All posts tagged: furniture

Coffee Table Hunt

Published by Karen Knox

I posted this on Instagram a couple of weeks ago and it seems i’m not the only one that has NEVER had a coffee table. Admittedly it might not be the most riveting of news for some of you, but for others, it struck a chord. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Karen Knox – Making Spaces (@makingspacesnet) As you may have already guessed, buying a coffee table isn’t as simple as just going to buy a coffee table. It never is is it? It’s got to be right. In many ways. The right material, shape, size, design and proportion (read more about Scale and Proportion here)… it also needs to relate to the space it’s going in. Let me explain. Here’s the floorplan of our living room. There’s me standing in the middle thinking, man, i’d really like a coffee table here. As you can see the area surrounding the rug is already taken with seating and other small bits of furniture which means the remaining space (on the rug) is …

Growing up with Meble Vox & Wayfair

Published by Karen Knox

Remember Charlie’s room? This time last year, I had this beast built. The wall of storage. Best. Thing. Ever. (read all about that here) Then we upgraded his cot bed to these single stacking beds, perfect for sleepovers (read about those here) Then it was time to find a new wardrobe and chest of drawers… and it’s taken me a year. ONE YEAR to find something that floated my boat. This was the wishlist: White and/or blonde wood Something that didn’t look like kids’ furniture, but would equally be at home in a kids’ room Decent quality, something that would last him until the day he moves out (so, about another 23 years). A wardrobe with full hanging rail. For some reason, a lot of kids’ wardrobes have a half rail and shelves down the side. What’s that about?? Around £600ish for the two I’d done the whole Ikea shlep… endless internet dredging… and what I found was kid’s furniture that was affordable but looked a bit ’90’s naff’, childish or had a half length …

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

Published by Karen Knox

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 …

Bare Joinery

Published by Karen Knox

As you guys may already know, i’m the daughter of a woodwork (Design & Technology) teacher. My dad has been a big inspiration to me over the years and helped me on so many projects at home it’s unreal. He’s the kind of guy that can turn his hand to anything. Building, joinery, tiling, plumbing, landscaping… I even watched him build a two-storey scaffold on his own, in the pissing rain so he could fit new barge boards at my first house. He borrowed the scaffold from one of his mates (he’s always knows someone who knows someone) and drove it 100 miles up to Leeds on his roof rack. If my dad lived up here, it’s fair to say, i’d have enough work for him to give him a full time job working with me. My dad with a screwdriver, “in back pocket of Farah“ He’s made all of his own furniture at home, some of which as part of his Creative Design university course at Loughborough, back in the 70’s. They still have an …

#IKEAatmine

Published by Karen Knox

If you’re not familiar with at{mine} then you really need to get on board. It’s a place for interiors junkies to share images of their home, work spaces, beautiful rooms, vignettes, super cool styling and photography. It’s a real treasure trove of interiors goodness. You could easily lose an hour on there just ogling the most beautiful images. Each month, at{mine} introduce a different “Style Story” curated by a guest brand, designer, writer, photographer, interiors icon… and this month it’s Ikea. I’m sure you’re already aware how big a fan I am of Ikea. If you just search the word Ikea on my blog, there’s over 55 mentions. Not bad going Ikea, for a blog that’s about 18 months old. So what’s #IKEAatmine all about then? Show us how you live with IKEA: It’s the Living Room for October! IKEA UK in collaboration with at{mine} is introducing the brand new community hashtag #IKEAatmine. Every month we’ll invite you to share a different room/theme containing at least one item from IKEA using #IKEAatmine and we’ll feature …

My Ikea picks for A/W 2016

Published by Karen Knox

I’ve been busy perusing my Ikea catalogue since it popped through our letterbox last week. I can’t lie. I’ve earmarked about fives pieces that I simply must have, touch, use in a project. Ikea have released some killer pieces that are totally on trend, in fact a little ahead of the game. Let me show you what made my tummy smile. There were two that caught my eye from the VIKTIGT range: VIKTIGT Chair “The seat is woven of paper cords, which is both sturdy and comfortable to sit on. Each piece of furniture is unique as it is handmade.” Ethnic interiors have shot off like a rocket this year. Since Ikea released the SINNERLIG collection by Ilse Crawford last year, softer and natural materials like, bamboo, rattan and wicker have been everywhere. With this mix of materials and clean Scandinavian lines, Ikea make it a doddle to add these pieces to your existing decor. This is such a stand out piece and for £40 they won’t be in stock for long. I tell thee. VIKTIGT Hanging Planter The #UrbanJungleBlogger’s favourite. Ran out …

