someone to swatch over me...

so here we are, at it again, swatching our little hearts out in the search for the perfect wall color!

it looks like pandemonium from the picture, but it's not- we always tell our clients never to worry about wall color because it is the one thing that can be quickly, easily, and (relatively) inexpensively changed. you've got one shot at picking the right fabric for a sofa, but paint? swatch until your heart's content! also, because paint colors are truly infinite, we pick our carpet and fabrics first, and paint color last. if you can't find a color that works in the thousand options of a fan deck, you can always start custom mixing to come up with the perfect color of your dreams.  and if the color of your dreams turns into an icky nightmare, you can always break out the brushes and start over! not so much with a 10 grand sofa...

we currently have 10 colors up on the walls, and we've applied the swatches to three walls (one not shown) because light hits every wall differently, and in rooms with limited windows, or windows on just one wall, that means some areas on the opposite side of the room, paticularly corners, will always be darker, so we have to make sure the color works everywhere. the first 6 swatches we placed to get our client's reaction, then, when we had a handle on the direction we'd like to go, we added 3 more, and today, because none of those three were quite right, we put up our first custom mix, attempting to hit the sweet spot between benjamin moore bridgewater tan #1096 and oakwood manor #1095 (far left, bottom). this process consumes a bit of time, but very little money, and is totally worth it to find the color we think will make the room sing.

we'll have to return once more to find out how our custom mix looks after it's dried and settled, but we think we are on the right track- we'll keep you posted!  (last note: paint can continue to lighten/and or darken, for up to 48 hours after it is applied, so don't panic if you put it up, and it's not what you expected. wait a day or two, then make up your mind).

now here's some mood music to paint by- the incomparable miss sarah vaughn, singing "someone to swatch over me":




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good swatch, bad swatch...

the name and the appearance of a tiny chip in a fan deck can be very misleading. for instance take benjamin's moore's "driftscape tan" which is neither a driftwood nor a tan, but rather a sickly purple (we could tell it had a purple-ish undertone from the chip, but never expected this. it was worse in person, trust).


you can see that the options of our swatches were quite varied, but several very different options can help one visualize the directions a room can take (there were actually MORE swatches then the selections shown, and in the end, the choice was clear to the client). though it goes against logic, having a clunker in the bunch- like driftscape tan- can help narrow choices in a good way. sometimes having something to react against helps to facilitate a decision for a different color. (remember, there are no mistakes when swatching- it's all gonna get covered up in the end).

so just a timely reminder to swatch, swatch, swatch before you paint, paint, paint, and if you are still in doubt after all that swatching, buy a quart of your favorite swatch or two, and paint a whole wall (don't worry about neatness- that comes once the real painting happens). it will tell you what you need to know before you the go to the time and expense of painting an entire room. a small investment in a quart can save hundreds of dollars in heartache! also, let your paint selections settle for 24 hours before you decide- some paints continue to change color as they dry completely.

last tip, pick your paint color last in your decorating scheme timeline- fabrics and carpets come in limited palettes, but paint is virtually infinite- there is always another color and another company to choose from (which is one of the reasons it can be so damn hard to pick- too many choices!)

decorating from the hardware store...

maison21's bff, talented graphic designer, rudy calvero, recently carved out a home office in his guest bedroom, and used a couple little DIY touches we thought you might enjoy...

first, m21 and rudy schlepped to ikea, where rudy bought 5 billy bookcases for his art books and reference materials. lined up, they almost look like built-ins, but for a fraction of the price. rudy wanted to light them from above to showcase his collections, but wasn't so thrilled with the shelf lights at ikea, so instead went to the hardware store and bought an industrial clamplight for each bookcase. looks great, right? for pennies too. it also helps that rudy used his trained graphic designer's eye to create pleasing compositions on each shelf. there is an art to arranging things like bookshelves and tablescapes and while it helps to have an artist's eye, it also helps to just keep arranging and rearranging until you like the end results- practice really does make perfect! m21 can attest that rudy had plenty o'practice with the rearrangin' as back in the day, rudy & maison21 were roommates for many, many years, and our idea of fun was to have a couple of cocktails and rearrange our living room, compulsively editing and moving each every stick of furniture, lighting, art and accessories, until the room was just right! oh, the words exchanged over the placement of a vase on a credenza! hey- everybody has their own idea of fun, and arguing about *pretty* happens to be ours. don't judge, k? ;-)


next, rudy solved the problem of having to many wall boxes for sconces and no budget to purchase a set of matching cool set of lights, either new or vintage, by making his own! he bought stock porcelain sockets, screw in y-adapters and some tube lights- again, all from the hardware store- and made is own funky fixtures. (make sure your sconces are hooked up to a dimmer if you try this, otherwise it's like staring at the surface of the sun!) tip- sets of 4 cool vintage sconces are like the holy grail of vintage lighting. if you ever run across a set, DO NOT hesitate to buy them, even if they aren't your first choice to use in your home. chances are after searching for another 6 months, that first set will look better and better and you'll regret not having picked them up! and if you do find a better set, you can probably resell the first without a problem- they really are *that* hard to find...


