Mad About . . .

Firstly, thank you all so much for your comments and suggestions on the last post. All duly noted and I will try to answer as many dilemmas as I can. So starting as requested for today's Househunter I have found a small flat. The issue is often that I don't want to be unkind about

Hello and Happy New Year. It may be too late to say that but, since I haven’t spoken to you for a couple of weeks I’m going with it as a first greeting. And, on that note (firsts) can I say first of all thank you so much for all your Christmas comments. It brings

Firstly I would like to thank you all - regular readers and passersby -  for all your visits to The Mad House this year. This blog would be nothing without you and your regular contributions - via the comments, your conversations with each other and the community that has built up - mean so much

I've run out of puff as, I suspect, have many of you. So as my final Christmas present suggestion I'm going to point you in the direction of something you don't even have to leave the house to obtain - or even get up from the sofa and it's  my online interiors course as, if

While many people claim not to want presents feeling they have enough and others feel it hard to justify asking for more "stuff" I have to say I love both the buying and the giving and, yes, the getting, so perhaps the answer lies in buying presents that won't add to the landfill overload (see

While this is the anniversary of us moving into this house - two dilapidated flats with no key for the meter, a boiler that needed mending (good luck with that just before Christmas) followed by a bust loo and a snowstorm (so cold we slept in our coats) no-one actually buys a house this close

It's more important than ever to support small businesses and since I have, for once, managed to post this early in the month there is plenty of time to allow for slower shipping and nicer working conditions for those who are selecting, wrapping and delivering what you have bought. Last year I posted a Directory

Keeping it quiet here today as there is a riot of tinsel and trees over on instagram and some of us aren't ready yet or you might just want a space where you can come in, shut the door and take a deep breath. Everything seems to have been thrown up in the air again

Off to Dorset this week to have a look at this unlisted Regency Vicarage with a large Victorian extension which is on the market with Knight Frank for £1,100,000. It has seven bedrooms, five bathrooms, four reception rooms and parking for three cars and is described as typical of properties built to house members of

I promised you that I would get going on Christmas present ideas over the next couple of weeks - which is all we have left I know - and I thought it would be good to start with these three which we review on the podcast today. In addition to this we also dive into

I have to say I’m normally very last minute when it comes to Christmas posts but I had a bit of time to plan this year and having decided on the general themes that I’m going to look at (always trying to make it a little different from everything else out there) and the thing

I'm going to wish you all a Happy Monday even if you feel it isn't because you know - fake it till you make it and all that. And then we are going to wander through some lovely spaces, breathing deeply and drinking in the inspiration. And then we can have a cup of coffee

The Georgians really did know how to build houses - generous rooms, tall ceilings, ornate plasterwork and, I was told when I researched this years ago for a series of features on architecture for The Financial Times, they built them much better than the Victorians, who, I was told basically knocked up rows of terraces

As always a selection of images that have caught my eye this week and which then turn out to have a theme, so today we are looking at curtains and how they can be used differently, styled differently and serve different purposes. It's not just about windows you know. curtain to screen bed by laura

There are so many things I love about this week's property that I ended up wanting to include too many pictures but I have tried to restrict myself to those that are useful and which illustrate so many of the points that we discuss on these pages time and again. Also, some of the pictures

Now this doesn't happen very often but today we have a fabulous house for sale and, since I know the designer and she was mentioned in the details, I have been able to gather a few extra details from her. Emilie Fournet is a genius with colour and has featured on these pages many times

Monday Morning rolls round again and this week we're back in the kitchen because there are just so many good ones around and also it's worth noting that just because it's a kitchen doesn't mean there aren't elements of colour and styling that you can't take into other rooms of your house. image via historiskahem

A treat for you this week as we have two houses. It turned out that the two that ended up on this week's short list had a symmetry of price so I thought we could look at both. The first is the former home of the sculptor Dame Elisabeth Frink, in Dorset, which has recently

I feel like it's been a while since we had a look around at what's new in store and, since it's a new season and a new month and we didn't do an interiors round up at the end of the month, I thought we'd have a wander round the shops today. So grab a