All posts tagged: children

How to live with kids (and all their stuff)

Published by Karen Knox

Something I get asked a lot in consultations at family homes is how to deal with kid’s stuff. They see pics of my house online and are keen to know how I keep our house tidy with a four year old. Firstly, it’s not always tidy. Believe me. Charlie is a master den builder. Often taking over the living room with our clothes airer, all the blankets, cushions, pillows, access to any of the seating and view of the TV. The “Lego carpet” is also another one of his preferred activities. Where he takes his two boxes of Lego and pours the contents across the rug so it’s impossible to even enter the room without piercing your foot on a studded brick or small piece of Lego Star Wars based weaponry. We don’t have a designated playroom for a couple of reasons. The first being, we don’t have that extra room available. Unless we had an extension, that is. Secondly, kids don’t really use them, well I don’t think they do. And more often than …

The Magnetic Wall – Pt 3 – Final Reveal

Published by Karen Knox

Just over a month ago, I introduced you to a playroom re-design I was working on in collaboration with Thistle Magnetic Plaster, by British Gypsum’s “Rooms Made For You“. The plan was to transform the room overlooking the rear garden into an interactive family space. A room that connected the large, recently completed living space to the great outdoors. Part II, was all about the magnetic plaster going up on the wall, what it was like to work with, how it dried and what was next on the plan of action. Here’s a brief visual catch up… It was now time to start getting the mural i’d planned up on the walls. I’d sourced some designs for the decorator and with the help of a projector, the design went from a 2D image on a screen up onto our magnetic wall. In two days, the room was transformed from a cold white square room to a warm, light, creative space filled with colour and extra special detail. Three window blinds were fitted into the window recess by …

The Magnetic Wall – Pt 2

Published by Karen Knox

Remember the playroom re-design I introduced you to a little while ago? The one using Thistle Magnetic Plaster, by British Gypsum’s “Rooms Made For You”? Well, we’ve had a visit from the plasterer. Before – On a cold and moody Thursday in March, the room emptied and sheets down Behold. The Magnetic Plaster. The maker of magic. Both the plasterer and I sat down and watched a short video on how to use this specialist plaster. It’s pretty much the same as normal plaster, with a couple of slight variations. So definitely worth checking out before you get started. The wall was primed Plaster was mixed until “thick and creamy”. Perfect for scones. A very satisfying first coat going up. You know how I love a black wall. And first coat left to dry for a little while A steady finishing off with a plastic trowel (no water) and it was time for a trip to the sandwich shop. Nom. Preparing the second mix, ready for coat number two. My go-to plasterer, hadn’t worked with magnetic plaster before, and he’s …

Jumbo & Friends

Published by Karen Knox

Today i’d like to introduce to you a brand new design company based right here in the U to the K. Jumbo & Friends have landed, excitedly bringing their fresh perspective on children’s furniture with them. And I love it (and kind of want it all). It all began in 2013, when the creative founder, Esther fell pregnant and began the search for a cot for her son’s bedroom. Let’s just say she wasn’t really feeling what the current market had to offer. “that’s why I decided to create something different that would make children’s furniture more exciting, beautiful and engaging so that it becomes part of their world and ours, and makes it better!” Esther and her son A lady after my own heart. If it doesn’t exist, make it so! Launching the website just last week, these guys are already firing on all cylinders. After an energetic phone interview with Esther and this ten second video teaser of what was to come, I knew Jumbo & Friends had to make it onto the blog. Beautifully …

The 50/50 Room.

Published by Karen Knox

Want to see the quickest and easiest way to update and redecorate a space? It’s bloody perfect for a bank holiday weekend spruce. Come on, have a look! My son’s bedroom needed a bit of touching up. I stupidly painted this room all white when we moved in 3 years ago. Matt, non wipeable white. Nice move. I really couldn’t be bothered to paint the whole room again. To be honest, most of it was still clean and tidy as furniture had kept his grubby hands and toys away from most of the walls. But the entry wall on the right and sections around his bed were a little worse for wear. So here’s what I did. Tester of Crown Easyclean – City Blues, in a scrubbable matt finish. Masked up with Frog Tape the section I was going to paint. Use a spirit level, but also go by eye as some bits of wall that were bang straight looked off against the floor and ceiling. Just make sure the entire line looks straight in …

Goodbye Ugly Wall

Published by Karen Knox

So recently I wrote a post about our recent garden sprucing, which included new furniture, splashes of colour and a home made planter. But I failed to draw attention to this ere eyesore above. The mingin’ concrete wall boundary wall. Luckily our neighbours agree it’s bloody horrible so they were happy for me to attempt to make it look a little better from our side of the garden. The driveway and patio are also completely knackered, but we are planning an extension down the entire side of the house in the next few years, so no point in paying to get the wall, patio and driveway re-done. So that’s why it looks so rubbish. All in all. This bit of the garden sucks. I was stuck with how best to improve this area as I wasn’t allowed to eat up any driveway space. It’s already tight to get the car down the drive, so there was literally no floor space to use. So I played around with some ideas: Ivy – Nowhere to plant it and takes …

Up the Wall

Published by Karen Knox

Ikea has saved us again. We needed some storage for Charlie’s bedroom, but I didn’t want a “unit” as such with sides and doors. And I wanted to keep as much floor space as possible. That meant we needed to go up and what better way to keep the space open and clear than a ladder shelving unit. I spotted the Ikea HJÄLMAREN unit a few weeks ago. It’s priced at £69.99 under Bathroom Storage which I think is a little odd seeing as it can be used in any room. Would make a great bedside table, bookcase, kitchen storage, endless really. My other half was reluctant to go for these as he was concerned about tiddles climbing up them (he’s obsessed with our loft ladders, my decorating ladders… ladders in general) or them being pulled over. But, fear not! These have a bracket which fixes them to the wall at the top. And the shelves are positioned in such a way that you can’t climb. Well so far so good anyway. I picked up a …

Play Tray – Mini Project

Published by Karen Knox

My son is obsessed with Lego. Lego and making a mess. So I planned to make this slightly more bearable by trying to keep said Lego (and mess) enclosed in a play shaped space. Bring on the tray which is about 18 years old and a bit worse for wear and the vinyl Chalk Board roll which was left over from the Mini Kitchen project. It only took about 10 minutes to apply the vinyl to the clean dry tray surface. Use a Stanley knife to carefully cut the vinyl into the very edges of the tray. Considering the tray was going to get thrown out and the vinyl was just sitting in the loft, it looks pretty cool. I think this little mini project is going to help maintain both my sanity and Charlie’s Lego heads. Chalk dust all stays in the tray too. Brucey bonus.

Mini Kitchen for Minis

Published by Karen Knox

After we had our kitchen done, we discovered quite quickly just how much our son LOVED our kitchen too. Well, emptying the entire contents of the cupboards out onto the floors. It was a fun game. He would empty a cupboard in two seconds flat and I would spend the next five minutes huffing and carefully replacing everything. Rinse and repeat… until mum got fed up and decided to get creative. Our little kitchen loving, cupboard emptying cherub was getting a kitchen of his own. I’ve always believed role play activities are what children are best at don’t you think? Kitchen Ingredients: Ikea – Duktig Kitchen – Just the base section Ikea Ribba Shelf A roll of chalkboard vinyl (I always spell vinyl wrong – just had to write that out three times). Uni Chalk Marker pens – the ones they use to write on restaurant boards Wooden A4 Drawer Chest – Argos 3 little white screw in hooks Give your ingredients a good mix, pop it in the oven for about an hour at 180 …