have a great weekend y'all, and maybe you'll try some DIY projects of your own! we'd love to hear about them if you do!

up to my old tricks (a repeat of a quick n' easy decorating tip)

much as we'd like, not every project has the budget for custom window treatments (sorry about the use of that dreaded phrase, hobac- we know you don't approve ;-), but just because our budget doesn't allow for our preferred option, it doesn't mean we can't fake it a bit, and dress up some off the rack curtains to look as if they were custom made (this way we can free up money to splurge elsewhere in the project too!) we've shared this trick with you once before but we hope you'll forgive us if we share it with you again since we just used it today for a client (one of the last finishing touches for our melrose hill bungalow living room. the curtains themselves went up a while back, but we took our time to find just the right trim- sometimes, it's worth the wait to get the details juuust right). the results look kinda great, we think; also, this really is one of our favorite fast n' easy decortin' tricks, and it's "sew easy", anyone can do it, so why not share it again?
m21 selected some pottery barn "peyton" linen grommet top curtains (on sale + trade discount = bargain). some people seem to have a deep seated hatred of grommet tops, but m21 thinks they are clean, unfussy and modern, and for the choices offered in off the rack styles, to our eye they are the best alternative for transistional to modern decor. to dress the panels, we added some vintage trim (new old-stock purchased off ebay), which we simply attached with iron-on hemming tape (the sew-easy part. no sewing= yay)! the vintage quality of the tape we selected really helps soften the straight outta the package look of the peyton panels, and we purchased enough of the tape to trim some custom pillows as well, which will help tie our ready-made curtains into the custom look of the entire room (and yes, we'll share the pillows with you too, when our workroom finishes them up, so you can see how the entire project all came together).
totally easy, yet totally chic, m21 hopes- what do y'all think?

m21's 72 hour guest room makeover

yikes! last week, m21 was honored to find out an intern from the nearby belgian consulate would be staying with us for 3 months, but our guest room was hardly ready for any guest, let alone a long term one- it was basically empty, not even a bed, so we had to start from scratch to furnish it. to make the whole situation even trickier, m21 found out on monday that he was having a guest who was arriving on thursday, leaving us only 72 hours to transform our extra bedroom from drearily empty to fully furnished fabulousness! plus, m21 had to try to make it as chic as possible- don't want anyone reporting back that american decorators aren't as good as those from the continent!

the entry vestibule of our guest room, accessorized with items pulled from other areas of the atelier. we didn't repaint this tiny anteroom, as the blue-gray matches the hall that leads into into it. you might be thinking that a bowl of fruit is an odd accessory for a bedroom, but m21 likes to make sure guests from different timezones have water as well as something to nibble on, should they they wake up jet-lagged at 4 in the morning; that way they don't have to stumble downstairs and rummage through a strange kitchen to stop their tummies from rumbling...

needless to say in addition to the time constraint, budget was also an issue in our guestroom transformation. in the past, our trusty aerobed is where we've consigned our guests (hey, if you are staying here for free, you can hardly complain, right?) but an aerobed is hardly suitable for an extended stay, so we knew we'd have to lay out several hundred bucks for a bed from ikea; which in turn, meant that all the other furnishings had to be cheap, cheap, cheap. (did we mention they should be cheap?) so armed with little more then sweat and fairy dust, m21 set out to furnish his guest room on a budget and a deadline!

our starting point for the project was paint, and you've heard this next bit of advice from a million sources, but m21 is going to repeat it again: when decorating, paint provides the the biggest impact for the least amount of money. normally when conceptualizing a room, m21 likes to start with a piece of furniture for his inspiration; every designer is approaches conceptualization differently- some start with a fabric or wallpaper, or art or a treasured accessory; our old boss always started with a rug, and we once attended a lecture once where a very prominent decorator said she started with nature, a leaf or a stone found on the property (which we thought was odd- most "big" job sites are nothing but dirt in the planning stages so who'd want to start with that?), but anyway, you get the idea, and in a fairly radical departure for us, instead of starting with a piece of furniture, we started this time with paint (heck- we didn't have any idea of what furniture we'd end up with anyway!)

