All posts tagged: before and after

The Victorian Kitchen and Dining Room - the one with the yellow ceiling

The Victorian Kitchen Dining Room – the one with the yellow ceiling

Published by Karen Knox

Jumping back onto the blog today to share a recently completed project. I’ve been working on this one since the beginning of the year, the final piece of the puzzle going in just last week. With a last minute visit earlier this week to see it all finished and capture some photos, it’s time for a new project reveal! Welcome to the Victorian kitchen and dining room… the one with the yellow ceiling. Before Here’s the kitchen side of the room as it looked when the homeowners had moved in. The cabinets were actually good quality solid timber and were in good nick, but this kitchen needed some TLC . Namely: a new cooker extractor worktop over the island (as it was rotting around the sink) The lighting needed addressing too, these 3.3m high ceilings were not happy with this naff Ikea paper shade nearly 2m above the bloomin’ worktop. The room’s overall colour scheme also needed a good talking to. The brief (which i’ve edited to make a nice paragraph): “We’d like a room …

The Georgian Apartment – Open Plan Living Space Final Reveal

Published by Karen Knox

Well it’s been a while since I posted about this one hasn’t it? A project I introduced back in June 2019; ya know, the one with those ceilings. It’s time for the final reveal of The Georgian Apartment. Whoop! Before – May 2019 All the major works for this room were completed in time for Autumn 2019 with a list of smaller, fiddly jobs left to sort before it was #instaready. Then 2020 arrived… say no more. Before Back in June 2019, it all kicked off with the wall coming down between the tiny kitchen and the main living/dining space. This really opened up the space, creating a greater sense of width whilst allowing light and views from the wrap around gardens to enter from two aspects. During As the works were already underway during my initial consultation, I had a week to come up with the design, specification and plan for first fix electrics and plumbing for the living space and kitchen. The new homeowner, let’s call him Mr B, was set to move in …

The Harrogate Master Bedroom – (very nearly) Final Reveal

Published by Karen Knox

Hello everyone, how’s your August going? Today I’m sharing a (very nearly) final reveal of the master bedroom at the Harrogate project. It’s the last room to be completed after a four year long renovation of a large, five bedroom Edwardian property. I’ve learned and gained so much from working with Vanessa and Andy and it feels quite emotional knowing this will be one of the last rooms I share from their house on these pages. Anyway, moving along… First Floor Floor Plan – Before The first floor is the one that had the biggest layout change, with only a few walls remaining where they once were. The first floor layout as it is now. As you can see, the first floor is where the Upper Brook Street Guest bedroom is, probably one of my most shared and liked projects to date, winning the best bedroom tour on Houzz in 2017 – that was really exciting! Today’s master suite is across the landing at the back of the house in what was this space: It …

The Old Forge York – Two Years in the Making – Final Reveal Part 2

Published by Karen Knox

Hello hello, how are you all? Thanks to everyone who read Part 1 of final reveal for The Old Forge. I’ve heard from Karen (the owner) that bookings at the newly renovated holiday cottage have been going swimmingly since its launch with Next Door @ The Old Forge now being fully booked until the end of September, so get your skates on if you’re looking to book a break in North Yorkshire over the October half term or fancy an autumn/winter break. So, where was I on the final reveal tour? I think I was about here… Corten steel cladding with a slither of hallway peeking through By their very nature of generally being long and narrow, hallways are spaces where people don’t tend to push the boat out design wise. However, a hallway is a place (much like a downstairs loo) is a place you can have plenty of fun. It’s somewhere you pass through fleetingly on the way from one place to another, not often somewhere you hang about for shits and giggles. But …

The 70’s apartment – Final Reveal of the Marble and Black Bathroom

Published by Karen Knox

Hello hello! From kitchens to bathrooms, today i’m back with another final reveal post from the 70’s flat. This time it’s the marble and black bathroom, and thankfully despite bathrooms always being the most difficult spaces to design, plan and implement, this room (unlike the kitchen) went swimmingly. As this bathroom is in a flat, things like relocating the foul pipe onto another external wall or altering the size and shape of windows were not allowed. Basically anything that affected the external appearance of the building as a whole was a big fat no. We also couldn’t move or take out any internal walls within the flat, which was pretty frustrating as the bathroom housed a huge, floor to ceiling cupboard which took up about a 1/6th of the floor space. Before – Massive storage cupboard which originally housed an old water tank We did however, relocate the washing machine (originally in the kitchen) and added a drying space into the massive cupboard, meaning the flat never needed an airer setting up in the spare room. The classic …

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 …

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 …

Thinking of converting your integral garage?

Published by Karen Knox

Happy New Year everyone! Did you have a lovely festive break? I hope so. Have you taken your decorations down yet? Are you looking around the place desperately wishing you had more room? I know I am. But as buying and selling is becoming more and more costly, not to mention slightly impossible given the current climate (**coughs – Brexit**) more of us than ever are extending, expanding and increasing the square footage of our existing homes. A lot of us already have the space we need, we just don’t use it too wisely. Cue the introduction of a recent remote project i’ve been working on: A familiar sight if ever I saw one. The integral garage. The garage with the car parked outside on the drive. Who actually parks their car in garages anymore? Nobody. Apart from my father in law who swears his car will rust and explode if it’s left outside in the mizzle. Anyway – i’m sure the next picture is what a lot of you are more used to seeing in …

Munich Project After Farrow & Ball Downpipe

When remote design works… And why…

Published by Karen Knox

I wrote a post last year about the pros and cons of E-Design; what remote interior design actually was, how it works, who it’s right for, because it’s certainly not for everyone. Today I wanted to show you some images from three remote projects i’ve worked on over the past year… and talk about why they turned out as well as they did. The London Flat The is the newly acquired apartment of a young, recently married couple. A couple who couldn’t quite decide on how to put their stamp on their new home. Having differing tastes and a limited budget to completely re-do a living space, dining area and kitchen, this blank canvas left them feeling a little stuck. So we started with a two hour remote consultation, which is how all of my projects, either remote or physical begin. A two hour remote consultation works like this: First hour – I go through photos, floorplans, and Pinterest boards you’ve collated, and of course your brief. You have to gather and supply all of this …