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Monday Postcard



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L'hotel Marrakech, owned by Jasper Conran
It's finally happened. After nearly eight years of blogging through coughs and colds and even a bout of radiotherapy I have never missed a post. Until today. Took to my bed on Thursday with flu-like symptoms and haven't really emerged since. I'm dropping in to let you know. I'm hoping that I will be feeling
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Cane Furniture: BUY or DIY?



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cane vanity unit by the house that black built
For the last couple of years, as the trend for all things 1970s takes hold, there has been masses of cane and rattan furniture in the shops. By which I mean that slightly chunky woven stuff that, after a while, comes unwoven and leaves bits of stick hanging out that snags your clothing. It's a
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Beautiful Rooms: Bathroom Special



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green tiles at soho warehouse
These Mondays do seem to rush round fast don't they? So here we are again and I thought I would do a bathroom special this week. I see so many wonderful bathrooms and they're all so different and yet it's a room that we all have so it's good to have a look at lots
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New Releases: Interior Design Books



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A new season means  new book releases and October is a big month for publishers - the first Thursday of the month is known as Super Thursday when hundreds of books are released at the same time in a bid to hit the Christmas market. This year, on the 3rd, there were 426 hardbacks published,
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Monday Inspiration: Beautiful Rooms



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ochre pouf and old painting by @n0.17house
Starting today with a bright burst of yellow as the clocks went back yesterday in the UK and although I'm typing this on a beautifully sunny Autumn morning (albeit with no idea what time it actually is) it might all have gone to winter by the time you are reading this in 24 hours time.
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Monday Inspiration: Beautiful Rooms



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A look of some favourite beautiful rooms with Kate Watson-Smyth. This bedroom has a black painted ceiling but, in a clever touch, so is the coving all the way round. This has the effect of softening the hard line you get when the wall hits the ceiling at right angles and also bends the ceiling slightly down over the walls making it look higher. The black vanity unit is softened with some cane detailing and gold accents. #bedroom #blackceiling #madaboutthehouse
After the last few weeks of finding a theme to this regular Beautiful Rooms post I decided to just pick some great spaces this week. There is a loose connection, if you want to look for such a thing, in that all of them have one or two great stand out features that make them
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An Interview with Michelle Ogundehin (podcast notes)



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Kate Watson-Smyth and Sophie Robinson take a house tour with Michelle Ogundehin for the Great Indoors podcast. The dining room features floor length dusky lilac velvet curtains, a antique mirror effect wallpaper and anaglypta. #thegreatindoors #madaboutthehouse
Michelle Ogundehin needs little introduction; the editor of Elle Decoration for 13 years (from 2004) she is now a regular television presenter, creative consultant and is just finishing off her first book. Notoriously private about her home, Michelle posts only corners of her rooms and has said she will never, ever, invite a magazine into
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Beautiful Rooms: A touch of Gold



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Kate Watson-Smyth looks at ways of introducing gold accents to a scheme. Here the brass vanity unity in a black bathroom helps to bounce the light around the room. #blackbathroom #brasscabinet #madaboutthehouse
I moved my office around last week to put the desk facing the window and noticed how the light caught the metallic gold ceiling. I often catch myself stopping on the way past to have a look in this room and take pleasure in the ceiling and so it has sparked today's Beautiful Rooms post
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Dream Team: Anthropologie and Soho Home Collaborate



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The Adriana chair in nude in the home of Kate Watson-Smyth against the dark chocolate walls and vintage kilim rug. The Anthropologie x soho home collaboration #madaboutthehouse #armchair
There's been a lot of talk about collaborations recently - everyone's at it it seems and this week's Wednesday Ad Break brings you details of another one that has a little bit of the dream team about it. Yes it's the result of a mash up between the boho glam of Anthropologie and the vintage
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Beautiful Rooms: A splash of green



