We're moving!

Starting this week we will be retiring this blog and posting here: http://wsroominabox.com/blog/

Hope you had a lovely long weekend!
XOXO
Windsor

My Recipe for a Sensuous Bedroom

A beautiful bed from WINDSOR SMITH ROOM IN A BOX

Good morning and Happy Valentine's Day! In honor of this special day, we are staying in the bedroom and under the covers this week here at Windsor Smith Home. 

To kick us off, here is my personal list of ingredients for a sensuous bedroom:

Silk charmeuse coverlet in a WINDSOR SMITH ROOM IN A BOX

1. Soft and sumptuous bedding:

An inviting bed is perhaps the most crucial element in creating an intimate bedroom. A custom  Deborah Sharpe silk charmeuse coverlet in a dreamy color is a lovely luxury to top off any bed and turn up the romance factor. 

If you are thinking of splurging on some new basics, a simple yet timeless and especially luxurious choice is the Hotel Charme bedding by Frette. For a more refined yet "lived in" feel I love linen,  and Restoration Hardware has some great selections which are currently discounted. Ideally, all your bedding would be ironed (here are some tips), but if you cannot spare the time simply pressing the top of the flat sheet as well as the pillow shams will do the trick.

WINDSOR SMITH ROOM IN A BOX

2. Scent-suality:

Everyone knows scented candles are a given for a romantic setting, but why not complete your scent-sual experience by slipping a vintage hankie or linen cocktail napkin sprayed with your favorite  fragrance under the fitted sheet or pillow case? I love Byredo's Blanche Eau de Parfum  and Jo Malone's Lime Basil line.

3. Space within a space:

Originally used by lords and noblemen in Medieval Europe to maintain warmth and provide privacy from their attendants, canopy and four-poster beds create an intimate feeling of enclosure. My canopy bed makes me feel as if I am “in the fold” with my husband and helps us forget about the outside world at the end of our hectic days. 


4. Finishing Touches:

I like to keep a stack of poetry books near the bed, and occasionally try to spend a few moments reading them alone or together. I also keep a simple silver pen and some little note cards from Sugar Paper handy, sometimes slipping a quick love note to my husband or tucking one into his luggage before a business trip. Stashing a soft red El Casco backgammon set in your nightstand is always fun too!

What are some of your go-to touches to help keep the romance alive in your bedroom? 

Hope your day is wonderful!
xoxo,
Windsor

This Valentine’s Day, bring more intimacy into your love life through design!

If you want to keep your relationship close and your love fires burning, spend time around one another at the start and end of the day to keep you grounded and communicating. Our increasingly busier lives demand that we make a conscious effort to build intimate time in, which we can foster through the thoughtful design of our shared spaces.

For me, it is when we begin and end our days that my husband and I share precious time and feel closer. If we didn't share a dressing area and bath, we would never see each other (I don’t care how good your man is on an iPhone, he cannot text and brush his teeth at the same time!). It is important that these areas are tactile and gorgeous and that they are free of the clutter and chaos of the world around us. They should have an element of fantasy or romance to them, and everything that you encounter should draw you in and feed the senses.

I am dedicating the week to intimacy in the master suite… Lets amp up the amour in our bath, dressing room, and bedroom, both for Valentines Day and every other day! Throughout the next few days I will be sharing my favorite photos of inspired spaces that do just that, tips on how to make it a space that supports you both in your relationship, and my personal recipe for a sensual bedroom. Stay tuned!

XX,

Windsor

Room In a Box

This month debuts an exciting – and entirely new - concept at Windsor Smith Home:www.wsroominabox.com. You send me your room specs and a few other needs, and I’ll custom design a room, just for you. All you’ll need will fit inside this special box, proving that good – and even extraordinary - things still come in small packages! I also wanted to make the packaging itself an exciting part of the concept, because the idea of colored signature boxes have always fascinated me since I was a girl.

We all know about thinking outside the box, but when are the prized boxes themselves wonderful and important all on their own? What makes our pulses quicken when we see them, and what can make them worth keeping, even when they’re empty?

Usually it's an iconic color; the two great ones we all instantly associate with timeless elegance, taste and refinement are Hermès orange and Tiffany blue. In Le Divorce, a gift box containing a Kelly bag is described as being as alluring as "a cake on an altar"; in Bride Wars, Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson discover a distinctive blue box with a white ribbon and instantly know Hudson's boyfriend will be popping the question.

Both of these dedicated retailers opened their doors in the same year (1837) on two completely different continents, but the concept of color as merchandising came to Tiffany & Co. first. The unusual boxes were soon quite sought after, especially as the firm refused to sell them independent of their merchandise – an exclusive policy that continues today. But retail color signature didn’t really come into its own until the 1930’s, when the great avant-garde fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli staked out “shocking” pink as her own territory. She even named her famous perfume for the exotic shade, calling it: "life-giving, like all the light and the birds and the fish in the world put together, a color of China and Peru but not of the West." French lingerie shops still refer to the color “le shocking.” At least, I think it’s the color they’re referring to! With some of the lingerie I’ve seen recently it’s hard to be sure.

Color is such a subliminal thing that, regardless of the quality of their goods, these companies could easily have had a major merchandising misfire if they’d chosen something along the lines of, say , UPS brown. All good designers know that their clients respond intuitively to color, as they do themselves, but while Tiffany selected a subtle and gorgeous robin’s-egg hue, Hermes and Schiaparelli both went to the extreme end of the spectrum, choosing strong, bold - and almost unwearable - colors; ones that are evocative of passion and daring.

Veuve Clicquot has also pushed the envelope in color merchandising, which is why they’ve now got me firmly in their clutches. Their new Ponsardin Rosé box is such a gorgeous and fresh berry pink color, and since it’s coupled with their familiar lush honeysuckle orange, I find myself responding by wanting to buy lots of their champagne and find reasons to throw a party! And now, with Room in a Box - I have one!

Say hello to the new kid on the block…………the peacock blue box and gray wrappings encasing the very exclusive design services of Windsor Smith www.wsroominabox.com.