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10 Reasons You Need To Bring Brown Furniture Into Your Home

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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Objects of Design #78: Cane-Line Garden Furniture

cane-line garden furniture from aram.co.uk Doesn't this look inviting. It's all from the Danish Design Company Cane-Line and I'm not expecting you to buy the whole lot but take a look at the elements, see how it's been styled and think about how you can bring some of that to your own outside space. time
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Objects Of Design #241: Cable Furniture

a new generation of flat pack furniture Now pay attention (007) because this is clever. If you fancy entertaining but don't have enough chairs, or if an impromptu drinks turns into plates of pasta and you need extra seating, this is the answer. Not all of us have room for folding chairs and, let's be
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An Interview With Salvage Hunter Drew Pritchard

pale green panelled wall, antique mirror and statue, faded floral button back armchair by Drew Pritchard for Barker and Stonehouse
This week on the podcast I interview Drew Pritchard, an architectural antiques dealer, on turning his passion into a career both on and off-screen. As the star of TV’s Salvage Hunters, Drew says it’s all about the thrill of the chase rather than the selling of his finds. He shared his tips on shopping for
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Seasons Greetings To You All

Father Christmas on skis by Kate Watson-Smyth
Good morning and I wish you all a Happy Christmas, a good holiday and general greetings of the season. Father Christmas on skis by Kate Watson-Smyth The blog is going to take a break over the holidays now. I usually keep going throughout December but I'm sure you will all agree that this year has
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How To Buy Ethical Interiors

tortoiseshell bamboo covered cupboard with peach glass floor lamp, cream sofa and orange striped cushion. .interior designer Em Gurner, image by anna yanovski
This week on the podcast, Sophie interviews Chloe Bullock, a BIID member and the first interior designer in the UK to be vegandesign.org certified. There is no doubt that we are all becoming more aware of the need to decorate our houses sustainably and in a way that is less damaging to the planet. interior
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Shop Vintage for Second Hand September

joe colombo 4867 chairs for kartell via the peanut vendor
We may already be halfway through the month but did you know it was second-hand September - an Oxfam campaign to ask people to shop secondhand for the whole month to prevent some of the 13 million clothing items that end up in landfill every week. Shall we pause and read that again. Thirteen.Million.Every.Week. Now
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Monday Inspiration: A drop of Green

bathroom by shrez at plum and crumble
And here we are again with a little bit of soothing green for a Monday. This is for all those who need to take a breath. Green is a calming, creative colour (I wrote about the psychology of it here) and as the school holidays start but the actual holidays don't seem to, it seemed
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Lockdown Lighting Tips and Decorating Ideas

swachbox by sophie robinson
The remote recording of the podcast continues and this week Sophie and I repaired to our respective duvet tents for this episode of The Great Indoors in which we discuss ideas for lockdown decorating and I interview Sally Storey, the design director of John Cullen Lighting, on "decorating with light" as well as rounding up
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The Key Interior Trend for 2020

Kate Watson-Smyth looks at interior trends and the recent beige revival. Layering with different textures and adding accent colours create a modern look. The tall proportions and windows of the living room by H&M home help to keep the scheme light and contemporary. #modernliving #livingroom #madaboutthehouse
There’s always a lot of talk about new trends for interior design at this time of year and when I have written about this in the past it has proved to be one of the most read posts of the year. madaboutthehouse sitting room in fallen plum by atelier ellis But this year I’m not
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Monday Inspiration: Beautiful Rooms

the_indigo_house grey palette
And just like that it was half term. A quiet palette for you today as I spent last week travelling (two days in Milan ad one in Glasgow) so am feeling the need for something restful today. Fortunately it's half term and while the boys will be doing their own thing, it does mean that
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Podcast Notes: Why White Paint Should be Banned and Conscious Shopping

paint the door to match the walls image by madaboutthehouse.com
Episode II is out now and as ever you can find all the notes and things we talked about on the show in today's blog as well as other tips and hints that might prove useful even if you haven't listened. But you know, you should, it's fun .... Here's the link First up we
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The Househunter: Cottage Style

So many of you have asked me to feature cottages and it's difficult to find ones that are pretty enough to show off but with valid ideas that might inspire those of you who are struggling with low ceilings, small windows and sloping floors. But I have found one. This former village hall may not
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Monday Inspiration: Beautiful Rooms

the tivoli cinema bath by @runforthehillslondon
Starting off with dark and moody since as much as pale interiors are coming back into vogue, I will always love a dark space. This is, believe it or not, the newly refurbished Tivoli cinema in Bath which was been done by incredibly talented Run For The Hills and if I lived in Bath I
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The Househunter Room by Room

We end this week as we came in with a property that, while not beige, is definitely at the warm end of the neutral spectrum. Let's see what you think. It's a one bedroom apartment on a tree-lined avenue in West London and is on the market with The Modern House for £695,000. The colour
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Interiors Trends 2019

warm neutrals by Bianca Hall of French for Pineapple
Oh I know we all say that trends aren't for following and we should ignore them and only buy what we love and will love for ever, but that doesn't mean we can't have a look. And given that the shops will likely be full of these things in 2019 we may as well be
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The Househunter: Room by Room

So it's a toss up this week between those who want an escape from all the Christmas madness and those who are too busy to think about, or want to see, anything else. I'm pretty sure that none of you are actually buying houses though so I thought I would just round up a few
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The Househunter: Room by Room

Welcome to Friday - we made it. This has been a fantastically busy week with a trip to Brighton to see Sophie and do podcast planning, a visit to my mother near Worcester and a shoot with Trinny London. Today there is a shoot in the house which is very January-based so I'm all over
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Colour of the Moment: Turmeric

Sometimes things all come together at once in a way that might at first seem mysterious but probably isn't and in my case it was yesterday's massive (I mean massive) spillage of a jug of turmeric milk all over my white floorboards that led to this post. vintage gold sofa And as I was mopping
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Home For Now: Make Your Rented Space Beautiful

Hundreds of ideas to customise your space on a budget Sometimes I look at my twitter feed and it feels like everyone is writing or publishing a book. The other day, I took delivery of a weighty coffee table tome I needed for a feature I'm writing for The Financial Times, and the courier asked
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