the room was stark white with one blue-gray wall to tie it to the entry vestibule. since maison21 is NOT a fan of an accent wall and has never been sure why he painted it that way to begin with, the gray had to go! (shown here primered over). we also knew that white walls were probably not the best choice so we would need to repaint; the room will be sparsely furnished, and while white walls look great with a minimalist look if the pieces are all of museum quality, but with our planned mix of thrift store and ikea, they would probably just make it all look junky and cold... :-)

we also started off in a way we'd NEVER recommend for others- rather than testing out swatches on the wall to see how they will look in the space and react with the light (truly, the only way to find the right color), we just purchased a gallon straight from a tiny swatch in our fan deck, and went for it. to make things worse, it was a color we've never used before, so we were really taking a chance! but sometimes rules are made to be broken in these types of unusual situations; plus we are confident enough in our mad decoratin' skillz that we knew whatever color we picked, we could work with it, or even around it, if necessary.

when we paint, we roll on our wall color almost to the corners, then freehand the edges- tape is for sissies! just kidding we use tape all the time, but when dealing with the ceiling, it really is easier to freehand a straight line- just use a 1-2 inch angled brush, fully loaded with paint, and go! make sure the brush is of very good quality though, or fahgeddaboutit- use tape in that case.

we choose benjamin moore #1183 camelback, hoping for a classic masculine camel color as backdrop for our guest, but what we got when we put it up on the walls was more toffee then camel- almost too dark- but what the heck, the room is sunny enough to handle dark walls, and in a happy accident kind of way, we even liked it better then what we had originally envisioned (not that we really had a choice at this point with only 48 hours until our guest arrived- we were living with it, no matter what!) oh and btw, in the interest of saving time, we sprung for the premium one coat coverage base- which was total BS- it took us 3 coats to cover, same as always, when painting a saturated color over white! next time we'll save the bucks and use the cheap base.

while we were waiting for the paint to dry between coats, we then hit the local thrift stores to see what we could rustle up for furniture! at our first stop, we picked up a big art glass floor vase (with some flowering branches, a floor vase is a great way of taking up space in a sparsely furnished room), and at our second stop, we picked up a pair of battered black 70's campaign-style chests, as well as a black and white ceramic lamp, and thus our theme was set- black and white was the order of the day! it would be pretty against our toffee walls (we hoped). we also picked up a vintage painting for $25 bucks- the colors were all wrong, but we could fix that with a coat of the same white paint we were using for the trim of the room. then off to ikea for a bed and mattress, and in the interest of saving money, instead of springing for an ikea platform bed to sit the mattress on, instead we purchased a box spring and a $19.99 black box spring cover with which to disguise it. not a perfect solution, but cute enough, and far cheaper then buying an ikea bed we didn't really want anyway!

we had a fantasy about refinishing these chests, but 72 hours is not enough time for that kind of decorating perfection, so we just cleaned them, then touched up the chips with a sharpie (it's a trick we learned from an professional antiques restorer, so it's not such a half-assed solution as it sounds). m21 finds that people get scared of the battered and damaged, but once you put a bunch of stuff on and around the less then perfect piece, the little scuffs and dents are never even noticed...

last, once we got everything all pulled together, we thought our black, white and camel (ok- toffee) scheme was a actually a little bland; not even the fresh flowers we had added provided enough pops of color... (tip- flowers *always* class up a joint; even a budget makeover gets a 'lifestyle" lift from them!) so we typed "rug" into craiglist to see if we could find something- anything- with a spot of color to help out. thank goodness we found a vintage danish rya rug located not so terribly far away. it had a lovely gradation of blue tones, which would work perfectly with our walls, and was the perfect size for our oddly shaped room. it was also a splurge on our budget, but sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet and buy the pretty, ya know? and talk about last minute- we literally purchased and spread it out with minutes to spare before our guest arrived! like our chests, rug wasn't in perfect condition, but it was clean and colorful, and since the bed would be covering a big chunk of it, it really didn't need to be flawless...

so are you ready for the reveal?

before:

and after:

not so bad we think, and the best part is our guest really likes it!

