Firstly I would like to thank you all – regular readers and passersby – for all your visits to The Mad House this year. This blog would be nothing without you and your regular contributions – via the comments, your conversations with each other and the community that has built up – mean so much to me. The blog will be 10 years old in 2022 and in internet years that makes it practically Dickensian! I look forward to connecting with you all again next year and wish you all peace of mind and rest. Read on to learn about this ethical wool tree.
This tree, by the way, was created by the ethical floral artist Jake Kuit, of Kuit Flowers in Shoreditch, who partnered with Native Places aparthotels to create this 11ft Christmas ‘tree’ from British wool and natural materials. It is decorated with natural materials including 44 kilos of washed British wool, cotton stems and recycled dried hydrangeas. Jake used British wool specifically to highlight this locally grown, fully sustainable material, that is natural, renewable and 100 per cent biodegradable.
The wool will be returned to British Wool after the holiday season to ensure there is no wastage. It will go on to be used in educational packs for activity clubs, schools, and farm open days, to inform school-aged children of the environmentally friendly benefits of choosing wool products.
Decorative re-used baubles and fairy lights complete the display, which will remain in the lobby of Native Bankside until the New Year.
But then I also couldn’t resist this book tree which I saw on Twitter via Giles Paley-Phillips who found it via Lancaster Library. And believe me when I say I spent a good few minutes staring at my own shelves to see if I had enough green books to do the same. I haven’t.
Both those trees made my heart sing! Thank you for another year of inspiring writing and images.
Here’s wishing you and yours a very happy Christmas, and hope and light for the coming year. (Womanfully avoiding Spanish so as not to start an earworm! Lalalalalala, fingers in ears.)
What a prodigious Content Creator you are Kate – enriching us all despite Lock Downs, flooded basements and the Dreaded Lurgy. Your skilled journalism and great taste shine through all mediums. Thank you for your humour, wisdom, ethics and Cat pics.
I hope you, the Mad Family and Enid all have a Happy & Healthy Christmas and New Year
PS Please show someone in Australia how to make your fabulous eco couches and armchairs
Anyone else planning to only read books with green spines next year?
Thank you for all your wonderful tips, ideas and sustainable approach to interior decorating. Despite your blog being of a certain age, it goes to show that like wine, it gets better with time. Merry Christmas!
As a sheep farmer from New Zealand I loved seeing the woollen tree Kate – thank you for also championing this incredible fibre! As I become more disillusioned by the endless consumerism promoted by so many other interiors blogs, yours is the one I joyfully read every day. Have loved your ongoing commitment to sustainability without sacrificing style.
Wishing you the merriest of Christmases and thank you for all that you give to us throughout the year.
This blog is a breath of fresh air for me – a foreigner, married to a UK citizen, living and working in the UK. I enjoy the design photos and text, as well as the practical and ecologically sound tips and information. Thank you for this very useful and beautiful work. Best wishes for a really wonderful Christmas and holiday season! See you in 2022!
Love the blog and your course and have asked for your planner for Christmas – so glad to have found MATH. Thanks and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Love the book tree🌲
A Very Merry Christmas and the Very Best in the New Year to you and Your Kate. Most if all, may you all be well!
From a very admiring reader (a longtime follower, usually just too shy to comment) –
Thank you, Kate, for sharing so much beauty, inspiration, and gentle humor with all of us throughout these many years. Your blog is one of a small handful that I so look forward to receiving in my inbox each morning – and yours always makes me feel something like sinking into a warm and safe and lovely coccoon.
Wishing you a happy xmas, and much goodness in the coming new year!
Happy Christmas Kate and all the other readers. I love reading your blog and you are so generous with your knowledge and experience. Best wishes, Allison
Happy Christmas to you and your family. I learn so much from your blog. I eagerly look forward to it! Thank you!
In the last year of my employment with a public library system, the crafty trend was to display books as trees. The books had been withdrawn from circulation and were not part of the current collection. However, the spines of the books were broken and the pages fanned out to represent Christmas trees. Some of my colleagues applauded this idea, others did not I was in the latter group. How I wish those books had been displayed with the thoughtful creativity of the green books in your photo. A kinder re purposing of the written word.
There are a few names I follow on Instagram, but MATH is the only blog I add content to, and the one I look forward to seeing in my mailbox. Holiday wishes to you Kate.
Kate, many thanks for all your hard work to bring us beautiful interiors, insights into sustainable options and amazing practical tips. And of course the often hilarious but always informative podcast!
I hope you and the Mad Husband and the boys have a wonderful Christmas and let’s hope 2022 turns out to be a healthier one for all of us. Stay safe n Enjoy your well deserved break.
Your blog has been a daily pleasure during the pandemic. An island of beauty and calm in all the craziness. Many thanks.
Thank you for your delightful blog. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Buon Natale Kate e felice anno nuovo!
Nadolig Llawen/Merry Christmas Kate. Thank you for all your inspiring work over the last 12 months. Hope you have a good rest over the hols xx
Merry Christmas to you and your family, and all your other readers too. Here’s hoping for a healthy and happy 2022 for all.
Thank you for all your amazing inspiration and brightening my working day as an ODP during this pandemic! I wish you a very happy restful Christmas!
Merry Christmas, Kate and fellow readers! All the best for the coming year.
Merry Christmas to you and your family Kate. Thank you for my (almost) daily blogs of joy!
Have a good rest.
I m at work right now, but my first idea was to look tonight if I have enough green books…I don t think I do.
Thank you Kate for this blog (and the course: a gift to myself!), it really is a place to relax and see beautiful things during these hard times.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas! Thank you for all the great ideas and research in 2021.
Merry Christmas to you and your family Kate. Thank you for my (almost) daily blogs of joy!
Have a good rest.
Merry Christmas to you too! Thank you for a year full of lovely interiors.