10 Beautiful Rooms

Good morning or afternoon. Or evening, depending on when you are reading this. I can’t believe it’s already the end of July. This is the last of the new 10 Rooms posts before The Mad House goes on its annual summer break for August. You will still see your five posts a week but they will be updates and re-issues of pieces that I have run throughout the year.

This gives you a chance to see pieces again that you might have missed the first time round, refreshes your memory and, crucially, gives the Mad brain a rest. I can’t begin to calculate how many words I have written so far this year but with five posts a week and a 40,000 word book it’s a LOT.  My brain is looking forward to its annual recharge.

However, before that happens there are two more posts to come – one is about the window I dressed at Heals last week so you can see the plans and the finished result. The second is about my first trip to the designer discount store Homesense. So look out for those if you’re about and not having a digital brain rest of your own in some far flung corner of the globe.

I will be mostly at my kitchen table this week but doing a little more staring into space and counting clouds. I used to be so good at doing nothing. Didn’t we all. The life got busier and somehow we have all lost the knack.

Or perhaps it’s an age thing. The 16-year-old seems pretty good at it. And seems to be completely exhausted by it. Still, he needs to keep his strength up. He has to open that envelope on 24 August. With those results in. The breath is bated.

For those of you are are still turned on and tuned it, I found this week’s selection of rooms to be rather restful. Mainly monochrome with splahes of muted colour but I particularly love the juxtaposition of these two above and below. Black and white geometric and black and white floral. Both utterly different. Both gorgeous. I think anyway.

And then there’s this. Again, same monochrome feel but those gorgeous mustard and green vintage Eames chairs. Look out for that soft mustard it’s going to be everywhere come Autumn. As is teal. Two colours I never thought I would like and now find I am drawn to more and more. That’s the power of suggestion for you. I’m even suggesting it to myself.

But you can’t beat a bit of restful green can you? Another great neutral that works so well in these soft colour schemes. Yes you can spice it up with strong pinks and oranges but you can also take it down to this calming level with some blush and pale grey.

This Aesop store is similar but it’s just like the saturation has been dialled up a notch or two. And it’s so gorgeous with the old parquet floor. I don’t see us ripping up the floors in this house but if we did….

This bathroom is also so calm. And that’s with one of my pet hates – large grey floortiles. So often they look cold and, well, a bit pavement, but here they have been warmed up with the vintage wooden chest and ladder. Take note if you’re planning on putting them in your kitchen, you might need to add a wooden worktop or a vintage kitchen table to stop it looking cold.

And finally, for those of us/you still at your desks. Here’s a lovely little work spot to lust after. I can’t think of a spot where I could recreate this in front of such a window but it’s as much about the muted colours and vintage pieces as the room with the view.

I hope this selection rests your eyes and I look forward to hearing what you think of my Heals window set tomorrow. Have a lovely day everyone.