A Cozy Round Up

The Tea Bag Party has nothing over the Tea Cozy Party!

Tartan cozy

So many of you are eager for the return of English style!

So here is a silly round up of the tea cozy. What would English life and decor be without one!

Coffee cozy

Hope you have a slap and tickle.

The Unknown Cozy

Everyone who loves English country or English style loves a nice cozy - even if you don't drink tea.

NYC cozy

Some knit hats look like a tea cozy for the head.

Fashion cozy

Wearing a cozy is always good for a chuckle.

Pope Cozy

Making your own cozy is a favorite craft project.

Queen Craft Martha Cozy

No one is too cool for a cozy.

Hipster cozy

Granny chic rules the cozy world.

Flower power cozy

In Jamaica Rasta hats are called cozies.

Rasta cozy

Knitting a cozy could be fun if you know how to knit.

Dragon cozy

Kids love a cozy.

Kid cozy

And so on and so on.

Pirate cozy

It's amazing how many photos of the tea cozy there are on Google Image!

Union Jack cozy

And even more amazing that I would spend so much time looking at them, and actually enjoying it.

Bob Marley cozy

If you're still skimming this post you're pretty amazing too.

Dude cozy

Some people think round ups are easy to do and the lazy work of idle bloggers.

Chinoiserie cozy

But we've all been to that rodeo before, when we just feel like showing pictures.

Retro cozy

Perhaps this is the goofiest round up I have ever done.

Nacho Libre cozy

What do you all post when you have nothing to say?

Tweeters cozy

Will this round up ever end?

Domino girl cozy

You have to admit some of these are cute.

Crown cozy

Still feeling English style? Cheerio! You've made it to the end.

Fifi cozy

When Are The British Coming?

My friend Mitchell and I always talk about what's next in interior decorating. How long can the Belgian/Swedish/French pale face trend continue? Or the Domino inspired girl world chic chick decorating?


We both love color and pattern and a layered look, so we think it's logical that some sort of return to English style or English country will be the next big thing.

Mario Buatta interior design

In the 1980's into the early 1990's I was a lady-in-waiting to Mario Buatta The Prince Of Chintz, who still does what he has always done, beautiful colorful rooms filled with pattern, and layered to the nines.

Maheshwar Stripe by Sanderson

But except for a handful of Mario Buatta's clients, there seems to be very few jumping on the chintz band wagon on this side of the pond.


The English never stopped loving wallpaper and prints, and tea cozies.

Holy Tea Cozy! Is English decor coming back?!

The look certainly has evolved and is more modern looking, almost in a Domino way.

Finches by Sanderson

Sanderson, a home furnishings company in the UK is celebrating 150 years of English decoration.

Lacecap by Sanderson

This is a momentous occasion for the oldest surviving English brand in its field. The Sanderson story spans many eras of changing tastes and styles, and the designs have moved with the times, always reflecting contemporary style and new technologies. The company has experienced both success and struggle across its fifteen decades, and is proud to remain today a prosperous British business with an international reputation for lasting quality and timeless style.

Ever wondered who produced the first coordinated collection of mass-produced wallpapers and fabrics in Britain? Or built what has been called the world’s most fabulous decorators’ showroom and invented the hinged display screens now seen in showrooms worldwide?




How about who was first with post-impressionist wallpapers, or even earlier, the sole source in Britain of the most extravagantly expensive French papers?

Early Tulips by Sanderson

Then again, what company – from the Americas to the Far East – is most closely associated with the English chintz style? And who received the first Royal Warrant granted to a wallpaper manufacturer? The answers to all of these questions and more are revealed in an exhibition celebrating the 150th anniversary of Sanderson, to run from 19 March – 13 June 2010 at the Fashion & Textile Museum, London.

Love this chic Chinoiserie by Sanderson

As Sanderson celebrates its 150th anniversary it marks this significant occasion, and introduces ‘Vintage Wallpapers’. Nine wallpapers offer a glimpse of treasures in Sanderson’s unparalleled archive. The resulting collection is a celebration of the creativity and diversity.



The shelter magazines in the UK have never stopped showing chintz in some form. And Tricia Guild is certainly true to keeping English style going in a huge glam way.

Tricia Guild - Pavilion fabric

Yet, here in the USA we shy away from wallpaper and floral prints, not to mention color.


And layering is now associated with he dread 'C' word: Clutter.