the painting in photo you may recognize, as we painted and posted about it last year; art glass floor vase we bought specifically for the room and filled it with papyrus snipped from our front yard; the chic vintage white chair we borrowed from a friend who had it tucked away in their garage; and the table we made with our own two hands when we took a woodworking class way back in the 90's- it's been stored in a closet for years, as it doesn't really go with our decor anymore, but we can't just get rid of it since we nearly lost a finger while making it! (not really, but we did discover while taking the class that table saws terrify us, so it easily *could* have happened... ;-)

nightstand ain't so bad cleaned up, is it? told ya so! same for rug! vintage ceramic lamp is topped with a black and silver target lampshade we bought about a dozen of while they were on clearance, many, many years ago; our stock is just about gone now, but talk about a well spent $3.99 (each). they sure are versatile!

the vintage painting was an ugly still life- we painted the whole thing black, including frame, then applied thin artist's tape for the lines and coated the canvas portion with the same white house paint (pratt and lambert "designer white") we used on the trim- all done on the floor of the bedroom while we were painting the walls- talk about multitasking! the duvet and pillows, we again picked up at our beloved target while they were on clearance a few years back (we purchased new white sheets and towels for our guest at target too; we think the thomas o'brien towels are surprisingly good quality for the price, and guests should always have plenty of clean white towels). on the nightstand are a stack of books, as well as a scented candle- m21 thinks reading material and a scented candle are musts in a guest room, in addition to the fluffy white towels and fresh flowers. we also like to provide a robe (pilfered from past vacation spots) for our guests to lounge in, because who has room in their luggage to pack a robe? but they sure are nice to have at your destination...

well, now y'all know why m21 was rather light in his posting last week- hard to type while holding a paint brush! whaddya think of our makeover? would y'all be brave enough to paint and redecorate 72 hours before a guest arrives? is maison21 a crazy fool for even attempting it?

a really black friday

m21's black friday purchase:'course, it's turned into stupid impulse buy saturday, as in m21's late night haste to purchase at home depot, he didn't get his primer tinted. duh. trying to paint a dark color over a white primer is insanity. we're going to go to the paint store down the street where we buy all our benjamin moore and pratt & lambert paints, and start over with a proper a proper tinted primer- just as we'd do with a client, when planning, not impulse, is the name of the game.

what dark color are we painting, you ask? darkest possible! bottom of the swatch, jet black. yup. black. m21 is painting what he euphemistically calls his powder room, a water closet off his laundry room. it's teeny-tiny (literally, a toilet and that's it) but we have a dramatic little lucite chandelier, and a dorothy draper-esque mirror in there already, so shiny black walls will look good (we hope). m21 is a bit concerned because the walls while not rough, have some hand plastering texture, and if it were a client, he might hesitate- but it ours, and it's tiny, so we are willing to experiment. it's only paint, after all.

of course, we're putting the primer waaaaaaaaay before the horse- the walls are in dreadful shape, so we have all sorts of prep work to do first. watch this space for results, but don't expect anything soon- we hope to have it finished in time for a black christmas!

makin' art with maison21 (filing for reorganzation, realized!)

egg beater, no. 4- m21's favorite painting in the whole wide world.

maison21's absolute favorite american painter, is hands down, stuart davis (1892– 1964). he would tie with picasso for our favorite artist EVER, except he was in no way as prolific as picasso, and let's face it- picasso invented modern art (we know, we vastly oversimplify, but hey, this is a decoratin' blog, not art history 101 ;-). stuart davis, while a personal hero, isn't quite in the same league as picasso (no one is, for that matter), but we adore his work, and would rather have one of his paintings hanging in our home than anyone else.

we love davis because of his bright colors and his fusion of cubism and graphic art styles. his work almost can almost seem trite today because it has been so often copied by the graphics, illustration and advertising industries so as to seem commonplace (watch a pepe le pew cartoon from the 1960's after viewing davis' work, and tell me they weren't influenced by by him). in fact, maison21 would consider davis to be the first pop artist, presaging warhol by decades.

yes, maison21 loves him some stuart davis:





so now, why is maison21 showing you all these fabulous masterworks? well, because a while back we wrote a post entitled "filing for reorganization", where we spoke of looking at the economic turndown as a positive, and now that design projects have slowed a bit, we hoped to use the spare time we find ourselves with to re-embrace doing some of the things we love- like painting. we stopped making art 3 or 4 years ago when we just didn't have the time any longer, and well, now we do- so no excuses...

