Hello Kate. When advice tells us to use warm tinged neutrals to counteract the dinginess of a north facing room, what happens when the floor tiles are grey? I find that anything cream tinged looks sickly with grey. It's much easier with a wood floor isn't it?

Hi Kate, how would you decorate my long, narrow hallway and entry?

Hi Kate
What colour "white"paint would you on my woodwork as we have old upvc window frames which are definitely not sparkling white. Last time I used pointing from F& B but this looks too creamy against the windows. I want the woodwork bright & clean looking without making the frames look dingy. Hope you can help. Thanks

Milk teeth by colour trend will do this . Fab shade of clean bright white

Hi, we have lived in our current house for approx 10 years and inherited the 'lovely' grey melamime wardrobes in the picture. We are about to redecorate and were considering painting them but have seen mixed reviews. Could you suggest any methods or alternatives to update them? Many thanks!

What a brilliant idea, well done Kate! ....and Im sure Houzz users' will be all over this. If you need a second in command, Im happy to contribute...having worked across the industry for years, I think Ive seen SO much variety in every conceivable scenario....there's always a way, right ..? :-))

Our downstairs doesnt heat up well-even after having new pipe/radiators/boiler put in during winters. Currently thinking of the massive task of digging up the floor by a few inches and then putting in water underfloor heating ---should we or shouldnt we is the question ? Is it worth it -especially when so much mess/disruption will be created

check the flow/connections in the system and buy a carpet!!

Hello Kate,

I'm having a tiling dilemma.

Here's my small, chilly bathroom... apart from repainting the bath panelling and jazzing up with accessories, it's as it was when we moved in two years ago.

Time for a refit! The antique copper towel rail is beautiful, and that's staying, but everything else needs changing. The new bath will be a freestanding clawfoot tub with overhead shower and bath taps centralised along the side and will be in the same place as the old one. It'll have a suspended oval shower curtain rail. I'm planning on putting in wainscotting around the room as well.

The current tiles definitely have to go but now I'm stumped. Should I tile the whole of the bath / shower area, including the ceiling? Should I stop the wainscotting at the bath and instead tile the bath area all from there? Or just tile above the wainscotting? Do I even need to have tiles??

Thanks for reading, any advice would be amazing...

Lucy

I am in a second floor flat which is bright and airy. I have a large window made up in three sides thus making alcove with very wide area of solid wood painted white. As it too high off floor to make proper window seat any ideas how to make it into something special. Maybe couple of steps with big cushions or as it is now with pretty lights and plants.

Wonderful Kate Watson-Smyth is Houzz's agony aunt, I love it!

Kate I have been following your blog for a long time now (I've lost track how long!) and I love your style and taste. I read your '10 of the best' articles, adsorb your comments on 10 beautiful rooms etc however....when it comes to implementing the ideas in my own house I freeze. I'm good with paint colours but it's the furniture and accessories, it's like I'm afraid to commit to anything in case it doesn't look right with a future purchase. So my question is if you had a blank canvas, a room that is already painted which now needs filling with furniture and accessories where do you start?And how do you make sure it will all work together nicely at the end?

Oneplan that's so funny and I totally feel your pain!! (Also a mother to teenage daughter!)

Hi there, Have you any advice on solid kitchens and what materials to use? Also where it is solid, just the doors or also the intervals? Thanks, Fiona

Hi Kate--I'm replacing my worktops and can't decide between black granite and a light neutral. I think the black would look fantastic, but I'm worried that it may go out of style, whereas neutrals (like light greige) never really do. The cabinets are being painted as well, so they could go lighter with the black worktops or darker with the light ones. I'd like this renovation to last for 10 years or so. Any predictions as to when black worktops will start looking dated? Many thanks--Jill

I am thinking of mixing vintage victorian encaustic tiles with modern ones in my small toilet. The width and length are the same, but do you know if there is any difference in depth?

Victorian tiles might be a bit thicker but you would just need to adjust the bed. No problem for a decent tiler.

Cpuld you do an article on how to make a new build house less "boxy"? How to give it character basically. Thanks!

