A Winter’s Day in NYC

I had a chance to go up to New York last week, mainly to pick up the print which J. Pocker was framing for me (more about that next week!), and to see some friends, one of whom was in the city from Chicago.

I met my friend who works at Scalamandré for lunch at the D&D building, and then had a chance to look at some of Scalamandré’s new offerings, which are gorgeous! I loved this cut velvet zebra print!

And this zebra print in either brown or black print on linen!

This is the pattern in the curtain at the Metropolitan Opera, except the repeat’s been scaled down from the original 125 inches!

And I loved the wallpapers, too!

Who could resist this cheeky monkey,

or this cute panda?

I was amazed by this woven ikat piece! It looks blurry, but it’s no!

From Scalamandré, we hopped in the car, and took a road trip to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where Andrea Brooke has opened the most fabulous store called Grace & Favor, British Design in Brooklyn.

The shop was terrific and had a great selection of objects selected specifically to be unique to G&F. Seriously, how could I possibly resist this?

Andrea works with English artisans to specially create pieces for her.

I loved the woolen pieces from the Cotswolds where my family spent a summer. She had these great pillows in wonderful menswear fabrics, as well as some beautiful throws.

I’ve raved about some of the terrific English wallpapers, and Andrea had the walls papered with some great papers that you can order through her. This paper looks like steel files, this one like a wall of books, and these lovely green birds have a subtle, but glam golden shine to them!

The day was capped off by a great dinner with friends, including fellow bloggers, Reggie Darling and Emily Evans Eerdmans, as well as frequent blog commenter, Magnaverde, and my friend Jonathan, who helps run his family’s company, Rosselli. Emily’s just finished writing the definitive book on Mario Buatta.

At Reggie’s suggestion, we went Keen’s, one of the oldest steakhouses in New York. It’s filled with artworks, many rooms and thousands of pipes which line the ceiling. Reggie writes about it here.

Dinner was a lively affair, and the conversation never stopped for a second. There were connections between each of us that ensured a wide range of topics, lots of laughs and loads of affection!The food was old-fashioned, but delicious! Keen’s has no need for fancy infusions, foams or any of that culinary nonsense. They do steaks and chops and the like, and they do them well. It’s food your father would have eaten and it’s fantastic! The place was packed on a rainy Tuesday evening. It was such a fun day, until, literally, the last 15 minutes, when I looked at my watch at 9:50 and realized that I had to catch a 10:05 train! Luckily, we were close to Penn Station and the train was late, but much panic ensued in the intervening 15 minutes!

Thanks to everyone who helped make it a memorable day! I will treasure the memory of a day spent with friends!