Entertaining Tips from an Amateur

After Mitchell's post from yesterday, I thought I would share my thoughts of having people in for drinks- but not for a minute do I think I'm an authority on the subject. I do like having dinner parties, but many times casual drinks is an easier way of entertaining. That said, I'm guilty of getting so wrapped up in work, blogging, etc, that I don't always make time to have people over. Case in point, I'd love to have my kind neighbors over for drinks (that's you, Barry and Rory), but another week goes by and I haven't played hostess. Shame on me, because it's really so easy. Enough with the excuses.

So let's start with drinks. I do have a vintage bamboo bar cart that is always at the ready. I keep it stocked with the usual suspects: vodka, bourbon, gin, scotch, and vermouth. Mixers include tonic water, club soda, and Pellegrino. And of course wine for the wine drinkers. My double old fashioned glasses, bar pitcher, jigger, and cocktail napkins are also kept on the cart.

I don't do specialty cocktails at my apartment, not for any other reason than I'm not the world's best bartender. (My friends can attest to the fact that I have a heavy hand at pouring, something which has left more than a few guests feeling a little queasy at the end of the evening.) Although, if I was in a festive mood, I might serve kir royales. And Southsides or Margaritas are good at this time of year. But basically, I leave the drink pouring and mixing to my guests. That means I don't get any fingers pointed at me by the end of the night.



In terms of food, I keep it pretty basic. Basic does not mean that the food isn't tasty, though. Some nights it might be smoked almonds, Marcona almonds, or wasabi peas. Other times it's the block of cream cheese covered in pepper jelly or doused in Pickapeppa sauce. But the secret weapon in my cocktail food arsenal is Mamie's Cheese Wafers from Mobile, Alabama. Basically, it's slice and bake cheese wafers, and I can't tell you how good they are. Keep a few logs of dough in the freezer, and you've always got an easy and quick hors d'oeuvre. (I'm starting to sound like a commercial). While you bake them, your house smells divine too, as if you were actually baking cheese wafers from scratch.



Don't forget too to have clean hand towels in the guest bathroom, and fresh soap as well. (There is nothing worse than having to use a bar of soap that has cleaned three dozen different hands.) Those Claus Porto soap pastilles are great because of their small size and because they come in a box of 15.



And while we're on the subject of powder rooms, I think you should just bite the bullet and get everything whipped into shape so that you can't use that room as an excuse not to have people over. I don't mean you need to renovate it or paper it in some fabulous wallpaper. All you need to do is get a nice wastebasket and tissue cover, a decent soap dish, and linens, and you're good to go. I've been eyeing these wastebaskets and tissue covers from Dana Gibson lately.





See, prep work for cocktails is really quite easy. If you don't have a bar cart, set up a tray of drinks on a console table or chest top. The drinks tray at top (unfortunately, that's not mine) is so pretty and so welcoming. If you're having a larger cocktail party, get a folding table and drape some gorgeous fabric over it, one that can stand up to spills, though.

P.S.- On a recent episode of "Barefoot Contessa", Ina Garten demonstrated how to get those crisp, folded edges on a drinks table cloth. For the life of me, I just don't understand the procedure. I spent half an hour the other day trying to figure it out, but it's just not working. Can anyone tell me how the heck you're supposed to do it??

Image at top from an old, old issue of Southern Accents. Champagne photo from Park Avenue Potluck: Recipes from New York's Savviest Hostesses. Dana Gibson images courtesy of http://www.danagibson.com/

Mitchell Crosby and Tips for Entertaining

Mitchell Crosby is one of those people for whom entertaining is second nature. And not just any ol' entertaining. I'm talking about entertaining with Style. I suppose that you would expect this from a man who is one of Charleston's preeminent event planners (JMC Charleston), but there is a reason that Mitchell went into the event planning business. Perhaps it's because he's a native Charlestonian- you know, they especially love the social life- but I think it's also a result of his graciousness and his desire to make people feel special. (That's Mitchell at top. You can just tell that he knows how to mix a great martini.)

I've been thinking of writing a few posts in which people share with us their thoughts on entertaining. But what I wanted to make clear was that I wasn't talking about a seated dinner for 16. Personally, I enjoy entertaining like that but I'm also a glutton for punishment. I wanted to do something more along the lines of having people over for drinks. I think that this is the way most people entertain nowadays. It's really quite easy, and there's no excuse not to have people over for some fun. And perhaps if we're armed with some sage tips from the pros, we might actually get over our fears and have people into our homes- and actually enjoy it too!

So, on to Mitchell's thoughts on drinks, food, and the good life:

Do you have a bar cart or drinks tray in your home? Do you let people mix their own drinks, or do you do the honors? Also, do you ever serve a festive cocktail to your guests? Or, do you stick to the basics?

