close

Mad About . . .

Re-inventing Estate Agency: an interview with The Modern House

As regular readers will know I, and many of you, am slightly obsessed with The Modern House, a UK estate agency that has reinvented the genre, not just by apparently agreeing to sell only beautiful houses, but by turning itself into a sort of magazine providing endless inspiration and aspiration to those of us who
Read more...

Monday Inspiration Beautiful Rooms

design by wendy morrison
Monday morning and let's start with the bedroom because since this lockdown started eleventy billion years ago I no longer have to get up at 6.30am to wake the 16yo for school and frankly I'm now not sure I will ever be able to get up before 8 o'clock again. OK sometimes 9... anyway moving
Read more...

The Househunter: Room by Room

A beautiful house in Cornwall that I am mostly going to let you wander round on your own this week. If you saw my post yesterday you will have seen that I have been working flat out with Rukmini Patel to launch a campaign to push for more diversity in interiors and I need a
Read more...

Design For Diversity: The Pledge

It’s three weeks since George Floyd, an unarmed black man, was killed by police in Minneapolis. It’s three weeks since the world woke up to the fact that it wasn’t enough to be passively “not racist” but that it needed to be actively anti-racist. And it’s three days since the writer Reni Eddo-Lodge became the
Read more...

The Shops are Open

cushions by bespoke binny
And lo the lockdown did end and the so-called non-essential shops did start to open their doors once more. And the Chancellor said it was our civic duty to spend our money and one in five people responded by saying they would never go into a clothes store again. And some of the shops were
Read more...

Monday Inspiration: Beautiful Spaces

Emerald green Chinoiserie wallpaper by de Gournay with floral sofa, textured rug and glass coffee table.
Starting with a glorious riot of wallpaper this week. De Gournay handpainted papers are so pretty and this bright green can't fail to lift the spirits. This was chosen by Matthew Williamson for his flagship London store (although I confess I don't know if it's still there as that was several years ago).  I could
Read more...

The Househunter: Room by Room

A lovely London terrace for you today and the sneak announcment that the founder of The Modern House, Matt Gibberd, will be a guest on the next episode of the podcast to talk dream houses, reinventing estate agency and the future of commuter hotspots. Very excited for that one. In the meantime, there's this. A
Read more...

Diversity and Interiors: We are Listening – Podcast Notes

design by rukmini patel interiors
This week on The Great Indoors Podcast, Sophie and I give the first half of an extended show to listen to black voices from the interiors industry. We asked them to record their experiences, as far as possible, so that you can hear their voices speaking. We spoke to designers and stylists who have direct
Read more...

Monday Inspiration: Beautiful Spaces

trestle basin vanity by Brigette Romanek in wallpapered bathroom. Large
Some really clever ideas in this week's mix of beautiful spaces, several of which include a touch of vintage - which, as you know, I think is always a good idea. In fact, it's never a bad idea. Some restful colours, clever ideas and all created by people who I think are worth following for
Read more...

Why is there such a lack of diversity in the interior design industry?

interior design by fawn interiors studio
Last year I started a directory of companies that were actively trying to reduce their impact on the planet. It’s by no means complete and I don’t update it as often as I should, but I hoped it would raise awareness and help you make more informed choices about where you shop based on your
Read more...

Monday Inspiration: Beautiful Spaces

Black and white chequer board kitchen floor and bed head as bench back by medina @grillodesigns
A mix of beautiful rooms for you this week with no particular theme. Last week we needed calming spaces and then shortly after that the world basically exploded and everyone is shouting at everyone else. With just and understandable cause it seems. So here are five rooms. All by clever people, all of whom are
Read more...

The Househunter: Room by Room

Proper lottery money this week as we get to have a look around this house which, apparently, belongs to the illusionist Derren Brown. It's a 19th century former print house that has been converted into a three bedroom property spread over five floors to include a cinema, artist's studio and two south-facing terraces. It's on
Read more...

An Interview With TV Architect Laura Jane Clark

A Victorian living room with black original fireplace. The mint green chinoiserie wallpaper adds a decorative touch. design by architect laura jane clark
Laura Jane Clarke is an architect who specialises in residential properties. In her case that means, and I cannot stress this enough, in real houses for real people. She's not interested in glass skyscrapers and million pound budgets. For her it's about - as the tagline on the podcast goes - making your home really
Read more...

Monday Inspiration: Calming Spaces

kitchen by considered things
Well. At the start of "all this" as it seems now to be known, I promised you a calm space to escape and, judging by your many comments and messages, that is what you have found here. On Friday, as I finished reading my lockdown story on Instagram (Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan for
Read more...

The Househunter Room by Room: Original Victorian Butcher and Flat

I swear I don't do it deliberately (would that I were actually that organised) but time again and again the, often accidental, theme of Monday's post comes back round for Friday's househunter. Last week it was white post-pandemic design and a slightly shabby chic white flat for sale. This week, well, we started with the
Read more...

Lockdown Decorating Tips

gold ceiling at madaboutthehouse.com
Morning and welcome to Wednesday’s Ad Break. It’s been a while since we had one of these, but this week I have teamed up with Barclays Mortgages to put together a list of easy things you can do at home during this period. This has come about following research* carried out by Barclays which found
Read more...

Monday Inspiration: Bright Green for the Lockdown Blues

unfinished green room by Greg aka man with a hammer
Last week I wrote about post pandemic design and how there is a theory that white will make a return to our homes because of its association with cleanliness and hygiene. You can read it here if you missed it or want to have another look now you've had a chance to ponder. as yet
Read more...

An Interview with Jay Blades, presenter of The Repair Shop (podcast notes)

Vintage wooden stools with modern green upholstered seat by Jay Blades
For all the fact that the days are blurring into one they seem to be going really fast don't they? Just me? I can't believe the podcast has come around again so fast. This week we were supposed to travel to Shropshire to meet furniture restorer, upcycler, sustainable designer and, more recently, television presenter Jay
Read more...

Monday Inspiration: Post Pandemic Design – All White Now?

via stadshem.se
Do you remember when grey really took off as a colour? One minute we were all happily sloshing on the magnolia and then, suddenly, we had all, as it were, faded to grey. I wrote a feature for The Independent in 2009 after interviewing a Dulux spokesperson whole told me that grey was the new
Read more...