Bits of black can bring such elegance & gravitas to a room...even if they're just skillets or Ikea chairs! As cold weather approaches, black accents feel more and more appropriate. They feel serious, timeless, dressy without being flashy, like a wool coat or cocktail dress...

• Cast-iron skillets have such an air of sturdiness and warmth- people cooked their way through much worse winters on cast iron, and if they made it so can I.
• My new hand-me-down chair sits under my bookshelf, and seems the perfect spot to read, sip whiskey, and smoke cigars all winter long. I don't smoke actually cigars, but if I did this chair would be the proper manly, (fake) leather spot.
• My currently-in-use purses all happen to be black (& white or silver), and this little b&w umbrella was a major $1 garage sale store. I appreciate the fact that I can throw all my stuff on these hooks when I walk in the door and have it still look orderly and intentional.
• All my tea towels are black & white- gingham, plaid, striped, and this Yum Yum Sugary Snacks version I screen printed recently, an homage to the werewolf punk band in Martin Millar's Lonely Werewolf Girl.

Images: Tess Wilson