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Interview: Winner of The Great Interior Design Challenge

Some of you will have dropped in today to read an interview with Daniela Tasca York, the winner of BBC 2's The Great Interior Design Challenge. Some of you will have no idea who she is, won't have seen the programme and won't really care less. Which is why you should know that this isn't
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Guest Post: Daniel Hopwood Presenter of The Great Interior Design Challenge

Now over the Christmas break, some of you suggested that I could hand over the keys of The Mad House to someone else occasionally. For a change of pace. And I thought that was a good idea but who? Who would I trust with the keys? Someone with expertise clearly. Someone who knows stuff. Someone...
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The Great Interior Design Challenge is Back

Happy New Year and all that. And we're starting off with a bang - well an exclusive anyway - as The Mad House was the only blog to have interview time with the presenters of The Great Interior Design Challenge which returns to our screens tonight. Yes TONIGHT. I am so hot off the press
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The Great Interior Design Challenge Interview

It's back! Yes The Great Interior Design Challenge starts its third series on Monday 1 February with 16 amateur designers battling it out over 15 episodes. And guess what? The Mad House was the only UK blog invited to meet the presenters for an exclusive chat. Thrilled? Moi? So off I trotted to their offices
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Discussion: Designing Sustainably for the Home

Last week at Clerkenwell Design Week (back in real life for the first time in two years) I was delighted to chair a panel discussion on designing sustainably for the home. And yes it was just before I succumbed to the dreaded C (I kept a distance from most people and none of the panel
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Design For Diversity: The Pledge

It’s three weeks since George Floyd, an unarmed black man, was killed by police in Minneapolis. It’s three weeks since the world woke up to the fact that it wasn’t enough to be passively “not racist” but that it needed to be actively anti-racist. And it’s three days since the writer Reni Eddo-Lodge became the
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Colour Psychology for Interiors

Kate Watson-Smyth take a look back at the colour psychology course she attended hosted by Sophie Robinson and Fiona Humberstone. Sophie's former Brighton open-plan apartment was an eclectic mix of colours, patterns and styles. #openplan #sophierobinson #madaboutthehouse
Following on from yesterday's post about how we react emotionally to colour I thought I would look back to the time I did Sophie Robinson's colour course. I found it completely fascinating and bang on and while I don't think she is running this exact course any more she has recently launched an online course
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10 Beautiful Rooms: Extraordinary Interiors

I'm very excited to bring you a special edition of 10 Beautiful Rooms featuring images from the new book by Rockett St George, aka Jane Rockett and Lucy St George, Extraordinary Interiors. I have known both of them for years and first met Lucy about a week after I had featured their site in The
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A Directory of Small Businesses

black table lamp and vintage plates by alijoedesigns with tap and drip design
Now this is going to be a collective post and so I'm going to need you all to chip in in the comments and if you come to this later on make sure you read the comments too. With the news of a second lockdown and the plight of small businesses once again pushed to
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THE HAPPINESS SURVEY (PODCAST NOTES)

Kate Watson-Smyth takes a look at visualiser apps and in particular the Topps Tiles allows you configure your room with tiles, like a classic emerald square design for the shower and a hexagon design for the floor make a elegant combination #madaboutthehouse # tiledbathroom #toppstiles
This week on The Great Indoors podcast we reviewed the new tv show Interior Design Masters, presented by Fearne Cotton, click here for her house tour, discussed the power of statement walls and floors and also investigated a new report into happiness in the home, which threw up some surprising results. First up the show.
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Monday Inspiration: Revamp Restyle Reveal Special

revamp restyle reveal bathroom by lisa dawson
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
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10 Beautiful Rooms: A Colour Story

And here we are again - Monday morning and ready to wander round this week's selection of beautiful rooms. Now after last week's pale and interesting look I thought I would explore a more saturated colour palette this week. So see what you think of these. cupid bed from casa botelho Sometimes we forget that
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10 Beautiful Rooms: Enter To See If Yours Is The Best*

*This competition is only open in London this year but Houzz told me on Friday that they plan to roll it out nationwide next year and in the meantime you can enjoy your usual stroll through 10 Beautiful Rooms without needing to read the words if they don't apply to you. Also bank holiday... And
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Naked Kitchens

green and brass kitchen by naked kitchens
Earlier this year I took a trip to the Norfolk coast. It was snowing. When isn't it? But I wanted to go and visit the showroom of Naked Kitchens. I had included their kitchens on the blog a couple of times - in particular the fabulous green Ladbroke pictured below - and when they contacted
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Kelly Hoppen Writes For The Blog

I'm thrilled to introduce you to this month's Guest Blogger, the self-styled Queen of Taupe Kelly Hoppen herself....... *round of applause*. Now our Kel, as she has never, ever been known, ever, doesn't need much introduction. She has worked on everything from the Beckham's London house to all sorts of yachts and, of course, The
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What Is Home: Interview with Tom Dyckhoff

Home seems to be the word of the moment. Dulux referenced it when it announced its colour of the year recently and creative director Marianne Shillingford spoke at length about how, in times of uncertainty, all we want is to come home. To be home. To metaphorically hide under the duvet in a place where
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Black and White Jungle Wall Chart

I have been looking at this black and white jungle image for months now and there's something about it that I just keep coming back to. Maybe it's the monochrome. Maybe it's the size 154cm x 154cm but whatever it is I could definitely find a space for this in The Mad House. It would
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Guest Post: Sophie Robinson On 5 Ways To Bring Colour Into Your Home

Television present Sophie Robinson proved to be one of the most popular guest bloggers in The Mad House with her 5 ways to bring colour into your home so I thought I'd share it with you again during this season of August updates. I'm delighted to introduce you all to Sophie Robinson, judge on The
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10 Beautiful Rooms

This week the 10 beautiful rooms is another house tour. Not, sadly, of a client of mine, but of an interior designer who has no need of my help for his home. It is the gorgeous flat of Oliver Thomas, who may be familiar to some of you as the runner up on The Great
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The Househunter Room by Room

It's been a busy week this week so only two houses for you to look around today. On Monday I went to Nottingham with Sophie Robinson (judge on The Great Interior Design Challenge and one of my guest bloggers) for a project we are doing with Hillary's Blinds later in the year. We were chatting
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