Modern Decorating-Michael Weiss

Once in a while we like to write about designers that are not terribly well-known, but who makes wonderful, livable, affordable furniture. Michael Weiss is one of them. The son of designer Lillian August, Michael Weiss designs a collection of modern, clean-lined furniture for Vanguard that we just love. His style is simple, clean-lined, modern and somewhat masculine, but not too much so. The furniture is quite affordable ($2-3K range for the major pieces such as sofas, dining table, beds and so on), and very livable.

Michael Weiss's collection frequently gets updated, which is nice. We think furniture should be treated like fashions--as our style and taste change over time....

Here are a few examples of his latest pieces:

This is a nice living room scene showing a Michael Weiss Sofa:

Another living room scene showing a different sofa/chair combination:

We like these chairs for their simplicity:

This bed is very sexy and masculine at the same time. The upholstery part can be changed to your own fabric...:

A very cool dining room:


If you are interested in looking at more Michael Weiss pieces, his collection can be found at www.vanguardfurniture.com (click on the Michael Weiss collection).

If you need any help in purchasing this product, drop us an email and we'll be happy to assist...

Hollywood Regency

We received so many inquiries regarding our last post on the Hollywood Regency style, we thought we expand on this subject a bit further.

If you are looking for the Hollywood Regency style, Kelly Wearstler is the reigning queen. Her latest project in Miami's South Beach, carries her distinctive look as seen here:

Another designer that does this theme quite well is Jonathan Adler. You've probably seen his lamps and porcelain products everywhere. JA is a bit more fun, more flamboyant and in our opinion, maybe not as refined as Kelly Wearstler is.

Let 's look at a few new products we found at the Las Vegas Market that are great for this look:

This bed from Julian Chichester is to die for:

This nighstand is very refined, very pretty in person:

This bookcase is divine:

More products similiar to this can be found at www.julianchichester.com

Living Room Designs

The living room is a fun room to decorate. It's usually the least-used room in the house, so you can afford to be a little impractical--unless you have kids. It's also the room most people see first, so you can go all out to make it pretty.

Here are few goods ones we found on PointClickHome.com.

Note the use of different types of chairs/sofa/furniture. It's not all matchy matchy...

We love to use chaise. It's a nice alternative to a sofa sometimes....

If you have a large room, it's nice to break up the furniture a little bit into different areas...

A nice mix of modern and traditional furniture. Also very functional.

Here are some living room furniture pieces that we like...

Chloe Chaise-we like to do this chaise in white for a crisp & modern look.

Phoebe Lounger. This is a great sofa to lounge around. The back of the sofa can be custom-made so that it will have back-cushions instead of throw pillows, which can be a pain some time...

Trenton Chaise-this chaise is clean-lined and modern. We like it in mohair or a fantastic chenille.

Vintage Sofa-our favorite sofa, this one is great in a simle cotton or linen. It's a classic style that seems to last forever...

Monte Sofa -this one is ultra cool...

Carson Bench-we use this one either as a bed bench or for extra sitting in the living room.

Modern Sofa-this one is sweet and simple. We love the dainty legs...

All the furniture are made by Pepper Berry, a small furniture manufacturer in Los Angeles. If you need help with any of these products, send us an emai. We'll be happy to help you with anything you need.

Cool Bedroom Decorating

The bedroom, in a way, is the easiest room to decorate , yet it could be the hardest. It's easy because the furniture required are so simple. Basically you will need a bed, nighstands, an ottoman maybe, a couple of chairs if your room is of a decent size. Yet the range of the choices are huge-it's hard to know where to start!

Here are a few pretty ones we found on Metropolitan Home:

This is tranquil and harmonious. It feels like a boutique hotel...

We like the use of drapes and colors in this room. It feels warm and cozy:

This one is clean-lined and modern:

This one feels sexy and sensuous...

Here are a few upholstered beds that we just love. It is made by Pepper Berry, a small boutique manufacturer based out of Los Angeles. Run by the nicest couple we ever met, Matt and Michelle Cicero, Pepper Berry sells to furniture stores and interiors designers. The company makes beautiful products that are well-made and well-priced.

This bed is perfect for a guy. It's masculine and sexy!

Here is another version of it in white fabric. Perfect for a loft!

We like the prettty, soft lines on this bed. The headboard can be tufted as well.

As with any upholstery products, you can customize the beds with different fabrics. You can also make slip covers for them if you feel like changing the look according to the season. These beds are relatively inexpensive (roughly $2000 for a king size not including fabric).

For a complete catalog on Pepper Berry products, send us an email . In addition to upholstered beds, they also do beautiful chairs, ottoman, sofas and chaises.

Need Inspirations?

Don't you love looking at home decor magazines for inspiration? We do too. We have to confess though, we only look at the pictures and never read the text. For people like us, there is a new site that has just been launched that we love, http://www.pointclickhome.com/. It is a site that combines the resources of several home decorating magazines, including our favorites--Elle Decor, Metropolitan Home and other remodeling-related home magazines. It includes several resource sections, blogs, tips , ideas, expert advice and all the cool stuff about home remodeling, home design and home decorating. The best feature is that it has TONS of beautiful pictures that you can browse through. Well, maybe not tons, but enough to have fun for a little while. We suspect as the site grows, the content will get richer.

The site still has a lot of glitches, as with most newly-launched site. It does not have easy navigation, a good search tool, and there are many dead links. As with most ad-supported sites, it has annoying pop-ups, but it's a good start and a good idea.

Check it out. It's a great site!

Inside Avenue on "Ex Wives Club" -ABC TV

Did anyone see us on "Ex Wives Club", aired on ABC last Monday? Okay, if you blinked you probably missed it. We did too, actually.

So this is what happened. About a year ago we got a call from a producer from ABC TV. They want to use our store to shoot a scene for a new reality show staring Marla Maple, Angie Everhart and Shar Jackson (Shar who??). Shar Jackson, let us inform you, used to be married to Kevin Federline, who used to be married to Britney Spears, got it?

Being in Southern California, we are just as celebrity obsessed as anyone else. Plus, we thought it would be a nice little publicity for our store. Mind you, we are a little store (and we meant, LITTLE) with no more than two pennies to rub together for an advertising budget, so we jumped at the chance. We got all dressed up, all made up, cleaned up our store--all in anticipation of the filming.

The next day the crew came with Marla Maple and Shar Jackson. They were extremely nice, and we could tell they were amused that we were all dressed up. I, the owner, was given one line--"cash or charge". I was told to pretend that they are buying all these things, but that they will give them back after filming. Fair enough, I said. Free publicity, who can ask for anything more?

So let us tell you something about reality TV, there is nothing realistic about it! It's all scripted. From what we can see, people were told what to say and how to say it. That doesn't even count the editing that is done afterward.

We saw the first episode of the show and to be honest with you, it is such a YAWN!! We never see so many blubbering people in our lives! Man, these people cried and cried. You just want to slap them and tell them to get over it already.

And that is why we might have missed our 5 seconds of fame on TV....

The Prettiest Shades of Blue

We have this thing for blue. Not all shades of blue, of course, but soft blue, robin's egg blue, gray blue... You know, the kind of blues that don't make you feel blue but soothe your heart and your soul. We like mixing it with white (for a beachy look)and with lots of mirrors (for the Hollywood Regency look). It's quite a winning combination. Check out this picture below from Methome to see an example of what we meant:

And here are a few products in blue that we just adore (all can be found in the home decor section).

Desi Stool

Blue Light Spencer Table




Flamingo Lamp

Blue Chinoiserie Box