All posts filed under: Art

The Victorian Cottage (deVOL inspired) Kitchen – Final Reveal

Published by Karen Knox

Hello again! It’s another final reveal post and today it’s the Victorian Cottage (deVOL inspired) Kitchen. The last time I wrote about this project was back in February, which is how long it’s been since I last visited! It’s fair to say this one has been a slow burner. I have taken so many photos of this project i’ve struggled to keep them down to a minimum. But there are definitely less than 30 50. Let me remind you of the space on my first visit… Before This cottage has an awkward shape and size kitchen. There are seven doors off this space, it is literally the heart of the house, leading to the: utility room sitting room garden room first floor cellar storage cupboard study Not only are there seven doors, there’s an almost floor to ceiling window and huge chimney breast with faux brick surround. Wall space is officially limited. Layout before The U-shaped kitchen, with the peninsular chopped the room in half. The kitchen half of the room was originally overloaded with base …

Nyssa Sharp

Published by Karen Knox

Nyssa Sharp is an artist currently living in Sydney, Australia with Grizzly, her pet bunny. I first came across her work hanging on the wall of a room I spotted on Instagram a few months ago. And since, have been trying to find out more about the piece of art hanging on a wall, that made me instantly stop scrolling. The Girl with the Yellow Skirt It took me a while to find out who this piece was by, but as soon as I discovered it on esme grey designs, it was in the basket and ordered. It’s still available to pre-order by the way for delivery by the end of this month. “A lot of people think that The Girl with the Yellow Skirt is an oil painting, but I made it on my Macbook Pro using a drawing tablet. It is the most important piece I have ever created, and I get the most feedback for it. It is so cool and beautiful to know that people connect with it so strongly.” Papirmass View …

Gallery wall mid century, dark interiors

How to choose art?

Published by Karen Knox

I’m by no means an expert on this, but I wanted to write down what I know. Some of it instinctively and other bits i’ve learned by analysing images of rooms for hours on end, working out why something does and doesn’t work. I’m asked to find art for people all the time and it’s such a difficult thing to make a decision on, on behalf of someone else. But there are certain, more practical things to bear in mind that does help hone down the search. What wall is it going on and what space is there for it? Is that space portrait or landscape? Because you really want your artwork to echo the shape of the wall behind it. Here’s an example for you: This is a pic of a living room, our living room in fact, before we bought it. See how the mirror above the fire is landscape on a portrait wall? Well it doesn’t really work. It’s the wrong orientation but also the wrong scale. Scale is something we’ll get to …

Updating your interiors with Posterlounge

Published by Karen Knox

As you guys will probably know, i’ve been faffing around with our living room gallery wall for a while now. Ya know, since I finally painted all the walls black. Finally black. I liked it, but it wasn’t quite right. Not yet anyway. Luckily, around the same time, Posterlounge got in touch asking if i’d like to work with them on a post. Erm yes please! Yeah, I would. So I jumped onto their site and began the search for new art and artists. Stage 1 of operation ‘Gallery Wall Update’. Still not quite right. The Posterlounge site is BIG! They have A LOT of stuff and the best thing is it’s all super affordable with prices starting from around £6.90 with free delivery. Pretty good eh? ‘WAITING MAGRITTE’ by THE USUAL DESIGNERS Absolutely love the colours. Clouds and faces. Faces and clouds. They get me every time! They have everything you could think of; photography, illustrations, abstract, realism, surrealism, advertising posters, paintings, graphic design, digital art, collage art, typography…. The list is endless, so it took …

Upper Brook Street Project – Final Reveal of the Guest Bedroom

Published by Karen Knox

Typing typing as fast as I can…. It’s final reveal time everyone! Oh how I love a final reveal. Especially when it’s as awesomesauce as this one. Eeeee!! (If you’d like to catch up on this project, pop back a few posts to this one.) First, it’s time for before pics. A large master bedroom which was to become a guest bedroom. But not just any old guest bedroom, oh no siree. The weird recessed/built in wardrobes were going and an ensuite was coming. This is how the room looked when I started working with the homeowners: The entire house had been chopped up over time, converted into flats at some point, and then back again into a house. The walls and doors were in the strangest of places and it was time to breathe life back into this beautiful Edwardian home, and put those walls back where they were originally built over 100 years ago. This was back in January. Want to see what it looks like now? After Before It’s completely unrecognisable isn’t it? In …

Abyss of the Disheartened – My first Instagram Giveaway #loveyourwalls

Published by Karen Knox

It’s no surprise to hear how much art plays a huge part of our home and all of my interiors projects. It’s integral to any room, in fact, I have been known to design an entire room around a single piece. Valspar’s Midtown Magic was chosen for our bedroom walls as a backdrop to The Chinese Girl by Angelique Houtkamp. I also purchase a lot of pieces, having no idea where they’ll end up. I just know I need them somewhere and the place will make itself clear in due course. One such piece was Abyss of the Disheartened IX by Heather Landis. I spotted this around the time me and t’tother half were due to get married. We had a very small, low key wedding, with only 20 people in total, including myself, the groom and our 4 y/o. This picture, for some reason, just made me think about marriage. Don’t know why. But it did. Perhaps it was the dress? Anyway, as we’re not the kind of folk to have our wedding photos up around …

A post about curtains… and I hate curtains

Published by Karen Knox

I have several issues with curtains. Mainly because they’re a nightmare to source. Why are they so complicated? And it’s not just me, I have it on good authority, that i’m not the only interior design-y person that hates looking for them. Brigitte loving her drapes. Something i’ve never experienced. Ever. Can you believe i’ve still not found any a) I can afford and b) like for our living room… and we’ve been here for nearly five years now. Completely by accident, I stumbled across some pretty darn cool curtains on Society 6. I was on there filling my basket with artwork, when I noticed a new section on their site. I knew these guys sold shower curtains, throws, wall hangings, bedding etc… but it seems they’ve branched out into window coverings, launching their curtain range just last week. Citrine Each panel is 50 inches x 84 inches (about 127cm x 213cm), so not great for period properties with high ceilings, but should just about work in homes with average 2.4m high ceilings. Coral Peach …

Our trip to MOMA

Published by Karen Knox

Located in midtown Manhattan, the Museum of Modern Art was founded in 1929 as an educational institution. Alfred H. Barr, Jr., its founding director always intended the museum to be dedicated to helping people understand and appreciate the visual arts of our time, providing New York with “the greatest museum of modern art in the world.” From an initial gift of eight prints and one drawing, the Museum of Modern Art’s collection has grown to include over 150,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, architectural models and drawings, and design objects. Nearly 90 years later its rich and varied collection has established itself as one of the most comprehensive and wide-ranging views into modern art. I just wanted to share with you some of my favourites; some from “famous masters”, some from names you’ll recognise and others from artists i’ve only just been introduced to myself. I hope you enjoy. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take photos inside the Bruce Conner exhibition, but you can read and see more about it here. Absolutely mesmerised by Munch. As was another …

The Drawing Room – Shopping List

Published by Karen Knox

As promised, the last time I wrote about the Drawing Room, I mentioned there’d be a blog post coming soon enough, with the shopping list for this room. I think it’s time you guys got to see what we’ve been busy finding (and buying) whilst we’ve been waiting for the new sash windows to go in. Ferm Living Lines Wallpaper from Cloudberry Living I’m sure you all remember this, but just incase you missed the last few posts about this project, this wallpaper is going around the whole room becoming the backdrop to everything inside. It’s going to be sooo good. As soon as the windows are in, it’s time for the wallpaper. Eeee! **does little dance** Euan Floor Lamp from Habitat There’s a yellow/brass theme going on in this room. Lots of little pops of “bright” to contrast against the dark blue wallpaper. Stockholm Glass Door Cabinet from Ikea This will become the drinks cabinet. Crystal glasses galore and obscure spirits are awaiting their new home. Glass and metallics will be used to bounce the light …

My 7 from Society 6 – Pt 2

Published by Karen Knox

I wrote a post last November about some new art purchased from Society 6 for chez Making Spaces. As you may already know, our house does not need ANY more art. Any at all. But I seemed to have filled my basket again. It’s one of the downsides of working in interiors, you’re constantly searching for cool stuff for other people and invariably, you find a lot of stuff you’d rather like for yourself. Let me show you what i’ve been finding for projects and ogling for myself… abyss of the disheartened : IX by Heather Landis I have no idea why this reminds me of our wedding day (we didn’t even get our feet wet), but it does. Makes me ponder the whole “relationships” thang. And makes me smile. I like how they’re together, holding hands, but they’re apart. I guess you can interpret it exactly how you want to. Which is why art is so bloody amazing. And important in adding interest to a space. think by LouiJoverArt Yes, another “note to self” print. I need to …