Tuesday Tip

This is tip #50 and in just under the wire! Organize your tear sheets.

Do any of you remember way back in February the post I did showing the dismal state of my tear sheets and magazines? I said I was going to reorganize my tear sheets and keep my commitment not to let my magazines pile up? Well I finally finished!

What should have been a quick and easy job, turned out to be a pain. After an unsuccessful search for linen or linen looking notebooks, I settled on plain paper covered ones. The only problem? No mistakes allowed with-out ripping the paper off the spine. Back to square one and search for notebooks. Delay of weeks.

I ended up just getting vinyl binders from Target and they've worked great. I put all my tear sheets in them months ago and it's been a great system even with their post-it note temporary labels! Now,  I rarely have more than 10 magazines hanging around and a lot more storage space in their absence.

I got hung up making the stupid labels. I don't know about you, but I would rather put Ikea furniture together than figure out a label maker. Every one I've ever owned is so damn complicated. Or is it just me?

Usually, I print on clear tape. And, after printing out all my categories, I realized the clear labels wouldn't show up on the B&W notebooks. Delay of weeks. I finally got around to buying white tape and printed them again. In the wrong font. Delay of weeks. Reprinted them in correct font...with help of husband. Realized I needed adjustment to some categories. Delay of weeks. This is why it took 5 months to complete one simple item on my to-do list. But it was worth it!


At last, all my tear sheets organized in the cabinet with my design books and within easy reach of my desk!



Million Dollar Decorators: My Favorite Scenes!

I am so glad you all enjoyed my last post of my little recap of the MDD. Just for the record, like many of you, my favorite is Kathryn. I would love to spend a day with her chatting about design, difficult clients, projects never completed, teenagers, dealing with being a D cup and how in the hell she came to know the fabulous Jacqueline. Although, I'd  probably be afraid to meet for cocktails knowing she'd drink me right under the table and I'd be the one asleep on some random chaise lounge or possibly the ground!

Even though the shows intro was a nauseating grand stand from each designer, and first impressions not the greatest, the series ended up being an entertaining home-run for me. That's a lot coming from someone who generally does not like reality tv.  The stars personalities were as varied as their decorating styles and they did seem to grow on you as the weeks went by...some more than others.

Overall I liked something about each designer.  KI's house had the most inviting atmosphere, MM is a pro at glamorous decorating. I'd like to see more of her style that is reflected in her book as well as something other than just the living room and office shots of her house. I loved the design and decorating in the upscale beach house JAM, Ross and dog, Chessie call home. MLB has such a devilish grin it would be almost impossible not to like him, besides I love his breathy Brit accent and want him to call me dahling!  NT we just didn't see enough of him and I really hope they show his house next season.

That said, before I deleted the series from my DVR, I snapped some pics of my favorite scenes that I thought would be fun to share with readers!

Martyn:

As a fellow chocoholic, this scene made me laugh, out loud!



Martyn shared exactly one chocolate with design assistant, Leura.
 She seemed to have second thoughts about finishing the chocolate.
Or at least until she was alone.




Close-up. Some things are just meant to be done in private.

Martyn dahling, can we just clarify that your client, JT,  is not a celebrity by any measure.
This is a creepy guy who made a fortune taking video of girls on the beach,
 mostly too drunk to realize they were half naked and being filmed.
He is however,  "famous" from too many lawsuits to list...but hey, Google does!

Mary McDonald: 

Being MM's client can result in bodily harm as she explains in this scene.

MM's associate Nancy. She loves to disagree with MM and annoy her by not following instructions.
 Not to mention, she has quite the repertoire of expressions too. Remember this scene when she had the movers
place the furniture how she wanted it....completely opposite of what MM said? Crazy.



Sometimes MM gets steamed at her staff and clients.  Is that a horn on the right side of her head?



Whew, it's just a flyaway.



But, it was enough to make these two stop and listen. Anyone, know who the girl in red is?



Was anyone else surprised to see that her staff worked in a black, windowless room?
 Thank god for the monogram on the floor, otherwise on a bad day they might think they landed in hell.

JAM: 

Sometimes JAM is just a bit like dry toast. Two modes: whining and body obsessed. 



 Cute boys taking a shower. AKA 2 golden pats of butter for JAM's dry toast.



But Mr. Torso obsessed can surprise you....with a bang on Will Ferrell impersonation. Minus the funny.



Or a cute baby bonding moment. Did you catch that full on smile that did not involve admiring his physique?

  NATHAN:

Mr. Nice Guy.
Seriously, how many of your best girlfriends would go to the trouble of making you a boob cake based on a favorite fabric design! I can not wait to see what Nathan does for BF Mary's birthday!!!  Let's hope he gets more camera time in season 2.  Check out Jacqueline in the background.  I wish I could rent her for one week  just to up my cool factor.

