Mad About . . .

Small space living this week and it's a new build flat in north west London by design-led developers Artform and design studio Scenesmith. At at time when many of us live in small spaces - and those of us in big houses are bound to have small rooms, this collaboration shows you that a modern

I don’t know if m/any of you know but I have been writing a column in Red Magazine for nearly two years now. I began in the depths of lockdown in May 2020 and am delighted to still be there. It’s one of my favourite magazines and one I have bought since it first launched

As regular readers will know blue is not a colour I feature very often but this week, for some reason, I found myself drawn to it on several occasions so let's see where it takes us. Looking at what I chose I think it's the opposite of cold and yet, if you did stray into

In a week where we've gone from Summer to Winter, sometimes on the same day, I was drawn to this west London flat with its chimney pots (that'll be the winter) that have been painted in bright colours (that'll be the summer).  And I thought, as I sat in my office wearing my coat (that'll

If Joa Studholme of Farrow & Ball said in 2017 that yellow is coming then you better believe her. That woman's entire career is based on telling us what we will like in the future and she's really, really good at it. It may have taken five years, which is a sign of how slowly

For all last week's talk of the death of pink and the birth of yellow, we all know that in real life things take a little longer to actually come through from forecasts into our homes. So if like me, you are talking about yellow, but haven't actually taken the plunge yet, this post is

I've said for a long time that the Georgian vicars got all the best houses and now, it turns out, the Georgian doctors did pretty well too. This terrace, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, is believed to have been his (and it would have been a he) home with the surgery next door. Now it's Grade II

I promised you this post on what to do with the tricky middle room some time ago and while it won't be relevant to all of you, you should still find some general ideas that apply to any renovation about making the space work for you and how you live rather than just accepting it

We start this week in the kitchen as I wrote a piece on galley kitchens for The Sunday Times Home section this weekend and that is what was on my mind as I strolled round Instagram in search of inspiration this weekend. The ones pictured here are not necessarily of the galley variety but they

We're going dark and moody this week because, well, that's the mood. Or to put it another way what happens when you decorate a house and use no white paint. Well, ok perhaps a single tin. I think the result is fabulous, let's see if you agree. As soon as I saw this house (which

Life isn’t always about big ideas and sometimes it’s the smallest ones that have the greatest impact. Have you ever bought a new top and found that it goes with so many things in your wardrobe that you feel you have about ten new outfits? From there it’s a short step to adding a pair

When I can't sleep I decorate. Not literally but in my mind's eye. I start with rooms I own and imagine methodically clearing them out to make way for a new design. Then, should rest still be elusive, I move onto rooms I don't own. I might pick a style - this week it seems

We started the week with Ukrainian interior designers before moving to their products and, at first, it seemed right to finish the week with the traditional househunter from the historic city of Kyiv. I looked through dozens of places before settling on this one - modern, soviet-built, town, coast and country.  But then it didn't

On Monday I shared some Ukrainian interior designers so you could get a sense of the style and talent coming out of that country. Today I thought I would, as a second part of that post, show you some of those making products that we can buy - although most made to order so it's

This week's beautiful rooms come from interior design studios based in Ukraine. And I have now been staring at that line for the last 10 minutes and, for one of the few times in my life, stuck for what to say next. So here are some rooms. They are beautiful. Some of these designers work

This week we're looking at a maisonette in south west London that is on the market with The Modern House for £1.2m but, as usual, we're not interested in the price just what they've done with the space. This is a slightly unusual maisonette as they tend to be arranged over two floors -  known

Make no mistake this is a fabulous house. But it is also one that has a lot of challenges which the owners have made work so that you hardly notice the issues and that, surely, is the essence of good decoration? You are always asking me about low ceilings and sloping ceilings and this Grade

Some of you may have noticed in the fashion magazines and on Instagram that there is talk of renting clothes – usually for big events where you might not want to buy an expensive dress or suit as you don’t know when, or if, you will wear it again. Case in point I bought a