All posts filed under: DIY

The Plywood Floor – 15 months on…

Published by Karen Knox

Feature image – MADE It’s been 15 months since we laid the plywood floor in our loft space. We converted our second floor back in autumn/winter 2016 and finally completed the project in Spring 2017. Since then a load of people have been contacting me about the floor in our loft space and how it’s held up. Well, I did promise a review after a year, so I am a little behind, but i’ve finally gotten around to taking some pics of the floor as it is now, 15 months after it was laid and since lived on. Time to hand in my homework. I’ve taken some of the furniture out so you can see more of the boards for yourself. I’m really happy with how it’s fared and so glad we took a punt on an alternative flooring. Sure, it’s taken a few dinks, but then it’s a floor, so ya know, it’s what they do. In fact, it was me that gave it its first scar by rolling a mini filing cabinet from the …

The Multi-function Room Goes Aquamarine

Published by Karen Knox

So first off, massive thanks to everyone who took the time to feed back on my previous post. Everyone’s ideas were just what I needed for a little inspo boost. So again, thank you! And so, back to normal stuff… it’s project update time! You can catch up on the Multi Function Room here. Here’s the room on my first visit. The second bedroom which needs to become a guest room and home office in one. Here it is about a month later with the gorgeously botanical Wildacre Anagpytpa freshly papered on the walls and the ceiling painted (don’t worry, we’ve got coving and skirting boards to be fitted – i’m not starting a new “trim-less” trend). Here’s Cartman the cat inspecting the workmanship, plus a little close-up of the wallpaper pre-paint. Speaking of which, here’s the colour scheme: Little Greene Stock – Mid | Aquamarine | Invisible Green Aquamarine on the walls, Stock – Mid on the ceiling and Invisible Green, that super dark, deep green will be going on the …

The Industrial Shaker Kitchen

Published by Karen Knox

When the lovely Ally of Digital Diva fame, booked me for a day’s consultation last August at their new home, I walked into a house I wasn’t quite expecting. A stunning, Grade II listed, late Georgian, early Victorian stone built property, just three or so miles away from my own home in North Leeds. This isn’t what it looked like, don’t worry. This is a photo from 2015 before it was bought by a developer. The whole place had been refurbed to a pretty good standard and whilst the developers retained the beautiful period features, some of the fixtures and fittings were not quite cutting it for the new owners, Ally and James. This was their kitchen back in August 2016, with shaker style units, range cooker, large island unit, solid oak worktop, open shelving, original Yorkshire stone floor and built in pantry by the side of the restored fireplace. So all in all, the makings of a wonderful kitchen. The layout was great. No issues with that. But these guys weren’t feeling the space and weren’t sure how …

Valchromat – It’s not just MDF

Published by Karen Knox

You guys already know all about my love of raw materials. I think half of our interior is made from plywood, OSB and bog standard MDF. Like this: Built in MDF shelves. Left bare, because I liked ’em like that. My dad, (actively) did not. Birch plywood featured heavily in our recent loft conversion. Varnished, bare and stained black. Oh and the poplar plywood floorboards. Don’t forget those. Orientated Strand Board (OSB) has been used in a few projects now too. The first being in my home office, 18 months or so ago where I made my own desk top. Still going strong and getting better with age…. ….and again in a commercial design project where it was used for bespoke wall units, a conference table, standing desk and modular display/room divide. I think it’s fair to say, if I had the choice of having something built from solid oak or walnut, you know, something proper posh and pricey or something from ply, MDF or OSB… i’d go for the underdog. You can make your …

Living Room Update – Pt 2 #styleitdark

Published by Karen Knox

Ok, if you didn’t read Part I, then this post might not make that much sense. So you might want to pop back a couple of posts and catch up so you know what the heck i’m going on about today. Or just keep reading… you’re in charge. I think it’s fair to say I wasted spent a week painting various sections of this room. This bit that colour, that bit this colour. There are some sections of wall that have been painted four times over the space of a fortnight, I swear the room is smaller. https://www.instagram.com/p/BTRQx3RA0GD/?taken-by=makingspacesnet As much as I loved the tone of Dulux’s Rich Praline 3, it just did not work with our oak furniture or pine door. It was also a perfect match for the carpet (which I don’t like) making the room feel a bit “blah”. Not exactly the look I was going for when I started this room update. So after, repeatedly telling my hubster how the room would’t work unless I painted the door in with the …

