Million Dollar Decorators Season Recap

I didn't do an episode by episode recap on this season of Million Dollar Decorators, although I did see almost every episode! I figured the best thing to do, since the finale of the season aired last night, was give a recap of my favorite things this season, and one of my not so favorite things.

Episode One - Mary McDonald does the guest house, or I should say one of the guest houses of Margaret "Margie" and Jerry Perenchio. Before and afters:

Mary commented that Margie was the wealthiest person she'd ever met. And it's more than likely true, seeing as how her husband is worth over $2.2 Billion, conservatively. The Perenchio's bought the Kirkeby Mansion in Bel-Air (once used as the filming location for the popular television series "The Beverly Hillbillies") in the 1980's and have spent the last several years purchasing all of the houses and property around the estate to create what's now approximately 36-acres and 9 buildings. Who knows where this little guest house fell on the property - it's quite vast:

I believe it's under the tennis courts in this photo, accessible via a staircase to the pool on the left. The Perenchio's love interiors, antiques mostly, and after having the main house decorated by Henri Samuel and finishing the many structural and garden improvements - including moving the main entrance to nearby Nimes Road, wrote a book: 875 Nimes. The book (which I haven't seen, and can't seem to find a copy of anywhere!!) supposedly gives account of the antiques and their provenance and the tireless efforts to pull them all together, a total of 207 pages bound neatly in leather. I love seeing Mary work - but knowing the amount of money that the Perenchio's have to spend, I was a left wanting more. Of course, you never know what the client had insisted upon, and at the days end - she was happy so score one for Mary.

In the same episode, Martyn, who I have actually grown more and more fond of this season, finished up shoe tycoon Tamara Mellon's NYC highrise. He took the little girl's bedroom from pre-teen to College bound:

Of course, the whole room was peppered with fabrics from Martyn's collaboration with Schumacher, and it really was the t-off to seeing it all season long. I'm only sorry that we didn't get to see Mary's new collection, which is supposed to be unveiled in February. Martyn also took the play/living room used for toys when Tamara's daughter was younger and made it a fem dom dining room - complete with vinyl curtains: 

I'm sorry. I hated it. I know, I know! Who the heck do I think I am judging a room created by MLB? But it felt like all the pieces didn't quite come together in the Martyn fashion we've become accustomed. I love the floors, I love the table, I'm ok with the wall color - but I think when you paint a room in such a bold color in a lacquer finish - it can either look uber chic, (think Miles Redd) or like you painted it with finger nail polish, and well this - you get the point. And the vinyl curtains? Seriously?

Episode Two:

Ross gets to try his hand at interior design without JAM, and creates this fuchsia bedroom and sitting room for actress Amber Valletta and her husband. It was ... pink?

Same Episode, Kathryn finishes up an Ojai house. It was beautiful.

Episode Three:

Martyn and Mary go shopping for their One Kings Lane duet. I actually missed this episode, but did catch some of the photos on the Bravo website:

 And the collaborative collection on the OKL sale:

It was nice.

Episode Four: (Probably the best episode)

Mary McDonald hints that she's going to be redoing her home now that she's split from Beverly Hill's developer John Bersci. She even stops at Gracie Wallpaper in NYC before she finishes up Monika Chiang's store in Manhattan:

A lot of people didn't like this pairing of lilac and emerald green, but I loved it! I am so sick of gray being the "new neutral", why not lilac? Back to her home, Mary hints that her new look is "Park Avenue Lady Goes Bohemian In Loft". And while she's sitting next to Nathan on the sofa, covered in pooches, the camera pans over to the papier mache hands and face of a witch-like human. It's from this space she created for the Legends of La Cienega event:

Does this look Park Avenue Lady to you? It sure does to me! I sure hope we get to see Mary move a little more to this direction in her space. Although, anything she'd do is bound to be amazing.

Same episode, Martyn takes his own home from this:

to this:

Again, using more of his own fabric. It had me a little upset ... I mean if Martyn Lawrence Bullard is going neutral - what does that mean? I thought for sure the world was going to end on December 21st! It didn't. Obviously.

Episode Five:

Martyn works up Actress Stacey Dash's house, using ... yes, MORE of his new fabric line. I mean - I gotta give it to him, he knows how to get it out there! And JAM and Ross finally finish a year-long project in LaJolla:

Some of it was really beautiful - including this blush colored four seat center sofa. It was fun watching them fret though over rugs in the living room when there was SO much other stuff to do!

Episode Six:

Decorator Disney Land! Martyn, Mary, and Kathryn all take part in the LUXE magazine showhouse for Greystone Estate. JAM said no. He's got projects years in the making that are cluttering the desk! HA! Mary hates her hallway, Kathryn Hates her kitchen, and Martyn re-invents paisley using MORE of his Schumacher fabric. Overall, it ended up being spectacular - all of it:

I mean, I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this! LOVE! It makes me want to buy some fabric and  a staple gun and go to town! Some of the pieces came from Martyn's home, in fact, almost everything except for the bed. Not an uncommon situation in a showhouse since the designer pays for everything. The bed sold during the OKL sale.

Mary's Hallway:

Again - gorgeous! Mary answers the question, "What do you do with a grand hall like this!?" with great flair! Here's an instance where I'm okay with gray!

Of course, Kathryn used her fabrics. Why wouldn't she? I mean - what the heck can you do in a kitchen except fill it with fabric? It really was a great episode, filled with more design and less drama. I wish I lived closer to actually see these rooms in person! Maybe next time.

Episode Seven:

Mary is no where to be found. WHERE IS SHE!? The whole episode centers around Martyn and his sister's pub outside of London. And JAM finishes a Nantucket home in all catalog items:

Quite frankly, it was one of the best spaces I've ever seen them do! But the best part of episode seven, the little preview to the season finale, where we find out that Miss Mary is going to have a dinner party at her home. Will we see the redo??

Finale:

We finally get to see Mary's semi-finished project, and while it's not screaming Park Avenue Lady Goes Bohemian in Loft to me - it was beautiful:

So you know what the before looked like:

What do you think? Definitely different - but better?

Then Kathryn finished up Lindsay Lohan's bedroom:

Poor Kathryn, or I should say poor Bravo. They footed the bill for all of Kathryn's work - only to have Lindsay flake. Martyn finished up his sister's pub in Chislehurst:

It was really lovely! So ... what did you all think of the season? Better than the first? Did you change your favorite after the first season? I never thought that I would switch from Mary - but I'm kinda crushing on Martyn right now. If you missed any of the episodes you're definitely sure to catch them if you have the television on, they re-run EVERYTHING! Penny for your thoughts?