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The Househunter: A Study in White



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pink storage via the modern house
Still keeping that back to school feeling today as it there are new houses on the market at this time of year as well as collections of clothes and furniture and shoes and, well, pretty much everything really. It's like Spring with everything blossoming forth in an explosion of newness. So I thought we would
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New Book Reviews and Minimalism v Maximalism (podcast notes)



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Kate Watson-Smyth and Sophie Robinson review three new interior books, shown here on Kate's side table for the Great Indoors podcast. #podcast #thegreatindoors #madaboutthehouse
I spoke earlier in the week about how to revamp your home without spending any money (see previous post) as part of that new year feeling which is always such a big part of September. Another marker of the start of the season is the release of new interiors books. Sophie Robinson and I discussed
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Monday Inspiration: New Season



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A look at the new season with some Monday inspiration from Kate Watson-Smyth. Brighten up a space with a bold splash of yellow, the classic roll-top bath has been given a modern update. #yellowbath #bathroom #madaboutthehouse
And we're back. Happy September everyone. Are you ready? I'm sure the parents among you are desperate for term to start again. It's bittersweet for us this year as the 18yo will be off to university in a couple of weeks which is both a proud and a tearful moment. For everyone else ( and
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Monday Inspiration: Pale Neutrals



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pale neutrals and plants via the modern house
Thought it would be nice to revisit these lovely calming neutrals for this bank holiday Monday. And the physics GCSE? He passed! You know, of course, the saying that for every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction? Actually maybe I only know that because I have a 15yo studying physics GCSE, but, that
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THE HAPPINESS SURVEY (PODCAST NOTES)



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Kate Watson-Smyth takes a look at visualiser apps and in particular the Topps Tiles allows you configure your room with tiles, like a classic emerald square design for the shower and a hexagon design for the floor make a elegant combination #madaboutthehouse # tiledbathroom #toppstiles
This week on The Great Indoors podcast we reviewed the new tv show Interior Design Masters, presented by Fearne Cotton, click here for her house tour, discussed the power of statement walls and floors and also investigated a new report into happiness in the home, which threw up some surprising results. First up the show.
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Monday Inspiration: The Power of Paint



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Kate Watson-Smyth discusses the power of paint int interiors and how creating a feature with a difference can help to define and zone an open plan space. #featurewall #openplan #madaboutthehouse
I wanted to talk about the power of paint today, with a few examples of people thinking about how to harness its transformative power in more unusual ways than just sticking it all over four walls. Or, worse, just one.... Come! pink front door by mosey home First up is this gorgeous pink from door
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The Househunter: Room by Room



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I've said it before but I do think Somerset gets, if not all, a lot of the best houses and for that reason we are returning to this listed beauty in Frome which had two shops on the ground floor which was on the market with The Modern House for £1,250,000. earlier this year. Also if
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Colour Psychology for Interiors



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Kate Watson-Smyth take a look back at the colour psychology course she attended hosted by Sophie Robinson and Fiona Humberstone. Sophie's former Brighton open-plan apartment was an eclectic mix of colours, patterns and styles. #openplan #sophierobinson #madaboutthehouse
Following on from yesterday's post about how we react emotionally to colour I thought I would look back to the time I did Sophie Robinson's colour course. I found it completely fascinating and bang on and while I don't think she is running this exact course any more she has recently launched an online course
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Monday Inspiration: How We React Emotionally To Colour



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Journalist Kate Watson-Smyth looks at living with calming colours and how we react to them. A bold floral mural wallpaper has a calming and restful palette of green and pink is combined with an unexpected yellow cabinet for a modern touch. #madaboutthehouse #surfaceview #muralwallpaper
My colour psychology series has been one of the most popular on the blog over the last few years and as I'm still running through the spectrum I thought it would be timely to share this post with you again that talks about our emotional reaction to colour and if you like this then come
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At Home with Kelly Hoppen (Podcast Notes)



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In the home of interior designer Kelly Hoppen, Sophie Robinson and Kate Watson-Smyth take a tour of her home. The renovated house features a quadruple height ceiling, open-plan kitchen dining table large enough to seat 30. #openplan #diningtable #madaboutthehouse #kellyhoppen
Now the first thing you need to know about Kelly Hoppen's home is that yes while big (enormous) with tall (quadruple height) ceilings and it may be in shades of her signature taupe, there are so many things you can take from it as inspiration for our own (probably smaller. Just a tad) places. You
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10 Reasons You Need To Bring Brown Furniture Into Your Home



