All posts tagged: outdoors

Time for the BIG garden overhaul – The landscaping has finally begun!

Published by Karen Knox

It’s time. Finally! After 6 years of being in our normal, average sized, 1960’s semi-detached, family home, we’ve done all of the big building jobs inside. Which can only mean one thing; it’s time to tackle the outside! And it couldn’t have come at a better time as our driveway was falling apart. Let me walk you through some of the garden projects we’ve done to tart up the space whilst eagerly awaiting the big overhaul. Back in 2015 You can see what a bad state the driveway was in then, another three years on and it was becoming, well, embarrassing. Summer 2015, The Chalkboard Wall The outdoor blackboard worked a treat to disguise that ugly concrete brick wall for a few years, but after the loft extension in December 2016… … our outdoor space took a hammering and was completely neglected during the epic 17 week build. I gave it a little budget revamp as part of the #UKHomeBlogHop in Summer 2017. It got us through Summer 2017, but 2018 was the year we …

A mini makeover (for Chooch the cat) with Sandtex Rapid Dry Paint

Published by Karen Knox

I have a theory, and I’m not 100% sure if i’m right, but I put it to you, dear readers, that interiors nuts, home-birds and people that rather like being by themselves (me) are cat lovers, whilst fans of the great outdoors, fresh air and company are dog owners. What do you think? Is this a load of crap? Or am I onto something here? It will be no surprise to see I’m a cat mummy. I really couldn’t hack the needs of a dog. I like dogs, don’t get me wrong, but i’d never want to walk own one. Despite my son, aged 3, saying we should take Chooch back to the “animal shop” and get a refund and buy a dog instead. Because she stood on his foot the week before. Fair enough. Our recent Garden Makeover from earlier this month Chooch was rescued from the RSPCA on my 30th birthday, eight years ago now and she makes me laugh (and curse) every day. She’s put up with a lot over the last few years. …

My Summer Style with Primrose - Garden Makeover #UKHomeBlogHop

My Summer Style with Primrose #UKHomeBlogHop

Published by Karen Knox

Welcome welcome one and all to my small part in this summer’s #UKHomeBlogHop organised by the super sexy Kimberly Duran of Swoon Worthy. There are 27 of the UK’s best interiors and home design bloggers taking part in this “hop” and we’re all sharing with you our summer style for 2017. Big thanks to Kate from Fabric of my Life for sending everyone my way. For those of you that are new to Making Spaces (and if you’re a nosey bugger), you can have a snoop around our house here. In the meantime, let me catch you up. We completed our loft conversion at the beginning of the year which gave us a great new second floor to our 3-bed semi. You can read all about the 17 week process over here. Oh my god, i’m so ashamed. Don’t judge me. What it didn’t leave us with, however, was a very nice outdoor space. The scaffold and building work had taken its toll on our patio, driveway and lawns. It was a complete disaster zone. So much …

Black Beauty

Published by Karen Knox

If you’re a person of a certain age, you’ll be humming the soundtrack to this right now. If you don’t know what i’m on about, well bully for you for being young. **blows raspberry** My Black Beauty isn’t a horse (I don’t really like horses. You can’t see both of their eyes at the same time. Creeps me out). Our Black Beauty is our new swanky and very sexy, black gloss chiminea from chimineashop.co.uk. We’ve never had anything like this before. Oh I tell a lie, we did reuse our old washing machine drum as a fire pit. But to be honest, it’s wasn’t the luxury outdoor heating experience I was hoping for. It stank, was really smokey, looked just like a washing machine drum and man, it got hot. So I was really excited to finally own my very first chiminea. Something fit for purpose. Before selecting one (turns out there are loads to choose from) I spent a fair amount of time reading up on the pros and cons of Cast Iron, Steel and …

The (not so great) Outdoors

Published by Karen Knox

There’s one bit of our house that we’ve just not really tackled yet. It’s our awful outdoor space. Not all of it horrendous by any means, some of it is pretty nice actually. See. The offending area is our driveway and rear patio. Ya know, the non green areas. If I have just one more tradesman knock on my front door and ask “do you want your driveway doing love?” I am going to lose my bloomin rag. Mark my words. (But actually, yeah, I really do want my driveway doing.) A photo of our gross driveway from last year So why haven’t you done it then? It’s not because we’re lazy arse sods, it’s because we were going to have an extension down the side of the house, so it didn’t make sense to spend time and money on a space we were planning to build on. So we’ve just put up with the concrete/tarmac/slab disaster and focused on all things indoors. I honestly need a medal for putting up with this ^ We did make some …

Pantone Spring Colours

Published by Karen Knox

Remember I introduced you to Pantone’s Colours of the Year in January ? Since then i’ve seen Rose Quartz and Serenity popping up everywhere. From artwork to marketing, interiors and fashion, even influencing a current Making Spaces project. Pantone have since released their “colour report” for Spring 2016. A palette chosen by top industry experts to compliment and contrast both the blush pink and iris-y blue. “Like a serene sunset, flushed cheek or budding flower, Rose Quartz reminds us to reflect on our surroundings during the busy but lighthearted spring and summer months.” “Weightless and airy, like the expanse of the blue sky above us, Serenity comforts with a calming effect, bringing a feeling of respite even in turbulent times. A transcendent blue, Serenity provides us with a naturally connected sense of space.” The “Transporting and Transformative”optimistic palette is no shrinking violet. This ten strong colour canvas is rocking some real stand out colours, ready to add a spring to your step this Spring 2016. As you probably know, I’m not the biggest “brights” fan for interiors. I love colour, but …

Quick & easy garden spruces

Published by Karen Knox

As mentioned a couple of months ago in Green Fingers, my love of gardening has come out of nowhere. My idea of a nice garden before moving here involved decking, shale and a pot with a plant in. That one plant would die. The end. I had no patience for things that actually needed watering, feeding and “protecting from strong, cold winds”. Then we moved here. And the garden, although not huge had so much potential. I didn’t really know what to do with it the first year we were here and we had so many other jobs that needed sorting internally, the outside was left to my MIL to be, who was assigned the task of “garden manager”. She took bits out, planted some new stuff and slowly I started to see the woods for the trees so to speak. Potted Hosta and Aubrieta growing in the left bed Roll on two years later and i’m bloody obsessed with gardening. I can’t get enough of being in there, making things look as beautiful as they can …