All posts filed under: Interior Design

The Colour Blocking Project – A complete house refurb in West Leeds

Published by Karen Knox

Hello there! Firstly, I just wanted to say thank you for all the very kind comments, emails and messages I had after my last blog post. They were very much appreciated and meant a great deal. Thank you!! It’s less about me today and back to interiors (yay!). Time to introduce you to a new project, one that’s been simmering for over a year. My role for this project has been a combination of sense checker, sounding board, design consultancy and some good old fashioned interior design. I certainly can’t take credit for all of the incredible work that’s been undertaken by this family, but I have managed to add some design details that I think have really helped pull things together. Let me walk you around the kitchen as it was back in August 2018… Estate agent photo Quickly after moving in, the new homeowners had architects plans drawn up to completely remodel the downstairs, upstairs, plus extend at the back. Budget constraints meant they had to park the first floor remodel and put …

The Knox Bracket – A piece of Making Spaces at Dowsing & Reynolds

Published by Karen Knox

You can now buy me!! I’m for sale! I’m a bracket! Do you remember this project from 2017? The Industrial Shaker Kitchen – Before Well, part of this kitchen update, I designed some rather special shelving that sat on some rather special shelving brackets. After – Remember? Well these shelves caused quite a stir, so much so, I told Mr Dowsing Reynolds they should manufacture and sell them as part of their hardware range. I’m bossy like that. And guess what? The eponymous Knox Brackets are now for sale on the Dowsing & Reynolds website. You can now add me to your basket, have me delivered and fix me to your wall. It’s very exciting! Knox Shelf Brackets Here’s what it says on the D&R website about my design baby: “Rewind to 2016 when our very own James and Ally Dowsing-Reynolds moved into their new family home. They don’t like to do things by halves, and so it came as no surprise to us to find out that they’d bought a doer-upper… To say the least. …

The Garden and Boot Room – Final Reveal

Published by Karen Knox

Again, again, again… Another final reveal. Yay! It’s been a busy time for photos, styling and all that shenanigans over the past several weeks. Today we’re back to see the final reveal of the Garden and Boot Room which leads off the kitchen you saw last week: Victorian Cottage Kitchen – Final Reveal Before The brick wall you can see here is the original exterior wall of this Victorian cottage with a timber framed, single skin conservatory built onto the side. This space was originally going to get knocked down, rebuilt and extended as part of a big remodel which involved opening up this wall into the kitchen to provide a large open plan kitchen, diner, living space. But alas due to budget and planning constraints (and the fact we actually managed to give the homeowner the kitchen of her dreams without the need for oodles of structural work or an expensive extension) this room remained. It was a space that was sitting unused and a little neglected, so it was time to give it …

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 …

The Harrogate Kitchen Design – Pre- reveal Post

Published by Karen Knox

Hello hello everyone! I know, it’s a rare occurrence for me to post twice in one week, but am so excited to share the updates from my recent trip to the Harrogate kitchen design, I just couldn’t wait. If you’re not familiar with this one (it’s been a long term project) you can catch up on everything in this previous post. Dining Room – Before (Estate Agent Photo) There are a few tiny things left to sort, some shelving, a TV and coffee table (and a bit of faffing of course) but that’s about it. So you’re getting the very nearly final reveal post today. Nothing has been styled properly yet but I wanted to show you the completely amaaazing transformation of this open plan kitchen/dining family space. It’s not your average kitchen knock through. During Now It’s breathtaking. It really is. That full height, corner glazing the diagonal floorboards, the artwork, it’s finally all come together to create my client’s dream kitchen. Let me show you are few more before and afters, because they’re oh …

The Georgian Apartment – Progress Update

Published by Karen Knox

Hello hello! I’ve been away for a wee while after struggling to find the time to wash my own hair, never mind time to sit down and studiously write a blog post. I think three weeks has been the longest hiatus I’ve had since starting this blog back in 2015. And I suspect my posts from now on will become a little more sporadic than usual (especially over the school holidays – 7 weeks!!). Anyhooo, I’m back today with an update on one of my projects after a site visit on Friday morn. Remember the Georgian Apartment I was working on…? This be the one – read part 1 here if you like With the f’ugly blue kitchen My previous visit Well progress has been going swimmingly since my last visit, so much so that I wanted to show you some photos, because now one room in particular has been painted, it is looking rather special. And now The walls and woodwork are all in Paint and Paper Library’s Masque, the palest of greys. In …

New Project – The 70’s Flat

Published by Karen Knox

Another project, another two bedroom flat and another excitable homeowner who’s desperate to finish all the works by this time last week. Let me show you around this 70’s apartment. The Floorplan The flat is a great size for this young professional. There’s a lovely long hallway with two good sized double bedrooms off to the side, at the end there’s a small but functional bathroom with large storage cupboard, and to the right the hallway leads into a large open-plan living space with small kitchen just off the dining area. In terms of any structural changes, there’s no scope due to the agreements and clauses in the leasehold (which sucks as I had some ripper ideas) but there’s certainly plenty of opportunities to turn this tired flat into a very cool new home. I’m going to share the plans for each room so you can get a feel for the place. Let’s start with the open plan living space: Estate agent pics A lovely large, light and bright, dual aspect, L-shaped room. Ample space …

Homebuilding & Renovating – Do you need an interior designer?

Published by Karen Knox

So, do you? It’s a good question isn’t it? And one i’ve discussed a kabillion times on here before. But I wanted to show you a recent article from Homebuilding & Renovating magazine’s June edition where myself and the “work-wife”, Fiona Duke (from Fiona Duke Interiors) are asked this very question. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Homebuilding & Renovating (@myhomebuilding) Now, because like everything me and Ms Duke does, with regards to our job, career, dare I even say, calling, we always give 100%, and answering the questions in this article was no different. So much so I wanted to share this piece with you all as I thought, well what the heck, i’ve already spent bloody hours writing this up for a magazine, and it’s actually really good, some of you lovely lot might find it useful, so why not post it here? Page 1 – Fiona is asked; ‘WHAT DOES AN INTERIOR DESIGNER DO?’ Read on… (top tip: if you click on each image it will come up full …

The Vine Bleu Room – A Remote Design Project

Published by Karen Knox

Today is a special post for me. I’m sharing some before and afters of a remote design project I worked on at the end of 2018. The homeowners had moved into a new family home, but not your average property, their new pad formed part of a Grade 2 listed Arts & Crafts mansion, designed by the architect George Morley Eaton, a follower of Sir Edwin Lutyens. As you would expect, architecturally, it’s stunning. However, one room in particular left them feeling somewhat overwhelmed; The Drawing Room. Estate Agent Photo Here’s how the room looked when it was sold. As you can see, it’s a huge at over 5m by 7m. With rooms like this, you don’t need to work too hard to make it look amazing. But what you do need to do is know how to use Scale and Proportion. You can’t put an average sized sofa, rug or ceiling light into a room like this, you’ve got to supersize everything so it matches up to that fireplace, the beams, those door frames…. …

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 …