It is Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas: Seeing Red

I love Christmas! Not just because of the usual reasons everyone loves Christmas, but because my favorite color- RED -is everywhere. Starting with the December magazines, which are filled with red rooms, red flowers, models in red party dresses, ads styled in red, red and more red, and I can't get enough. Here are some of my favorite reds to get you in the mood for the Christmas season.

New York apartment designed by Miles Redd. Uhmm! Get a load of the huge wreath on the mirror. Perfect! The soft blue sofa gives the room a modern feel.

Love the red shades on the library lights. Note the chintz curtains-more chintz to come. 
I wonder if I can make a tablecloth just like this one?

There is nothing better than deep green against lipstick red. The olive green upholstery on the chair is super. Red seems to be the perfect color in libraries and rooms decorated with an animal scheme. This room feels like a gentlemen's club room. I once decorated my Christmas tree with equestrian ornaments. I love the Hunt.

Maybe it is because I associate red with horses and hunting. I took this picture last year at the Potomac Hunt's Thanksgiving Day meet at Montivedeo, Austin Kiplinger's farm in Seneca, Maryland. Going to this is a Thanksgiving Day tradition. 

I adore the tufted sofa. It was custom made and has such nice lines. Red on red--that is the best. The blue chinese vase is a nice relief. This room is very Diana Vreeland!

Zebras on red. 

The red door. 

Red leather is always classy and perfectly appropriate as chair upholstery. There are so many things I love about this entry hall. The white sunburst mirror is glam, the painted floors give me a ton of ideas for my own entry floor, the edging on the door makes the hall look current, yet it evokes the 1960s. The blue-glazed walls are so beautiful I want to scream!

So English classical!

I love the white classical furniture trimmed in gold leaf against the dark red walls. Black is just so sophisticated with red--the framed drawings are yummy.  I cut this photo out of a magazine many years ago and still love it.

Here is an even more traditional red room. Again, red with soft white and chintz.

This would be a nice Christmas gift. 

  A brooch with invisibly-set diamonds and rubies, made by Van Cleef and Arpels, Paris in 1936, it was owned by the Duchess of Windsor.

More lovely jewels from the Duchess of Windsor collection, by Van Cleef and Arpels, Paris. Inscribed, "Hold Tight." The Duke gave her this bracelet during the abdication crisis in 1936.

A ruby and diamond bangle made in 1925 by Lacloche. Exqusite!

I'm inspired to collect butterflies, especially swallowtails.

The most beautiful necklace in the world.

I can FEEL it's coldness  draped around my throat.

Mexico loves red, too

This Mexican wooden dish by Josefa Ayala is fabulous. I want 8.

Amazing baskets of interwoven palm strands from Oaxaca. 

Indian Chintz  "Tree of Life"

Mordant and resist dyed cotton hanging from the Coromandel coast of India 1720-50. The natural dyes give this chintz a soft, yet bold aesthetic. Seriously, India did it best!

Chintz in Palmette design

Possibly a bedcover or hanging, Mordant and resist dyed, 1700-25, Coromandel Coast. Made in India for use in the Netherlands. This is breathtakingly beautiful.

Chintz dress or furnishing fabric fragment, 1720-30, Coromandel Coast, India 

I want to cover my sofa in this and lacquer my living room walls red to match. Pillows in a leopard print, a blue and cream paisley Tabriz rug, black lacquer coffee table with glass top. Nice!

Dress Yoke, 1710-20, Coromandel Coast

The scale is more likely to suggest the yoke was cut from furnishing fabric. Speaking of clothes...

Plaids are back and I want this dress.

I want this one even more. Note the safety pins-and great shoes!

 A little touch of red can just make an outfit.

Let the Season begin!

Photos from Harper's Bazaar, Traditional Home, Elle Decor (all December issues 2009), Understanding Jewelry by Bennett and Mascetti, Arts and Crafts of Mexico by Chloe Sayer, and  Chintz: Indian Textiles for the West by Rosemary Crill. Potomac Hunt image by the author.

A Year of Thanks 2009

Following are just some of the people and events that I am thankful for this year.

New business

I did my first Antique Show this year.

Antiques Heyday in Leesburg, Virginia.

Caroline completed her first year at Loyola in Chicago

Gabriel and family moved closer to me and he started first grade at Seneca Academy in Darnestown, Maryland

Here he is with Alex, his cousin learning how to clean fish with Uncle George.

Andrew, the cutest baby in the world. He will be one in December.

Morning Glories everywhere-I love my garden.

Sarah, 15 years-old.

Beautiful Nicole in Seaside, Florida.

Gabriel films his first commercial at Mr. Jimmy's

Gabriel and family at dinner

Paco and Tommy--The boys

Ahh, the moon flowers on the front porch

My Mother, 85 and still cuts down trees.

Memphis Barbecue

April, the prettiest conservative blogger in Tennessee.

Gabriel's first day of school

Old friends-Evelyn and Drew. Congrats! You graduated from Maryland and our man is in the White House!

Lola, 11 kittens in one year.

Catfish dinner with family

Beautiful flowers

Beautiful friends

Buying jewelry in New York City

Thanksgiving Tradition: Thanksgiving Day with the Potomac Hunt

Old Mexican jewelry

The greatest guy with the biggest fish

1950s fabrics

Fun times

Remembering Douglas

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Theta Show in Houston, Texas

They say that Texas hasn't been hit as hard as the rest of the nation by the recession. I concur. According to sales at the Theta Antique Show in Houston last week this seems to be true. Some dealers sold little, but others did very well. I assisted Stella Rubin and we sold a large number of American quilts and fine gold jewelry.  Those Theta's love their gold and diamonds! 

Stella Rubin in front of a dazzling Mariners Compass quilt at the Theta Antique Show

The hooked rug on the back left wall is dated 1942-1945--the War Years. Fabulous! 
We sold fine gold jewelry, all 14 carat and up and most was created mid-20th century. I had my eye on a black resin ring with a huge turquoise stone surrounded by diamonds--it sold very quickly. Everyone looked at the Elizabeth Locke earrings (3 pairs)  which were a third of the price of new ones--but they didn't sell. If you love Locke's jewelry check out Stella's web site at www.stellarubin.com. 

Stella playing with her jewelry on the first day.

The French Jaspe pottery  sold very well--most went to a second home in Colorado. 

I can just see this Victorian carved wooden mirror in a Texas Hacienda. 

This crazy quilt is the best I've ever seen-and I have seen a lot! It is extraordinary. The  detail and variety of designs are just amazing.  This was the blockbuster object in the show.

These piles were noticeably smaller at the end of the show.

Loved this giant lock.  More Jaspe.


Stella will be exhibiting at Wilton, Conn in early December then at TAAS in New York in Janurary.


All photos by the author.