05 Mar 20

Kate’s new book, wallpaper and retoxing, Podcast show notes S6 Ep5

Hello and welcome to my show notes for the latest episode of the Great Indoors podcast, as always you can listen to it in full here, and don’t forget about our ever-increasing Facebook group. I can’t quite believe we’re almost at the end of series 6 already – time flies when you’re having fun! Firstly though a huge thank you to Topps Tiles for sponsoring the series.  I just found out that in a selection of their stores they have a virtual 3D room visualiser, which does exactly what it says on the tin, if some of you out there (like many of us) have trouble visualising how your room will look, then you must check this out! If you don’t have a store near you there is also a super handy online version too.

On with the show. We appropriately recorded this episode at the Mad House to coincide with the launch of Kate’s new book, 101 Interior Design Answers, we also take a look at different ways with wallpapers – it’s not just for the walls and we cover Spring Retox where we urge to cling on to your clutter!

My partner in crime, the fabulous Kate Watson-Smyth and her third book!

Today is a very special day – not just podcast day but it also sees the launch of Kate’s latest book and if didn’t manage to get your pre-order in we’ll give you a quick rundown of its wonderful contents.

Following on from her first book, Mad About the House: How to Decorate your home with style, which was about finding out what you like and find your own style as well as some tips for all the rooms in the house, the new book covers everything that the first one didn’t. Which turns out more than I could have imagined as the first one was pretty good! This new book is coming from a practical level and will become more of a long term companion helping to answer all the questions (all 101 of them) you might have when decorating your home.  You may not need 101 answers to your 101 questions but there is something in there that relates to everyone and Kate’s cleverly divided it into helpful sections: lounging, working, sleeping, cooking and bathing so it’s easy to go straight to your dilemma.

My husband Tom (who is ‘the builder husband’) even gets a mention,  sharing his knowledge on underfloor heating. She Other contributions include Lisa Dawson on how to do a gallery wall, check her out on Instagram and Bianca Hall aka @frenchforpineapple  who shares her top tips on a half-painted wall. She didn’t ask me…the cheek! Probably because she knew we’d disagree.

The fabulous illustrations are part of what makes this book stand out from the crowd for me. These were key for Kate as she felt there is enough ‘house porn’ out there via magazines and Instagram etc., and she also wanted the book to be timeless and support the words perfectly. In fairness to Kate, there is an illustration of my living room. Buy the book and see if you can spot it. You simply must order this book, it truly reflects Kate’s clever use of wit and bottomless font of knowledge. I highly recommend!

Ways with wallpapers

Who said you can’t wallpaper your wardrobe! The gorgeous Scallops design by Ottoline De Vries, styled by Lorraine Dawkins for House Beautiful

I have long loved wallpaper and we’ve seen quite a revival of late thanks to the shift towards the maximalist camp (alleluia!). We’ve mentioned before that papering all four walls really shows the pattern to its full glory and whether the feature wall is officially dead? But I thought what about using it in other creative ways – it doesn’t have to be just on the walls, does it? I did a post on this subject last week but wanted to continue the conversation.

Stripes work particularly well and I love this Schumacher design on the ceiling.  Room designed by Tali Roth and Tina Rich

We agreed that we are loving a papered ceiling and Kate hasn’t taken the plunge just yet, I have – my downstairs loo features the Splatter in Ink by Sanderson and I love it! Word of advice – a floral design can be tricky to use on the ceiling as they tend to be designed to trail up the wall so won’t work horizontally.

So what about furniture? Well,  it seems that more and more people are giving this a go but if you’re not quite brave enough to cover the outside of a second hand find you could always try lining the inside of a glazed cabinet, or just the doors perhaps. Check out eBay for both furniture and the odd roll of designer wallpaper and you could end up with a rather snazzy bespoke piece!

The original fixer-upper, Zoe Pocock of Muck ‘n’ Brass knows a thing or two about covering furniture!

We’ve talked about pattern on the walls, ceiling and furniture but don’t forget it doesn’t have to be all about the pattern – can you believe I’m saying that! But seriously adding some texture with a grasscloth or linen backed wallpaper can really add a layer of luxury and a bit of warmth to a space. It would work really well in an alcove or behind some shelving or even the ceiling! You’ll find a wide variety of grasscloths and textures at Andrew Martin.

Medina’s creative wallpapered floor

Lastly, how about the floor? We brought this up before when we reviewed Medina Grillo’s (@grillodesigns) book, Home Sweet Rented Home where she had wallpapered her hallway and used a varnish to seal it. I have never attempted this myself but I would be interested to know how it stands the test of time!

I get asked a lot whether it’s ok to wallpaper a bathroom or kitchen and I say a big fat yes! I have done both and the key is to use a very strong adhesive and have good ventilation. If you use a foil or vinyl wallpaper you want necessarily need to varnish over it as it already has a protective layer but if you go for a very flat matt design then use a decorators varnish to ensure longevity.

Ready for a retox?

No, it’s not a typo! Now we’re at the start of March most of us think about Spring cleaning, detoxing, getting the linen spray at the ready. Kate read an article in a recent issue of Elle Decoration about the notion of whether we want to declutter, detox and clear our houses out? This certainly won’t be for everyone so how about a curated collection of stuff that means something to you so instead of getting rid of things, retoxing encourages you to add more! Not sure I’m convinced, as much I seem to be in a battle with all my ‘stuff’ there’s something about Spring that gives me a new lease of life and makes me want to have a re-fresh and take on new challenges. So the lesson here is not to feel the pressure of conforming to the ‘perfect’ minimal tidy box but surround yourself with stuff you love and makes you feel comfortable – we’re not talking piles of laundry by the way but we did come up – #keepyourclutter so let’s see if it will catch on!

Thanks again to Topps Tiles for their sponsorship and our great producer Kate Taylor. Please do leave us a rating and better still a review. I read each and every one you know and it gives me such a boost! Even the rude ones- they make me laugh. Which is usually the reviewers worst nightmare.