Cameron | Before + Afters

August 19, 2022

We recently finished '‘phase 2” of a renovation for some favourite clients of ours. The family of seven live in a beautiful old villa that they’re gradually breathing new life into, honouring her original architecture but creating better space, flow and aesthetics. We began this journey several years ago in the kitchen/dining area, which you can see here. This latest renovation involved transforming a mostly unused family room, a dark hallway, and the addition of a small downstairs bathroom.

You can see from this section of the plan (above) by our friends at Architecture HDT - old plan on the left, new on the right - how we’ve closed the entrance to the family (rumpus) room and added French doors, borrowed some space from an adjoining office to create the bathroom, removed an old structure outside the family room, and replaced the small window along this wall with the original office window.

Living room renovation Napier — photo: Florence Charvin

The brief for the family room was to make a space where the whole family could come (or the kids and their friends) to hang out, watch movies, and to make it a more inviting room to be in.

Previously the room featured heavy wood panelling, and quite a large raised stage at the back of the room which cut the room in half, limiting the furniture placement. The TV was tucked into the corner of the room on an angled built-in cabinet with a large unused fireplace taking pride of place. The small leadlight window sits awkwardly on top of the panelling.

This large leadlight window in the adjoining office needed to come out to make room for the new bathroom, so it made perfect sense to use it in the family room to replace the smaller one and let it more light.

We knew we wanted to remove the heavy panelling, but the style of the home really suited wall panelling, so we drew up a plan for the builder to follow with new panelling that had a lighter touch. Brendan Grant (the builder) did a brilliant job with our panelling design, and the entire renovation of this lovely old girl.

Taking the stage right back to just two small steps gave us so much more floor space, so we had a large corner sofa custom made along with a large round ottoman that could tuck under the new oak coffee table. The ottoman can double as seating when needed, and the new orientation of the seating allowed the family to take in the beautiful view out to the pool and beyond. A large rug zones the seating area, a warm white softens and lightens the room, and new curtains in a gorgeous fabric are hung as high as possible for a sophisticated finish.

The wall which previously was the focal point of the room has had quite a transformation. The panelling, built-in units, fireplace and hearth were removed. One of the main things we were asked to do in this room was create a space for a baby grand piano that is a family heirloom but hadn’t previously been able to fit anywhere. We boxed out the right side of the wall, covering the fireplace and creating a built-in shelving unit, also creating a nook for the piano.

The open shelves gave our clients the opportunity to display some favourite pieces, adding personality and interest. The cupboards below store all those things you may not want on display.

Bookshelf styling Napier — photo: Florence Charvin

The office was cut in half so that a bathroom could be added downstairs. Previously family and friends had to go all the way upstairs to find the first bathroom. The downstairs addition has been life-changing, and great for when the kids want to jump through the shower after a swim.

We chose to clad the walls in HardieGroove™ to add that texture, but also, because it’s suitable for bathrooms, it meant we didn’t need to tile these walls. We added plenty of hooks for all the kids’ towels.

Bathroom renovation Napier — photo: Florence Charvin

Inside the shower we used a marble chevron tile that echoed the herringbone flooring in other areas of the house. The tapware is all brushed platinum which is a slightly more sophisticated finish compared to chrome.

The last part of this renovation involved transforming the hallway that leads from the kitchen and dining area down to the family room and new bathroom. It’s the centre of the home with stairs leading up to the second floor, but it had a dark feel, once again with a lot of heavy wood panelling.

We knew that by painting the panelling it would instantly lighten and brighten the space, but we understood that this was a big thing to ask our clients. So we created 3D imagery to show them what we wanted to do and this gave them the courage to take the plunge. You can see we kept some of the wood in its natural state, but painted all of the walls.

Hallway renovation Napier — photo: Florence Charvin

In the render we had lighter panelling with two shades darker on the walls above, but we ended up flipping that and are really pleased with the end results. New carpet was put throughout to add a cosiness and warmth, it also dulls the noise of kids running up and down the stairs.

Once again we’d like to thank our clients for allowing us to share their home with you all, and for the trust they put in us and our designs. We have loved watching their incredible home transform and seeing how much more functional, as well as beautiful, it has become for them.

