All posts filed under: Bedroom

Making Spaces with Heal’s – The George Nelson Bubble Light

Published by Karen Knox

Heal’s certainly needs no introduction, it’s a bit of an interiors staple isn’t it? For me, Heal’s equates to quality, modernist, cutting edge design, but it was actually founded in 1810, the year that George III was declared insane and Jane Austin wrote Sense and Sensibility. Over 200 years ago! John Harris Heal opened the first store at 33 Rathbone Place, London. Introducing feather filled mattresses to the UK market was at the time revolutionary, it also meant it was farewell and “so long” to the straw equivalents of the period. Since then Heal’s has continued to push design boundaries, help shape the UK design landscape, with John’s great great grandson, Ambrose Heal championing Arts and Crafts design in the 1900’s (referred to as prison furniture at the time). Ambrose Heal continued to shake up the interior market completely by introducing Bauhaus design influences during a time when UK homes were stuck in the period of heavy, brown Edwardian furniture The ‘Owl Cabinet’ designed by Ambrose Heal in 1904 “Never afraid of ruffling a …

Making Spaces with Quick-Step

Published by Karen Knox

It’s been all go here at Making Spaces HQ with the makeover of our master bedroom. Last time I wrote about it, i’d just about finished all of the decorating. Remember? Benjamin Moore – Fox Hedge Tan In the grand scheme of things, the painting was by far the easiest bit to sort. I also kinda like that job, very therapeutic I find. Once that big job was done it was over to the hubster to crack on with taking up the oak flooring and lay our new Burned Planks flooring from Quick-Step. The Quick-Step ‘Impressive’ range comes in 8mm or 12mm (Ultra) boards, where as the solid oak boards closer to 18mm. So, to give us a more consistent floor height over the bedroom threshold onto the landing, we opted for the 12mm boards, as well as leaving the old underlay down and using this as our sub floor. Fitting the new underlay was super easy to do (well it was for me, as I wasn’t doing it). We opted for the TransitSound underlay which …

Benjamin Moore #paintlikenoother

Published by Karen Knox

Sorry for not posting last week. I’m sure you were all refreshing your inboxes every 30 minutes wondering where my weekly post was? Call off the search party everyone, i’m fine, if a little stiff around the ole joints. I’ve done the equivalent of 39 step classes this weekend, working hard on the decorating of our bedroom makeover. Remember our proposed new bedroom colour that divided opinion? Nude Bedroom – Moodboard Now let me make it clear from the off so the ASA don’t come and arrest me, I was gifted the paint for this project. BUT I chose the paint and colour, Benjamin Moore‘s ‘Fox Hedge Tan’, before i’d secured a collaboration. I’ve been wanting to try Benjamin Moore’s paints for ages and always prefer to try new products in my own home before recommending them to others to try in theirs. After i’d bought a tester and settled on the colour, I emailed Benjamin Moore to see if they’d let me review their paints on the blog in exchange for a few litres of …

The Mulberry Red Room – Pre-reveal

Published by Karen Knox

I wasn’t going to bother writing this post up, mainly because i’ve shared most of these pics over on Instagram already. But then I thought, “well tough bums” (a phrase Charlie and I use), i’m sure there are some of you that read my blog who don’t follow me on Instagram. And actually i’d quite like to share them over here so I can talk about each picture properly. So i’m doing it right now. Just watch me. Here’s a quick reminder of where we were on the last post. This pic was taken after some of the new furniture had arrived but before any of the works had been done. Standard. Here’s the difference two simple things make, the two things being: The right surface coverings (wall and floor) Plants That’s it. New Flooring + New Wall Colour + Plants = A Magical Space I genuinely get so excited when clients trust you and just go for it. Not many would simply smile, nod and order the paint the next day. There’s normally some …

Our Bedroom Plans – The Nude Room

Published by Karen Knox

I’ve finally decided on plans for our bedroom. If you remember, I mentioned the bedroom was the next room i’d be switching up, here in this post where I showed you before and after pictures of our whole house. Our bedroom has always gotten lovely feedback, being featured in Real Homes magazine, by Abigail Ahern on MADE.COM and Apartment Therapy. So you know, this little room has certainly earned its keep. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Karen Knox – Making Spaces (@makingspacesnet) It’s been like this for over three years now, which is a long time for me to not fiddle with a room. But the one thing i’ve always found about this space is that it was a bit of a black sheep alongside the rest of the house. Or teal sheep. Our home is “Monochrome and Materials”. It’s Scandinavian design inspired with a large helping of mid-century (because it’s a mid-century house). Whilst being neutral there is plenty of colour added with artwork, plants and accessories but for the fundamental scheme …

