Bedroom, Decorating, Interior Design, Mood Board, Property, Renovation, Wallpaper
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In The Pink – Is there a better way to end 2020 than some pink interiors?

Mood Board Pink Interiors

Well it seems I have done all my Christmas wrapping and have a bit of time to share some pink interiors to end this year, what a rosey treat!

Let’s start with this room:

Before – sales listing

This will soon be the guest bedroom on the top floor of a lovely big Victorian house in Ilkley. You can probably fathom it was a teenage bedroom, and whilst it looks in half decent nick, the room was tired and needed stripping back and starting again. Carpets up, fitted wardrobe removed, walls stripped, and re-skimmed and floorboards sanded and re-stained. And of course I had to choose a ‘new outfit’ for it to wear too.

During the big rip out, carpets up, floorboards revealed and room ready to be stripped before being re-skimmed

Working around the client’s existing metal bed and two pine bedsides, I went for a slightly bonkers, yet Scandi take on a traditional Victorian striped wallpaper. The stripes giving a gentle nod to the Victorian style bed frame but the scale and colour of said stripes along with the lighting and furnishings it brought this stripy design staple bang up to date.

The concept

Mood Board

The Details

I’ve been wanting to use a wide stripe wallpaper since 2017. In fact, I mocked up a wide stripe room for this blog post 3.5 years ago. So glad I finally get to use the Ferm Living wallpaper I’ve had my eye on since. Stripes, reeding, slatted and baton walls, fluted, ribbed, corded and pleated detailing will continue to feature well into 2021 and beyond. If you’ve not spotted it already… you will!

Here’s the room freshly skimmed with its 150 year old floorboards sanded and stained with Bona 2k Frost oil – all ready for it’s new fancy swag! I am very much looking forward to sharing finished pics of this room in early 2021. In the meantime, here’s a sneaky peek “just decorated shot” courtesy of my client which he sent over last Friday at 5pm. Just in time for fizz Friday!

Ferm Living Thick Lines

There’s Mat from Clark’s Decor doing his thing

Nearly after!

Btw, how beautiful is that antique wardrobe? A steal at £200 from eBay and works perfectly with the traditional style bed frame. I do love an antique find!


Secondly, i’m sharing some final reveal photos from a client i’ve consulted with on a couple of projects since summer 2018. I was initially contacted to provide some help with the hall, stairs and landing of their beautiful 1930’s, double-fronted home on the outskirts of York.

Interior design consultation

Their previous layout as of my initial visit

During the consultation, the conversation moved away from the hallway and onto the kitchen diner and how they struggled with the layout and awkwardness of a space, it being a little too narrow to fit the dining table where they really wanted it; overlooking the garden. So I did some investigating, knocked on some walls and came up with this whilst I was there:Interior design consultation

By the end of the consultation, I convinced them to set the hallway project aside and knock a wall down in their kitchen instead. Exciting!

Interior design consultation

Before

Bye bye wall!

With the old utility room wall knocked down this gave the kitchen an extra 1.5m width of floorspace (the utility was getting moved to another room anyway to form a larger utility and boot-room at the front of the house). Whilst 1.5m doesn’t sound much, it’s all they needed and that little bit extra made ALL the difference to how they use their kitchen now.

“Karen is a superstar. We initially met on a colour consult for the hallway and after a cuppa and me moaning about our kitchen, she persuaded me the way to go was to put off the decorating and knock down a wall in the kitchen instead! This was a bit of a shock but after some discussions we went for it and the end result is amazing. The space has been totally transformed and it makes a difference to our family every single day. She is a true designer.”

Well that’s nice isn’t it? My favourite bit being; “The space has been totally transformed and it makes a difference to our family every single day”. THAT is literally the best feedback and what makes me keep doing this job!

After

I only consulted on layout and overall feel for their newly widened kitchen diner so I don’t have any final photos of the kitchen i’m afraid, but I shall say that it’s amazing and that they did a fantastic job on creating their dream, family friendly kitchen space. What I can show you however are the colours they used and how this influenced the more recent hallway design.

Mathilda Midnight Wallpaper by Abigail Borg

Those colours were teal, pink and black, which featured throughout the rest of the house in various forms. This provided a strong indicator as to what colour the new hallway, staircase and landing was going to be when we finally got there. And two years later, we did!

“I have also seen Karen recently to talk through the actual hallway, where she has given me the confidence to use colour everywhere and has shown me how to pull it all together (all walls still intact). She is incredibly creative and inspiring and I would not hesitate to work with her again.”

So yes, in summer this year, I was asked to return and consult on their actual, hallway, stairs and landing space which ran through the centre of the house with all rooms leading directly from.

Hallway before

We spent 2 x 3 hour sessions putting the scheme together for this space, the first session was looking at initial ideas, then requesting lots of samples ready for my second visit where we did some top moodboarding and wallpaper and paint colour matching.Mood Board

With the wallpaper chosen, paint colours and finishes marked out all around the hallways, my client did what she does best and pulled it all together. A few months later, I was very kindly sent these photos:

After – what a difference!

By designing your other rooms first it gives you a colour palette for your home, an important step towards connecting these liminal spaces aesthetically; a way of achieving the much sought after “flow” and continuity in your home.

Before

Another reason to do these spaces last is because they get absolutely trashed whilst doing every other room in a house. No point making your hallway mint then inviting builders in to knock down a wall elsewhere. Your walls and floors won’t like it and therefore neither will your wallet.

After

Before –  a not so sexy staircase

Now a very sexy staircase!

So that’s your lot for today, in fact this year. But I will be back in January to share lots of final reveal posts from six different properties across North and West Yorkshire. I shall look forward to catching up with you all then!

But before I go, let me know what you think of these pink-tastic rooms in the comments below. It’s always lovely to hear from you!

9 Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    Bold and beautiful both if them.

    Out of interest did you encourage the client to paint the bannister and newel black or was it a design decision to leave as wood?

    • Karen Knox says

      It was a tough call between the two options. I always recommend leaving the bannister and newel cap wood if they’ve not already been painted in the past, with a mind to review once the rest has been painted. Now i’ve seen the mahogany next to the Adventurer, i’d probably now paint them black for a greater contrast.

    • Elaine says

      I saw the pink hall on Insta, and I absolutely love it! It’s such a beautiful shade of pink, especially teamed with the runner and the black. It’s brave, kind of mad, and classic all at the same time. Very ‘you’! Have a great Christmas and New Year!

  2. Anonymous says

    I absolutely love the bedroom… I think I might steal this for my guest room also!!
    The kitchen area is A fabulous turnaround-sometimes we get so stuck in an area u can’t see the alternatives. That worked fabulous. it sometimes needs fresh eyes and a magic brain!!
    The hall is amazing – I don’t think I would just have the nerve to be so strong with the pink.

    The colour is Identical to the colour of en-suite shower room in my mums house which she just changed a few years ago. I was so mad. I told her the colour was coming back in! I dare to show her this!

    • Karen Knox says

      Ooh, no don’t show her! Pink in bathrooms was a real classic wasn’t it?

      • Elaine says

        You know, looking at that hall has me thinking that I really want a deep rose-pink bathroom 💕💗💕

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