Not that she deserves a present from her BF!!! After all the times he has been called upon to stroke her ego, she didn't think to name one stinking lamp after him???!!! Well, let it be known that his favorite lamp is also my favorite
lamp. So if I end up buying it from her new line for Robert Abbey, I most definitely will call it Nathan.

KATHRYN:

Kathryn in her sexy black birthday dress. I wore a similar dress for my birthday earlier this month and my cleavage was on full display too. However, it wasn't nearly as glam or expensive as this YSL dress. I needed a sale and a coupon! I think one of the most appealing things about KI is despite her design notoriety,
she seems quite normal...and interesting....and fun!



Ross liked Kathryn in her dress. JAM too. Secretly I bet he thinks he has better breasts.
 See him intuitively checking?  I feel confident he'll let us know next season. Although no one
made this gesture to express their excitement about my dress/breasts,  I still felt sexy and was able to enjoy my birthday.
Just saying.



KI's client Shannon in her signature glasses and outfit. It was perplexing and interesting, other than red lipstick, this spouse to the heir of Max Factor cosmetics, wore almost no make-up. However, she did wear plenty of black, which obviously qualifies her as a designer thus explaining why she no longer needs Kathryn's help. I wonder what the color scheme is for her baby nursery???



Shannon's "overflow" room. I called it the OMG room and wished more than anything,
 the moment I saw it, I wished that she was my client or that I was Kathryn's design assistant.



When clients say, I want to work with things I have,  it's not like this!



I just wanted to whip out my check book and start shopping!!!



Truck day. I literally gasped when I saw the other "stuff" she had. But, fav Kathryn was less than excited. Even though most designers don't like working with all the items/mistakes clients have purchased, this would be the exception!
KI saw it as a jumping off point to re-do an old beach house SF just purchased.  And just when we were all so excited to see the completion,  SF has absurdly blamed KI for structural issues and fired her. Denying us of seeing KI's work. Dammit! 



Million Dollar Decorators End of Season 1: What Say You?

It was way too hot to do anything really productive this weekend. Besides, I spent last week catching up from vacation. It really is true that you must pay to play. So I kinda thought I earned a little sofa time. I hope you all watched the MDD's series on Bravo over the past several weeks, or at least set your DVR for it like I did, because I would love to hear what everyone thought!

Here's a little recap of each star:

Kathryn Ireland:

Kathryn Ireland. Ample bosom always on display. She did garner sympathy from me for enduring the antics of her client, Shannon. I really hope she gets to finish the beach house, since I hate a before without the satisfaction of an after!



Her house-front yard



Back yard. This is what I think of when someone says LA backyard. I could relax here!

Kathryn's living room.



Don't recall if she has a dog, but she has 3 teenage boys. I haven't had guacamole since this aired!




Kathryn's French housekeeper, Jacqueline.
Although I am completely confused about what her actual domestic duties are, I hope she gets much more air time next season, even if it's just to see what she's wrapped around her head!



 Martyn Lawrence Bullard:

Despite his chronic need to drop the names of Hollywood celebrities, he seems quite nice.
He is Kathryn's good friend and drinking buddy...when Jacqueline is busy.



The front of his house. I found it fascinating and thought it would be the perfect hidaway, should any
hobbits be in need of a place to stay while visiting sunny California.



MLB's living room. Too theatrical for my tastes. But then again, he did get his Hollywood start in show biz.



Martyn's cute little dog.

Mary McDonald:

The glamorous and always bejeweled MM.



The entrance to her house/office. I absolutely love it!



Mary's 4 pugs head upstairs after a walk by design assistant, Lavin. Wonder if he gets paid extra for personal errands? Anyway, wish I thought to put a runner on top of sisal and then I wouldn't have spent all that money on wood steps!!!

MM is very expressive. Exhibit 1.

Exhibit 2.



 Exhibit 3.
Yeah, definitely not the fruit basket type. It was sent to her by a perspective client, who she called immediately upon delivery to say she was too busy to fit her house into her design schedule. The real reason?
 The house was too suburban and MM had a feeling this client had opinions and was not going to listen to her.

 Nathan Turner:

His sweet disposition seems to be captured in this image.  I don't recall seeing any shots of his house.



His 2 dogs.
 When NT is not busy with his shop or design business, he spends his extra time giving ego massages
 to his good friend MM. Whew. Talk about a lot of hard work.



Exhibit 1.



Exhibit 2. He had to do it twice here.



Jeffrey Alan Marks:

I honestly don't know what to make of this guy!?  When he's not telling you how awesome he is,
he's walking around in a towel. Loves to admire the efforts of his workouts.



I'm pretty sure he hails from planet Hollywood.



JAM's design partner Ross, and boyfriend of 4 years, shown pondering a design dilemma.
 He used to be a model. Obviously.



Their darling dog bounding down the stairs. Yes, I obsessed over their stair runner and those aqua walls!

As MLB would say: Daaah-lings, please share your observations and opinions on the show, the designers, their houses, talents and of course their personalities! Who's your favorite, least favorite?

All images courtesy of A&A's DVR!