we cleared out the garage of most of our inventory (except for the below table- it's so damn 70's chic we can't stand it, but even after lowering the price by 2/3 , it still remains in le garage, unsold (it would seem HOBAC and m21 are the only two people who "get" it in all it's chicness).
so using that glam table as a workspace (don't worry, we covered it) and keeping mr. davis in mind as our inspiration, we actually finished our first painting this weekend. we took a vintage water-damaged cardboard print of flowers in a vase, purchased because we liked the gesso frame it came in, and we transformed it (frame was a dated off-white gilt washed 1960's french provincial number, so we just busted out the white lacquer spray paint on it).
now we're not posting this to get compliments (swear), as we know that we aren't transforming the art world with our unique vision or anything. we ARE posting it because the process made us feel really good, and sometimes it's really easy to forget to take time to do stuff we love. we felt like we really accomplished something this weekend, other than worrying about swine flu or the housing crisis, and it felt great to just be "doing" rather than "thinking".

making something, whether it's a good meal, or a garden, or a painting, satisfies something basic and primeval within us, and maison21 highly recommends it- even if you are just gonna copy the work of someone else, like we did. so this week, if you have the time, m21 says make something, anything (a new recipe, a blog post, a craft project)- your soul will thank you!

do as i say, not as i do (maison21 kills a lucite pretty, so YOU don't have to)

maison21 should know better. really.

after google searches for "maison21" and "maison 21" (it's all one word btw, if you care), the number one way for people stumble across m21's blog is by googling "how to clean lucite" or "acrylic care" or "remove scratches from plexiglass". or any and all possible variations thereof; so of course it follows that our top visited post would be "i ♥ lucite: maison21 explains the care and feeding of one of his favorite materials" (and we do 'splain, so if you want to know, be sure to sheck out the post, k?).

so since maison21 is the de facto internet expert on cleaning and maintaining lucite, you think he might follow his own advice, right? like when we specifically, and at some great length, describe in our post how extremes of temperature will cause permanent damage to lucite, in the form of crazing and cloudiness- so keep the lucite from strong sunlight that might cause it to act as a magnifying lens and heat up. but noooooo- maison21 doesn't listen to himself. nope. he gives great advice to others, and turns around, and ignores it for himself.

at our outdoor pop-up store this past saturday, we dragged out a rather fab vintage lucite obelisk leg coffee table, and didn't think twice about leaving it for shoppers to check out. (you might wonder why maison21 would bring out such a nice item to what is basically a yard sale but he's learned over the years that while junque sales attract bargain hunters, they also attract serious collectors, designers and dealers, who are willing to pay some bigger bucks to score a higher end bargain). but what we failed to consider is that what was a beautiful day for humans- 80 degress and not a cloud in the sky- might not be so friendly to our friend, glamorous little mr. lucite table.

here is how the table legs looked before our sale- perfectly crystal clear:

and here is a close up of how the legs looked after 4 hours in the sun:
that rime of what looks like condensation or frost is a chemical reaction in the very structure of the lucite itself- the black portion of acrylic leg absorbed the sun's heat and radiated it up to the clear portion above, causing the damage. had we left it out longer, the crazing would have spread upward looking very much like ice crystals; longer still and all the outer surfaces of the lucite would fog, giving the entire leg an overall slightly foggy or milky appearance (in addition to the frosty/ice crystal-y portion at the base). so please, do as m21 says, not as he does- before more innocent lucite is harmed! no hot water, no pounding sun (normal indoor sun exposure is fine- not like it needs to be kept in a dimmed room or anything), no rapid temperature extremes, no harsh chemical cleaners, no abrasives of any kind.

in case you are wondering, little mr. pretty table now has a place of honor in maison21's living room- we inflicted the crippling damage on the poor guy, the least we can do is give him a spot to live out his days in peace.

we should know better. really.

cheap 'n chic: 30 days of glamour for under 10 bucks

maison21 spotted these small fakedy-ass blue & white ceramic pots at wahlgreen's of all places- 2 for $2.00! (though since they were made in china, are they fakes? confused, we are).totally cheap, and the perfect fit for the small sized trader joe's orchid.

at a dollar for the pot, and 8 bucks for the orchid, even with tax we're coming in at under 10 bucks. since orchids can last up to a month or longer, we're talkin' serious decorating bargain time: 30 days of glamour for under 10 bucks.

we like to give these as little gifts with a homemade card. people seem to like them, though of course they could be smiling and saying "thank you" on the outside, while thinking on the inside "m21 is a freakin' cheapskate- some nasty-ass tj's flower and he couldn't even spring for a real card".


