I guess it’s the Halloween thing, my dreams are darker by the day and the sun seems to be lost in a haze of gloomth. And now I’m onto burnt beauty, full on charr. ‘Ruthie!!’ I shout, as I often do…’I need some beautiful burnt houses tout suite!!’ ‘Seaton Delaval Hall’ she shouts back, arguably one of Vanburgh’s finest…and as envisaged by Piper in 1941, it is not only a splendid burnt ruin, but a perfect gothic teaser in that neither patron nor architect lived to see its completion. Should you find yourself in Northumberland…you can marvel at the burnt out hall yourself. Now owned by the National Trust and opened to the public since 2010.

Sometimes I think I’ve gone a bit weird, and then find that someone has had the very same thought and gone downright commercial with it. Like Maarten Baas with his smoke collection.

…or Tom Sachs. Totally want to wear this.

It all makes me think of a Rauschenberg….though not burnt, he was doing black in the 70′s, as of course was Reinhardt!! And my favourite dining room ever was gloss black. Come to think of it Nicky’s old sitting room when he rented Cecil Beaton’s flat was entirely black velvet.

I remember the look in my children’s eye’s the first time I showed them how to antique paper….’emervielle‘ , that most divine of French words, is the only way to describe it.