Winter draws on

[Gareth Hughes]

Clad in a warm dressing gown, sprawled on a deep buttoned somewhat distressed leather Chesterfield, in a grand dimly lit library in front of a roaring fire, glass of malt whisky in hand....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BKRZTalEys

 

[Moo]

Clad in a warm dressing gown, sprawled on a deep buttoned somewhat distressed leather Chesterfield, in a grand dimly lit library in front of a roaring fire, glass of malt whisky in hand....

You've just described the library in Brodsworth Hall when Mrs Grant-Dalton lived there. You forgot to mention the gently rotting curtains, and I'm not sure you had her Chesterfield in mind - so distressed that the leather looked like moth-eaten suede - but you've conjured up the atmosphere perfectly!

 

[JoceAndChris]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BKRZTalEys

:lol: Brilliant! He's so like my brother...

I'm very obliged for all this living paint chart posting of F & B, often wondered about Radicchio too.It looks pink next to white doesn't it, but if you changed that white to say, Dead Salmon, it would be redder maybe. It's lovely though- love those strong shades. I'm thinking of making the passageway very definite and dark rather than white, maybe Mouse's Back or Pigeon? Anyone used those two?

 

[Nigel Watts]

We've used F&B Radicchio in our hallway. We have ancient panelling which is yet to be painted (hence the splashes of red on the woodwork...) but I think I'll stick with cream rather than green - might be a bit much! The modern panelling on the ceiling in another bit of the hallway will be painted in Radicchio though where the walls are beigey/grey. Red is such a lovely warm colour - very hard to get exactly the tone you want! This is probably more pink than we realised but I do love the colour - especially at night.

I'm looking for a tie that colour but cant seem to find one. The Huntsman tweed jacked my wife bought me earlier this year - an otherwise conventional rusty brown herringbone - has a fine stripe in crimson and other in this colour.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BKRZTalEys

:lol: Brilliant! He's so like my brother...

I'm very obliged for all this living paint chart posting of F & B, often wondered about Radicchio too.It looks pink next to white doesn't it, but if you changed that white to say, Dead Salmon, it would be redder maybe. It's lovely though- love those strong shades. I'm thinking of making the passageway very definite and dark rather than white, maybe Mouse's Back or Pigeon? Anyone used those two?

Friends of mine have a Mouse's Back Passage. So painted purely in order to name it thus. Not particularly dark as I recall.

 

[Juju]

We've used Little Greene Paint Co. 'Rolling Fog' which on the colour chart looks similar to F&B Pigeon but on the walls looks beige in the day time and a sort of lavender grey by night. I find the Little Greene paints are very different on the walls to the charts but luckily so far I've been happy with the resulting colours..

 

[Nigel Watts]

Dressing gown, leather Chesterfield and whisky are all in place. Just need to light the fire now.

 

[Nigel Watts]

The view from the sofa... bliss in a bottle (a ten year old Springbank)

 

[yamin]

Well thats just lovely! Just waiting for a christmas tree and a bowl of lightly lustred pine cones. Can we come and sing carols? Oh, and make mine a mulled wine please?

 

[worms]

Nigel,

I fear standards are slipping somewhat.

If the dressing gown and fire are for after dinner relaxation, then it has to be the 15 y.o. Springbank, (sherry cask matured). The 10 y.o. (bourbon cask matured) would be acceptable if (as the pictures suggest) this is the pre-breakfast winter-warmer.

 

[Flyfisher]

I fear standards are slipping somewhat.

Indeed. Lighting one's own fire? Whatever next!

 

[Moo]

I'm afraid the dressing gown lets the whole thing down, Nigel.
Time, I think, to take the plunge into garment-making.

 

[yamin]

Surely a more suitable choice for sartorial elegance

 

[Nigel Watts]

15 y.o. Springbank, (sherry cask matured)

I did have a bottle or two of this once - cask strength, 100 proof if I recall. Very nice indeed but the law of diminishing returns applies - the 10 year old is so good it hardly seems necessary to pay the premium.

The dressing gown, I fully agree, is not up to scratch. I have a mauve velevt smoking jacket but it is part of the uniform I am expected to wear by my City livery company on the rare occasions I attend their dinners. Its 1970s vintage, from Hepworths. Not very nice, and not nearly decadent enough.

