Originally posted on Nov. 24, 2009 POLISHING SILVER SERVING PIECES and removing spilled wax from silver candlesticks is hardly my idea of a good time. Nevertheless, the holidays are here, company is due, and I want my tableware to sparkle. Here are a few tricks I use to make this mundane chore a little less…mundane:… Read more »
A VASE OF GLOWING, GOLDEN FORSYTHIA is just the thing to alleviate winter dullness in the house. You can cut the branches in late December or early January, and they will bloom for you just 2 or 3 weeks later. And other common garden shrubs can be forced as easily. Of course the branches will… Read more »
MY PASSION FOR HOLIDAY-DECORATING began in 1963, when I made the Santa ornament pictured up top (an ornament, perhaps, that only one’s mother could love). Today I’ve traded in my construction paper, crayons and yarn for “grown-up” things like African violets, fresh fruit and evergreen boughs. These make splendid contributions to the Christmas spirit here… Read more »
I’VE BEEN HEMMING AND HAWING over whether or not to tell you it’s my birthday, and also whether or not to mention a certain gift I received. But what the hell…it IS my birthday, and I DID receive a pretty special gift. That’s it pictured up top — Minton china, circa 1930. My partner and… Read more »
LAST WEEKEND my partner and I obtained two Federal-style games tables and one blue sofa from the estate of the late, great reporter/novelist/producer Dominick Dunne. I can only imagine the glamorous lives these furnishings have lived…first in Beverly Hills, and later in Hadlyme, CT, and NYC. One of the inlaid mahogany tables, pictured up top,… Read more »
DO YOU DECORATE FOR HALLOWEEN? I don’t, normally. But this weekend my partner and I are hosting a costume-party for about 30 guests. My job is to make the interior of our 1826 Victorian house look really spooky for the event. The only problem? It already does. Still, I figure a few jack-o-lanterns, some crawling… Read more »
WHY WAIT until April to inhale the intoxicating air of hyacinths? Pot a few in early autumn, and you can enjoy them — as I do — in January. Bulbs can be forced in soil, in pebbles and water, or in special vases intended for them. I favor the vases because they provide a visual… Read more »
