Winter Water.
L’Eau d’Hiver.
Shades of gray.
Pools of light.
Silken snow and snowy silk.
This room, with a corner fireplace, a new sofa, and soothingly cool color scheme is where we shall spend much of the winter. It’s below-ground, for the most part, and though some basements are dark and dank, ours is filled with light and warmth. Many years ago a tree fell through the roof of our house, knocking out electricity and leaving a hole in the attic, where cold and ice and squirrels could enter. The basement was the only source of heat, thanks to the fireplace. To this day, it remains a refuge from the winter.
For the past few months I’ve been working on a superficial renovation of sorts. A new color palette of aqua and turquoise has replaced the outdated golden yellow of the walls. A new couch in a subtle sea color, with a chaise extension, adds a modern mid-century focal point to the area, and a tufted coffee-table lends a bit of classical richness. (It’s probably my favorite part of the room right now.)
The book-heavy and tchotchke-laden shelves have been revamped with a collection of silver and mirrored items, giving an added dimension of sparkle and light, as does a circular wall mirror surrounded in mosaic mother-of-pearl accents. The flaming red elephant curtains have been replaced by a silvery damask velvet in a soft shade of seafoam. Accent pillows in white Mongolian fur and scalloped cream provide more whimsical lightness, as does a modern white chair for the office area.
A softer fragrance is needed for such a soft room, where refined yet simple elegance reigns. I’ve chosen the quiet ~ L’Eau d’Hiver ~ an exquisite offering from Jean Claude Ellena. It whispers and stays close to the skin; an extremely intimate affair that delicately mirrors the way the space draws one in, demanding a closer examination, begging to be touched. If scents had physical textures, this would be silk and velvet and gossamer wings.
I wanted it to feel like a cross between Auntie Mame’s first entrance-room make-over – the one with the blue velvet couch, brilliant chandelier, and silvers and gray – incorporating some 20’s art deco mirrors, a bit of 50’s simplicity and elegance, and her next-to-last room makeover in which she serves her ‘Flaming Mame’ cocktail and hat pickled rattlesnake hors d’oeuvre. Both are airy and a little eccentric, with baubles that sparkle, and a color scheme that is big on light blues and turquoise and silvers and grays.
It is the perfect backdrop to a scene of elegant cocktail gatherings, fasten-your-seatbelts party intrigue, and lounging in feathery robes and flowing silken garments, where glamorous movie stars languidly recline while serving bon-bons of wit on shiny silver-tongued platters.
That’s what I’m telling myself anyway, and we’re all entitled to a little delusional vanity in the winter months. Flights of fancy, even if they’re only in your head, were never more welcome than now.
