touring the LCDQ with #blogtourLA, with special thanks to dragonette ltd. & mecox gardens!

will taylor of bright bazaar  and i, captured by the awesome justina blakeney, LA stylist/blogger/jungalow queen!

i was privileged to spend a good chunk of time with the kids from modenus #blogtourLA last week and even had the chance to lead them on a mini-walking tour of the la cienega design quarter (though we were only able to visit a fraction of the fabulous showrooms. apologies to everyone we couldn't visit- next time!)

me, speechifying (a brief history of the LCDQ).

we started our day with a breakfast at the beautiful walker-zanger tile and stone showroom, co-hosted by architectural digest, where these reclaimed wood hex tiles, rocked my world!

then i took the bloggers on a brief walking tour of the LCDQ, with the first stop at the beautiful mecox gardens los angeles showroom, whose fearless leader, dave benbow, put a spread of frozen margaritas and fresh made tacos! thanks dave!

photo by gudy herder, my new spanish friend who also did a post on mecox here.

mecox detail from stagetecure

i was delighted to be reunited with my dear friend, ashlina kaposta, the decorista! nothing better than drinking margies with your friends and getting to call it "work"!

some special LA friends joined in the fun as well. ginna christensen, of the amazing rug company 27ground and i are smiling here because we have a maison21-27ground rug collection in the works. still in the planning stages, but i am over the moon!

mecox vignette by bright bazaar 

after lunch at mecox, we moved on to dragonette ltd (one of my favorite vintage galleries with a section of the best of the 20th century) for dessert and bubbly!

yum!

dragonette vignette, courtesy of lynne byrne of decor arts now

27 ground's ginna christensen, blogger and fabric designer, typhanie peterson and i chatting with patrick dragonette, our host extraordinaire, picture by my coconspirator, jill seidner of material girls, who helped host the tour. 

i swear, the bathroom at dragonette is nicer than most people's living rooms!

my favorite painting at dragonette, captured by veronika miller, guru of blogtourLA and modenus.

the blortour gang moved on to kelly wearstler's after this, but i had to head home to check in on ted and richard, but i met back up with them for a fun-filled oktoberfest dinner at teh new poggenpohl showroom on beverly:

the blogtour gang with apologies to ronique & susan who got cropped out of this photo. :-(

i'm hanging with the #blogtourLA kids today! (plus cute animals)

so be sure to follow along on instagram & twitter for all teh fun.

in the meantime, here's a lil ted and richard action to make you smile.


ps-  if you'd like to help more homeless animals have wonderful lives like ted & richard, please consider sponsoring me in "the race for the rescues", benefitting the amazing molly's mutts and meows, who saved ted (and friday the pit bull).

october events in southern california!

good gosh almighty- fall is here with a BANG! so many great events happening over the next few weeks:

i will be reuniting with veronika miller of modenus as she brings her signature phenomenon, blogtour, to los angeles for the first time! so excited for this opportunity to hang out with my social media friends from around the globe. jill seidner of material girls and i, as blogtour london alumni, will be hosting the #blogtourLA gang on wednesday for a brief visit to the la cienega design quarter and the west hollywood design district, with hosted stops at dragonette and mecox gardens. partay!

then there is the premier of the westedge design fair, sure to be chock full of the best in cutting edge design. i know that some of my favorite lighting peeps, zia-priven, have been working on something BIG and special to decorate barker hanger during the event running october 3-6, so can't wait for that!

and the following week, look for me at one of my favorite events, the los angeles antiques art + design show at its new location in culver city, oct 9-13.  i'll be stopping in over the weekend for a panel or two, but will for sure be at the star studded opening night to benefit teh decorative arts and design council at LACMA, a great cause!

and in the midst of all this madness, i'll be part of a panel on "career blogging" at design camp orange county, oct 9-11 (i'll be focusing on blogging to brand and build a design career. i might have some experience in that arena. or not). speaking at 9am on the 11th will be interesting, since my brain doesn't turn on 'til noon, so who knows what i'll say?) there are just a couple seats left for camp so GET ON IT!  ;-)

then, on the 14th, i sleep. ;-)

design camp orange county winner!

so exited to announce the winner of the design camp orange county giveaway- donna p. of "d for design"!  i've been following donna on facebook for a while now, so it will be awesome to finally connect in person!

and if you were disappointed to not be a winner, never fear-  a lil birdie told me that a couple of seats may still be open for october 9-11th, so if you love design, and want to learn, be entertained and network your booty off, sign up here!

tom scheerer decorates

m21 doesn't often get tongue-tied- seriously, i am never at a loss for words- but i have to admit i did get a little starstruck earlier this evening at the beautiful hollyhock showroom during the book signing for "tom scheerer decorates". i mean, i knew i respected the man for his amazing relaxed, yet decorative interiors (no small feat), and for our shared love of bentwood furniture and saarinen tables, but i didn't expect him to be all nice and tall and handsome and personable and stuff, so that threw me off my game a little bit (we talked hair products, you know, as you do at a book signing for a interior design legend in the making). you know it's funny, somehow i always expect my fellow designers to be a little diva-esque when they are also super talented like tom, but when i've met those designers whose work i admire in person, to a one, they've all been lovely, genuine people.  i guess that sort of accessibility translates into good work.

anyhoo, i suggest, no, i order you to buy mr. scheerer's new book- it's all kinds of awesome, and mimi read does a fantastic job of putting words to the pretty pictures. you won't regret your purchase, decorator's honor...

ps- thanks to vendome press for sending me my review copy (which is now signed- yay!). i woulda bought it anyway, but it's always nice to get a package in the mail.  ;-)

pps- thanks to max humphrey of burnham design for letting me press him into being my photographer tonight. see? talented designers really are nice people too!