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A house tour with Fashion Designer Matthew Williamson

19th November 2020

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Matthew Williamson London home; turquoise bay windows

In this week's episode of The Great Indoors podcast we get to nose around the London apartment of Matthew Williamson. The award-winning designer started out in fashion, creating dresses for the likes of Sienna Miller and Jade Jagger before turning his hand to interior design. As The Guardian put it: "From Fashion Star to Interior

How To Buy Ethical Interiors

5th November 2020

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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

How We Live and Work Now

22nd October 2020

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home office designed by @home_at_brookes and built by @createescapeshome office designed by @home_at_brookes and built by @createescapes

The last six months have dramatically altered how we live. Aside from the Government’s advice, neatly summed up by Matt Lucas as Go to work. Don’t go to work, it seems that many of those who can work from home are doing so and a survey in September found that 30 per cent of adults

Decorating with Bold Colour: A House Tour with Sophie Robinson

8th October 2020

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muted pattern clash and english country style at sophie robinson house

Yes she's finally finished her house and since we have only met once since before lockdown (when we recorded at Skye McAlpine's house, we thought it would be good to show the finished article. So welcome to a house tour with Sophie Robinson. Now you can hear the full story on the podcast so do

House Tour with cookery writer Skye McAlpine

24th September 2020

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vintage dresser at the home of skye mcalpine by madaboutthehouse.com

Regular visitors may remember that I visited Skye McAlpine’s London flat a couple of years ago just as she put it on the market - remember those gorgeous plaster pink walls and open shelving? Last week I was thrilled to visit her again, this time in her new house that she gutted and completely redecorated

An Interview with Skin of Skunk Anansie and the Dulux Colour Of The Year

10th September 2020

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Portrait of Skin sitting on a stool with large grey folded top. Photo by Marco Ovando

Two big topics for you this week on the podcast with an interview with Skin, singer with Skunk Anansie as well as discussion of the Dulux colour of the year. Now, by the time you read this the colour will have been announced so I'll come to that at the end. First up Skin, whose

Five Ways to Hide the Television

21st July 2020

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Gallery wall with the samsung frame tv in the home of emma jane palin.

I mentioned the other day following the podcast gardening post that I would return to this subject as it's a perennial problem. We all have televisions and we all seem to want to hide them. But when I first wrote about this, probably when I first started the blog way back in 2012, the most

Tip Tips for Designing a Garden: Interview with GIDC winner Sarah Mitchenall

16th July 2020

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sarah mitchenall's city garden

I don't know about you but I'm slightly paralysed by the idea of garden design. I'm completely happy with paint and paper and chairs, but the thought of plants and fences and pots and I freeze. This, according to Sarah Mitchenall, is a common problem and one she seeks to address when it come to

Re-inventing Estate Agency: an interview with The Modern House

25th June 2020

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As regular readers will know I, and many of you, am slightly obsessed with The Modern House, a UK estate agency that has reinvented the genre, not just by apparently agreeing to sell only beautiful houses, but by turning itself into a sort of magazine providing endless inspiration and aspiration to those of us who

Diversity and Interiors: We are Listening – Podcast Notes

11th June 2020

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design by rukmini patel interiors

This week on The Great Indoors Podcast, Sophie and I give the first half of an extended show to listen to black voices from the interiors industry. We asked them to record their experiences, as far as possible, so that you can hear their voices speaking. We spoke to designers and stylists who have direct

An Interview With TV Architect Laura Jane Clark

28th May 2020

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A Victorian living room with black original fireplace. The mint green chinoiserie wallpaper adds a decorative touch. design by architect laura jane clark

Laura Jane Clarke is an architect who specialises in residential properties. In her case that means, and I cannot stress this enough, in real houses for real people. She's not interested in glass skyscrapers and million pound budgets. For her it's about - as the tagline on the podcast goes - making your home really

Lockdown Lighting Tips and Decorating Ideas

30th April 2020

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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

Happiness At Home: A podcast special episode

16th April 2020

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my mantelpiece is a collection of family souvenirs and happy memories

Now this might be quite a timely - if long - post. We planned to focus on happiness at home for this episode of the podcast several weeks ago (well before all this) but it turns out that this might be just the thing for now. So today on The Great Indoors, Sophie and I

Publication Day, New Ways with Wallpaper and a Spring Retox

5th March 2020

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$Kate Watson-Smyth and Sophie Robinson discuss the launch of Kate's 3rd book on the Great Indoors podcast #thegreatindoors #madaboutthehouse #interiorsbook$

And it's Happy Publication day to me! Now I wrote all about the book last week so I won't go into it all again here but do follow the link if you would like to know more. And, of course, it's podcast day so if you would like to hear me chatting to Sophie about

Trend Focus: Granny Chic, Faux versus Real and Buying Berber Rugs (podcast notes)

20th February 2020

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In this week's podcast Sophie and I discuss the rise of Granny Chic, whether faking it is best when it comes to textiles and surfaces and interview Willem Smitt, the interior design at El Fenn, Marrakech, where we held our recent interior design retreat. You can listen here or you can simply read all about

A House Tour with Sustainable Architect and Designer Oliver Heath

6th February 2020

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Oliver Heath sustainable home

Oliver Heath will be familiar to many from his stint on the first mainstream interiors show Changing Rooms in the 1990s, but while the other designers have continued to makeover rooms and design various products for the high street, he has gone in a different direction turning towards eco design, sustainability and biophilia and has

How Does Colour Make You Feel; a guide to choosing an interiors palette

23rd January 2020

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Kate Watson-Smyth and Sophie Robinson discuss not just the importance of choosing colours you love but working out how to find the right shade that works for you. The pale pink background of Sophie Robinson's gallery wall allows the artwork and accessories to stand out. #thegreatindoors #gallerywall #madaboutthouse

In this week's podcast Sophie and I discuss not just the importance of choosing colours you love but working out how to find the right shade that works for you. This was sparked by a survey from our sponsor Topps Tiles into the link between colour and well-being and it quickly became apparent that while

DO FASHION RULES APPLY TO INTERIORS, DINING IN AND SMALL SPACE LIVING (PODCAST NOTES)

28th November 2019

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Kate Watson-Smyth and Sophie Robinson offer some top wallpapering tips on the Great Indoors podcast. A firm favourite is a large bloom floral print and the one shown here is given a dramatic look with a black background. #wallpaper #thegreatindoors #madaboutthehouse

This week on the podcast we discussed whether the rules of fashion apply to interiors. Regular readers will know that I have often said that where the catwalk leads the cushions will follow and there was a very clear example of that when it came to the biscuit and cream shades which were all over

Small Space Decorating, how to create an Insta-worthy tree and the enduring appeal of English Country style (podcast notes)

14th November 2019

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I promised you a chunky post to make up for missing the other day and this one has a lot of content in it. Now it's a sort of written version of the podcast for those who like images to go with their listening but I also try hard to make sure they work as

New Releases: Interior Design Books

31st October 2019

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A new season means new book releases and October is a big month for publishers - the first Thursday of the month is known as Super Thursday when hundreds of books are released at the same time in a bid to hit the Christmas market. This year, on the 3rd, there were 426 hardbacks published,