Mad About . . .

Good morning to you from the dust hole. We are now, hopefully, in the final stages but, as The Mad Husband pointed out, it's the bit where we have nothing and then suddenly we have everything. The base units are in but unpainted and with no handles. The appliances are in the right places but

This two bedroom apartment in the heart of the City of London is, says Historic England, an "unusual example in Britain of the German Expressionist style" and was  Grade II listed in 1990. It is also a blend of Art Deco architecture and Moroccan style interiors. But before you panic that there's a lot going

This week we chat with Jules Haines, a woman on a mission to reduce waste in the interior design industry one cushion at a time. So far she has saved over 22,000m of fabric which is the length of about 107 London tube trains or enough fabric to make more than 10,000 pairs of jeans.

Reporting from the dust front lines again and I am happy to report that with the demolition finally done we were pretty much dust-free for a couple of days. Then the plastering started which means wet, soggy floors that stick to the bottom of your shoes as it dries and as you walk it deposits

Off to south east London to this former watch repair shop which has been restored with a focus on sustainable and non-toxic materials to create three bedrooms, a large kitchen diner, sitting room and private garden. Now it can be tricky taking on a former shop with those big street-facing windows but this has been

It's been a while since we had a shopping post and given that my house is full of dust and I don't really need any new furniture (plus the design decision fatigue is real) I thought a little virtual wander round the corridors of the internet to see what's about might be just the thing.

We have reached peak dust. By which I mean that point in the renovation where the dust keeps coming and the will to remove it has been completely lost. The dust is the thing everyone forgets about. It's the thing that is literally swept out of your mind over time so when people grimace as

This week's property is perhaps nothing special on the outside- it's attractive - but there are some clever ideas inside and it's a classic four bedroom Victorian terrace family home. The sort of thing that will be familiar to many so it's always worth having a look around. It's on with Litchfields for £1,395,000 and

Today I am going to tell you about my discovery of a brilliant site that allows you to buy and sell used kitchens which not only saves them from landfill but also means, if you are quick, that you can pick up designer kitchens - Plain English, Devol and, er mine (!) for a fraction

It's a while since we looked at location houses for inspiration and as the dust mounts here at Mad House II and the kitchen will finally be pulled out this week - we have managed to hang on to the sink, washing machine and dishwasher while all the building work was done around it and

One thing I have noticed, not least while trying to decide on the colour for my own kitchen, is how we do all get used to seeing the same colours and combinations again and again. So when I saw this house I was immediately drawn to its unusual pairings of blue and green and the

I'm excited to share with you a little preview of my new book that comes out at the end of April. I will be showing you more of the inside at a later day but for now I thought you might like to see how it works as it's a bit different from the usual

I find myself in an unusual position this week. After four months of builders (on and off), three bedrooms completely transformed and two bathrooms designed we have reached the kitchen. This will lead through to the pantry, off which sits the shower room/downstairs loo. devol kitchen of considered things The floor for this whole space

Years ago, in the middle of the last century, if you wanted to see inside someone's home and understand how they lived you had to be invited, which meant you had to know them personally. Or, if you didn't know them but they were deemed to be sufficiently wealthy, interesting or "society", you might see

I thought today it might be useful to give you a little round up of things I have learnt when it comes to making, what you might consider relatively small changes to your house. I’m not talking about the obvious loft conversions and full extensions as you will be aware that those are big ticket

I have been dying to show you these images and tell you about this wonderful project I have been working on but I had to wait until the various press outlets had covered it. Now that they all have done that I'm free to share and I'm so excited to tell you all about it.

We interrupt this half term break with a postcard from the podcast. This week Sophie and I are discussing the amazing Brooklyn townhouse home of Lily Allen and her husband David Harbour as featured in Architectural Digest. Would you have carpet in the bathroom? Would you sleep in a cupboard so the light didn't wake you up? And