Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Cozy Groupings



I love this time of year.  It's as if the chilly weather gives us permission to stay home in the evening, forgoing social engagements for the comfort and coziness of our homes.  Comfort food, warming libations, wool throws (no snuggies please), and engaging books are the ingredients for a winter evening well-spent.  And I know that others feel the same way, too.  Take this 1935 issue of House & Garden in which the pleasures of cozy are touted through "groups that suggest some pleasant interludes in winter evenings."

There is the "Reading Group", above, with its reproduction Duncan Phyfe table and comfortable chair upholstered in green and white striped cotton.  My ideal reading group would be accompanied by a fireplace, and that too was shown in this article, below, in the "Nightcap" grouping which included preparations for mulled wine prepared over the fire.  But really, you could enjoy any hot beverage like Swiss Strawberry Tea, a Tom and Jerry, or a Caudle Cup, each drink's preparation detailed in this same issue.  (Whatever happened to Hot Buttered Rum?)

There is the "Card Group", appropriate for an era when many civilized people played bridge and such.  I don't play cards nor do many of my friends.  A shame, really.  But I do know if my friends and I did play cards, the cards would be accompanied by cocktails and food.  Not a lot of food, just a few nibbles.  And then there is my favorite grouping of all, "And So To Bed".  This is where I do most of my reading considering that I don't have a fireplace to cozy up next to.  The bedroom seen here included Amodec furniture made of maple and a candlewick bedspread, very popular at that time.  I would forgo the candlewick spread for a satin quilt, but that's just me.  I have visions of Hollywood grandeur running through my head.

And so, after all of this, I'm off to bed!




As I mentioned, I don't play cards, but if I did,






I would serve Mamie's Tuscan Wafers which have a little more zing than the original Cheese Wafers but are just as good. The perfect snack for a game of cards, especially with drinks served in glassware like this:



High Ball glasses by James Mont, available through BG Galleries






To create my Nightcap group, I would first need some kind of electric fireplace.




This is the best looking one I have found. Not bad, but do you know of any that actually look kind of chic?





At the end of the day, though, my favorite cold weather retreat is my bed, especially if I ever take the plunge and buy one of Leontine Linen's satin quilts and bed jackets.






Both would help to ward off chills while reading juicy books like these:



American Lady: The Life of Susan Mary Alsop by Caroline de Margerie

and


Inventing Elsa Maxwell: How an Irrepressible Nobody Conquered High Society, Hollywood, the Press, and the World by Sam Staggs

12 comments:

  1. This is great. I would add a dog or cat to the mix and some cashmere to make it perfect. thanks.
    Mary

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  2. Love this...cashmere would be grand + dog or cat. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com

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  3. The bridge table and cockpen chairs remind of that amusing scene in Whit Stillman's "Metropolitan": "You don't think that I actually play bridge for the enjoyment, do you? I like the fact that it's one of the great bourgeois clichés of life" ...or something like that. Oh, how I loved that film!

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    1. I must watch that movie again very soon. It's been years since I've done so, and somehow, I missed that line. It's perfect!

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  4. Just off to order the Susan Mary Alsop book not heard of till your post above ....thank you!
    Have you read 'To Marietta From Paris' the letters between Sarah Mary Alsop and Marietta Tree.....it is wonderful with all our favourite people Diana Cooper Nancy Mitford Louise Vilmoran and lots of snippets of post war Paris

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    1. Funny that you mention that book as I recently added it to my Amazon wish list. After I finish the newly released Alsop book, I will buy the letters book. It sounds so interesting and right up my alley!

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  5. I'm in full support of bringing hot buttered rum back into cocktail fashion. And, while we're at it, hot totties! What a fabulously rhetro fantasy evening. I may have to borrow the idea and invite friends over for a round of gin (the card game or the liquor).

    Hmm...I've mentioned 3 alcoholic drinks in the span of 4 sentences. I think I should quickly end my comment quickly before the world discovers I'm a lush!

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  6. Jennifer, You've inspired my fireplace search - I'm dying for one in my NYC rental. Check out Planika Fires - they're great looking and supposedly safe...

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    1. I'm off to check out Planika Fires right now. Thanks Allison!

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  7. Just got the Elsa Maxwell in the mail and I am sneaking home to make a pot of tea (or perhaps a bourbon) and reading the afternoon away!

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    1. Oh good! Enjoy and let us know what you think of the book!

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  8. Obsessed with the bed jacket!

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