All posts tagged: decorating

Sherwood Forest is coming together nicely…

Published by Karen Knox

I love seeing how a design project develops. A before and after is great, but how about the middle bit? The real life stuff? Like mess, design changes and sometimes even mistakes. As ever, lots to do still. Joinery, sofa, floorboards and skirting boards painted, but we’ve started getting things back in the room to make it feel more like a family home over Christmas. Then we’re right back on it in the new year. Before and after of the fireplace: It took some work to get the fireplace looking like this. You can see it being ripped out here. Warts and all. Everything went, apart from the original concrete fire insert. I wanted to give the impression of a fireplace without actually having one, so I created a fire surround with a special mix of paint (eg. I wanged a load of different paints together to try and produce a darker version of Valspar’s Sherwood Forest). I chose a gloss finish to  add a textural contrast. The concrete fire was painted in Valspar’s Storybook Sundown. …

Sherwood Forest Gets Dressed (a bit)

Published by Karen Knox

  I’m annoyed. Annoyed with the weather. The light, to be precise. The light over the past week has officially been rubbish. 1/10. Must try harder. And this, dear readers is why I haven’t posted a blog for a week. A WHOLE WEEK. Unheard of. I do apologise. Sorry peeps. But I’ve soldiered on, taking snaps here and there as the project has developed and here are some i’ve managed to cobble together over the past week. Let me show you what’s new… All of the room has been painted now in Valspar’s Sherwood Forest, except for the skirting boards. Above are the phrenology and skull knobs from Orchard Lane Interiors, now gracing the doors of the cupboard doors either side of the fire. (**rubbish lighting photo) In the right hand fireplace recess we have a collection of gawkworthy items, most of which were already at hand. Stylist’s dream! Anything new has links below. Specimen drawers Phrenology head Lots of bizarre and lovely glassware collected from around the world, including a bottle with a snake in. A cloche …

Sherwood Forest – Progress Report

Published by Karen Knox

So where were we? That’s right. We were here. Room all emptied and ready for the walls to get their green on. Ta-Da! The decorator is doing a sterling job. The ceiling has had its two coats of Valspar’s “Gentle Shadows” which is warm off white. It actually has a smidge of green in, so it contrast beautifully. It’s a huge space, about 5m by 12m long, so there is a lot of work to do here. Especially with the amount of woodwork that needs sanding, caulking, priming and painting. The dining room walls are now fully initiated into their new role in “Sherwood Forest.” The creams and magnolias of before actually made the space feel cold and a little soul-less. The colour’s added so much warmth and depth to the room. The wood and metal work have been primed ready for their dark green gloss finish. I decided on gloss to add a textural contrast to the room and traditionally, a gentleman’s club would have been soaked in gloss (and nicotine stains, but we’ll be …

An empty space. Full of green possibilities…

Published by Karen Knox

The Sherwood Forest project is coming along nicely and now we’ve got to the fun bit. You can catch up on its intro here. The room is empty! (ish) Curtain poles down. Skirting ripped out (where it needed to be) and doors being sent off for a good ole stripping. The old fireplace has already been removed and remodelled. You can read all about how that went here. Carpets ripped up and out. Floorboards booked to be repaired, replaced where needed, sanded and stained. Such a large space to redesign on a budget, so it’s all about the colour. Using a bold colour is the best and most cost effective way of getting a high end design look for a price that doesn’t bust the bank. Valspar’s Sherwood Forest and Storybook Sundown made the cut. And a sample of the gold velvet which is being used to make the enormous full length curtains for the bay window. My clients have already got some key pieces of furniture. Like this oak Art Deco cabinet which is …

Ode to Tretchikoff

Published by Karen Knox

Did I tell you i’m re-doing my bedroom? Well I am. None of it needed doing, I just fancied a change. A big one. Part of the complete re-design included some new art. Blue Lady, Attasit Pokpong I wrote a piece a month or so ago about some new artist discoveries i’d made. One in particular by Thai artist, Attasit Pokpong had the kind of inky teal tones I wanted my new room to be covered in. Well, after extensive research that particular piece wasn’t available as a print and the original was also enormous. And sold. **sigh**. So the search continued. I started looking for something like the classic 1952 painting, The Chinese Girl by Vladimir Tretchikoff. Also affectionately known as The Green Lady. You’ll all have seen this one doing the rounds in charity shops for the last 20 years or so. Well now it’s considered a bit of a cult classic and this one above was for sale at The Vintage Home Show a couple of weeks ago in Leeds. I was very tempted …

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 …

What made the cut?

Published by Karen Knox

Just a quickie tonight giving you a mini preview of what exactly made it up the two flights of stairs to The Blue Room. After my enormous three hour sesh at Ikea yesterday, here’s what’s staying. Along with a gorgeous Storage Basket ordered from Habitat today and the last bagged Sydney Stool from Swoon Editions last week. Enjoy The Blue Room’s “Room Edit”. All being well this Friday should be FAB FIZZ FLIPPIN FINISHED FRIDAY!!!  

The Process

Published by Karen Knox

Am going to start this ere blog post with a bit of serious info about my thoughts on work, my ethos and how I run things at Making Spaces. I will put my glasses on so I sound the part…. There. Interior Design is not just about providing a product or one off service. Re-designing a room and creating a new space which solves problems and enhances the feel of a room is a process which evolves along the way. Inevitably, some of your initial ideas and concepts shift slightly to make sure the brief is being hit bang in the face. As a room develops I often think of alternative, better and more creative solutions. At the end you want the room to make your client ridiculously happy, whilst keeping it all within budget. I also want to be able to show off my work too. After all, this design lark is a labour of sheer love. Well it is for me. It’s been a mixed week for The Blue Room. The vintage wardrobe didn’t …

The Blue Room

Published by Karen Knox

Sorry peeps, i’ve been awol this week. But for good reason I promise! I’ve been working on a complete redesign of a client’s loft bedroom. And it’s going to be amazing once it’s done. I’m well excited. Eeeee! Here are some before photos so you can get a feel for the space. And see some of the issues. Estate agent photos. It’s easy to see there is a serious lack of colour or much personality to the room. It’s a lovely big space, but over time storage became an issue and boxes of shoes and “stuff” accumulated.  Doesn’t that always happen? The bed was rather overpowering for the space and didn’t reflect the client’s style any more. The Ikea Malm furniture purchased in later years to house some of the extra “stuff” wasn’t really floating her boat either. So what did we decide to do? The tallboy was re-homed in the living room where there was nowhere to shove paperwork, mail, magazines or DVD’s. That’s all been put away now and has really cleared that …

The Marvel Bedroom

Published by Karen Knox

And another project is completed. I’ve never been asked to do a child’s bedroom before so this was a new one for me. Max was turning four at the end of May and mum wanted to give him a big boy’s bedroom full of his favourite things. Spiderman. Hulk. Iron Man. Blue. Yellow. Red.  Mum wanted it to be subtle, not too manic and have plenty of storage for all his toys which were living on his bedroom floor and breeding rapidly. Another birthday and another party’s worth of presents and she may not have found him in there. Dad had purchased a shed load of Marvel wall decals (cue, mum’s eye roll). My job was to bring everyone’s ideas together, solve some problems and create a room that would make everyone happy. Eeesh. Walls were all painted in Duracoat paint from Homebase. It went on really nicely and I can attest that it is scrubbable. Really good value at £18.99 for the 2.5l pot of Cobalt I selected for the blue feature wall. Still half a pot …