The Drawing Room

Published by Karen Knox

I have news. News of the exciting variety. It’s about this room: I introduced this Edwardian property earlier this month. You can have a wee catch up here. Since then we have made massive progress with the renovation and re-design of this room. Huge in fact. The first bit of news is the wallpaper has been agreed. The feedback from the last blog post was fantastic. Everyone loved the wallpaper (how couldn’t they?) but there were some of you with reservations about it being on every wall. And I get that, it’s certainly a bold move. After a few days letting it sink in and letting them mull over it, they’ve decided. They’re going all out and have agreed to Ferm Living’s Lines wallpaper around the whole room. I am so excited, it’s going to look amazeballs. Pics courtesy of the homeowners Secondly, the homeowners have been super busy since moving in having already knocked a wall down upstairs (loving their attitude) and ripped the carpets up downstairs to reveal these glorious floorboards in their front …

The Office Refit – Final Reveal

Published by Karen Knox

Remember the office refit I was working on? Here’s a lil recap: “I’m working with Visibilis, an Integrated Digital Marketing Agency. It’s my first dip into working in a commercial premises, but it’s good and am enjoying the experience of scaling up! The team of staff has reached capacity at their current office space prompting the move to a new, larger purpose-built office space in a swanky part of Leeds City Centre.” Before And here it was in March. A huge empty space, ready and waiting for its lovely, new residents. A month later, the layout had been solved, colour scheme decided upon, furniture had been ordered… You can read more about the project brief, colour scheme, layout and shopping list here if you’d like to check out the finer details. But to catch you up quickly i’ll post a few pics to give you the low down. Lots of paint + A load of brushes…. …. + Frogtape… + A design from inside my busy mind = Turned out pretty good. If I do say so myself. **performs frilly bow** At …

The Pre – Final Reveal (Preveal)

Published by Karen Knox

I’m not talking much today. It’s just pictures. Pictures of the “Preveal”. The preveal and the shopping list for the living room at the Masonic Villas project. I think it’s good to have everything in one place just incase you actually haven’t been following each and every blog post (how dare you). Anything that doesn’t get a mention means it was already here; artwork, furniture, lighting, this place already had many beautiful vintage and salvaged pieces to work with (lucky me). But let’s take a look at what we added to the mix to pull it all together. Ceiling light – Molecular Light by HouseDoctor Walls – Farrow and Ball Off Black Ceiling & Woodwork – Farrow and Ball Shadow White Black mid century planter – La Redoute Louka Wool rug – La Redoute Bunny Girl Print – Desenio Black Rattan Mirror – La Redoute Crosses Framed Print – made.com Swoosh wall light – French Connection Connor Sofa in Petrol – made.com Dolly tub style planter – Netto (you can read more about my Netto finds …

Steel Magnolias

Published by Karen Knox

During my hunt for pieces for the Masonic Villas project, i’ve come across some great new places to shop, new sellers and some corking unique pieces. I’ve really done my homework for this project. There was one specific piece of furniture however, that almost stumped me. Almost! Before This space wasn’t quite working for me. The standing wine rack was a little intrusive here, the mirror was hung too high and the hallway was calling out for a console table to sit over that radiator. So I began the search. Our hallway console needed to be: tall enough to sit over the radiator which is 78cm high wider than 100cm, preferably over 120cm. no cross bars or anything that would interfere with the radiator no deeper than 35cm have a paired back slightly industrial feel It turns out, console tables are all about 75-78cm high. So not quite tall enough to sit over the radiator. Most are more than 35cm deep and almost all of them have shelves or cross bars. We were getting to …