 

[Ushy M]

Very late joining this thread having been staying with a friend who has a MODERN apartment - new build, properly insulated and the warmest I've been in weeks - had to throw the bedcovers off. Secretly quite envious (till I got home of course..) :wink: Yep, definitely warmer out than in at the moment. We found out the first winter here that all that stuff about "Oooh thatched cottages - cool in the summer, warm in the winter" is nonsense! It's cold all the time, and is briefly perfect for the 3 hot days in summer that we get - then it's better than aircon.

We go for Yamin's approach - last winter we swapped the dining room for the sitting room so we could hole up next to the woodburning stove and keep use of the central heating down to a minimum. The downside is that we leave the cats snuggled up in the warm room while we go off to our freezing bedroom, but we're used to that.

In terms of keeping the bod warm, we go for the rufty-tufty biker approach favoured by Feltwell (as rufty-tufty bikers of course). Aldi's sometimes do cycling/motorcycling kit that's pretty good and very cheap.

Joce, I'm with you on the thread count/luxury fabric - have you got any posh charity shops near you? we're lucky here with Towcester, Olney etc. and occasionally manage to pick up lovely bargains such as beautiful Irish woollen blankets, Irish linen tablecloths and heavy velvet curtains to hang in draughty doorways (P.S. don't worry about being snubbed by the Duchess of Rutland - hopelessly declasse my dear ...)

 

[yamin]

have you got any posh charity shops near you? we're lucky here with Towcester, Olney etc. and occasionally manage to pick up lovely bargains such as beautiful Irish woollen blankets, Irish linen tablecloths and heavy velvet curtains to hang in draughty doorways

:lol: :lol: :lol:

And I thought seeing M and S in my local charity shop was proper posh!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Nigel Watts]

have you got any posh charity shops near you? we're lucky here with Towcester, Olney etc. and occasionally manage to pick up lovely bargains such as beautiful Irish woollen blankets, Irish linen tablecloths and heavy velvet curtains to hang in draughty doorways

Did I really say this? I'm not sure I have ever been to Towcester or Olney. The idea appeals though. My wife found two very nice second hand dresses recently - one from the sixties and one from the seventies. Not a charity shop in this case but a shop a Camden Passage specialising in such things. They also had some stunning, original 1920s stuff. No mens clothes unfortunately.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Nigel's comforts replicated here last couple of nights- fire, dressing gowns, strong booze, Chesterfield, bliss!

This thread's been very useful in leading me to rethink a couple of things - for example, the heat of the ground floor disappears down the stairs into the sunken, cold undercroft where the kitchens/scullery/ wine cellar are. This is because the door's been removed and is currently rotting in the garden. So today, rather than take on the headache of seeing whether anything can be done with rehanging this moribund door we bought a thick curtain to hang there. I also think that because I really can't be bothered to keep a fire going in the drawing room all day when it's just me I need to turn the breakfast room, a little used room but where the Rayburn is, into a snug. This, combined with shutting off all the rooms we don't use, should lower fuel costs. And Chris came home with lots of presents for me from M&S, which has gone some way towards cancelling out the wry and sarcastic remarks he's been making about my chickens lately.

Sadly the charity shops round here are all recycled George at Asda, which really shouldn't be allowed. Oakham's not bad- 18 miles away- but no-one's cold in Oakham they're so rich, it's all wafty nonsense like you might wear for Cannes! :lol:

 

[Cloudscape]

During the day, the house is colder than outside. In these chilly evenings, the house is marginally warmer than outside. I'm resisting even lighting a fire, and definitely not burning the oil yet. I'm toughened up a bit after last winter. But I draw the line at getting into a freezing cold bed, especially when I'm already aching with cold. I love my electric blanket.

 

[Tom]

I haven't had to put the heating on yet but I have got my winter clothes out of storage. We face another winter in the caravan (sorry, 2 bedroomed flat on wheels!!) whilst the house is toasty warm with the Rayburn going :roll: i don't mind, though. It's good to keep testing your resilience. And anyway, I always feel MUCH better when I come in after bedding down the horses at 10pm :lol:

Another tip for staying warm is wearing a scarf, even indoors. It's unbelievable how much warmer it can make you feel. I love my fleecy Toggi one....luuuurvly.

Oh, and don't forget when you're sat at the computer you should ALWAYS have one of these plugged in.....

http://www.play.com/Gadgets/Gadgets/4-/10968573/USB-Footwarmer/Product.html?&engine=froogle_gagets&keyword=USB+Footwarmer&_$ja=tsid:11518%7Ccc:%7Cprd:10968573%7Ccat:Girls+Allowed

Just don't forget to take your feet out before walking off :lol:

Jaqy