All of my friends know where the bar is in my home. As I think of it as a destination, it must be well stocked for the event at hand. I usually let my guests know if I will make more than “the first one” or if that one will they be on their own! This usually depends on whether or not there are “out of the inner circle” friends there. In that case, I make the drinks.

The stocked bar always has:

•lots of linen napkins as I feel a fresh napkin is as important as a fresh glass
•wonderfully heavy double old fashioned glasses and extra large wine glasses
•lots of ice in a handsome padded bucket with tongs
•nice size wedged fruit (who can squeeze a slice?), tasty stuffed olives
•good vodka, bourbon, blended whiskey, scotch, gin, dry vermouth
•red wine only if I know someone drinks it during cocktails

If one is going to serve a “theme drink” or set the tone for a set style of drink, I usually announce that in the invitation – verbal or written. “Come for Mimosas and Drivers”, “Come for Martinis and Manhattans”, “Come for Prosecco in the Garden”. That sets the expectation and clears the air for anyone who may wish to ask for something else in advance.

Case in point – at a Summer White Party I hosted for a friend’s 50th, I chose to have a full bar and “White Cosmos”, made with White Cranberry Juice. A guest looked me right in the eye and said “I suppose I will be the designated driver tonight as I ONLY drink champagne”. Begrudgingly, I pulled two bottles of Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame out of the chiller and placed them with the bartender and informed him to keep them under the bar and serve them in a wine glass to her as not to start a stampede. She drank them both!

What about food? Is there one hors d'oeuvre that you like to serve? Or, do you just put out a bowl of nuts or crackers?

When sitting for cocktails in the living room where we can all reach the coffee table, or standing in the kitchen while cooking, I like educating people about cheese and accoutrements. I take the label from the monger and use a glue stick to place it on a place card and attach it to a bamboo pick so as to identify said cheese. I ask the monger for their recommendations for jams (quince, pear, fig are the expected) and then dried fruits and nuts. I place the cheeses together with what is suggested so that guests will have an opinion about what they are trying. This is nice with certain wine pairings and just fine with cocktails as well.

When in the garden, I tend to offer passed items due to the bugs in the South. Deviled Eggs, Pimento Cheese in Celery Sticks or on Ginger Snaps!

Sunday Brunch cocktails always call for something poured over Cream Cheese – I love to try at the Farmers Market different condiments like Peach Chutney, Green Tomato Relish and such. Also, fresh Charleston Blue Crab and a Louie Sauce over Cream Cheese is divine!

Any other tips?

•NEVER RUN OUT OF WHAT YOU ARE SERVING. These items do not go bad, so why not stock your bar and be ready for the next event?

•Always have good sparkling water on the bar and have it well chilled. If it is hot, I will often offer guests a glass of sparkling just to quench their thirst. If you offer a vodka tonic to someone who has just worked, showered and may be a bit dehydrated, they will get drunk quickly and pay for it the next day.

•Keep the bar tidy. Keep a lovely towel there for spills, have a back up wine tool should yours break, and inspect the glasses ahead of time for lipstick and smudges. A great cocktail starts with a clean glass; not one that might have a bit of dust and a dog hair on it!

In closing, if you are serving dinner, I enjoy after dinner drinks very much. Port, Madeira, Cognacs….dinner is not dinner until you have ascended to withdrawing for the after dinner drinks! That sounds like a line from Doris Duke or Dorothy Parker, but I swear it is not!

Image at top courtesy of Charleston HOME Magazine at which Mitchell is a style/entertaining editor. If you're in Charleston, do try to visit The RSVP Shoppe, a stationery and table top shop owned by Mitchell and his partner.

Palmer Weiss and Decorati

Just wanted to let you know about a recent Decorati article on designer Palmer Weiss. There are some gorgeous images of her work, and you can also read my play by play commentary on Palmer's work. (It's fun to play John Madden, but only for design- not football.)

Click here to read the article.

Miles Redd Has Done It Again

I'm covered up in work and was not able to prepare a proper post today. I did, however, have to make time to declare my love for this living room designed by Miles Redd. I'll only show a snippet of the room in case you haven't received your July House Beautiful yet.

Look at those gorgeous shades of blue! The lacquered deep ink stained walls, the brilliant blue velvet on the chairs, and the icy toned pillows. Not to mention the moss green sofa (another favorite color of mine) plus leopard pillows. Stunning. Dazzling. Absolutely perfect.

(Image from House Beautiful, July '09, Thomas Loof photographer)

Design Equivalent of Lipstick

Haven't you always heard that when the economy gets shaky, lipstick sales go on the upswing? Women may cut back on buying Manolos, but they are not going to stop purchasing makeup. It's also a matter of treating oneself to something nice. It might be hard to justify at $600 pair of shoes, but a $20 tube of lipstick? That's easy.

