Building, Home Decor, Interior Design, lighting, Loft Conversion, Painting, Project, Property, Property Development, Renovation
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The Loft Landing – Final Reveal

Ikea FALSTERBO Marla Singer

There’s just one space left to reveal now from the loft extension. You guys will have seen the open plan landing/office below with the staircase leading onwards and upwards to our new second floor.

Open Plan Office Space

But what you may not have worked out just yet is how it all connects together. Designing individual rooms can be tough, but designing rooms and spaces that connect with one another, not just physically but aesthetically, that’s a real challenge. Especially transitional spaces like hallways and landings where walls and levels connect over several floors. How do you make these work?

This is the view standing at the bottom of the staircase. Remember i’m in my office here too. The element of shared space which works so well here, the office enhancing the staircase and vice versa.

Here is the floor plan of the second floor. I saw the landing as another room in itself. They’re often neglected spaces, quite narrow and can be dark. I didn’t want any of these things to be the case. Our second floor landing needed to be a fully functioning second hallway welcoming you to the new second floor. Not an afterthought.

All the walls and ceilings from first floor landing to second floor were painted in Dulux’s Diamond Matt in white from their Light and Space range. It’s a magical paint as it comes up clean with just a quick wipe and it doesn’t budge at all, no matter how hard you scrub. Brilliant stuff. By keeping the walls the same colour as the floor below, it’s really helped with the “flow” of the spaces.

The loft bedroom is a guest room (yes, I know, everyone thinks we ‘re mad), so I wanted somewhere for people to hang their coats, store bags and shoes in an attempt to prevent our main entrance hall from looking like a lost property closet. Honestly, my olds don’t travel light and within 23 seconds of their arrival, our hallway is a dump. Well, they can bloody well carry their stuff up here now, thank you very much.

We went with boxed in plasterwork again instead of spindles to define the space, like a half height wall. Suitcases, bags and shoes can all be plonked down here without taking up room in the boudoir and still be kept out of sight from the floor below.

A single piece of artwork hangs in this space, ‘Abyss of the Disheartened’ by Heather Landis. It doesn’t really need anything else. You can read all about this piece from Society 6 over here.

I just love how it’s framed by the bedroom door. It’s the first thing you see when you step out of the room. Unless the cat’s there, then she’s first, artwork second.

The floor?

Yes, that’s been continued on from the bedroom so the spaces feel as one. As we leave the bedroom door open most of the time the overall space appears larger. All thanks to the continuity in the flooring.

Oh and by the way, it’s poplar plywood sheets, cut up into wide plank boards, adhered to the subfloor, sanded then sealed. We absolutely love it. The grain and markings are beautiful. If you’d like to read about how we did it, have a squizz over here.

The Loft Bedroom

Here’s the view into the bedroom, which you’ve probably seen before. Note the light switches from Dowsing & Reynolds. Love ’em.

The Loft Bathroom

And here I am looking down the landing into the bathroom. The pocket door stays open pretty much all the time, so the landing gets light from both aspects.

My old trusty Ikea PS cabinet which has been moved from house to house and room to room, now lives on the new landing. It stores our bathroom gubbins, towels and cleaning stuff. Oh and the wireless printer too, which is super handy for the office space below and means I have to actually move my butt to get a print out.

We had more storage built into the eaves, using the remains of our birch plywood from the bedroom sliding doors. This is where I stash all my paint pots, work stuff, styling bits. And the vacuum. You definitely need somewhere to store one on your second floor. I absolutely hate carrying my Henry up one flight of stairs, never mind two. Aint nobody got time for that.

Honestly, Chooch won’t leave me alone when i’m taking photos. I think she thinks my camera is some kind of cat food. 

The hanging rails along the landing are actually two Ikea Falsterbo kitchen rails. They’ve got a little ledge above so perfect for displaying pics, postcards and house rules.

Another Ikea addition, the Hektar clip on lamp which shines some light into the eaves storage when needed. It can be left on overnight too so guests are not fumbling around trying to work out where the switches are when they need the loo.

