When I was growing up in the dim and distant 1970s (and it was dim as the General Strike of 1973 meant the lights and heating were actually turned off) there was a programme on television (when it worked!) called Why Don’t You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go and Do Something Less…
This week on The Great Indoors podcast Sophie and I discuss how to plan the decor, everything you need to know about choosing and laying rugs and, in a first for the show, we spent 10 minutes in the instagram-famous bathroom of tv presenter, fashion stylist and make-up entrepreneur Trinny Woodall. We recorded the first…
Last week I made a lightning trip to Milan at the invitation of Samsung to see – not just some of their appliances but also to consider – via an installation they had created in the Brera Design District – the role of the kitchen in our busy 24 hour lives. The company took over…
It seems apt that after posting about the forthcoming trends as seen at Milan last week, I find a new interiors brand that is using all those colours to showcase its lighting collection. So this post is twofold – have a look at the lighting from houseof and check out the colours (and arches) with…
Every year the interior design world gathers in Milan for the international trade show which takes place not only in eight airport hangars on the edge of the city, but also all around the central streets in pop up shops, gardens and palazzi. Nearly 500,000 people will fly in to see nearly 2,000 exhibitors and…
I’ve said it before but I do think Somerset gets, if not all, a lot of the best houses. This is a listed one in Frome with two shops on the ground floor that is on the market with The Modern House for £1,250,000. Coming in? Monmouth House, so named because the Duke of Monmouth…
And so we come to the next updated part of my mini-series Five Ways to Revamp a Room (rapidly) although if you have other rooms that I haven’t featured then do get in touch in the comments below and we can always tackle spare rooms, playrooms, downstairs loos and dining rooms should you wish…. This…
Now it’s rare that I stray from the path of interiors but I hope you will forgive me this one-off indulgence. Last week I was invited to the preview of a new exhibition at the V&A museum – the first ever retrospective on the fashion designer Mary Quant. Yes it’s fashion, but Quant, now 89…
Well this is a bit of a treat. You may be aware of Revamp, Restyle, Reveal, an interior design challenge run by Bianca Hall and Lisa Dawson, two women who never stop redecorating and who run a four-week challenge for 10 bloggers getting them to makeover one room in their houses. They have sponsors who…
Something different for you this week as we’re going to see a boat. Now, admittedly, many of you won’t be thinking of buying a boat but this is a) a very beautiful one and b) gives us all lessons in small space living so it’s worth having a look round. It’s on the market with…