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In this room the ceiling is gold which matches the French bed perfectly while the walls are a soft creamy pink. The wall behind the bed has been panelled to create the look of a giant bedhead while the freestanding wardrobe has been painted to match so the room looks cohesive and pretty. #greendecor #bedroom #madaboutthehouse
Green is all anyone is talking about at the moment; whether it's colour of the year, our impact on the planet or new paint ranges so I thought we would use that as excuse to look at some greenspiration today and perhaps if you are thinking of incorporating this colour into your space it might
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The Househunter: Room by Room



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Two for you this week. Well one and a half really. First up, in news, the television presenter and queen of home renovation has put her seven bedroom south west London home on the market for £3.5m. It's on the market with Savills and I thought you would want to see. But I'm not going
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London Design Festival Round-Up and Colour Trends (podcast notes)



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In this week's episode of the podcast Sophie and I report back on London Design Festival and what we found there. This event gets bigger every year and more and more venues now take part. Set up in 2003, over a million people from 75 countries now visit the capital to see both new products
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Beautiful Rooms: Why a Drop of Black is Always a Good Idea



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boscobel by cole and son chair by attpynta
Every room needs a drop of black. You don't have to go full goth, but even in a room of pared back pastels, soft neutral or full maximalist colour, a sprinkle of black will bring the whole thing alive. It's like adding lemon juice to your grilled meat, salt on your chips or blusher to
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The Househunter: Room by Room



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And it's Friday and to celebrate that we're going to have a look round this 1920s house in Hampstead Garden Suburb, an area of north London which was designed as the perfect suburb with hedges instead of walls, wide tree-lined roads and to cater for all classes and incomes. As you can imagine in north
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Monday Inspiration Beautiful Rooms



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Kate Watson-Smyth explains how simply painting a wooden stool like this soft pink can instantly add interest to a kitchen. #kitchenstool #madaboutthehouse
Morning to you and Happy Monday (or whatever time or day of the week you are reading this). I thought we'd start with this very jolly kitchen from Plain English which has been painted in the new colours created for them by Rita Konig. So that's cupboards in Nicotine (yes strange name but lovely colour)
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The Househunter Room by Room



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A big house this week but one that is filled with colour ideas and is also one of the most distinctive properties in the area of East London in which it lies. This detached building is on the market with The Modern House for £1,795,000 and has four bedrooms. It was built in the late
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House Tour: Laura Jackson



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laura jackson bathroom
This week on the podcast we visited a house that is, or will be, done up in the style of my dreams. Supper Club host Laura Jackson is midway through the renovations of her East London home and is a firm believer in buying nothing new unless you absolutely have to. laura jackson sitting room
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Monday Inspiration: Mad About The Bathroom



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Kate Watson-Smyth takes a look at bathroom design and how to take inspiration and adapt it for your space. A classic background of mostly white but the freestanding bath has been painted in a deep plum colour. And you could change this if you got bored. The black chandelier is the real focal point in this bathroom. #bathroomdesign #freestandingbath #madaboutthehouse
It's a shorter post this week (will anyone notice or mind?) as this weekend has been spent taking the 18yo to his new home at university. I was completely fine about him going until two days before when he texted me and asked me out to lunch. And I had to work. And it really
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Dulux Colour of the Year 2020



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dulux colour of the year 2020 tranquil dawn
With the new season comes a raft of new stuff from furniture to fashion and all of them wearing their new colours. This week saw the annual Colour of the Year announcement by Dulux. I have been writing about this since 2014 and in that time we have seen teal, copper blush, cherished gold, denim
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Monday Inspiration: Adding that Unexpected Pop of Colour



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Kate Watson-Smyth shows how an unexpected pop of colour can transform a neutral scheme. The corner of this classic kitchen has a surprise addition of a bright blue table and chair, creating a modern yet elegant look. #kitchen #popofcolour #madaboutthehouse
Morning everyone and welcome to Monday. I trust everyone is back in the swing of things now? We have one week till we take the 18yo to university so it's going to be a slightly strange week for us, but there's nothing like a stroll though some gorgeous rooms to calm the senses and help
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