Jan 17

Jan 17 Katie Woods of Come Down to The Woods, AKA The Peach Palace

One of my all-time favourite homes this beauty belongs to my friend Katie Woods of @comedowntothewoods, who has, in the last 12 months, transformed every room in this house. Katie's home is nicknamed the "Peach Palace" because nearly every room was decorated in peach when she bought the house around 2 years ago. Not daunted by 4 kids and her job as a dentist, Katie took on a complete revamp which included changing 15 rooms; a kitchen extension, a new kitchen, decorating 4 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms, a living room, a playroom, a dressing room and the hallway and she has done a fabulous job.

You can read all about Katie's revamp on the Amara nominated blog here. But her success has not stopped there. Now with over 40,000 Instagram followers she has recently launched No House Ruleswith business partner @thisstyle_rocks (whose latest home renovation will be coming on here in a few short weeks) which has gone onto be a fantastic success. You can read about their launch party on my blog here and the ladies are just about to have their second event on 2nd February, not too be missed.

Go and hear about Katie's home in her own words. Enjoy a home filled with colour, wallpaper and tiles!

Katie's Hallway with original panelling, has influenced her use of panelling elsewhere in her bedroom and bathrooms

Hello everyone and welcome to the Peach Palace. The door is open, come on in and have a little nose around.

My name is Katie and I live here with my husband Chris and too many kids. We've got 4 altogether and they are all 7 and under. They make a lot of noise, a lot of mess and annoyingly they are incredibly good at leaving their jammy fingerprints all over my velvet sofa but boy are they cute. We've got so many kids it would have been more apt to look on rightmove for a shoe for this old woman but this gem of a house came up and we just couldn't say no.

We are both dentists by day and spend our time elbow deep in mouths but we somehow found the time to completely renovate this peach of a house.

When our 4th baby was due we decided it was time to look for something bigger. We had a house, a beautiful one which needed no work whatsoever yet at 8 months pregnant there I was dragging my boys and bump around house after house. Then we stumbled upon this one in all its peachy glory. The bones of the house were fantastic but there wasn't a surface that wasn't peach. Thus, project delete the peach began.

It wasn't easy, no wall was left untouched, nothing escaped the builder's hammer. The space was completely remodelled with care taken to maintain the amazing original features and I was given free rein on the interiors.

I've never had a chance to go wild before, a chance to be bold with my interior choices so I was itching to get started. I did have the added problem of making it kid/dog/husband friendly but honestly, my motto when it comes to interiors is if you love it and can afford it who cares about the practicality.

I wanted a happy space, a space that gave you a warm feeling at the front door. A space where my kids would see colour and fun and could make and store some serious happy memories in their brain bank.

As far as my style goes, I really don't think I have any one in particular. If I could describe it in a few words I'd say bold, eclectic, fearless and Marmite. You totally either love it or hate it!

I started blogging and posting photos to Instagram as a way to document the renovation progress. I felt that I owed it to the house somehow, a way to soften the blow of knocking the heck out of it. I'm so glad I did, Instagram has introduced me to an amazing community of interior nuts like me and opened the door to amazing career changing opportunities and for that I’m am so very grateful.

I hope you enjoy the tour.................

Starting with Katie's living room which was decorated before the major renovations began. Painted in a dark blue, with tropical House of Hackney wallpaper around the chimney breast, this room is a triumph in colour, with beautiful velvet furniture and lots of fantastic accessories. Katie has 28 new cushions in her newly renovated home!

"The fact is that nobody needs as many soft furnishings as we have here but I genuinely can’t help it. And if it’s velvet there is no chance its escaping the basket!" says Katie.

The Master Bedroom Showcases Katie's love of wallpaper; House of Hackney and panelling, this wall was created by her talented joiner.

Katie's gorgeous en-suite with that Pink Bath! Navy Panelling, gorgeous tiles and a beautiful sink unit finish the room

Above is the kid's playroom, with a statement ceiling, a big trend for 2018. Katie made a bold decision to paint the fireplace in bright green. I love it, do you?

Below you can see the kid's bedrooms, colourful and very cute.

The Family Bathroom, showcasing Katie's self confessed love of tiles.

"Love of colour and risk taking comes with one huge downside. The purchase of a crazy number of test pots (147). I reckon I could build a new house with the amount stacked up in our basement!" say's Katie

The massive kitchen extension to match the massive mortgage?

"And what a sleep depriving burden it’s been too! Be under no illusion, the financial implications have been of epic proportions. Has anyone ever watched Homes Under the Hammer? You know, the bit where they say they are going to renovate the entire house for 15k. Well surely, they are high or drunk or just big fat liars because that barely got us through the blinking front door! The haemorrhage of savings has been quite something." says Katie.

And Below, the gorgeous hallway, what a first room to enter when you come home from work.

So, there you go, you have to admire the energy of Katie in pulling together such a gorgeous home. Remember she has 4 kids, a job as a dentist, blogger and now her own interiors business. To put this in context, all of this has been done around the inevitable 1825 nappy changes, 2190 nose wipes, 4380 meal servings and 965 loads of washing that comes with 4 kids who are 7 and under.

"I’ve not only become the queen of peach but also the master of multitasking and I am beyond excited about what 2018 will bring" says Katie.

I couldn't agree more.