Nuff plywood

We worked really hard to connect the flooring into the staircase here. As soon as the birch ply ends, the poplar ply begins. No threshhold, no trim, just a melange of plywood. These are the kind of details that make me really smile.

Loft Extension Landing Final Reveal

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So there’s the loft landing. I didn’t think it was possible to do a final reveal of a “common part”. But this little space has been a real treat to finish off. A Bruce-y bonus. So, apart from the handrail, which is still to be fitted, you’ve seen it all. I really hope you like what we’ve done with each space. Even though we’ve only gained a bedroom and bathroom, it feels like we’ve added so much more to our home. Whad’ya think peeps?

 

 

 

20 Comments

  1. Shruti says

    Fab-u-lous! Would prefer the stairs without the handrail though. Looks oh! so Scandi and clean. Though for practical purposes I guess you need a handrail. BTW love your blog.

    • Karen Knox says

      Yeah me too! But building regs say otherwise. And we’ve got a four year old to keep alive. But in an ideal world where everything looked like a magazine shoot, i’d leave it as is 🙂

  2. Ivana says

    It’s brilliant, I love how you’ve thought it through, so practical. But also visually, it’s perfection! In love with those plywood floors. Just wondering if you went for a different ply on the stairs as a design feature to have a different colour as you step into a new space or some other reason? X

    • Karen Knox says

      I’ll tell you why… it was because when we finally started looking for plywood for the floors, the sheets of poplar were a better grade and cheaper than the birch. That is the only reason. But I really love the slight colour variation between the the birch and poplar. I think a birch floor would have been a bit too rich in tone on the second floor. The white/pinky/grey-ish tones in the poplar are super yum 🙂

  3. Lesley says

    Yep love it all, I like that additional space too on the top floor landing, for all the gubbings etc.
    Btw note you like exposed light bulbs (me too) Aldi have some vintage style bulbs with the fancy filaments on offer at the mo, £2.99 each, bargain I’d say.

    • Karen Knox says

      Thanks Lesley. Yeah, loads of people keep going on about Aldi at the moment. Will have to take a look. Although all of our bulbs are actually LED bulbs made to look like vintage filament bulbs. Saved a fortune on leccy!

  4. Gilly says

    Love it Karen. Really well thought out, beautiful to look at and done on a budget. Us Leeds lasses love a bargain don’t we!

  5. Ah, the importance of liminal spaces should never be neglected. Doorways, passages and landings are the glue that hold a scheme together and the portals through which we first see the main spaces. Add function and beauty, as you have here, and they truly are the centre of the home!
    Well done you!

    • Karen Knox says

      Ooh “Liminal”, that’s a new word for me. Like that very much. And yes to everything you said. Doorways are like little frames into another space. Glad you like it Linda!

  6. Who are these ‘olds’ that mess the hall up? The final reveal of the landing completes the Tardis trilogy – space where there was no space before, well done Kaz XX
    What about a collaboration with Stannah stair lift?

    • Karen Knox says

      For the olds? Like it. Might ruin the look of the staircase a little… x

  7. Monika says

    Hi Karen,
    Love the loft room, perfect for guests.
    Can I ask where you got the roller blinds from – I recall reading somewhere that they were from Hilary’s but then couldn’t find the page again? What colour are they and are they blackout?
    Many thanks for this and all your other inspiration!
    Monika

    • Karen Knox says

      Yep, they were from Hillarys Blinds. They’re black and although not technically classed as a black-out blind, they’re actually really good. Best to get yourself a sample of the fabric and see if they’ll fit the bill for you!

  8. totally love those little details too – never wasted on me. they’re the best bits
    brilliant job

    lucky guests.
    when we did our loft in our last house we put the kids up there even though it was a cool space as personally i didn’t like the idea of me sleeping up there when they were on a lower floor – maybe an odd thing but thats just me 🙂

    • Karen Knox says

      No I totally get that. Don’t think we’ll be up there for a few years yet. And it’ll probably end up as a “teenager” space when the time comes…
      Glad you like it 🙂

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