A living room update – Pt 1 #styleitdark

Published by Karen Knox

Ok. First off. Massive thanks for the ace feedback from my last post. It seems like I have unleashed some design demons, which makes me smile very much indeed. So pleased to hear some of you guys have been trying out my online tutorial on how to create your own mood boards, had a few PM’s and DM’s since last week letting me know how helpful it’s been, including this message: “Just thought i’d let you know, i spent the afternoon at work doing your step by step mood board! For work purposes obvs, but found it really useful!! Im defo guna become a bit addicted. Just need to get myself a Mac book for home now. Cheers!! X” And that’s what I like to hear. People sacking off work to design room sets on a work computer. My work here is done ladies and gentlemen. (**disclaimer – Making Spaces does not condone idle mood board-ery at a place of work or during work hours. Proceed with caution**) Ok, onto today’s topic. Our living room. I’m not going …

What’s going on with paint? Water based? Solvent based?

Published by Karen Knox

I’ve been planning to write this post for months, but wanted to collate as much info and evidence as possible before shooting my mouth. I haven’t seen anyone else tackle this issue yet and it’s about time someone did. **Serious face** Over the past few years, there’s been a huge shift in the paint industry. Read this: “Since the latest Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) Regulations came into force in the UK back in 2010, many paint products containing high levels of VOCs – the solvents that determine a paint’s viscosity, flow and drying time – were no longer be able to be manufactured.” Dulux Ok, that’s very interesting, Karen, but what does this actually mean? I’ll tell you. It meant the paints we’re used to painting our wood/metal work with have had to change in order to comply with the new VOC regs. Oil or solvent based paints as we knew them could no longer be sold because of environmental reasons. You know how old school gloss paint stinks and takes ages to dry? It’s also …

A mini bathroom update

Published by Karen Knox

Remember me writing about “Where to spend your money at home?” It’s definitely worth a quick squizz if you missed that one. Here, I referred to the fun and frolics of updating something in one room to something more beautiful, practical and functional. Immediately followed by the overwhelming urge to do the same in the rest of your home. “Just be aware that once you update one, you will instantly notice how crap all the other ones are.” I predicted correctly. Our, loft bathroom certainly caused that very problem. Now, when walking into our main family bathroom on the floor below, I was getting annoyed by this.We had a rather large, unattractive and very high output radiator in there which we’d inherited with the house. It didn’t look this white and shiny. It was old, the white was now cream and rust was gathering around the edges. It wasn’t that bad, but in my head it looked like this: For dramatic effect only Why on earth we didn’t update it when we had our bathroom redone four years ago, …

New project. New wallpaper

Published by Karen Knox

I’m back! After a well deserved week off from all things blog, i’ve caught up with things like cleaning the house, finishing off oodles of painting at home, having conversations with my husband about things that weren’t loft related and washing my hair. Feels so good to have our home back. And a teency bit of normal life, whatever that means. So now felt about the right time to introduce a new project i’ve been working on since December. Yes, another one. If you guys remember the Drawing Room project, then you’ll know why i’m excited to introduce it… … as it’s the bedroom above this very room. So you already know these guys are going to be up for something pretty special in their “soon to be” new guest bedroom. Here’s is the room before these guys moved in. In fact, these are the estate agent piccies… “Just shove it under the bed, John. No, all of it under the bed. No, you can’t see it. No it’s fine. Honestly.” It’s a very masculine room …

To ply or not to ply – A floor quandary

Published by Karen Knox

We’ve uhmmed and ahhed about what to do with the loft bedroom flooring for ages now. As i’m going all out Scandinavian for the bedroom design, a blonde wood floor seemed the obvious choice. But then, to save some money and get this room finished in time for Christmas, we played around with the idea of simply painting the chipboard subfloor black (to which the builder just sighed and shook his head). After going around in circles for several weeks, mentally noting the pros and cons of both options, we finally decided on floor boards. Done. Having an actual floor laid meant I finally got to work with my fave joiners again, Bare Joinery. Which is always a pleasure, as they’re always up for a challenge and happy(ish) to experiment with materials, the design, the process, and most importantly, they don’t sigh and shake their heads at my less than conventional ideas. Not within view anyway. Our plan to lay floorboards sounds pretty standard, apart from the fact I didn’t want them to be actual floorboards, as …