All posts filed under: vintage

The Coach House – Phase 2 – Open Plan Kitchen Diner

Hello summer 2023! (it’s raining today). You may remember a couple of years ago, I shared the completed living room at The Coach House project in Harrogate. Here it is… Before, this room, along with the rest of the house was rather dull and uninspiring. Having been recently “flipped” by  a property developer, it was presentable enough to sell, but in order to make it feel like home for its new owner, it needed a little love and inspiration. Before – 2020 And now in July 2023 Before During phase two of the project, the glazing throughout the house was upgraded to black Crittall style frames. Much more in keeping with the period of this property and newly updated interiors. After If you’d like to see more photos and read about the process behind this particular room, head over to the designated final reveal post. But to continue reading about Phase two, scroll on down… In March 2021, Niche Design Architects began working on plans for a modest extension and remodel of the rest of …

The Garden and Boot Room

The Garden and Boot Room – Final Reveal

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 …

Devol Inspired Kitchen

The Victorian Cottage (deVOL inspired) Kitchen – Final Reveal

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 …

Victorian Cottage Kitchen Pre-reveal

The Victorian Cottage Kitchen – Pre-reveal

It’s been a long time coming but the Victorian Cottage Kitchen project has been ticking along nicely (and sometimes not so nicely) in the background. If you remember we were “faking it until we could make it” by reusing all of the existing cabinets and updating lighting, wall coverings, worktops and appliances. You can read all about the plans and where all of the new elements are from here in this post. A quick reminder of the kitchen as it was on my very first visit: All of the next set of photos have been kindly sent by my client (last night at 9pm in fact) she sent me a tiny pic at about 8pm and I was like SEND ME MORE, I NEED TO SEEEEE! I honestly get so excited when one of my rooms comes to life in someone’s actual house. Especially when the client keeps telling me how much they love it. Makes all those sleepless nights worth it. Just. During So here we are, very nearly at the end of the project. …

Renovation Budget

‘Fake it until you can make it’ – What do you do when your budget won’t stretch?

You may (or may not) remember I started working on a rather big and exciting project earlier this year. The Old Forge The plans for this cottage renovation and soon to be holiday let are all pretty much sorted and despite a slight glitch with planning (which was super annoying and dished out but a week before the build was due to start) it’s looking positive we can get started within the next few weeks **crosses fingers**. During the wait for all the faffy paperwork to be shuffled, signed and filed, we’ve been chugging away with the family home instead. They sure do love a project! The floorplan below gives you an idea of their home, how the nooks and crannies of the cottage fit together and how they’re used. The sections marked in red were the bits to be demolished ready for Phase 2 of the big build. You can see how small and quite fiddly the kitchen/dining space is, there are seven doors in and around the heart of the home, along with beams, …

Black Parrots Studio Painted Wallpaper

‘Painted’ Wallpaper from Black Parrots Studio

About 2.5 years ago I wrote a post about how I was looking for just the right wallpaper to hang in our living room. It’s not a big space, so didn’t want a pattern on all four walls, but something to sit behind the sofa. The gallery was ok for a bit, but I knew deep down that there was way too much art in this room. It was time to downsize. Our house is late mid-century, built in the late 60’s so the proportions reflect that. We don’t have high ceilings, or period features, our rooms are pretty average, size wise. This meant finding a wallpaper was actually really difficult as it couldn’t take anything too busy, but it also needed to do “something” design wise in order to live up to the other walls in the room that are covered in some of my favourite pieces of art. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Karen Knox – Making Spaces (@makingspacesnet) What i’ve been looking for: A black wallpaper – almost …

The Aquamarine Guest Bedroom Final Reveal

The Aquamarine Guest Bedroom – Final Reveal

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 …

The Aquamarine Room - The Pre-reveal

The Aquamarine Room – Pre-reveal

We’re not quite ready for the final reveal for this project yet, but this room is looking a hell of a lot prettier than it did last October. Before – Oct 2017 If you listed closely, you will hear it… can you hear the walls?? “Help me…. heeeeellpp mmeeee!!” Not one to leave a room in distress I was more than happy to turn this room into something not only camera worthy but also ridiculously functional for my very particular client. Nearly after I can’t always discuss my clients so candidly on the tinterweb… it’s not professional, but this client is an exception. Firstly, because she’s now a friend (for my sins) after working with her on and off since 2015. Sherwood Forest – Jan 2016 And secondly she has been, now how can I put this nicely… she’s been a real pain in the arse during this project. I’ve said this to her face, so i’m not going behind her back here. She also reads my blog. So she’s now read it as well as …

The Multi-function Room Goes Aquamarine

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 Multi-function Room

It’s new project time peeps. And i’m back at a property i’ve worked in a couple of times before. Remember these projects? Sherwood Forest And this one too… The Magnetic Playroom Both in the same house with the same lovely client and i’m back again, this time for  a bedroom/home office re-design. A nice chunky project indeed. It’s a good sized room at 3.5m x 4.5m, but it needs to work hard as i’ve been given a rather complicated brief. The room needs to fit double bed with storage (with space to run around easily) double wardrobe (more storage) chest of drawers (extra storage) large desk with space for two screens and closed storage for files etc. space for a TV (meaning this room will have 3 screens to try and make look good. Ack) It’s fair to say there’s not much staying in this space, so we’ve got a lot to source as well as a lot of remedial work to do before we get to any of the fun stuff. Oh I tell a …