All posts tagged: Loft Conversion

Aluminium windows loft extension

What we’ve learned from doing a loft conversion…

If you hadn’t heard about our loft conversion, you’ve obviously been away from the entire internet since last summer. It’s pretty much all i’ve talked about over here. In fact there are 18 blog posts all about the process. Just click the image below, for a peruse at your leisure. This is a bit of a round up post, looking back at all the stuff we’ve learnt since last year. Thought it might be helpful for those of you out there who have your own projects in mind at home. Here’s what we found out. Loft conversions/extensions take longer than you think. You may have read online that loft extensions/conversions take around six to eight weeks. A-hem. I don’t think so. Ours took nearly four months. Then we had several weeks afterwards where we were finishing off flooring, painting, built in storage. If we’d been told that at the time it was going to be around 15 weeks, we would have dealt with the timescales in a much more rational way, but it seems some building companies tell …

Ikea FALSTERBO Marla Singer

The Loft Landing – Final Reveal

There’s just one space left to reveal now from the loft extension. You guys will have seen the open plan landing/office below with the staircase leading onwards and upwards to our new second floor. Open Plan Office Space But what you may not have worked out just yet is how it all connects together. Designing individual rooms can be tough, but designing rooms and spaces that connect with one another, not just physically but aesthetically, that’s a real challenge. Especially transitional spaces like hallways and landings where walls and levels connect over several floors. How do you make these work? This is the view standing at the bottom of the staircase. Remember i’m in my office here too. The element of shared space which works so well here, the office enhancing the staircase and vice versa. Here is the floor plan of the second floor. I saw the landing as another room in itself. They’re often neglected spaces, quite narrow and can be dark. I didn’t want any of these things to be the case. …

The Open Plan Work Space – Final Reveal

Here it was pre Loft Extension.  In our box room, which was less than 2 x 3m. It was the perfect spot for me to set up Making Spaces HQ. It really wasn’t big enough to be a bedroom. In fact it wasn’t really big enough to warrant its own door, so we took that off over a year ago anyway. Top Tip. If you’ve got a door you never ever close, get rid. Give yourself another square meter of space instead. And a better view. And more natural light. Go on. Our 1960’s, 3 bed-semi had a very traditional layout, pre-build. Our plan was to incorporate the small, box room into the landing area, so it looked something like this: If you’ve been following the build, you may remember we were sacrificing our box room in order to accommodate the staircase of our dreams. You can read more about that over here. The plan was to keep our landing open plan, light, spacious and my office would simply sit exactly where it was before. I do …

Plywood floorboards, ply flooring

The Loft Bedroom – Final Reveal

We did it! We have our new loft bedroom, all done and ready to rock. Four months after we started our build, i’m finally able to share the final reveal photos with you. I’m going to warn you right now, this post is PIC HEAVY. Initially I took about 70 photos. I know. That’s ridiculous. I’ve managed to whittle it down to about 30. Still far too many, but ya know what, just scroll along if any aren’t floating your boat. Here’s where we were back in September 2016: And here was my plan for the bedroom: Ok. So here we go. Do come in… The view from the landing into the bedroom. Gets me every time. Chooch the cat, can not get enough of this room. Mainly because she’s got a load of new rugs and blankets to paw at and ruin. We had to be clever with space here as we were limited with how much width we had with the two chimney stacks bookending each side of the bed. The Factorylux Maria Banjo wall …

The Pre-reveal – The Loft Extension Wk 16

Week 16? Is it? I’ve lost count now to be honest. It feels like we’ve been living in another universe where time as we know it doesn’t exist. We were hoping to be done for Christmas. And we should have been really. Easily. But we weren’t. And it was fine (it wasn’t, but you know what I mean). So the project continues into 2017 and every time I think we might have just one more week left to wait, something crops up. I’m fed up of waiting for the final reveal post now, so i’m going to have to write this Preveal post, just to satisfy myself really. Oh and to keep you guys up to date too I guess. And if i’m being totally honest, to thank all the brands that are working with me for being so patient throughout this whole project. I’ll be giving them a little shout out so you know who they are… First off, some slightly better photos of the staircase. Instead of a landing balustrade, I really wanted boxed in …

