2 min readThe Barefoot Contessa is bringing her podcast to the Big Apple! Starting September 16th, beloved tastemaker Ina Garten can add “two-time podcast host” to her resume with the premiere of her new show, Happy Hour with Ina Garten.
Unlike her debut show, Be My Guest with Ina Garten, set at her iconic East Hampton home, Happy Hour takes a long-form format, showcasing unedited conversations between Ina and her guests over cocktails and mocktails in her New York City apartment. While she hasn’t revealed her guest list yet, Ina recently took to Instagram to unveil the first featured cocktail (a good old-fashioned bourbon sour) alongside the Upper East Side set.
Fans were ecstatic to have a first-hand look at the home, one writing, “The apartment tour I’ve been holding my breath for! 🍸🧡.” Another applauded Garten’s social strategy, writing, “YES!!! THIS is the content we crave! Welcome back, Ina 🥰🍸.”
In her walk-through, Garten points to the burnt orange shade of the plush armchairs in her living room, joking, “This is my living room, you can tell it’s me because I love orange.” While we all know how much she loves a good citrus, we were surprised and delighted to see the hue take on a more prominent role in her dining room design scheme.
Just beyond the kitchen, the dining room takes center stage in Happy Hour as the main set. Now adorned with cameras, microphones, and lights, the room boasts a casual air and a bespoke color palette with bold orange walls and a marble table set for two in the center. While the hue might be new to us, it’s anything but for Ina, who first spotted the shade on Martina Mondadori’s London living room walls circa 2008.
“I originally saw it in an article about Martina Mondadori's living room when she lived in London. She had beautiful natural wicker sconces on the wall, which looked extraordinary against the burnt orange color,” says Garten.
A friend of a friend, Mondadori and Garten later connected, and she shared the exact shade that dazzled Ina in the article spread. The warm terracotta hue is called The Long Room, mixed by the London-based paint company, Paint & Paper Library; an “assertive neutral,” as Ina describes it. The color pairs exceptionally well with soft sands, off-blacks, and even muted salmons.
“I have been carrying the color around for years,” says Garten. “When my decorator suggested we paint the dining area in my NYC apartment this color, I was a little nervous, but it worked out well!”
In a world where beige-washing has become the norm, we’re excited to see Ina flipping the script and embracing her personal style. After all, this is more than just a set. It’s her home.
