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The 70’s Flat – Open Plan Living Space – Final Reveal

Published by Karen Knox

Hello hello – how is everyone? Slowly adjusting to the new norm? No, me neither really. However, I tried my best today to do what I normally do and write up a post for the blog. Another final reveal from the 70’s apartment project to be precise, purely as an attempt to provide some kind of distraction for a few minutes. Today it’s the open plan living room. Let’s start with a before photo as taken by the estate agent: Before – February 2019 As you can see it’s a rather lovely, big room with ample space for a seating area, dining table and small home office. The small room behind the sofa is where the kitchen is, which if you’ve missed that, I recommend that you quickly catch up over here. A bit of background about this project; Mr J, the homeowner, contacted me as the decorators were already in prepping the rooms to be painted. No pressure then. I did advise Mr J that he’d jumped several guns already by choosing to decorate before …

The Snug – Final Reveal – in collaboration with Rebel Walls

Published by Karen Knox

Hello again you lovely lot, I’m back again with another final reveal post of a project I began work on last July. Do you remember the snug? You can read the introduction to this project here. For those that can’t be arsed clicking back, let me remind you… The TV/Playroom is split on two levels, two thirds being down two small steps where the sofa and TV was. The top third being a walkway from the kitchen to the back door and another door into the integral garage. Originally this space was used as a playroom but as the kiddos had since outgrown the need for dedicated play space, it was time to turn the room into the family friendly but grown-up snug. And when I say grown up, I mean it has direct access to alcoholic beverages. It wasn’t a complete redesign by any means as I had to work around the items that were staying; a white, leather corner sofa, old trunk/coffee table, white UPVC French doors and the rich coloured, oak floor. Sometimes this …

The 70’s Apartment – The Green Guest Room – Final Reveal

Published by Karen Knox

Well it’s been a while since I’ve written about this project. The two bedroom, 70’s apartment was introduced over ‘ere back in July ’19. You can read the intro to it here where there are all the before photos and the floor plan. Since July last year, there has been A LOT of work going on behind the scenes; A new kitchen, new bathroom, two bedrooms, a large open-plan living space and long hallway all redesigned, refurbed, decorated and furnished. Today we’re focusing on the final reveal of the Green Guest Room. Let me begin… When I first met the homeowner, let’s call him Mr J, he had very fixed ideas about what he wanted to do with each room. Initially I was only booked for a colour consultation and all I knew was that he wanted this room to be green. He’d already bought the paint (turned out to be the wrong green) and was set on having a feature wall in this room. As the decorators were actually already on site on my very first …

Our Bioethanol Fire – A clean burn and clean conscience

Published by Karen Knox

As an interior designer, there are several areas of home renovations that send shivers down my spine. And not the good shivers. They are, in no particular order: Curtains (I’ve spoken at length about how much I hate them) Bathrooms (hands down the hardest spaces to design and plan for) Fires and fireplaces When we moved into our home back in 2012, our living room was fitted with a log burner. It was by all accounts a really good one. But during our 6 years of owning it, I think it’s fair to say, we didn’t get on. It took oodles of time and effort to get it going and when it was going, it was fricking boiling. It was smokey. It gave me headaches. The last time we used it, it filled our living room with black smoke. It was then we found out we needed a new liner down the chimney. Cue about £1200 worth of work which we couldn’t afford, so this rather expensive stove became a pricey but rather useless ornament. Sometimes …

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 Mulberry Red Room (and other rooms) – Final Reveal

Published by Karen Knox

Not one, but three spaces to reveal to you today, the first one being the Mulberry Red Room. Let’s go! If you remember the last time I shared the Mulberry Red Room, back in Feb, it was very nearly done. We were awaiting the arrival of the bed and some smaller, finer details to be completed. The whole concept for the room was based around the large framed Modigliani poster which the homeowner had bought especially to hang in this room. The burgundy red backdrop for this rather provocative piece was the starting point for the room with the rest of the details following suit quickly after. Let me show you the completed room: Walls, woodwork and ceiling in Abigail Ahern’s Mulberry Red Lampex Opal 3 Drum Pendant – Wayfair One thing I should tell you about this client, is that he doesn’t like faff. I wasn’t allowed to do nic nacks, no superfluous items, no unnecessary decoration or styling. I was allowed to bring a plant or two. And that was that. He likes …

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 …

Ted Baker & British Ceramic Tile – New Designs Definitely Worth a Look

Published by Karen Knox

It’s not the first time British Ceramic Tile have featured on these pages. I worked with them back in winter 2016 on our loft conversion. I was lucky enough to use their Marble and Black Hex tiles in our loft bathroom. Chooch on the loo in our Loft Bathroom… The beautiful Marble Hex tiles were used again the Trumpet Family Bathroom (because the homeowners fell in love with them from seeing them in my own bathroom). Well, British Ceramic Tile, are releasing some rather exciting new designs by long time collaborator, Ted Baker. There are three designs that I think you lovely lot, need to see, because they’re ace. And normal people can afford them – hoorah! Indigo Blocks – £39 m2 These ceramic tiles give some of the mega expensive handmade, cement tiles a serious run for their money. The indigo blue with soft off-white provides a classic colour scheme to any wall or floor. Each pack of nine tiles contains an assortment of four different designs, so the end result is completely up to …

Vinyl Revival

Published by Karen Knox

We all know that vinyl is back in favour. But it’s not just hitting the ole gramophone again.. Nice toe tap there. It’s getting laid! Back on your floors. At home. Long gone are the days of extremely unattractive, badly fitted slip-hazard flooring. Today’s vinyl is: highly practical easy to clean none slip durable quick and easy to lay relatively cost effective warm underfoot 99% of the time compatible with underfloor heating Today’s vinyl is also extremely cool. From wood, marble, concrete, tile effect vinyl to a custom designed image of ANYTHING you could possibly imagine. The floor is your oyster. Come see. Feature Floors GRANADA BLACK SHEET VINYL FLOORING 2M WIDE: £16 PER M2 Feature Floors MARINE 2 SHEET VINYL FLOORING 3M WIDE: £16 PER M2 Best 4 Flooring MOROCCAN STYLE CUSHIONED VINYL FLOORING SHEET TANGIER 05 Best 4 Flooring BLOCK WEAVE CUSHION VINYL FLOORING SHEET FUSE 02 As you can see, vinyl in its new stylish guise can be used throughout the home, not just in your kitchen or bathroom. It’s perfect for …

H&M – You’re killing me right now!

Published by Karen Knox

If any of you are looking to furnish a room at the moment and are big fans of Scandinavian design, then you’d be hard pressed not to find something at H&M Home’s department that’ll make you do this: There were so many things that gave me all the feels, I had to do a little round up for you guys, as someone out there HAS to buy these. My house is officially full and i’m not allowed an extension. Booo to that! Stool in Metal & Leather I so want this! It’ll just look better with age and use. Stools are so handy to have around the house, we’ve got one in most rooms, you’d be surprised how often it gets dragged out… …footstool, reaching stuff high up, side table, actual stool, low table for Charlie to eat his cereal from whilst he watches Power Rangers sitting on the floor in his pyjamas… etc. Wool Blend Rug Just enough detail for your floor. Velvet Cushion Cover Lovely colour combos and just very cool. Linen Pendant …