The Imperial Hotel, Delhi

Some people are plane people and some people are hotel people. I proudly admit to being a hotel person. I will gladly suffer through 24 hours in a middle seat in coach if I can then splurge on the hotel of my dreams. I believe that the right hotel can epitomize a city and it’s people. I can get to know a city by having a drink at it’s hotel bar as much as winding through it’s streets. Now, to do this, it can’t just be a trustworthy Hyatt, hip W, or grandiose Four Seasons. I stayed in a brand new Four Season in Berlin once, for all you knew once you walked through the front doors you were in Cleveland…not that I have anything against Cleveland, but I’m not suffering through a middle seat so I can be in Cleveland. And don’t get me wrong, my chosen hotels are, more often than not, not the nicest, newest, or, usually, not even comfortable, but they are the kind of hotels that for one reason or other are almost indistinguishable from the city itself. I just recently returned from a design trip to India and had the good fortune to stay at just such a hotel. Okay, full disclosure, this wasn’t one of those rough and tumble, seen better days, lumpy mattress places that I just mentioned, but a full blown 5 star goddess of a hotel at which my agent had been able to get me a good deal. So, after 24 hours of travel, all of it in middle seats, I checked in at The Imperial Hotel in New Delhi.

The hotel lobby from above.

Unlike many of the older grand hotels in India that served previous duty as a palace or government building this was built expressly to be India’s first 5 star hotel and opened as such in 1931. From what I've read, it was designed by D.J. Bromfield, an associate of Edwin Lutyens.  However, according to the hotel curator, who was nice enough to give me a guided personal tour, it was designed by Lutyens himself…and since I wasn’t being billed for this private tutelage, I wasn’t going to argue. It was the brainchild of Lady Mountbatton who provided much of the extensive art collection that can be found adorning every inch of the hotel.  It, in fact, is said to have the largest collection of colonial and post-colonial art in Delhi. 

What I liked to call my hallway round-a-bout.

 To walk into the hotel is to walk back in time. Very little has changed – the exact same Persian carpets lay on the exact same Italian marble floors. (I asked how they keep them in such seemingly good shape and I was told that wear is never a problem in high quality carpets…I guess that explains why mine look the way they do.) The same Austrian chandelier hangs from the same gilded dome at the entrance. High Tea is served at 4 sharp in the courtyard and the kitchen staff has kept the English ability to serve a perfectly cooked soft boiled egg at breakfast.

Patalia's Peg

1911 Bar

The hotel’s two original bars still serve Pimm’s Cups. One of the bars, Patiala’s Peg is where Neru and Mahatma Ghandi signed the treaty that formed Pakistan. The other, 1911, celebrates the moving of India’s capital to Delhi. Both look like a page out of a Ralph Lauren Home catalogue, but all original and genuine. As you sink into the leather banquette and sip on a Bombay and tonic after an exhausting day battling Delhi you can feel a little of India’s history seeping into you.

The entrance to 1911 where breakfast was served.

1911 Restaurant

The Pool

It Just Takes One

Real Simple.com just published a feature on how it just takes one piece to really transform a room. They really are right. Just one stunning piece can lift a room out of mediocrity - make it big, make it quality and make it make a statement - then, honestly, you can get away with not replacing the drapes for a little longer. One of the pieces they featured in their list of 9 recommended pieces, was my Bonju Wall Sculpture - I must say that I agree....just my completely objective opinion.

9 Investment-Worthy Pieces of Wall Art | Bonju Wall Sculpture by Kennet... | Real Simple

In Celebration of the Off Season

Every Martin Luther King weekend my in-laws come to town and we head up to the Anderson Valley for a few days to recover from the blur of the holidays. It's a nice time to reflect on the year past, the year to come and to spend some quality time together outside of the hectic holidays.




This year we drove the hour to the coast and spent an afternoon milling about the lovely town of Mendocino. It struck me as we strolled through town that you can get the real feel of a town when you visit it in the off season, it's as if its guard is down and you get a peek into the real place.

A near perfect seaside town founded in 1850, Mendocino has escaped development and rampant tourism and remains a quaint, ramshackle town of 800 residents. It's mostly untouched quaintness got it a starring role in Murder She Wrote where Mendocino played the part of Cabot Cove, Maine.

In January you can feel the mist on your face as you walk down the board walk to the sound of crashing waves. Take your time, explore the side streets, poke into a few shops and don't forget to journey past the dunes down to the water.

We had a late lunch at the Mendocino Cafe where they were serving big bowls of clam chowder and amazing fish tacos.

And no afternoon in Mendocino is complete without an end of day stop at the Chocolate Haus for hand pulled taffy, white chocolate raspberry bark or milk chocolate rocky road. With a full stomach and still feeling the warmth of the hot chocolate , the drive home down the coast was nothing less than spectacular.