A small segment of die hard cottage style/shabby chic decorators hang in there, but there is nothing tempting us in the vein of the great Nancy Lancaster.

The great Nancy Lancaster HERE

What do you think? Will English style, in the form of the great English country decorators be rediscovered and be the next big trend?

The English Home - Global Influence

It's time for another excerpt from The English Home Magazine. I still haven't gotten a new issue, so I'm struggling to show you something really fab.

I love the big clock, and what a clever way to deal with a radiator

This is a story of an American woman from New England who met a man from Sri Lanka while both of them were working in the banking business in London. They met cute, dated, and got married. Eventually they bought a townhouse in Kensington.


The ground floor is dedicated to using things from the husband's country, along with other African and Asian artifacts.


The upstairs rooms reflect the wife's New England upbringing.


The master bedroom is a blend of New England and Sri Lankan style. I love the shawls hanging on a ladder, and the pale paisley curtain fabric. The spectacular bed is done by Simon Horn.

The upstairs hall features a Dutch pine table with its delftware top top carefully restored. You can see the tongue and groove panelling in the bathroom evoking New England style.

The English Home - Labor of Love

A few of you have e-mailed me asking me to post another editorial spread from the magazine The English Home. Apparently it's hard to get here in the USA, and it does not have a web site at all, much a less a web site with the great point and click feature we take in stride.
I've posted two editorials recently HERE and HERE, and you seem to really enjoy this magazine as much as I do.

photo via Tara Bradford Paris Parfait

It's still the February issue. I'm still waiting for the March issue to arrive.
This story called "Labor of Love" is about a Georgian house in Chiswick a small Cotswold town.
Of course when the owners found this house it looked nothing like the beautiful images you see before you.

What could be more English than Wellies and wicker hampers on a stone floor in the entry hall

Mark and Caroline wanted to move from London and work in the Cotswolds. They found the house first, and jobs later. They viewed 100 homes before they found THE one being offered in a private sale on the internet. The Grade Two-star-listed, three-story house is noted for its original marble fireplace in the drawing room and 18th century railings outside.

Gustavian style bench in the hall

This whole magazine article is perplexing. It talks about key elements like that marble mantle, and yet there are no photos to satisfy your whetted appetite. The couple says they love dark furniture which is out of fashion so they are getting fabulous pieces at good prices, and of course we are not shown very much of it.

The living room has elements we love: White slips, dark wood floors,
and I am sure much more if only they would show an entire photo please!

And of course there are partial views galore, which I never understand. Wake up editors! We want to see the whole room AND details too.

The library with a reproduction marble fireplace and toile curtains
I want to see the 18th century fireplace!

The Guest Bedroom
The color and textures reminds me of Lynn Von Kersting

The Master Bedroom
The bed is from Four Poster Bed Company,
the bed hangings from Ikea, the bedspread is from La Redoute
I spy some of that fab out-of-fashion dark furniture the couple collects

The caption for the master bath says "In the spacious en suite bathroom..." and they show this dinky size photo with some stupid little sink. Hello photo and copy editors, take a meeting together why don't you?

Another partial view of what looks to be a fabulous kitchen
I'm intrigued by the leather sofa

Although there is an 18th century facade on the house, the couple thinks the house is older by at least 100 years. It is in a small thriving Gloucestershire town and largely built of Cotswold stone. The house is mentioned in the work of distinguished architecture historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner who wrote a series of guides called "The Buildings of England."
Anthony Trollope allegedly lived here, and it is known for sure that his wife son did. There is also a 250 year old grisly story about a highwayman named Tom Long being caught in the house, and hanged nearby on the town common.

The secluded wall garden has had a life changing effect on the lady of the house. She undertook a course of garden design at the English Gardening School based on the Chelsea Physic Garden, and graduated at the top of her class.

Once again the magazine chose one dinky shot of the garden. I scrounged a few more from Caroline Tatham's web site, because she now has a garden design business formed out her experience with her personal space.


It took nearly five years to refurbish the house. It was structurally sound but the couple put in a new kitchen, new bathrooms, new flooring, and hand made new window frames, as well as Victorian cast iron radiators and new pipe work.
Eleven fireplaces in the house remained intact (though we never get to see one ha ha).

Dinky photo from the magazine of the most important space
to the owner, garden designer Caroline Tatham

So there you have it. I wish the published photos were better for you. Still it's a very pretty house and garden in a very pretty part of England. Let me know if you want to see more things from this magazine and I'll fire up the old scanner.