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Rebecca Gardner is the hostess with the mostess. No, really—the event planner whose clients have included Lauren Santo Domingo and Margherita Missoni recently launched Houses and Parties, an e-commerce site dedicated to the art of the stylish soirée that doesn t take itself too seriously. Antique champagne coupes sit alongside cocktail napkins embroidered with burlesque dancers, artisanal tablecloths accompany a cherry pie fascinator, and elegant flatware is showcased next to a row boat-shaped salad server.
So perhaps it’s no surprise that Gardner’s favorite space in her Savannah, Georgia home is her living room—the very place she entertains. This is how it goes: she starts with drinks served from her rattan bar. If it’s a small group, she’ll serve margaritas from a pitcher, or pour champagne into coupes. For larger crowds, she’ll ask a bartender to shake things up while wearing a jacket that matches her dusty rose wall. (The exact paint color is Setting Plaster by Farrow and Ball.) “I think everyone looks beautiful in a pink room, and I know that everyone has more fun when they look beautiful,” Gardner says. On the cocktail table, she keeps bowls of nibbles—Southern cheese straws and potato chips are favored—as well as candles and flowers. An ice bucket sits on a stand nearby. “A refill need not require effort,” she says. There’s always music playing: perhaps Bing Crosby, perhaps Gershwin, perhaps Bing Crosby singing Gershwin.
From there, the group will move into the sunken dining area for dinner, or Gardner will set up a folding table in front of her silk velvet sofa adorned with matching pillows in the shape of Smarties. The piece was inspired by the seating in the shoe department of Barneys, and fits snugly into the curved shape of the window.
A creative collection of curios dots the room. There’s a tole lamp, tracked down from the Battersea Antiques Fair in London, and vases of Fritillaria blossoms which “smell like pot,” according to Gardner. The photograph above the fireplace is of a Chinese opera singer, and a Napoleon III gilded fauteuil is upholstered with fabric from an old Marni dress. Although not every seat needed refurbishment: vintage Ico Parisi orange velvet chairs still bear cigarette burns from their original owner. “I am sure it is the mark of a glamorous Italian woman with liquid eyeliner in the early sixties,” Gardner imagines.
In a way, Gardner’s living room is perhaps a physical manifestation of modern Southern hospitality with its warm, chic charm. She puts it best herself: “It s dressy and comfortable.”
Below, shop products inspired by Rebecca Gardner s favorite room:
