Photo by Muffy Aldrich
The Modern Guide to The Thing Before Preppy

Sunday, May 21, 2023

Reader Question: Is there a concomitant uniform for houses in the "Oxford/Khakis/Shetland" orbit?

 

A reader question:

There are some small things that were always in our house and in most of our friends' homes, to.  They included Keiller's Dundee marmalade crocks as pencil holders, Tibetan almond sticks for the inevitable nicks in beloved dark wood furniture, the Episcopal calendar (no photos but tons of bits of saintly and liturgical trivia), a handle or two of decent but not expensive liquor on the sideboard, napkins in napkin rings (we and our friends acquired this wonderful habit in wardrooms on USN ships), and piles of old New Yorkers and Atlantics.  What were the prevalent things in the homes in your orbit? 

17 comments:

  1. I am 62 and a southerner. The magazine that could be found in every home was Southern Living. I am not a fan of the version today. When I was a child, I remember almost every home having some sort of Last Supper picture on the wall, China cabinets with pretty wares, a bowl of shells from visits to the Gulf, a family Bible on the coffee table. Those a few I can think of.

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  2. Sandy, I also miss the “old” Southern Living; my mother used to gift me a subscription every year. Garden & Gun occasionally comes close, but IMHO, not quite the same.

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  3. A Piano for sure.

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  4. Growing up on the south fork of New York's Long Island, there was the pile of Yachting magazines on or under the coffee table as well as Boys Life (all the boys were in the Boy Scouts) magazines and the relics of long summers at the shore; sea shells, sea glass and sand.

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  5. Books, magazines, newspapers. Liquor. High quality furniture. One small TV. No religious indicia anywhere. Quiet.

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  6. Books, banned or otherwise

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  7. British car magazines, and books!

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    1. Many people who read this wonderful blog might have, judging by the above comments, at least a slight case of what the Japanese call tsundoku.

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  9. Neither of us went to a prep school, so we aren't a preppy household. Nevertheless, our living room, more of a parlor, is full of family photos, photos and paintings of ancestors, and some of their homes, which includes both Gunston Hall and George Washington's Mt. Vernon. My wife's grandmother's grandfather (that is, her great-great-grandfather) was the last private owner of Mt. Vernon. She's also a direct descendant of George Mason. I have mentioned before that everything noteworthy is about my wife's side of the family. There are also two antique prints in shabby frames that I know nothing about.

    The other room, where the TV is, is where the magazines and books accumulate. The mantel is covered in little carvings of animals and flanked by silhouettes of our two children.

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  10. Well at the moment I look around the drawing room and note the Daily Telegraph newspaper discarded on a chair and general untidiness created selfishly much to the annoyance of my housekeeper but thoughts of prep school generally keep me in line I suppose . Barbour coats along with many inherited possessions abound throughout the house and are of course ready to be passed on to the next generation . My wife wants to clear away much of the stuff but I have always resisted that .

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  11. Lots of books and magazines, liquor decanters, silver framed pictures, antique furniture, tall case clock, too many fireplace tools to count. Firewood in the house even in summer, gardening boots, one absolutely fantastic border collie and two cats!

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    1. @anonymous 10:03 AM I love your collection! Similar to mine except for a beagle instead of border collie.

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    2. And mine but add a working cocker spaniel and a lamentably yappy miniature poodle.

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    3. The one thing always in place is the old English setter, asleep on the sofa. He does not lift his head even for a knock at the door or a call to eat or take a walk, although he can be coerced to go out or eventually lured to eat. When he comes in from his morning excursion he races in the back door, past his breakfast, and to his beloved sofa, onto which he leaps with glee.

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  12. I agree with the comments above--especially regarding books. I generally try to keep the books amassed in one room, but they do manage to sneak around.

    I would add comfortable furniture--likely not new and also likely to have a few bumps and scratches--but so long as it's not collapsing in upon itself, we'll make do for another year.

    There's also the flatware and dishes. Regularly noted on this site, we tend to use the "good stuff" on a daily or at least regular basis. Saving it in a closet or cabinet for a random holiday is pointless. An Uber driver when asked how his day was going replied, "I woke up on the right side of the dirt, so it's a good day." If that's not a good enough reason to use the "good stuff", I don't know what is.

    Prost!

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  13. Books. Needlepoint and/or crewel work pillows. Wing and/or Windsor chairs. Hooked and/or braided rugs.

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