Hi Kate,

I'm interested in how to cope when you are obsessed with interior design and know exactly the look/feel you want (complete with pretentious descriptions) but have a tiny budget. I struggle to find things I like at a price I can afford. I've seen countless articles on where to spend and where to save, with the advice always being to spend on the items which are frequently used or touched, but that's not quite what I mean. More where to focus your ideas to still create the feel you want without the cheaper stuff dragging it down or making it look a mish mash.

Hi Kate, We live in small East london in a flat. It is the top floor of a two story building. The roof is flat, and we would like to create a roof garden. The dilemma is where to add the stairs in a small flat for the maximum impact - minimize lost floor . Hopefully the door/access hatch can possibly double as a skylight. There is a skylight in the bathroom that opens, so we have been up on the roof using a ladder. The bathroom is tiny, so this is unlikely to be able to provide the permanent solution though it would be the most cost effective. It would put our only bathroom out of use if there were guests on the roof....another option might be to replace the closet at the bedroom end of the hall with a spiral stairs....a third option might be to put the stairs over the existing stairs up from the ground floor, this would involve knocking out the wall behind the bookshelve in the photo below. Are there other options we have not considered?! Any advice would be much appreciated. Happy to send more photos.

Hi all, Kate's first column has gone live! @333jlh and @campo73, your dilemmas are included, so take a look what Kate has got to say :) Read the article [here[(https://www.houzz.co.uk/magazine/ask-our-agony-aunt-choosing-accessories-and-window-frame-colours-stsetivw-vs~93134965).

Thanks Emmeline and Kate. How exciting!!

Hi Kate, we are redecorating our living room at the moment, we've ordered a light grey leather corner suite and are getting a beige (slightly grey) laminate flooring, very wide long plank. Our kitchen opens into it and has a Canadian red oak floor, white kitchen units and grey walls, do you think these colours will go well together? Thanks in advance

Hi. We're just about to have a baby and wondering how on earth to schedule and manage all the improvements our home desparately needs (from top to bottom). We need to replace our bathroom, plaster each bedroom (ceilings, walls, covering Artex and other delights) and the hallways, replace radiators, new floor coverings, inbuilt storage under eaves in the bedrooms, upgrade the old UPVC windows, make the cellar less damp maybe by tanking it so we can use it for storage, etc. Where would you start when you have a new baby on the very near horizon?!

Hi thinking of using K-Rend for the white bit of my Facade. I asked someone to come round to give me a quote and his first comment even before setting foot on my drive was "you are going to have to hack it all off and it will kill your plants and cause damage to your internal plaster" He then went on to quote me £10,750 for rendering just the white bit and a tiny little bit on the side. without even measuring the area to be rendered. Suffice to say I freaked out and never revisited the subject again but I need to have the rendering redone. I don't know if you have had or know of anybe who have had K Rend done but would be interested to know what the average cost is and if there is a cheaper product on the market that would do the job just as well without cracks reappearing. I have had the cracks checked ant there is no structural issues.

@Midcenturylass exciting times ahead! We have renovated 2 houses with babies/young children and just about to take on a third project! By coincidence, every time we have builders in I am on maternity leave which has worked great for keeping an eye on things! It is easy renovating around babies, it is much harder with toddlers as they are into everything, and as children reach school age, you need to prioritise weekends more for them. They are completely unfazed by the state of the house, noise and dirt luckily!

Good luck!

I'd like to paper one wall in a room leading into the garden through patio doors and paint the other three walls. which wall would you paper for the best effect?

The second Agony Aunt column from Kate has now been published! @Heleen and @jilll7256 your questions have been answered :)

Dear Kate,

I’d be hugely grateful for your advise, please.

I’ve recently changed from an absolutely dreadful ceiling fan with 4 curly edged, white frosted glass shades, to a pseudo-Tiffany inverted pendant light. My room is 15sq.ft and the light shade 20 inches across. I don’t ‘think’ the light is too large for the room, but it’s size does hits me, the moment I turn the corner into my Living Room. That’s my no.1 concern.

The second, because of the colour of the shade, when switched on, everything has a sepia hue. I suffer from headaches and thought it would help, (which I’m sure it will). But, is there anything I can do (cosmetically-speaking), to the room to help reduce the a amount of sepia. It’s just a tad too orangey for my liking.

I would hugely appreciate your advice.
Incidentally, my home is a second floor council flat.