#Stairporn in da house – The Loft Extension Wk 13/14

Anyone who knows me or has bumped into me for the past week will know that they have not been allowed to mention the ‘S’ word. Anyone who has dared, has been given this face: I think it’s fair to say, at this point, the builder and I have no secrets about not enjoying working together. I’m not really that bothered by this. I’m not here to make friends, i’m here to get this build done and finished at some point in my lifetime. As you all know, the one piece of the puzzle we’ve been waiting for it the ‘S’ word. Maria Prästgårdsgata 43 – Styling: Thomas Lingsell, Photography: Andy Liffner I wrote a post months ago full of inspiration for our soon to be staircase. We loved the idea of a simple white stringer with blonde timber tread. Specifically birch plywood. If you like a bit of #Stairporn like me, I’d highly recommend a read of the post here. There are some beautiful flights of fancy to ogle. Geddit? Back to our slightly less glamorous interior: What should have taken 2-3 …

Black Wednesday – Week 11

If you’re in or close to Leeds, you may have heard me on Wednesday last week. You might have mistaken the noise for a small pig being squeezed in a vice, but no, it was me. Screaming. I don’t remember the last time I felt so angry (it was probably the week before) but you know you’ve completely lost your shit when your husband comes home from work early. Without you having to even ask. Don’t jump! We’ve been waiting patiently for our staircase for 11 weeks now. Keep getting told, they’ll be started on it soon and it’ll be another week. Each and every time a new trade comes in to crack on with their job, I get; “When’s the staircase coming?” “Where’s the staircase? “Haven’t you got your staircase yet?” Erm, yes, don’t you like it. It’s there. We’ve had an aluminium staircase made to look just like a bloody ladder. **eye roll** The last we were told (Monday 14th November) is the staircase was being “made right now”. Factor in two weeks to make …

The Loft Extension – Wk 8/9

As you can see, i’ve been keeping really upbeat since my last loft post. Full of the joy of life I am. Honestly, i’m a pleasure to be around right now. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Karen Knox – Making Spaces (@makingspacesnet) We’ve just finished week nine and if i’m honest, I thought we’d be done by now. Not 100% done, but I thought the actual build would have been winding down. Alas, that is not the case. Things here are continuing to move slowly, but we’re certainly moving now. And there is a teeny tiny sliver of light shining at the end of a long, dark (and snowy) tunnel. That’s me sounding positive btw. The plastering has finally commenced (hooray!) and our plasterer has been busy working his way around the bedroom and all the way down our new gable wall. Still no staircase. STILL. It’s quite bizarre, but as soon as the plaster goes on the whole place goes from looking like a building site to an actual room. Of all …

The Loft Extension – Wk 6/7

Firstly, i’d just like to apologise for the radio silence over the last week. I think it’s fair to say, this loft conversion is starting to get to me. Like, properly. It’s not the mess, dirt, cold, the fact I can’t walk down the hall without banging my knee on a boxed toilet or the plastic floor covering that crackles when you trot over it. No, not these things. It’s the fact I can’t actually sit down for more than 10 minutes at a time and concentrate on ANYTHING as our front door is moving continuously with various trades coming in and out. I’ve never made so many cups of tea. I’ve also never got through so many bags of sugar. They’re all “two sugar” guys. Two! The other thing my busy mind is struggling with, is the continual trouble shooting. Overall, i’m a negative, pessimistic person. I focus entirely on worst case scenarios which makes me really good at project management. How does that help? I combat anything that might go wrong before it actually …

What i’ve learnt so far. The Loft Extension – Wk 4/5

We’re at that bit in the project where it feels like we’re moving in treacle. We’ve got a big hole in the ceiling. It’s cold. And we’re waiting. Waiting for windows to be fitted (one more week) and the staircase to arrive (two more weeks). In the meantime we’re at a bit of a standstill and it’s starting to wear us down. So i’m going to take a moment. A moment to reflect on what i’ve learnt so far. Lesson One Any work at home, large or small puts an extra layer of tension in a household. Every day when Charlie gets home from nursery, he asks “is our new house ready yet?” which at the beginning of the project was really cute and hilarious. Five weeks later, not so much. “No Charlie, no. Our house is not finished yet. There is a scaffold up outside. A skip in the driveway, a hole in the ceiling and the heating it set to “tropical”.  Then there’s the nightly de-brief of the day’s events between me and the …