RANDOM JOTTINGS

A blog about music, sports, theatre and rants

Long time blogger just moved to wordpress. Love music, theatre, movies, sport (tennis and cricket) and cooking. Two great daughters, two great granddaughters.

My Boudoir – aka my bedroom

If you look up the definition of boudoir you will see it was originally 'a woman's bedroom or small private room used for  sleeping, dressing, relaxing, and entertaining'. The kind of entertaining is not specified…

Its origin is from the 18th century French, literally a 'sulking place' from boudoir to 'pout, sulk'. This makes complete sense. I have often flounced off to my bedroom to sulk or, what was more likely, to seethe in impotent fury. Now that I am single this no longer happens and I can enjoy my bedroom in peace.

So why am I wittering on you ask? Well, a few weeks ago it was a cold, chilly day. It was getting dark earlier than usual because of the lowering clouds and I decided I was going to seek refuge in my bedroom. I made myself a cup of tea Gettyimages-110903954-612x612and took it through. I drew the curtains, switched on the light and the heater and robed myself in garment of total shapelessness, bright pink and covered in horses (don't ask).   It will never win awards for glamour and sylishness but if they were handing out gongs for total comfort then this would be top of the list. It also has a hood which is useful for keeping the back of my neck warm.

I took my place on the bed. Cushions piled up high behind me, rug over my feet. Books to hand, ditto laptop and all was gemutlich.  I stayed there all afternoon and it was total bliss. Did I doze off? Well, yes I did I was so comfy. Since then I have now got into a routine of doing all my chores, shopping whatever needs to be done in the morning and after lunch I retire to My Boudoir and there I stay.

It is not a glamorous room, I do not have a chaise longue or a bed festooned with drapes and posh bedding, but it is mine own and here I can snuggle and relax and do Exactly what I Like.

Bliss.

Every woman should have a boudoir.

Au reservoir.

 
 
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16 responses to “My Boudoir – aka my bedroom”

  1. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    Oooh I have to check this out now Jane!!

    Reply
  2. Jane Avatar
    Jane

    Farrow and Ball have brought out a new colour in their paint range recently, called ‘Sulking Room Pink’. I thought it meant that someone could say to another: ‘And you can put that lip back or go off to the sulking room’, until the man in the F&B shop explained the origin to me the other day. How strange that I should read the definition again in a matter of days!

    Reply
  3. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    The Garment of Total Shapelessness sounds like something out of Harry Potter!
    I never worried about being bored after I retired. I knew it would be wonderful and it is

    Reply
  4. Peggy Avatar
    Peggy

    This was the Best Post Ever (loved the garment of total shapelessness), but the comments! All of you who have already retired – I’m madly jealous. I cannot understand those who say they don’t know how they will keep themselves busy once they retire.

    Reply
  5. Sandy G Avatar
    Sandy G

    I don’t have a boudoir either, but have always snatched some “me time” curled up on the bed with a book. The kids used to say “Don’t disturb mum, she’s nesting with a book again” which gave me a valuable half hour or so to recharge the batteries. Now my youngest daughter has a stressful job, she’s doing the same!

    Reply
  6. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    Isn’t it just Margaret!!

    Reply
  7. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    Erika I worked for a pyscopath for years, excuse spelling, and oh the relief when I packed it all in. Ten years now and I still feel the joy when I wake up in the morning

    Reply
  8. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    oh yes how I agree. This is a routine I have now invented for myself and there is nothing and nobody to stop me doing it. Bliss

    Reply
  9. Margaret Powling Avatar
    Margaret Powling

    At this time of the year especially, Elaine, there is nothing quite as comforting as taking oneself off to recline on one’s bed, in something comfortable, with piles of pillows, cushions, a nice throw or rug over the feet, a h.w.b. at one’s back, curtains drawn, bedside lights on, a soothing drink and plenty of reading material. It’s the best way of getting through winter!

    Reply
  10. Erika W. Avatar
    Erika W.

    Yes Helen–you are absolutely right. Thanksgiving was new to me and I snatched it up with delight and a big Easter celebration was new to my Texan husband. It did take a few years to sort out Christmas; Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Now we have a glorious catch-¡all all the way to Twelfth Night!
    It’s delightful to see my daughter and her family weaving all this into her Louisiana Cajun French husband’s customs.

    Reply
  11. Helen Avatar
    Helen

    INVENT the custom for yourself: it could become a new family tradition! We both come from families that didn’t do cozy family traditions and have spent thirty years together dreaming them up for ourselves.
    MUCH more fun than simply inheriting them…

    Reply
  12. Erika W. Avatar
    Erika W.

    Our main meal is at ca 2:00p.m. After which we snuggle under fuzzy blankets in our favorite “feet up” chairs and also open current reading. Conversation is pretty much forbidden but we are asked to wake each other up if snoring begins–so that we can change to better positions.
    Both of us found full retirement two of the happiest days of our lives. Craig had a shocking job under a madness personified director and I was just totally exhausted by the daily process.
    I do wish that I had been raised to the custom of tea time at 4:00p.m. As it is I have no punctuation mark to end this lazy period of the day and now that it is Winter it can continue up to twilight, but with no guilty feelings.

    Reply
  13. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    I have just come through to the living room from such an afternoon. I had a zzz, then read my book and drank tea. Listened to the radio. Checked emails. Had a chat on the phone with a friend. I am now totally relaxed. Wonderful

    Reply
  14. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    Oh yes I LOVE retirement. Coming up to ten years now and I can honestly say I have never been bored or restless since the day I packed all the commuting in. When it is cold and dark and I wake up in the morning knowing I do not have to go to work, it is the most wonderful feeling in the world!

    Reply
  15. jeannie.flemingkehler@gmail.com Avatar
    jeannie.flemingkehler@gmail.com

    I had a large boudoir in my last house. At one end was the usual bed, dresser night tables but the other end was big enough for a sofa and chair. My husband and I loved it. I could go up in the afternoon and read, I could give the hubby a pedicure. Or I could open both windows and listen to the Birds and watch the trees, sometimes swaying in the breeze, other times watching the shifting of the sun on the trees. Yes, it usually ended in a lovely nap.

    Reply
  16. Helen Avatar
    Helen

    Couldn’t agree more! I don’t have a boudoir but DO have a cozy-winter-afternoon routine like yours: by 2h 30 tops everything I’m going to do is done, postponed or just abandoned(!) and it’s light the lamps-make the coffee-cat on lap-and open a good book-time for the next few hours. And I may be sitting on a sofa rather than reclining on a bed but yes, I drop off too:))
    All those long afternoons at work, those cold wet journeys home, don’t you just LOVE retirement?!

    Reply

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