now, if you are thinking you've seen this post before, that means you are a long time reader- we made a similar, but more in-depth post on this very subject 231 posts ago, back when we were just a 'lil baby blogger. it's still one of favorites though, so if you want to read it, click here. now, is stealing from one of our own posts plagiarism? again, confused we are...

it's official...

the christmas season is officially here.

what?

you thought it started with black friday?

wrong!

here at the maison21 atelier, it started with tedious tuesday- as while killing time waiting on a four hour window for the freight delivery of a large mirror (which sadly arrived smashed, btw), we hung the last of our bazillion ornaments on the m21 kmart/biglots/99cent store tree. all we need now is some prezzies underneath to complete the picture (they'd help hide that ugly wire base, too). seriously, we can't express the tedium involved in hanging our hundreds and hundreds of monochromatic silver and white ornaments: randomly hang different sizes and shades of glass balls. step back, squint, then adjust randomness to a more visually appealing version of randomness. step back, squint, and repeat- ad nauseum. we need to hire a special assistant for this kinda stuff! maybe next year we'll post an intern position at a local college design department: "elf-like student with excellent manual dexterity and incredible patience, needed to bring xmas cheer to design atelier/home".

in the end, even if we had to submit to the tedium all by our lonesome, the results were worth it, because as of tedious tuesday, it's beginning to feel a lot like christmas...

happy holiday decorating to those of you still in the process- thank god m21 is done! (as in over it, done).

coasting along (cheap 'n chic custom gift idea)

some of you may remember this photo of the bachelorette's living room and the chic bright yellow chinoiserie wall panels we used:well, we just purchased a vintage bar cart as a late addition to the room, and need to accessorize it with some vintage barware, preferably lucite, before the holiday season is in full swing. we like coasters for everyday use- more eco-friendly than either paper or cloth napkins- and before we even started our search for a cool vintage set, we stumbled across these insertable acrylic coasters at a local craft store, remembered the waste pieces from the yellow wall panels, and voila- custom yellow and lucite coasters were born. (tip: ALWAYS keep any excess wall covering in case of an accident, or in this instance, in case of an emergency craft project).
though the coasters shown were purchased locally, a quick search of the internets turned them up here (and for less than we paid, we might add). if you do a bit more work, we bet you could find them for even cheaper on ebay, or sumpthin. the coasters come in a variety of shapes- we picked the hex because the chunky corners give maximum lucite appeal, but if the lucite look doesn't work in your room, the round and square version are a little plainer, but same insert concept. they couldn't be easier to make, too- just cut whatever material you are using into a 3 inch circle, place into coaster and secure with the cork backing.
with xmas fast approaching, we thought this quick project might be of interest to anyone looking to give gifts with a personal touch (we think they'd make a wonderful hostess gift or house warming gift, too). the inserts needn't be wallpaper- any purty paper will do- could be as inexpensive as gift wrap, or as fancy as handmade marbleized paper- just use your imagination!

ps- unless you are gifting to grandma, try to avoid using family photos- there is something a bit unsettling about placing a cocktail on junior's smiling face...

cave painting (the silver-leaf edition)

maison21 and a good friend were recently discussing m21's post on his cheap n' chic dining room curtains, and our friend asked if we mentioned the ceiling of the room, as it's always been a favorite of his, but funnily enough, we never even gave it a thought. because like the sun coming up each morning, and the seasons changing, our ceiling is just part of the natural order of the universe- something that just is, always was, and always will be. we haven't given it a thought in years- many, many years.

you see, when m21 moved the atelier- what now seems like thousands of years ago- it was actually a cave, not an atelier yet, and dinosaurs still walked the earth (swear). "decorators and dinosaurs co-existed at the same time", you ask incredulously? of course they did- just ask a certain vice-presidential candidate- she'll totally back me up on this one!
anyway, as usual we digress- back to decorating: when we moved into the cave- oops, we mean atelier- we dreamed of a glamorous silver-leafed ceiling in our dining room, like the above image from domino's website. problem was, we didn't have a clue of how to do it ourselves, or any money to hire someone to do it for us (if we remember correctly, there was a recession then as well, in addition to the dinsosaurs and stuff). so being the budding decorista that we then were, we improvised with an application of oil-based aluminum paint, applied with a rag. knowing we cold never replicate the squares of real leafing, m21, and his then housemate just ragged the paint on with a combination of tight swirls and loose strokes (a bottle of wine probably helped our technique). the end effect was rather pretty, kinda like a stormy sky. it reflects daylight beautifully, but really shines (pardon the pun) at night.
the application was totally cheap, and pretty darn easy- a quart of paint and a couple hours (any tedium was prevented by the wine). we chose oil-based paint (sorry, we don't remember brand- ask your local paint store to hook you up), because it provides a more reflective surface, and covers super easy- a quart for our tiny dining room was plenty. the drawback of oil-based enamel is that it's totally toxic- wear thick rubber gloves for this hand-technique (safety glasses would be smart, too) and have plenty of ventilation. oh, and if you ever want to paint over it- good luck with that! if you chose water-based metallic paints (ralph lauren makes a nice one), clean-up is a breeze, and it's not quite so toxic, but you'll have to do more than one coat (a real drawback with a hand technique like this one- you'll be totally over it before you are done). latex metallic finish paint also often has more of a satin, pearlescent sheen- still pretty, but not quite as shiny and reflective.all these years later, dinosaurs may be extinct, but our ceiling is still going strong (maybe a little foggy with age, but aren't we all). it was certainly a cost-effective decorating investment, having stood the test of time (and fickle decorating tastes), making it perfect for our uncertain economic times today. if you try a little faux-silver leaf cave-painting in your own home, let us know how it turns out!

