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Kate Watson-Smyth

A House Tour of the Private Home of Piero Fornasetti

Hello everyone, firstly can I thank all of you who have followed me over to the new house on Substack either as a free or paid subscriber. I'm dropping in here to let you know that my first post will be going live this morning. I won't be writing on here every time there is
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Come With Me To My New online House

Well today’s the day. From today you will be able to join me over on Substack where I have been busy behind the scenes hanging the curtains, unpacking the archive and arranging the furniture ready to welcome you in. Some of you will have already seen the email I sent on Monday in which I
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The Househunter: Colour Drenching

Off to a grand Victorian house in south London this week which has taken full advantage of the large rooms and high ceilings to really make bold use of colour. But before you worry this isn't for you, the colour drenching used throughout this property works brilliantly in smaller rooms with lower ceilings so this
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Bloom! My Floral Carpet launches at Decorex

kws for alternative flooring quirky bloom in polenta at decorex 2023
A couple of months ago I shared with you the news that I had designed a floral carpet with Alternative Flooring and, as it formally launches at Decorex this week, I'm excited to tell you that such was the amazing response from retailers that it has moved from being an online exclusive to one that
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Beautiful Rooms For Monday

quirky bloom by kate watson-smyth for alternative flooring shot by ben robertson
Goooooooooood Mooooooooorning everyone. I trust you are well-rested and fully caffeined and ready to start the week. I have some lovely room inspiration for you today but I'm going to start with a picture of my new Quirky Bloom carpet that I designed for Alternative Flooring as, if any of you are heading to Decorex
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The Househunter: Codebreaking Interior Design

A somewhat cryptic headline for this week's househunter as we will be decoding the interior design tactics used in this house which was lived in by Alan Turing, Harry Hinsley and John Tiltman during the time they worked as codebreakers. It's a six minute drive from Bletchley and is on the market with Inigo for
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Beautiful Rooms To Start The Week

image via liberty london
Here we are in October already. I know it's a cliche of aging that time seems to speed up but someone said the other day that September had lasted about 10 minutes - in contrast to January which - as everyone knows - lasts nearly a year. But here we are, it's officially Autumn and
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The Househunter: Small Flat Big Storage

designed by ilse crawford, for sale via unique property company
This London loft apartment was designed by the wonderful Ilse Crawford but has been on the market before so I don't know if she is selling it or if it's a new owner that hasn't changed anything. Either way it bears examination because a) Ilse is brilliant and b) it's a real lesson in creating
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Is AI the Future of Interior Design?

AI generated design of a kitchen blending the interior design styles of madaboutthehouse and sophie robinson
A controversial headline this but it’s a subject we recently discussed on the podcast (you can listen here) and I thought it was worth a follow up. Those of you on instagram may have noticed more and more AI generated designs creeping into your feed. Those of you who linger and pay attention to comments
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Using Colour To Punctuate A Room

deep blue paint via atelier ellis
We begin the week, as usual with a stroll through some of the beautiful rooms that have caught my eye this week. And first up, the picture of the vintage jelly cabinet that I mentioned on Friday. Firstly - how pretty! But the point I made the other day is that it is narrow so
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The Househunter: Clever Storage in a Small Flat

A small one bed flat for you today but one which has made the most of every inch of storage and still made it look cool and, crucially, not cramped. It's in a Victorian mansion block in east London and is on the market with Inigo for £465,000. image via inigo It was built by
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Sweet Treats from Little Greene Paint

Little Greene Sweet Treats Madeleine
As I may have mentioned once or twice before at the start of the summer I pushed myself out of my comfort zone to have a go on the world's fastest Zip Wire. All that needs to be said here is that I have done it. I have no need to do it again. However,
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My Kitchen Reveal

Welcome to the new look blog and to celebrate a tour of my new kitchen. The blog hasn't changed much but it's just had a little refresh and looks a little cleaner. Also you can see more posts on the front page so it shouldn't be hard to find your way around and will, hopefully,
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Huguenot Splendour In Spitalfields

PLEASE NOTE: The site will be down over the weekend for essential maintenance, updates and a small tweakment. So you need to read this post and visit its delicious house now! All being well we will be back up and running on Monday.... These Georgian Huguenot townhouses in Spitalfields, east London, are just dreamy and
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My New Bathroom Reveal

madaboutthehousebathroom with tiles from claybrook studio, sanitaryware by burlington, lights by corston and william morris wallpaper
It's time to share the new bathroom with you all and I'm excited to show you as it was a big transformation in a small room. When we moved in there was a power shower (that didn't work) over the bath, a loo that was very close to the radiator and a door that opened
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Five Beautiful Rooms

Back into familar routines at last and it's our regular post of beautiful rooms to get the week off to a good start. I'm assuming by now the kids are back at school - as far as possible (don't mention the concrete). The 20yo has finally found a student flat and is off at the
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The Househunter: Muted Victorian Elegance

Welcome back to the regular househunter slot after last week's Italian extravagance. That said, there were lots of inquiries so fingers crossed we will be visiting that at some point in the future. But for now we're back on more familiar ground with this pretty Victorian house in London. And the reason I wanted to
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My House Revealed in Red Magazine

home of madaboutthehouse shot by Simon Bevan
It's been nearly a year and now I'm thrilled to show you the finished house as it appears in the 25th anniversary issue of Red magazine which is out now (even though it's the October issue). I will go through all the rooms in turn showing you what we did and where we sourced things
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The Househunter: Vintage 70s in Italy

1970s vintage flat for sale in lerici
Hello everyone and welcome back to the blog. I hope you have all had a lovely summer. In an effort to prolong that holiday feeling I have a very special househunter for you today which is a fabulous flat in Lerici, Italy, that is complete 70s vintage from the floors and light fittings to the
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AUGUST POSTCARDS: We Bought A House in Italy

As you read this we should just have returned from a site visit to the house where (hopefully) the rewiring and plumbing have been done and the builders are getting ready to put everything back again. This means that over the next few weeks and months the pictures should go from being mostly rubble to
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