All posts tagged: design

The Colour Blocking Project

The Colour Blocking Project – A complete house refurb in West Leeds

Hello there! Firstly, I just wanted to say thank you for all the very kind comments, emails and messages I had after my last blog post. They were very much appreciated and meant a great deal. Thank you!! It’s less about me today and back to interiors (yay!). Time to introduce you to a new project, one that’s been simmering for over a year. My role for this project has been a combination of sense checker, sounding board, design consultancy and some good old fashioned interior design. I certainly can’t take credit for all of the incredible work that’s been undertaken by this family, but I have managed to add some design details that I think have really helped pull things together. Let me walk you around the kitchen as it was back in August 2018… Estate agent photo Quickly after moving in, the new homeowners had architects plans drawn up to completely remodel the downstairs, upstairs, plus extend at the back. Budget constraints meant they had to park the first floor remodel and put …

Cork in Interiors

Cork is for life, not just for coasters

Hello hello, how are you all this week? I have a couple of public announcements to make before I get stuck into this week’s blog post, so please bear with me… 1. Sorry for missing last week’s post everyone. I had the lurgi and tonsillitis so I spent most of last week moaning and watching Netflix. I’m just about back on it now, so i’ve got a lot of catching up to do! 2. THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH! To those that voted for me in this year’s Amara Interior Blog Awards, you did it. You got me shortlisted for Best Interior Designer Blog, so i’m off to the awards ceremony later this month. Eeeek! I can’t tell you how happy I was. Thank you so much once again! You guys are total legends 🙂 So onto today’s post. It’s about cork. Admittedly it might not sound that exciting, but you’d be wrong. I love cork and not just because it normally comes with wine or fizz. The use of cork in interiors is …

Ikea Gagnet - Scale in Interiors

A successful trip to Ikea… and a tiny intro to ‘Scale’ in interiors

One of the things I try and do at home is to buy furniture that’s in keeping with the period of the property. Our 3 bed, semi is 1960’s, so late mid-century. I’m in no way trying to recreate a 1960’s home, that’s not me, I prefer to mix up design styles and eras as they tend to create the most interesting spaces…. BUT I do think post war houses (generally with lower ceilings and no period features of note) look best with mid-century or Scandinavian style furniture. It’s clean, un-fussy, uses lots of natural materials and the size and scale of that furniture works with the 2.4m ceilings and smaller room sizes of that era… and those that followed. This kind of touches on a whole post i’m still in the process of writing all about ‘Scale’ in interiors. Because some people get it a bit wrong and then wonder why their room feels “off”. It’s very subtle, but a room with the wrong size and scale furniture in just doesn’t work as it …

Markslojd Lighting

When is a light not just a light?

I’ve not done a lighting round up for ages, which is kind of odd as i’ve been researching lighting for several big projects recently. During my recent searches i’ve found some proper gems too, and you know me, when I see designs that excite me as much as these do, I just have to share. Behold! My six favourite designs from Swedish design brand, Markslojd, all available at Wayfair. And the best thing about these six lights, is that they’re doing more than light up. These designs are hard working offering genius solutions for small but perfectly formed spaces. When one of Markslöjd’s designers comes up with a new idea, it takes one year before they have a finished product. The reason for this is because of their high demands for safety and quality. Products should not just look good, they should also have a good length of life. With a combination of investment in design and quality, many of Markslöjd’s products have become classics. Number 1.   Tray 3-Light LED Kitchen Island Pendant Upon first glance …

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 …

Colour Consult – Inspiration for your walls with Paint & Paper Library

I did a colour consult yesterday for someone that’s recently bought their own home. They’d always rented previously, so painting walls wasn’t an option and therefore not a concern. Now he’s got a four bedroom, three storey house to decorate and furnish, it’s not surprising he’s overwhelmed. We’ve already worked on his living room and it’s been completely transformed by choosing the right paint colour. I’m not exaggerating either. Will share some photos with you guys when the rest of the work is done. The Brits’ fear of colour Most people’s homes are off white, cream, ivory, dare I say, magnolia… there might be a feature wall somewhere or a splash of jazzy wallpaper in the downstairs loo, but generally us Brits are pretty scared of living with colour. I don’t just mean dark colours, but richer colours and pigments. Dulux nailed the Brit’s fear of colour with their infamous, still going strong, Natural Hints collection. Apple White, Apricot White, Jade White… see where i’m going with this…? We like colour, but only a little bit, …

Monochrome Bedroom with pops of yellow

How to Connect your Rooms – Choosing a Colour Palette

Hello everyone, I’m back this week with a little look at how to connect your rooms at home. What does that mean exactly? One of the keys to a successful home interior is having a sense of cohesion and “flow”. The rooms and spaces between should connect with the surrounding ones. For example, let’s say you’ve got three bedrooms on a floor, like most people and you want them all to have their own identity but also not look like a patchwork quilt from the landing, it’s good to consider how these spaces connect as a whole. Often, people run the flooring throughout to make the overall space feel larger. We all know that the less breaks in a colour or pattern, the better, as the eye continues further along the space. Flooring continues on from our loft bedroom to landing with no threshold to break the line’s eye. Another way to do is is choose a colour palette, and stick to that for a floor, even better, a whole house if you’re being really clever. …

Interior Design Collective - Design Surgery Workshop

IDC Design Surgery #designupnorth

It’s just a quickie today peeps! I’ve been writing up another (third on the bounce) final reveal post, for the Copper Bedroom (like busses they are), but i’ve had to interrupt that public service broadcast with some very exciting news: The very first IDC Design Surgery has now been confirmed!! We’re sooo excited. And true to my word, I have fought hard to host the very first of these IDC workshops up north, here in my beloved Yorkshire. These consultation style workshops are the first of their kind, as the content is planned around you and your own home projects. You tell us what you want to learn and we deliver. And when I say we, I mean me and my partner in crime and other half of the IDC dream team, Fiona Duke. There are only 10 places per workshop, we capped it at 10 as we want to be able to talk to each and every one of you and work through your home design dilemmas, so you leave feeling armed to deal …

Vintage styling

From left to right

You know every so often, I get an idea in my head, analyse and mull it over for weeks and then post it here as a long rambling blog? Well today is one of those days…. For a while i’ve been musing the concept of Left to Right and its use in Interior Design. What’s that then? Firstly, it’s the way that we write, as in we start at the left side of the page and scrawl across horizontally to the right. A lot of languages are written this way admittedly, but in this country we also drive on the left hand side. So it’s pretty hard wired into our lives to look left and keep left. Here’s my hypothesis: Because of our propensity towards the left, our eyes naturally scan from left to right (in this country anyway). Apparently, when us Brits go into a store, we subconsciously wander over to the left too… Weird! So what’s this got to do with anything? Well, i’ve noticed that when I layout a space or style …

Lego Storage

Charlie’s bedroom – Part 2 – The Plywood Wall

Charlie’s room has ended up being a much larger project that originally planned (sorry Pete). The whole design process has been bubbling away in the background for a few months now and am so excited to finally share Part 2. (Part 1 here). This kid’s bedroom is all about the plywood!! There are still plenty of pieces left to go in (carpets and single bed) but it’s the joinery that’s really transformed this room. So let’s get on with the pics shall we? Before After Before | During After I absolutely love it. It’s so mental to see an idea in your head executed so accurately. The guys from Leeds and London based Bare Joinery are mega. Give them a follow, because i’ve been bullying them to set up a proper Instagram account for months and i’m going to look like a right numpty if it’s tumbleweed. The design is a perfect marriage of function and form. I’ve finally reclaimed the living room (and several other parts of the house) and have managed to get all …