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10 Beautiful Rooms

Gooooood Mooooorning Everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of 10 Beautiful Rooms. Leaving the world of inspiration that is instagram this week and taking a look at some of the most amazing houses that are available as shoot locations.

greenwood location house via jjmedia
greenwood location house via jjmedia

I’m so amazed and impressed by what amazing houses you all live in and the variety and quality of what is available to hire from agencies such as JJMedia and The Shoot Factory really is inspirational. So here are some places that you might want to hire if that’s your business or, perhaps like the rest of us, you might just want to get Monday off to a beautiful start by having a wander round these spaces.

So we start with this lovely light and plant-filled room above. As much as I love dark rooms, I could never paint my whole house. Perhaps it’s the time of year (at the time of writing we are still lighting the fire in the evening) but Spring seems to be taking for ever to get going doesn’t it.

dark kitchen walla via jjmedia greenwoodhouse
dark kitchen walla via jjmedia greenwoodhouse

But then as soon as I have decided I’m all about light and airy spaces I see some dark walls and I’m in love with that all over again. Definitely need two houses – like Gwyneth Paltrow right next door to each other – one dark and one light. I guess I’ll settle for a mix of light and dark rooms which is what I have. This modern rustic kitchen is just gorgeous and while I have had dark kitchen cupboards for a while I’ve never had the courage to make the walls dark although I love it when I see it elsewhere.

modern rustic industrial kitchen via jjmedia wakehurst
modern rustic industrial kitchen via jjmedia wakehurst

Sticking with the modern rustic look is this kitchen with dark walls and a pale floor. Those full length glass cabinets are wonderful. I was keen to do that in house before we moved in and when we did it didn’t seem to be the right thing for the space we had. I still love it though – fancy a closer look? And while we’re there – that sofa.

People seem to shy away from patterned sofas believing instead that they must be sensible with a plain sofa and patterned cushions but I think it can be great to do it the other way round. If you love the fabric then go large. You can always add a plain throw and cushions to bring it down a bit. Like dressing down a fabulous shirt with jeans instead of a skirt. As I’ve said before – imagine it’s your clothes and how you would style them in an outfit then apply the same principles to your furniture.

glass fronted kitchen cabinets via jjmedia wakehurst
glass fronted kitchen cabinets via jjmedia wakehurst

Moving on to this very colourful kitchen, which by rights shouldn’t appeal to me but there is something I love about it and to continue the wardrobe analogy this is a prime example of colour blocking.  The rest of the house is much quieter with a strong mid century feel. Do have a look at the staircase if you visit.

colourful kitchen the hamlet via jjmedia
colourful kitchen the hamlet via jjmedia

And sticking with green but calming it down a littl,e is this wonderful kitchen from The Shoot Factory although there is as red chair just out of shot so it’s a different take on the same colour scheme but less colour blocked. More a case of a neutral base with accents of the same colour. So if the kitchen above is a Roksanda Ilincic dress, the one below is jeans and a top with an amazing pair of shoes and a bold necklace.

rodos location house via shootfactory
rodos location house via shootfactory

Back to modern rustic with this incredible space. If only I had the sort of house where I could reproduce this. Sadly for now I’ll just have to gaze in admiration. Somebody hire it for a shoot and ask me to come and make the coffee…This has a very restricted colour palette but is all about different textures to add interest. Brass taps and marble tiles contrast with bare brick and wood. There’s nothing rustic about this as it’s all clearly high end and beautifully finished. It’s the difference between a little black dress by Prada and a cocktail outfit from Versace.

smith location house via the shoot factory
smith location house via the shoot factory 

The attention to detail is incredible and it really shows off what you can do with natural materials and no paint. One day when I win the lottery and buy my fantasy house in Italy this will be on my moodboard as inspiration. In the meantime…. I’ll keep buying the paint.

smith location house via the shoot factory
smith location house via the shoot factory

Moving on to where we came in with a light filled space with lots of plants. If anybody needs me I’ll be trying to persuade the owners to let me in so I can sit and have a cup of coffee in that patch of sunlight. That is actually a lie. I will be packing for Milan where I am going for a whistle stop tour of Salone. There will be lots of instagram stories and a couple of posts coming up in the next few weeks. One is on trends – DFS are taking me on a tour to show me (and therefore us) how they translate all the trends they see at Milan into colours and shapes and sofas for the High Street. The other will be a tour of some of the high end Italian brands which will also filter down to the High Street over the next year or so so both should be interesting to see.

the cottage location house via the shoot factory
the cottage location house via the shoot factory 

I know we’re not supposed to care about trends but there’s no doubt they do influence us and it’s always interesting to see what the designers are thinking and what we can expect to see filtering down to the shops in the future.

the cottage location house via the shoot factory
the cottage location house via the shoot factory

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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.

3 Comments

  1. I haven’t seen your posts for a month or so. It’s great to see them again. All of these rooms are just delightful. Loads of inspiration.

  2. I just love black kitchens, be it the cupboards or the walls. Moving shortly cannot wait to try out some of the ideas Ive seen on your blog Kate, very inspiring.

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