I think that many times it's the little details that can make one's home seem well-appointed and even quite luxurious- perhaps even more so than expensive fabric or elaborate curtains, for example. And the good thing is that it doesn't have to cost very much to make you and your house feel special.

Here are some of my recent lipstick purchases. What about yours?


I recently bought a box of monogrammed matchbooks. No, I don't smoke, but I seem to burn a lot of candles, and it's great to place a matchbook with each candle in the house.


Who doesn't love fresh flowers around the house? At times, I like to splurge, but when I'm in a hurry, I just buy a bunch of carnations from Publix. They're cheap and they last forever. The key is to buy only one color and group them en masse. Bright pink, white, or deep burgundy are my favorite colors. (The carnation's best friend is Joe Nye. I can't think of another designer who uses carnations more often than Joe. And they always look fabulous.)


It used to drive me crazy- everytime I was on the phone and needed to write something down, I was always running around my house like a madman looking for a pen. A while back I purchased a bunch of colorful pencils that I display in julep cups or old candle votives, and I color coordinated them to each room. I know, I know, some of you might be rolling your eyes right now, but I swear, it doesn't look too contrived.


If you're sick of ikat, then just skip this photo. These West Elm pillows look great on the chairs of my terrace. And, they're only $19 per pillow. A lot of look for a little money.

(Image at top: Photograph by Leombruno-Bodi, Vogue, April 1960; courtesy of Conde Nast Store. Image of tablesetting by Joe Nye courtesy of joenye.com and House Beautiful)

A New Favorite Color

I've had orange on the brain lately. Not a vibrant, clear shade of orange. Something a little more like chestnut.


I think that if you took some of that brown and mixed it with Hermès orange, you might get the color I'm taken with.


Maybe it's close to the warm, rich tones of the Amber Room minus the gilt.


Rita Hayworth was known for her auburn hair, but the color I'm taken with is lighter and has more orange.


The shade is close to the paneling in the dining room of Radburne Hall, decorated by John Fowler.


Or maybe a bit like the walls in Nancy Lancaster's Gothic Bedroom at Haseley Court.

So why have I been thinking of this color so much lately? I blame it squarely on him:


Alfred "Alfie" Boles, the new arrival to my household. The actual shade that I'm taken with? Blenheim.

(Image of Radburne Hall dining room: John Fowler: Prince of Decorators. Lancaster bedroom from Nancy Lancaster: English Country House Style)

Swiss Cottage

Isn't there something so intriguing and so very enchanting about follies? These architectural gems are such unique examples of fantasy, creativity, whimsy, and well, folly. I recently read about one that captured my attention: Swiss Cottage near Cahir, County Tipperary, Ireland. The structure is considered to be an ornamental cottage, and frankly I don't know what the difference is between an ornamental cottage and folly. Perhaps there isn't one.

Built around 1810 by Richard Butler, 1st Earl of Glengall, the cottage was used for entertaining guests, although some websites mention that it was used as a hunting and fishing lodge. (One book claims it was a romantic hideaway for Butler and his mistress. This cottage must have seen many different types of recreational pursuits.) The man responsible for the cottage's design is believed to be John Nash, one of the foremost architects of the Regency period.

What caught my eye was not the thatched roof, though it is charming. Rather, I'm taken with the trellis type ornamentation on the exterior. I can't tell if it's actual trellis, or if the design is painted. The scale of the decoration is quite large; it's very early 19th c. Dorothy Draper. This type of ornamentation would be a great way to perk up a garage, a potting shed, or a child's playhouse. Or, what about painting trellis on an exterior wall that adjoins a terrace or patio? Very chic indeed.


Sybil Connolly set this table outside of Swiss Cottage, a structure near and dear to her heart. She helped to raise funds for the cottage's refurbishment back in the 1980s. You also get a good view of the charming rustic woodwork.


The dining room of the cottage still has its original Dufour wallpaper, "Scenes from the Banks of the Bosphoros". Some believe that this paper is some of Dufour's earliest printed paper. I wish I could find a photograph of the entire dining room. I'm sure the rest of the paper is just as beautiful as this glimpse.

All of this reminds me of a present day take on trellis: a Dallas entryway designed by Michelle Nussbaumer. Trellis from a garden center was painted glossy black and was affixed to the entry's white walls.



(Images 2 and 3 courtesy of Tiffany Gourmet Cookbook. Nussbaumer photo from the Dallas Morning News, Terri Glanger photographer.)

Fireplaces...in June?

