure it's functionality as a passage. currently it's bare of anything but a mirror, and it is DRIVING US CRAZY.

this demilune sideboard jumped out at us, and while it won't work in our situation at all, we are completely smitten:

marly demilune by jean de merry

when we clicked on the marly demilune, at the bottom of the page other recommendations popped up, and while not a demilune, we fell instantly in love with the below nightstand, and now hate our current pair. that was the last page we visited on decorati, lest we start to despise every single item in our home- sometimes the internets is not our friend...

artifacts international dolce nightstand

the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright creepy (king of pop week at m21, part 4)

we've had one last post to do about our visit to the world's creepiest yard sale (also known as the exhibition of furnishings and memorabilia from michael jackson's neverland estate), and we've been putting it off for almost a week. why? because what we have left to post kinda freaks us out, and some it is just too disturbing to be funny- the kajillions of statues and paintings of children, and the acres and acres of video and arcade games, all show a man with a creepy obsession with childhood, and that's deeply bothersome. whether or not you believe the allegations that swirl around MJ, the fetishization of childhood innocence by a grown man is just kinda gross. no matter how bad one's childhood was, it can't be fixed by trying to reclaim a second childhood as an adult. looking at the world with childlike wonder is one thing, living out a childhood fantasy life as an adult, is another.

almost as disturbing as all the child imagery and games, are the many, many lifesize latex figures that populated the show- some of children but most of adults, and again they speak of a very troubled man- maybe someone who thinks that dealing with a doll is easier than dealing with actual people (shades of lars and the real girl, but without the comedy, just the pathos).

so we knew in advance to expect tons of bronze "children playing" statues, but we were actually shocked at how many of them there actually were...

creepy and poorly executed- are these children? midgets? troll babies?

and more inside...

so many of these statues suffer from some weird big-head disease

tons of these kitschy pseudo-nostalgic photo/paintings of children- ick.

room after room of video and arcade games. we won't bore you with them all.

why would a grown man have a mighty morphin power ranger costume? have you ever watched an episode? if you are not a 7 year old boy, it is excruciating...

this jacket covered in children's names struck us as particularly inappropriate.

creepy clown doll number one

and two

the lady from murder she wrote?

soooo creepy. carrot top as a child?

the boogey man...

the stuff of which nightmares are made...

what ever happened to baby jane? eeeek!

ok- that's all. we are done with neverland for ever. excuse us while we go take a silkwood shower...