Project in progress… The Mulberry Red Room

Published by Karen Knox

Hello there, wasn’t sure if i’d make it onto the blog this week, but i’ve managed to squeeze a little one in. I’m catching you up on another project. It’s the master bedroom of a house i’ve been working in for about 10 months now. The homeowner moved from a flat into a four bedroom Georgian property. The plot this beautiful stone built house sits in had been bought by developers, the property then chopped to make three individual houses. From the outside it’s beautiful and full of character, but internally, it was somewhat lacking so we’ve been working hard to bring it back to life. Living Room in Little Greene Grey Stone We’ve just about completed the living room (still got to take proper photos of that) and made progress on the stairs, landing and guest bedrooms but now we’re onto the top floor. This is (was) the master suite, on the second floor set in the eaves of the house. Can you see what would have originally been the real height of the ceiling …

Growing up with Meble Vox & Wayfair

Published by Karen Knox

Remember Charlie’s room? This time last year, I had this beast built. The wall of storage. Best. Thing. Ever. (read all about that here) Then we upgraded his cot bed to these single stacking beds, perfect for sleepovers (read about those here) Then it was time to find a new wardrobe and chest of drawers… and it’s taken me a year. ONE YEAR to find something that floated my boat. This was the wishlist: White and/or blonde wood Something that didn’t look like kids’ furniture, but would equally be at home in a kids’ room Decent quality, something that would last him until the day he moves out (so, about another 23 years). A wardrobe with full hanging rail. For some reason, a lot of kids’ wardrobes have a half rail and shelves down the side. What’s that about?? Around £600ish for the two I’d done the whole Ikea shlep… endless internet dredging… and what I found was kid’s furniture that was affordable but looked a bit ’90’s naff’, childish or had a half length …

How to Connect your Rooms – Choosing a Colour Palette

Published by Karen Knox

Hello everyone, I’m back this week with a little look at how to connect your rooms at home. What does that mean exactly? One of the keys to a successful home interior is having a sense of cohesion and “flow”. The rooms and spaces between should connect with the surrounding ones. For example, let’s say you’ve got three bedrooms on a floor, like most people and you want them all to have their own identity but also not look like a patchwork quilt from the landing, it’s good to consider how these spaces connect as a whole. Often, people run the flooring throughout to make the overall space feel larger. We all know that the less breaks in a colour or pattern, the better, as the eye continues further along the space. Flooring continues on from our loft bedroom to landing with no threshold to break the line’s eye. Another way to do is is choose a colour palette, and stick to that for a floor, even better, a whole house if you’re being really clever. …

The Copper Bedroom – Final Reveal

Published by Karen Knox

Just like buses, you wait for ages, in the rain, getting puddle mud on the back of your skinny jeans, standing with damp denim stuck to your leg… then three of the double-decker blighters come all at once. My third final reveal post in as many weeks. That’s got to be some kind of record. The Monochrome Family Bathroom, then the Aquamarine Guest Bedroom and now the Copper Bedroom. That’s how it goes sometimes. Co-ordinating several projects at the same time can be a bit of a nightmare. But then you get a triple whammy of interior eye candy to gorge on. Before Today’s it’s the Copper Bedroom. The bedroom on the 2nd floor of the Edwardian property i’ve been working in for nearly the last two years now. Blimey! You can catch up with all the befores for this latest project, here and here. Drawing Room | Upper Brook St These are the two rooms that sit directly beneath the Copper Bedroom. On the ground floor it’s the Drawing Room and the floor above …

The Aquamarine Guest Bedroom – Final Reveal

Published by Karen Knox

Oh how i’m going to enjoy writing this post, firstly because I love a final reveal post. And secondly, this one will mostly be a cathartic rant about my self-titled “WORST CLIENT EVER”, with some tiny pieces of info about interiors in and amongst. This was the second bedroom of a generously proportioned 1930’s house. It was being used as a guest bedroom and home office, but as i’m sure you will agree, it needed some work. I’m going to skip the whole process which you can catch up on here and here and just get on with the before and after photos, interspersed with more cathartic ranting. The brief for this room was… let’s say, “fluid”. Needs to be a guest bedroom with double bed Bed needs to have drawers underneath for storage Bed needs to have a comfortable, upholstered headboard Needs a wardrobe for guest hanging space Needs a chest of drawers for storage and a TV on top Needs an office space with lots of storage and all cables hidden away Definitely plants …