It might seem crazy to be thinking about fireplaces and mantels in June, but I am. One of my condo's previous owners installed a faux fireplace, and words can't describe how ugly it is. It's cheaply built and cheap looking, but for various reasons I chose not to remove it. And because I have a long living room, it's actually nice to have a fireplace, even if it is faux, to help break up the expansive wall.

A very creative friend of mine is going to help me tart the thing up, and when all is said and done, I don't think anyone will ever guess that it was once pretty hideous. Unless of course you are reading this post and then you will know the truth!

(I doubt I'll end up looking as soigné as Millicent Rogers, above, while perched in front of my fireplace. Oh well, it's a nice fantasy though.)


A Chinoiserie chimneypiece designed by Henry Holland that was originally created for the Chinese Drawing Room at Carlton House. It is now installed at Buckingham Palace. This, to me, is perfection.


Why didn't my condo come with a fireplace like this? (The dining room at Mulberry House, London, c. 1930, designed by Darcy Braddell and Humphrey Deane)


Edward James' bedroom at Monkton. The fireplace is not the only fabulous thing about this room.


Rose Cumming's snake fireplace is certainly one of the most innovative I have seen. (That said, I don't plan on adorning my mantel with snake prints.)


This black scagliola mantel, designed by Gil Schafer, is one of my favorite mantels ever. And it's so simple too.

(Image at top: John Rawlings for Vogue, 1944. Chinoiserie chimneypiece-The Regency Country House. Mulberry House fireplace: The Decorative Thirties. Monkton fireplace and Rose Cumming room: Baroque Baroque. Schafer fireplace, House & Garden, Rene Stoeltie photographer)

Biased about Floors

There are some people who believe that checkerboard tile floors should be laid on the diagonal. For others, straight up and down is perfectly fine. I suppose it's an aesthetic preference, though I'm sure one style is more classically and architecturally correct than the other.

If my memory serves me correctly, and lately it hasn't been, Dorothy Draper had a very definite opinion on the matter. I believe that she was an advocate of the diagonal method, though her projects show that she flirted with both styles. Nevertheless, after finding numerous images of black and white floors, I think I prefer tiles laid on the bias. Visually, diagonal tiles draw one's eye into the room. And there's something quite elegant about it too. The up and down fashion, like that seen above in this movie still, truly does look like a checkerboard, but to me it looks a little blocky. (The image at top also is a great example of why larger tiles look better than small ones.)

When I was trying to find images for this post, I mostly found floors with the tiles laid diagonally, which leads me to believe that most designers prefer this style. Which do you like?





Hampshire House was one of Draper's earlier projects, so perhaps she had not yet formulated her opinion about diagonal tiles.


Dorothy chose large scaled tiles laid on the diagonal for the floor at Quitandinha.


Mrs. Kersey Coates Reed House, David Adler architect


Remember this home decorated by Celerie Kemble? The tile is actually a painted wooden floor, but the faux tiles were painted on the bias.


Woodson Taulbee's home in Old San Juan, decorated by Billy Baldwin.

(Image at top: Movie still from 1929 movie "The Show of Shows"; from Screen Deco (Architecture and Film, 3.). Image 2 and 3 from In the Pink: Dorothy Draper--America's Most Fabulous Decorator. Photo 4, David Adler, Architect: The Elements of Style. Image 5 courtesy of Celerie Kemble: To Your Taste: Creating Modern Rooms with a Traditional Twist. #6, Billy Baldwin Decorates: A book of practical decorating ideas)

What's in a Name?

I've come to the conclusion that I'm a sucker for furniture and accessories described as "boudoir". What that says about me is anybody's guess, and I say let's not go there. But, if pressed to explain why I perk up when I see "boudoir" used as an adjective, I'd say that I just assume that it's going to be something glamorous, feminine, slight in size (no boudoir piece is ever very large), and evocative of the 20s or 30s. But don't let the moniker fool you- a lot of these pieces would work quite well in a powder room, an entry hall, even in the kitchen. Boudoir- it's not just for bedrooms anymore.


A pair of Rock Crystal Boudoir Lamps created by MJH Design Arts


Doesn't this boudoir chair from the 1940s look like something straight out of a Cedric Gibbons designed movie set? (Available from Venfield.)


More boudoir lamps, this time made of Murano glass. From Eric Appel.


Hickory Chair has this boudoir sofa by Marietta Himes Gomez. A great size for the bedroom of course, but it would also work well in a small living room or study.




I like these boudoir shams from Leontine Linens. I suppose you could put one in an armchair, but I do think that these shams are best left in the bedroom.


How about a boudoir candle?

Image at top: This still from the 1931 movie "Captivation" has nothing to do with this post; it was one heck of a boudoir, though. (Image from Screen Deco (Architecture and Film, 3.))