Of Lemons and Cow Bells

I have some of the best family ever! Every year a waxy, fresh scented box arrives from the great state of Maine right after Thanksgiving. In it lies Sigrid and Rick's holiday gift - a beautiful fresh spray of ceder, balsam and fir. It's the first thing to go up and immediately puts us in the holiday spirit. The only problem is, it doesn't look like this when we get it....it looks like this....

God bless plastic bells and acetate ribbon, it's not really the look I was going for...and so the doctoring begins. I like to do a little of the unexpected in my holiday decorations. One thing that I've found works well is using citrus fruits. They're inexpensive this time of year, look good with greenery and hold up well. A quick rummage through the kitchen, the backyard and a couple of Christmas boxes and I have everything I need: a few glass Christmas ornaments and some old cow bells (don't ask), a handful of lemons, a few pine cones, floral wire and picks (if you don't have these, you can use a wire hangar cut into pieces instead - just don't tell Joan Crawford), and a decent piece of ribbon (I channel my grandmother and keep every piece of ribbon that comes into the house in a grocery bag in the basement).

Now, take the floral picks and insert them into your lemons, attach the wire to the ornaments and bells and bundle together a few of the pine cones.


Next step, strip the spray of all the old stuff - if there are any decent pieces (like pine cones), hold on to them to add back in later, and then wire in the new pieces. Start with the biggest and keep filling in empty spots with the smaller pieces.



I finish it off with the ribbon and a cluster of pine cones to hide my laziness when it comes to bow making. And we're finished.

Don't forget to spritz any kind of greenery you have with some water every few days - I know that sounds really up tight, but it makes a huge difference to keeping everything from drying up before the big day. Another life saver is the over the door wreath holder, makes hanging things a snap, I always make sure it's on the top of the Christmas box since it's the first thing I look for. And we're finished. Now, we're off to cut down a Christmas tree. That will be an adventure, I'll let you know how it goes.

Hugs for Sale

Share the love! Hug Tees just arrived in the San Francisco store and on the Web. Who knew love only costs $29.00. www.kennethwingard.com/hugtee.html

Oh This? I Just Threw it Together

With everyone running out to the grocery store this weekend to fight over cranberries and figure out where they keep the mincemeat, I thought I would try to ease the pressure of hosting Thanksgiving. Here's my trick for whipping together a custom centerpiece using items from the grocery store. This one truly took 15 minutes and looks like I had to order it weeks in advance.

1. Pick out a nice pumpkin or gourd. Keep in mind the size of your table and the color of your plates and napkins. You don't want anything too tall or it will block conversation. I chose a nice green and white round one with a lovely low shape.

2. Head to the floral department and check out their assortment of ordinary prepackaged flower bouquets. Here is an example of where the whole is definitely not better than the sum of the parts. You want to find a bouquet or two that have some interesting flowers mixed in between the carnations and baby's breath and have some duplicates within the bunch instead of the one of everything method. I found two - a bunch of Jade roses which are creme with hints of green and a mixed bouquet that has some of the same colors - green, white and some orange.You'll also need some tape, a knife, a spoon, and a plastic cup.

4. Slice the top off of your pumpkin. Don't cut it in the jack-o-lantern method, but further down, just above half way so you create a bowl. Then scoop out the inside and flatten out the bottom a little.

5. Set the plastic cup inside the pumpkin, trimming the top down if necessary with some scissors so it's flush with the top of the pumpkin. Run the tape across the top of the pumpkin to make a grid. This will hold the cup and your flowers in place.

6. Take your bouquets apart and separate your bounty. Group together the stems by type: the filler greens, those things that have similar colors, those things that have only singles and decide which ones you're going to use. I'm going with all of the green and white choices (okay, not all, those dyed green little mums I'm just throwing out.) and the nice greens. All of the other pieces won't go to waste, but will find their way into little bud vases in the bathrooms or guest bedside table.

7. Starting with the greens, cut them down and place them around the gourd, spacing them out and having them sit relatively flat to create a nice base. Then take the flowers that you've chosen and place them in one by one. As a basic rule, I like to make my overall arrangement about twice as tall as the base - so cut the stems appropriately. Keep turning the pumpkin and adding more flowers until you've created a nice full arrangement. Put in the larger blooms first and then fill in the space with the smaller flowers. Take the top of the pumpkin and lean it up to the base for a casual little - "oh, this, I just threw it together" look.

HALLOWE'EN SHOUT OUT

In the wake of Hallowe'en, I want to take a moment to salute all of the parents who take time out of their busy days to be imaginative and creative with their children....and a nod to those who do not have the time or sewing skills, but make up for it in dry wit.