Design by Knight

About Linda Knight

I am an artist and designer, formerly from Tampa and now living in Atlanta.  I create fabulous spaces.  My background in art along with my knowledge and experience in the construction industry is what sets me apart from most designers.  I have an eye that offers wonderful design, detail and livability. I can start at the beginning of a project and help do the plan or can tweak your existing architectural drawings to refine them with the detail you don’t even know you needed. After the space is built, I love the process of working collaboratively with you to integrate your furnishings with newly found items to come up with an amazing environment that is all yours.

Please contact me if you would like me to consult with you on your project.

Pet Portraits

I have begun to paint again after a long hiatus. I had forgotten how much I enjoy painting. Just recently I finished two pet portraits that really capture the spirit and personality of the animals.

One is an 8″ x 8″ acrylic on canvas of a little Yorkie named Maggie. I usually prefer larger dogs, but, Maggie’s personality has won me over. I painted this pet portrait as a Christmas gift for her owners and had such a fun time bringing out Maggie’s personality and spirit on the canvas.

The other pet portrait I completed is a head shot of Craig Longfellow. He is one of three Basset Hounds my sister and her husband own. Craig is the lover boy of the three. My favorite story of Craig is the time I had a bunch of girlfriends over to the house and we were all in the kitchen yakking it up and fixing cocktails. The three hound dogs were outside and it was nearing their dinner time so I filled their cups with dry dog food and opened the door to feed them their dinner. When I cracked the door open Craig came barreling in and came to a halt right in the middle between the woman in the kitchen and his dinner at the door. He glanced at the woman in the kitchen and back to his food at the door two or three times before he trotted over to the woman in the kitchen. Craig was born to love.

Building from the Ground Up

Although I like remodeling and design of all types, my real love and passion is new construction and building from the ground up. As a child I can remember playing with my friends in their yard after their Dad had mowed the grass and raked it into big piles of clippings. I would take the grass clippings and outline the floor plan of a small house on the freshly mowed lawn. I would then show my friends how to do the same and before you knew it we had a neighborhood of houses on the lawn and played for hours visiting each others houses walking room to room explaining what we envisioned the rooms to look like.
It is always a thrill when I am hired to help a client navigate their new construction projects. When you hear it takes a village to raise a child, it is like that when building… it takes a team to raise a house. The more eyes you have the better the project.
This is a house in South Tampa that I was lucky enough to be part of the team. I think the best way to plan a new home is to start with the big picture of what it will look like and then start breaking down all of the design elements and put them in the puzzle piece of building as needed in the building process. You may have a change along the way but it is less likely to cause delays in construction when you know how the changes effect the “big” picture.

Being and artist, along with my experience as an event planner and my years working for a custom home builder has given me the expertise and experience needed in pulling together a zillion details with style, color and creativity into the finished product my client will call “home”.

In this new home construction project in South Tampa, I worked with my colleague, Gail Levine, of Gail Levine Interiors. She is amazing with color, fabrics, furnishings, art, interiors and has a great sense of the end product vision.

I am posting a few photos below. To see additional photographs of this amazing house go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lknightm/sets/72157625123612144/

Creating a Home Office with Function and Style

Creating a home office with function and style takes a lot of planning. My colleague, Gail Levine, asked me to work with her and her client, SR,  to redesign her small office space just off the Master Bedroom.

The office before we started had an L -shaped desk set up with banks of file drawers straight out of Office Depot, very functional, but not attractive.   Gail asked me to be involved with the project because I have a natural sense of design especially as it pertains to spaces,  I have a lot of experience working with custom cabinetry and how everything should fit together and I draw very detailed plans and elevations which is helpful for the client to see what the end result will look like.  The client, SR, was very, very particular, in a good way, that she knew exactly what she wanted and how she liked to work in her office. She also did a lot of crafting and making her own greeting cards so we needed extra storage space to fit her hobby.

I always start with an in depth interview with a client to find out what their desires for the end result are and then work in how the design will function which is just as important in the planning process especially with a home office or a kitchen, as what it will look like.

Gail added the finishing touches with paint, wallpaper, fabric and window treatments.
Needless to say SR is thrilled with the outcome and says it is just a wonderful environment to work in. With a lot of planning you can create a home office that is both functional and has style.