only 96 days shopping days left...

yo santa,

contrary to what you might hear from my dad, or my sister mona (she's such a snitch), i have been very, very, very good this year and have hardly destroyed anything, so this* is what i would like you to bring me for xmas this year:
yes, i will only use it once, and thereafter studiously ignore it as if it didn't exist, but hey- i deserve it.

kthxbai,

richard the cat
ps- bring two- my daddy forgot my birthday.

pps- NO substitutions please- i will know if my dad draws on a cardboard box with marker, and then someone will pay.

ppps- include the chihuahua, but make it a live one- i need a new playtoy...


*white webb intaglio dog cat pavillion, available thru hollyhock inc., west hollywood

don't look back (or in a mirror)

"future historians will marvel, that at the end of the fossil fuel era- even as oil was running out- the last few drops of crude were being wasted producing millions of hideous, land-fill clogging, cheap plastic holiday lawn ornaments" he thinks to himself as he stuffs a 100% polyester $9.99 doggy halloween costume into his red shopping cart, blissfully unaware of his own hypocrisy ...

i'm a mac, i'm a pc.

(i miss the old super-gay mac logo)

this morning, m21 was perusing one of the non-design blogs he frequents (he won't say which blog, as given the current rancorous political climate it might cause heads to explode, and we are a design blog, not a head-exploding blog), and said blog had an interesting post on how mac usage on their blog had exploded almost 50% in the past two 1/2 years, from 20% to 29%

it inspired m21 to do some checking on his own stats, and yup- people are switching over to macs alright. last summer, we had about 29% mac users, and this summer it's up to 36%. we knew we'd skew higher then the average population because we are a design blog, and macs are, well, more designer-y...

admittedly, m21's non-scientific sampling ain't to be taken seriously- with our readership, just one of you making the switch could make the numbers jump! ;-) still, it took us aback a bit- over a third of our readers? we never imagined it would be that high, given the stats of overall computer sales say mac users comprise about 10% of the market. (fyi- our iphone readership was almost zero a year ago and is now a little over 1%).

we love macs, and basically, it's all we've ever known, computer-wise. to our highly refined and sublimly tasteful aesthetic *sniff, sniff* ;-) the windows operating system is just looks kinda clunky, and visually unappealing, so we couldn't ever imagine changing on aesthetics alone (we're taking interface, not machine- there are some groovy looking PC's out there). we've sacrificed learning autoCAD because of our mac addiction- admittedly a bit of a drawback in the interiors field- but other then that, m21 loves his mac. a lot. (though he desperately needs a new, shiny, faster one- but isn't that the case with ALL technology)?

what say y'all? are you mac or a PC? and why, or why not?

ps: autodesk, maker of autoCAD, why the heck are you not cross platform? architect and designers like moi, lurve their macs, and we *are* your market- seems to me, you are missing the boat on this one. big time.

what's up buttercup? (hd buttercup shopping trip, pt. 2)

boy, how time flies- two weeks ago, we posted pt 1 of our shopping trip to hd buttercup, promising a sequel soon to come! with a three day holiday weekend, followed by another 3 day weekend necessitated by an out of town photoshoot for sunset magazine in between, and with our normal job to do as well- several client meetings, paperwork, floorplans & a bazillion phone calls, m21 finds himself finally getting around to it! (and yes, we can't lie - there is some mindless facebooking and tweeting in the mix too). seriously though- how do other bloggers do it? blogging 7 days a week is a full-time job! how is it possible with careers, family and friends (not to mention twitter & FB too)? 'fess up, folks- m21 wants to know your secret!

anyhoo, back to buttercup- first thing m21 noticed when he walked in the door was this great display of huge orange ceramic planters, vases and pots- great prices for such large and striking pieces. for example, the 4 foot tall urns in the second photo were $595.00- not such a bad price for something that would be *the* showpiece of your patio! or the pair, flanking an entry? yum!

another thing hd buttercup has in abundance is all kinds of reclaimed stump and burl tables, (long term readers know m21 loves 'em burly). all are extremely well priced in comparison to other outlets, some have ridiculously cheap prices (the sculptural pedestal in pic #3 is only $315.00, the end table in pic #2 is only $135.00)!
just because m21 likes to focus on the fabulous and unusual, doesn't mean buttercup is bereft of more traditional decorating items, like these fab tufted velvet barrel back chairs, marked at $1295 each, or the huge sunburst mirror (blurred to protect the innocent shopper caught in reflection).

in our last post we warned that some items were one-time only imports, so buttercup is definitely not for the hesitant shopper. a while back they had dozens of thesechic lacquer pedestals in an array colors; now just a few stragglers remain at $290.00 each.

we would imagine these stripe veneered pieces are a similar story- once they are gone, they are gone. it's not often maison21 sees something he really hasn't been exposed to before, and outside of a few high-end, one-off creations seen in design mags, striped furniture would be one of them. these are inexpensive too, so would be super chic in a girl's or teenager's room (console is $530.00). love the grosgrain fabric lined drawers on the desk, too... (yes, that your decorator's flip-floppy, pasty white foot in the shot- gotta love my working uniform).

last, our favorite item from our visit, were these ginormous 3-4 foot raffia chandeliers- chic and ethnic, with a bit of dr. suess- love on top of love for them. of course you'd need a biiigggggg space- maybe a restaurant? but again, lots of style for the price- $850.00 each if we remember correctly.
thanks for sticking with us for part 2, and would you believe there is still more? haven't got to the starck carpet outlet yet!

hot and cold

nuthin' better then a cool pool on a hot day!