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The Househunter Room by Room

It’s a good job we’re more about the room analysis than the househunting as this beauty is retailing for a lipsmacking £2.4m via The Modern House but it’s lovely space and definitely worth a poke about. And anyway, what am I saying, all you subscribers might be squillionaires for I know. In which case, do invite the rest of us round for a cocktail when you move in won’t you? There’s space for a good party here.

shades of neutral via the modern house

I was drawn in by the lovely soft neutrals of this dining space but the dark wooden bench stops it being too namby pamby and gives it a bit of edge. Also, it’s taken me a while to work out, but I think I like the bench that works for both the table and the breakfast bar. Do you? I’m worried it takes too long to understand it, but then I got up very early this morning, it could just be brain fatigue.

I love the picture over the table too and that’s a really good idea to, ahem, copy. If you’ve taken a really great photograph then printing it in sections like this and framing them all looks fantastic and somehow more dramatic than just one large picture. It’s that annoying word that designers use: considered. It basically means you thought about it rather than just sticking it on the wall.

rugs to zone via the modern house

Moving across the rest of the room – rug zoning. I might have gone bigger but this one has created a seating area that is distinct from the rest, although is potentially sofa island as opposed to just coffee table island. Right idea though and that curving lamp is definitely a good idea. There are a lot of straight lines in this room and you need to add a few curves. Also, if you do have a large open plan space and want pendant lights in one part then you don’t want to end up with a forest of them hanging down all over the place. So in this room they have those cage pendants over the table – which don’t interfere with the picture behind – and floor lamps elsewhere.

I also wanted to show you this image for the shelving. Most of us won’t need, or have space for, something as large as this as a room divider, but it’s a good home for the telly. Imagine if it was painted dark grey – the telly would vanish and the objects would really stand out. You could create a smaller version if you have alcoves either side of a fireplace. Because you aren’t hanging your tv over the mantelpiece are you?

tv storage via the modern house

Another clever idea in the bedroom. All the storage is behind the bed so a) you don’t have to look at all the things you couldn’t be bothered to put away last night…. and yes I’m pretty sure that’s most of us and b) you can lie in bed and look at the view without having to look past last night’s clothes strewn on the floor. I have done this in my bedroom and I can confidently tell you that it works as a tactic. At first glance the bedroom is a zen like oasis of calm. Behind the wall…..

bedroom storage behind bed via the modern house

So it’s worth looking at this room from the other end. Book storage and a shelf – you could add a couple of lamps on there for reading at night and to put the phone when it’s charging and all that sort of thing. Then there’s a dressing table – you could put a mirror on there and photographs. Perhaps they do when the photographer isn’t coming round. Then behind that the wardrobe itself. Granted you need a long room to get all that in – I have the wardrobe and the bed but there would’t be room for more than that. If you want to see the measurements and dimensions of mine to see if you have room then it’s here How to Create a Walk-Through Wardrobe. Mind you my room has a fireplace and this doesn’t so do adapt the measurements slightly if you fancy this kind of arrangement.

bedroom storage via the modern house

Finally, the bathroom. I just rather liked it. The wall to wall metro tiles look like whitewashed bricks and give it an industrial feel. There are more bedrooms and bathrooms over on the Modern House (link at the top) if you fancy a full on look round or to, er, put an offer in.

black and white bathroom via the modern house

I hope this has given you some ideas and tips for your own spaces. Have a lovely weekend and if you want more Mad Updates, you can always check out my instagram. Otherwise, I’ll see you on Monday for 10 Beautiful Rooms.

Kate Watson-Smyth

The author Kate Watson-Smyth

I’m a journalist who writes about interiors mainly for The Financial Times but I have also written regularly for The Independent and The Daily Mail. My house has been in Living Etc, HeartHome and featured in The Wall Street Journal & Corriere della Sera. I also run an interior styling consultancy Mad About Your House. Welcome to my Mad House.

12 Comments

  1. I like bits and pieces of it, price tag not being it. Seriously OP like my kids say. What works for me has been mentioned before, and it’s not even site specific like art work, sitting arrangement, etc. What intrigues me is the shelving unit/room divider that, I agree with you, screams to be grey and not blush pink. I want to know what’s on the other side of it. I have decided that it functions as a pantry. There!

  2. Thumbs down from too! It looks like a warehouse that’s had some random windows plonked in the wall. And I bet there’s a huge amount of echo in there with all the hard surfaces. £2.4m – no way!

  3. Kate, this post is such a success because most of the reactions are hilarious. I agree with everyone about everything, and concrete ceilings with trunking can be cool…….but definitely not here. It is really interesting when a post provides passionate comment, whether it is good or bad. Love your posts.

  4. Glad it’s not just me then, I thought this house looked like a multi storey car park with furniture.
    I’m usually drooling with envy over the houses featured so it’s actually quite refreshing to find one that I wouldn’t pay £240,000 for let alone £2.4m.
    Having said that I was browsing Rightmove once (as you do) and found an ‘inspiring homes’ section which was hilarious, they had obviously included any period properties or residences over a certain price on the assumption that they were bound to be aspirational. Whilst some were indeed very attractive, others were absolute shockers. Including flats in central London that cost eye watering amounts and looked like student bedsits or worse, and older country houses that looked like 50s pubs or 70s residential care homes. I found myself looking at my modest home with renewed appreciation.

  5. I agree, I won’t be spending my £2.4 million on this one but isn’t it good to see the things that don’t work as well as the things that do? I feel that a lot of staged photos of perfect rooms start to blur into each other after a while. I like the large photo split into 6 frames and the idea of disguising the TV on grey shelves. I like the new version of The Househunter!

  6. I totally agree with all comments made above. I miss the days where you showed 2-3 properties, and from various sources, not only The Modern House. Hope they return!

  7. I echo Sonia, not my thing at all – antiseptic, contrived, inhospitable comes to mind. Sometimes I wonder if people try too hard to impress. Give me colour, lived-in character and wrap-around cosiness… Thinking about it, give me a bohemian bat cave and throw in some dust!

  8. I’m not keen either- I’m with Sonia on the ceilings. The website shows the terrace which appears very overlooked by other flats. And I wouldn’t fancy sunbathing on the Astro turf!

  9. Not my thing at all, I’m afraid – and not because if he interior design – bad bones. The living room has small windows relative to its size; all the furniture cast shadows and I bet it would be pretty dark on a dull day. With that in mind the divider struck me as a misstep; it casts a huge shadow onto one side of the kitchen and the hallway. I also disliked the ceilings throughout the property. Were those concrete looking panels intended as design feature? They look dirty and they make the ceilings appear lower. They also have the side effect that you can’t chase wires into the ceiling so you end up with a random trunking arm sticking out wherever you want a light. It draws the eye and not in a good way – when I looked at the bedroom I was aware of the trunking before I saw the pendant.

  10. I can see why they have put a bench against the wall – no nasty chair backs to upset the symmetry of the beautiful photographs. But if I were invited to dinner, I’d be elbowing fellow guests out of the way for a chair. A few hours on that bench with the photograph frame in your back , and you’d be seriously crippled.

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