cheap 'n chic curtain idea (decoratin' in tune with the times)

in our recent post on bart swindall's home featured in "o at home" magazine, maison21 admired his use of inexpensive and creative decorating ideas, and thought they were rather apropos for our troubled economic times; we also promised to post some cost-cutting ideas of our own, so here's one we used a while back:

in a fit of decorating pique, we decided we hated our dining room, and that we needed to begin again with a fresh look. we were in-between decorating jobs at the time, so instead of focusing on other people's homes, we actually had the time to focus on our own for once, but the downside of being in-between jobs, is that we also felt like we couldn't spend a whole lot of money- as real or imagined, we were just too uncertain of our economic future. sound familiar?
anyway, we painted the room a cheery blue/green- painting is the least expensive thing you can do to perk up a room, but with the biggest impact- and as often happens in decorating, one thing leads to another, and our new paint made our then curtains look positively dingy. so into the trash they went, and we set out looking for a budget alternative.

we decided on a set of cheap $29.99 bright red "merete" grommet top curtains from ikea (they are discontinued in red, but still available in other colors). we choose the ikea curtains because unlike many inexpensive mass-retail curtain panels, they come in lengths greater than 84" inches, and our personal preference is to hang curtains close to the ceiling- especially in rooms with lower ceilings, as it really adds some height. since ikea is brilliant at this kind of DIY thing, they also included iron-on tape to hem the curtains to any length (perfect for the sewing challenged, like moi-self)). you'll note that we hemmed the curtains to fall an inch short pf the floor- not something we would normally ever do or recommend, as we like our curtains to just barely touch the floor- no puddling, please! but here at the maison21 atelier, the furry dust bunnies that accumulate between the cleaning lady's visits are ENORMOUS, so rather than look at them sticking to the bottom of the fabric, we made it so they slide UNDER the curtains instead- one of those tough design decisions one has to make when one has pets!

the iron-on hemming tape gave maison21 his next idea: he loves a tape or ribbon trimmed curtain- it's tailored and chic, and just soooo david hicks (our ultimate decorating hero). so m21 went to the fabric store and bought some super cheap (like .79 cents a yard, cheap) white cotton webbing tape, used for some arcane home sewing purpose, and simply ironed it on with the same hemming tape, to the front and bottom edges of the curtains, folding at the corner for a mitered look.
voila- custom curtains at ikea prices! added bonus, the white tape tied the curtains into the white trim of the room, so we didn't need to add anymore red- something we were loathe to do, as with the bright turquoise walls and black and white furniture, we didn't want things to get too out of hand color-wise. we LOVE color, but sometimes too much, is well, too much.
last, maison21 prefers to leave windows bare if at all possible, but all too often it is neither possible or practical- some views must be blocked, and privacy preserved, and while alternatives like blinds or roman shades are great, sometimes a room just needs pretty curtains to look finished. our dining room definitely falls into the latter category- the wall with the window is basically a walk way, so a furniture piece under the window was out, but something needed to be added on that side of the room so it didn't look bare and ugly, hence the curtain panels; they both soften, and add a pop of color.

another of our priorities is we don't like an ounce of light to be blocked coming into a room, so for privacy, without resorting to keeping the curtains drawn, we added another ikea find: amorf frost window film. it's super simple to apply, and completely obscures the view (we applied it to the lower panes of our windows only, so we could still see outside up top). we liked it so much, we put it on all of our windows- light streams in, but passersby can't view the boringly mundane activities taking place inside the atelier, and since it's only about $4.00 a roll, it is the cheapest window treatment ever!

