My year in review

A look back over 2024, with a selection of posts unlocked (Happy New Year!) so everyone can see the sort of content they will receive if they sign up to become a paid subscriber.

This may be the most newslettery post I’ve ever written, as it’s a round-up of the last 12 months (my first year on Substack) but it also allows me to revisit some of my most-read posts and make them available to everyone. It’s long, so your email may cut it off, but I thought it might be nice to have lots of content to dip in and out of during the last few days of the holiday.

JANUARY

The year began at the house in Italy as eight of us rang in the start of 2024 with homemade pizzas. We then went back to London where frantic tidying ensued to ready the house for a shoot with YOU magazine. It was styled by Nicole Gray, who would visit us in Italy later in the year as a guest speaker for one of the expert workshops at my first interior design retreat.

After the pictures appeared later that month, I wrote a post about what goes on behind the scenes:

Later that month I went to Paris for the annual Deco Off show. This is a three-day event in the heart of the City of Light, where all the textile and wallpaper shops show off their new collections. It’s always fun to see the coming trends and ideas (more pattern, more colour, more individual style, less grey, less minimalism - you get the picture).

On my return, I wrote a Design Guide to the city I lived in more than 30 years ago. So if you are going in the next year or planning a trip soon, here are some of my highlights:

We’ll finish the month with this early morning shot of the city because I like it and it was just sitting doing nothing in my camera roll (along with 45,000 others).

FEBRUARY

I began working on a really exciting project in Mallorca with a woman (now friend) I met on the first interior design retreat I co-hosted in Marrakech. A former stationery shop in a huge Art Deco building in the centre of old Palma, this will be a collection of self-catering apartments with a cookery school in the basement. At this stage I haven’t got much to show you yet, but it has been exciting working on the colour schemes and details of this wonderful project which is due to open in October 2025.

I also received the first press images for the Piemonte-inspired paint collection I launched in June with Graphenstone paint. The 12 colours, called The Italian Collection, were painted on to these Moka pots, which now sit on a shelf over the fireplace in the house.

image taken by Carole Poirot

MARCH

A bittersweet month as Sophie Robinson and I wrapped up our podcast The Great Indoors. We launched it – one of the very first interiors podcasts – in October 2018 and kept going by remote all through the pandemic. In 2023 we changed to a weekly format and it proved slightly too much alongside our other work commitments. You can listen to all 150 episodes here and we are hoping to be back in 2025, albeit on a less regular basis.

If you’re not familiar with it, then know that the Irish Times described it as “funny, rowdy, and extremely well-informed”.

APRIL

Back on the road for work and this time to Milan for the annual Salone, where everyone who wasn’t in Paris (and some who were) show off their collections at a huge – and I mean five airport hangers huge – site just outside the city, while there are exhibitions, shows and parties all over the centre of town.

Once again here is my Design Guide to Milan if you are visiting for either business or pleasure:

While I walked 27,000 steps the first time I went it’s not all hard work:

April is also Wisteria month in Italy and while we arrived a week after its peak this year, I have the picture below from 2023.

The plant is 100-years-old and was the pride and joy of the previous owner Claudia, so we papered our bedroom (her former sitting room) in homage to her and this incredible display.

Seraphina wallpaper by Colefax & Fowler

MAY

This month I spoke on a panel at Merchant & Found’s first Vintage Supermarket with the founder Paul Middlemiss. We discussed the importance of buying old things for your home to bring character and tell stories.

I have unlocked this post on 10 Tips for buying vintage here:

JUNE

June saw the third annual WOW!house at Chelsea Design Harbour. It’s a glorious, over-the-top feast of colour and pattern, set round a series of 19 showrooms that have been loosely configured into a house – with a breakfast room, a morning room, a sitting room and a couple of bedrooms. Each room is created by one of a global roster of designers, who are sponsored by some of the biggest textile companies in the world. And the result (which for inspiration must be viewed room by room and not as a whole) is a wonderful showcase of what designers would do with no budget restrictions, no opinionated clients and no awkward angles or features (walls/plumbing/planning restrictions to consider.

At the end of the month, the house in Italy made its first press appearance in The Sunday Times’ Style magazine, which was a huge thrill as it’s a magazine I have always loved and read.

JULY

The launch of my paint and tile collection.

I worked with Graphenstone on a collection of 12 colours that were used all over the house in Italy. Graphenstone is the most certified eco-paint brand in the world and creating my own range was a dream come true. Each colour was taken from the house or garden (you can read all about it in the post below) and, at the same time, I worked with Maitland & Poate on a series of co-ordinating tiles, so that you can match your paint to your tile and it makes decorating much easier. You can read more and see more pictures on the post below.

AUGUST

We were able to spend more than a few days at the house for the first time and while we were still busy finishing off the decor and preparing for the first of our two interior design retreats, it was lovely to be able to enjoy the rooms and to begin to feel at home here.

I have unlocked one of my Design Decoded posts for you here. This is a monthly feature which takes a look around a real life home and looks at the design in detail so you can see what works and how the owners have overcome any issues, so you can take information and inspiration for your own places and spaces.

SEPTEMBER

This was what we had been building up to all year. The first Mad About The House Interior Design Retreat at the house in Italy and it was wonderful. But don’t just take my word for it – you can read all about it below and if you want to come next year, in either June, September or October, then you can reserve your place with a 25% deposit (the rest is payable in instalments over the following months). Get in touch with me either via email or leave a comment and I will reply to you.

In June I’m teaming up with Catherine Finkernagel – a distinguished London-based architect who came on the October retreat – to offer a deep dive into renovation. We will cover everything from design to decor and all the bits in the middle. If you have plans for your home for 2025, then you need to be on this four-day retreat. All the details including dates, price and itinerary are in the post below.

OCTOBER

The second retreat of the year in Italy was as good as the first.

Another highlight was the house being featured on the Instagram account of SJ Axelby, an artist who started painting room “portraits” during Covid. I was thrilled when she featured the office of my last house in her first book and she has now begun a regular Instagram feature asking her followers to submit their own versions of a room she sets as a weekly challenge. There are too many to feature on this post but I did a round up on my own Instagram.

NOVEMBER

November saw Mad About the House achieve Substack’s coveted featured publication status which seems like the moment to thank you all for joining me here. I moved to Substack after 12 years writing a blog and I brought 6,000 of you with me. During the year you have grown to 16,000 in number, with hundreds of you joining as paid subscribers. I’m so thrilled and thankful for your support which allows me to carry on writing and seeking out the best content for you. Thank you all, truly.

DECEMBER

As the year draws to a close I want to wish you all a Happy New Year. I hope to see many of you “in person” at the live monthly drop-in design clinics (paid subs only). Perhaps I will get to meet more of you at the 2025 design retreats (see September above for details) and I promise to keep researching and writing the best content I can to help you make the most of your own places and spaces in 2025.

If you’ve made it this far, then here are three more of the most popular posts from the last year, in case you think you might like to sign up for a paid subscription:

Happy New Year once again. If you have enjoyed this post then do please restack or share or like it as it massively helps with visibility. And thank you all for subscribing. Without you this newsletter wouldn’t exist.