All the best
Jeanette

Dear Kate,

I am building a side return and will have a pitched glass roof on one side. How can I keep minimalist clean look and have blinds to have privacy with my glass roof in the evening? I can only find electric blinds with many strings, which would spoil the clean look.

Many thanks in advance for your answer.

Dear Kate,

Seeing that picture of your library gave me an acute case of library envy. I’ve since been sulking on my bed with the stash of books that makes the bedside table next to myself, burying my head under the biggest tome of 1960’s space architecture picture books that the weekend 2nd-hand booksale at the South Bank could provide.

Unfortunately my wife hasn’t succumbed. Probably effective vaccination or something, my library fever isn’t sufficiently contagious it seems - talked her into visiting the British library as well as our local one but she didn’t catch it. Do I need to introduce her to an Australian or Spanish strain of libraries? What could I do?

Hi, I wonder if you’d kindly help me, please. I have a very simple and ordinary Council flat kitchen. My favourite colour is natural ‘grass green’, it in this tiny space, I make it look even smaller, if I painted it in green. I’ve recently added a few mirror tiles on the wall and, am considering adding a narrowly shelf beneath them, with different coloured candles, or small bottles. I’m desperate for some colour, as I can’t bear plain white walls. Would appreciate any tips you can give. Huge thanks. All the best, Jeanette

Jeanette Sitton
12:43
Hi, I wonder if you’d kindly help me, please. I have a very simple and ordinary Council flat kitchen. My favourite colour is natural ‘grass green’, I’d like to add it in this tiny space, but I know it would make it look even smaller. I’ve recently added a few mirror tiles on the wall and, am considering adding a narrow shelf beneath them, with different coloured candles, or small bottles. I’m desperate to do almost anything to add some interest, as I can’t bear plain white walls. Would appreciate any tips you can give. Huge thanks. All the best, Jeanette

Has anyone used a waterproof wall-panel product called Multipanel? I'm redoing a bathroom. It's in a second home, and I don't want to spend a lot on retiling. I'm wondering whether this substitute looks obviously cheap. Thanks!

I am also renovating an -ensuite and a small family bathroom: I had thought about using theses waterproof panels, thinking they would be easier to keep clean and no grouting etc anyone had any experience of these panels ?

I have them. I replaced our wall tiles with them. I have Nuance by Bushboard. Not the cheapest but so easy to keep clean. Wish I'd have had them instead of tiles many years ago. Wouldn't have anything else now. Don't go for the cheap panels. Nuance have 3 price groups and lots of choice.

Redoing my dining room which I would love to change into a kitchen family room but kitchen is relatively new hence stuck with renovating just the dining room.

Switching from dark wood furniture to a more modern look. I have really a blank canvas but a complete mental block, need some help with picking furniture. Kitchen is a very soft green, livingroom is beige with accents of blue
Was looking for modern pictures, colourful rug, and ideas for windows. The dining room has two large windows.
Any ideas would be helpful. House is late 18th century, semi listed but modern. There are 4 doors in the dining room all painted white with white skirting boards and wooden floors.
Would like a real wooden table, something of a talking point, then can move forward.
Any help welcome

hi Kate, how would you transform a winter garden into a kitchen?

Hi- I have a shiplap log cabin in my garden, which joiners are about to partition with sliding doors for me, with the portion behind the doors for storage and the rest of the space to be used as a sitting room/office. The sliding door system I have chosen is white, and I have a grey sofa and a white table. What sort of paint should I use on the interior? It is plain pine slats, but ideally I’d like to leave the ceiling pine and get the walls white

Hi there I am planning master bedroom not sure on colour scheme although I am planning recessed ceilings and sumptuous hotel like room with a four points poster bed . Husband likes nature ex trees tigers etc as that helps him relax, although not sure what colours would ok well in room of this sort to help him relax - please advise !

Hello, would you kindly advise me what style of armchair this is, please. The seat is wider at the front. This is my friend’s chair and I’ve fallen in love with it. Unfortunately, the company doesn’t make them any more. If I know the style, I can look around for another. Help much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Hi Kate, what would be your alternative to shutters? The window is too big to leave uncovered, nets are really not my thing. At the same time I love the privacy they afford but they somehow make the west facing room look dark and dingy. Thank you!!!

This is quite an old post. 🤔