we hung our david hicks on the cheap curtains over 5 years ago, intending them to be temporary until we did a "for real" window treatment, but ended liking them so much that upgrading them with a pricier alternative has never seemed a priority. all in all, the whole thing, including ikea rods, probably cost about 50.00 bucks, and the coolest part is, we took the money we saved on curtains and invested it in the stock market, and now we're rich!

oh wait...

our kind of decoratin' (in tune with the times)

so we were recently taking a second look through the latest issue of "o at home" (a mag we've come to quite enjoy), and as usual with a decorating magazine, we missed a bunch o' stuff in our hurry to take in everything, the first time around- stuff like this feature on bart swindall's tiny chicago apartment- on first glance, we thought the apartment was a handsomely done take on classic english antique-filled style, but on second reading, the word "styrofoam" jumped off the page at us, and we knew we'd have to take a closer look- antiques sure ain't made of styrofoam!

photo by roland bello/o at home magazine. article text by beth ann fennelly. styling by shelly coon.

the inset caption on the above photo, declares that "swindall repurposed styrofoam packing blocks and slide carousel boxes (painted black) to serve as pedestals for his lamps"- love that! plain ol' styrofoam, not even faux finished or nuthin'- but it looks fabulously luxe, doesn't it? m21 goes nuts for this kind of stuff!

the text further states that the lamps atop the pedestals were thrift shop finds, that swindall spray-painted black and gold (maison21 suspects that the shades are original to the lamps, and painted as well, though perhaps with a brush- they look pretty even). this is very similar to advice m21 recently gave his young client from our 9/22 post: we recommended they splurge $700 on a custom 6 1/2 foot long white lacquer parson's table, but then save some money elsewhere, like by buying a cheap old ornate lamp from a thrift store to sit atop the splurge, and then updating the look of the cheapo lamp by DIY spray-painting it a glossy black (shade and all)- kind of like we did with this $8.00 thrift store lamp awhile back:
the article goes on to explain how swindall scavenged the convex mirror in the photo for free from a trade show exhibit, and we easily found a similar 36" industrial mirror online for only $149.98 (betcha you could find it cheaper, too). and if our cheap n' chic eye isn't mistaken, that convex mirror is layered over what appear to be 4 standard behind-the-door long mirrors from home depot (or similar), simply hung side by side, with their frames painted the same color as the molding that swindall added as an architectural frame-like surround. with some beautiful silver-plate inherited from his grandmother, and some branches he probably snagged from a neighbor's yard, we think the only thing in the photo that the talented historian-turned-decorator may have actually spent any money on, is the biedermeier-style chest anchoring the chic tableaux (and even that could have been sourced on the cheap at an antique mall or flea market). but here's the magic... swindall put all this inexpensive and/or free stuff together, and voila- it looks like everything cost a million bucks!

swindall, like m21, obviously has a love for the chic object, no matter where it's found- whether in a bonafide antiques gallery, or dragged home from a pile by the side of the road. remember this photo from a long ago maison21 post? the pickled wood urn lamp was plucked straight out of a garbage can and placed directly a chest in the entry of the m21 atelier within 10 minutes of discovery- delightful curbside patina and all!
the great thing is that anyone can try out this kind of decoratin'- completely risk-free! unlike the stock market- yikes! if you are scared your home will end up looking too junk yard-y, when filled with a plethora of scavenged goods, then simply start slow and extend your budget by mixing a single cheap n' chic find (or two), paired with something of real value- like a thrift shop settee on a fabulously luxurious carpet (in the spirit of this image from the rug company, via alkemie):
so just because the stock market is falling, it doesn't mean your decor has to bring you down too! turn a little trash into a treasure, or mix a little down-low with your luxe, and stretch that decorating dollar in new ways. remember- if you can't quite figure out how to do it on your own, oprah and maison21 are always here to help... ***

*** oprah in no way endorses, or even acknowledges the existence of a mere mortal like maison21. what we really mean is this: there are lots more budget tips in the latest issue of "o at home" magazine, and m21 promises to post more of his own cheap and chic tricks, every now and then, as well).

we leave you with one last image of mr. swindall's fabulous apartment from "o at home"- this incredible antique table dipped in plaster is a trick we are dying to try! DIY john dickinson! love it!

again, photo by roland bello/o at home magazine. article text by beth ann fennelly. styling by shelly coon.