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The antique wooden bedside table sits within a modern bedroom with a bright blue wall, kitsch table lamp and a gallery wall of traditional frames. KAte Watson-Smyth looks at ways of introducing brown or rather antique furniture into a scheme. #antiquefurniture #gallerywall #katewatsonsmyth
The hot topic in interiors this year has definitely been sustainability and there is nothing more sustainable than buying antique furniture for your home. It saves it from landfill and it prolongs its life. But as much as that this furniture was well made - there are no plastic mouldings which means that if it
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Monday Inspiration: The Red Thread



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wooden kitchen via stadshem
This has proved one of the most popular posts this year with many of you taking to instagram to describe your own red threads (rarely are they actually red) so I thought it might be useful to bring it back for anyone who missed it the first time around.  Some weeks ago I wrote about
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What Paint to Use on Which Surface: A Guide.



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As regular readers know I take a break from blogging in August. This is partly to recharge my batteries and partly because I suspect that since I blog four times a week many of you don't have time to read everything, or you might skip a post because it doesn't feel relevant when it's published
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Do Less Harm: The Directory is Launched



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Mad About The House's Kate Watson-Smyth launches the Do Less Harm Directory. Aimed to help us find and support companies reduce their impact on the planet. #dolessharm #madaboutthehouse #katewatsonsmyth #
The Do Less Harm Directory is live. And you will notice that it's far from complete. Hopefully it will never be complete until we can add every company making anything to do with the home but in the meantime I wanted to launch it so you could start to see what it looks like. At
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Monday Inspiration: Beautiful Rooms



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Kate Watson-Smyth takes a look at reclaimed materials for flooring. In this victorian rectory kitchen by deVol the herringbone floor is enhanced by a 'rug' style insert of textured tiles creating interest and a focal point. #victoriankitchen #reclaimedfloor #katewatsonsmyth
Happy Monday to you all and welcome to our weekly stroll through some beautiful rooms that might give you inspiration for your own. This week we are mostly looking at reclaimed materials for floors. If I didn't have floorboards and rugs, and if I owned my fantasy Italian house then I would definitely fill the
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The Househunter: Room by Room: Dutch Barn Conversion



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Something different this week - it may well be divisive but it's the first of its kind so worth exploring for that reason alone. It's the first Dutch barn to be converted for residential use and it's on the market with The Modern House for £1,200,000. What, you may ask, is a Dutch Barn? Well
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Biophilila, Colour Blocking Trends and Childhood Home Influences (Podcast Notes)



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Kate Watson-Smyth and Sophie Robinson discuss colour blocking colour blocking, example by mosey home shown here, biophilia, childhood homes and design crimes on the Great Indoors podcast. #podcast #colourblocking #katewatsonsmyth #madaboutthehouse
Hello and Welcome to The Great Indoors... as it were. It's time for the second episode of this series and this time we spoke about Biophilia (which I wrote about in some detail recently, whether your childhood home influences your adult house and the new trend of colour blocking. You can, as ever, listen here
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Monday Inspiration: Beautiful Rooms



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Kate Watson-Smyth's ideal room, featuring a soft pallette, tons of light and interesting details. White chaise longue via Amber Lewis photographed by Tessa Neustadt. #chaise #katewatsonsmyth #madaboutthehouse #softpalette
School's out for summer then. Or out for ever in the case of the 18yo currently wandering around Sicily on a post A level trip while the nearly 16yo is taking more of a horizontal approach to his relaxation schedule. So with that in mind, here's the first of this week's beautiful rooms designed by
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Rockett St George In-House Designs



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green velvet chairs, rug and lamp by rockett st george at madaboutthehouse.com
I'm sure most of you are familiar with Rockett St George, the cool online store that famously showcases its wares against a black background beloved by magazine editors (and bloggers!) the world over. They launched over 11 years ago and I remember featuring them in a piece I wrote for The Independent and I was
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Six of the Best: Curved Sofas



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isola sofa from heals a/w collection
This is the part of the year where the actual stuff catches up with the endless trend reports. Back in April I wrote, not for the first time, that curves were the new shape. I didn't say then, and wonder now, if they are an antidote to the clean, straight lines of mid-century modern. Be
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