POPPYPEACH Health Food Eatery

August 2, 2021

We recently added another gorgeous commercial project to our portfolio and wanted to share a little bit of the journey with you. It all started with these two lovely ladies…

Angie (on the left) was our very first residential interior design client. We worked with her and her husband Ryan way back in 2013/14 designing their beautiful family home, and went on to help with her future renovations and additions to the house. Kayla (on the right) was Angie’s much-loved nanny helping Angie with her four kids, including cooking for them, which is when the two discovered they shared a love of healthy, delicious food. You can read more about their story here.

When Angie no longer needed Kayla’s help at home she was devastated at the thought of no longer having her in their lives, so when the opportunity was presented to her to lease one of the brand new spaces in the Tamahere village she jumped at it. Angie decided to open a whole food eatery where Kayla could continue to create her healthy food and drinks, not just for the family, but for the whole village (and beyond).

This is where we come in. Angie got in touch back in November 2020 and asked if we would be willing to design the space, the catch being that she wanted to start the fit out late January 2021. That is a very tight turnaround at an especially busy time of year, and we had the added challenge of distance between us. On the positive side we knew Angie really well, we knew her style and she knew and trusted us, how could we say no?!

The building was an empty shell, an actual blank canvas. We knew we could design the interior and the spatial plan, but how were we going to pull off the install in that time frame when we were 3 1/2 hours drive away? The solution came in the form of Courtenay from Table Talks. She is local to Hamilton and experienced in hospitality design and fit outs. She kindly agreed to project manage our design along with Angie, and so it began.

Angie gave us a really clear and concise brief. She provided us with the images above explaining that she wanted clean, fresh and timeless, but also fun and quirky. She loved the brightness of the image on the right and wanted to include a place in the eatery that would be instagram-able and instantly recognisable when people saw it.

These images above are some of our inspiration that we pinned to a Pinterest board. We knew with all of the straight lines and hard, industrial materials in the building that we wanted to add softness with lots of curves. We knew Angie wasn’t afraid of colour and we loved the combination of pink and red in the first image. With smoothies, brekky bowls and salads (among other things) on the menu, those colours evoked vibrancy, freshness, juiciness and fun.

Angie had chosen the name POPPYPEACH for her eatery and needed branding, and it was important that it tie in with our design. So we put her in touch with our friend Suné Malot - Cirque Du Suné - whose graphic design skills are second to none! Let us show you what a genius she is… Suné listened to our ideas and used our images above to create the branding for POPPYPEACH. We’ve taken the liberty of missing a few steps out so as not to make this blog post even longer, but this will give you a really good idea of how her design came together…

This clever brand design could then be applied to many different aspects of the business, like the takeaway cups…

And the back wall of our seating nook - the Instagram-able moment…

In our original spatial plan we allocated more space in the seating area, but Angie explained that they really needed more room in the kitchen for all of the prepping. Because a lot of the customers would be grabbing healthy take-aways, or a quick healthy bite in between busy meetings, appointments and after-school activities, they could afford to have slightly less seating space - “goodness on the go”.

Part of our design process was to create 3D renders of the space so that Angie could clearly see how it would look and make changes before any building or installation. These would’ve also been helpful to Courtenay who was in charge of bringing our vision to a reality. You can see more of the renders here.

One of the challenges of the design was how to create an easy, clear and orderly flow into the eatery and up to the counter, so we designed the central dining banquette seat to have a high back that zoned the seating and ordering areas, and created a sort of passageway up to the counter.

The lower walls are kept white creating the light, bright environment Angie wanted and providing a nice contrast to the bright colours. The ceilings were painted a soft pink providing a faint glow and warmth, bringing those high ceilings down slightly for a more cosy, inviting feel. Here are a few photos of the finished space and you can see more in our portfolio…

We are so thrilled with how incredible the space looks and we encourage you all to visit when you’re in Hamilton. Check out the POPPYPEACH website and their delicious menu, and follow them on Instagram.

Thanks so much to Angie for allowing us to be part of your adventure, you’re amazing! Thanks also to Courtenay of Table Talks, and Suné of Cirque Du Suné for your outstanding work. Have a peachy day everyone xx

Zeffer Cidery | Before & After

June 16, 2019

Last year we got a call from Hannah, one of the owners of Zeffer Cider asking for our help to transform an old winery tasting room into their new cider taproom. Funnily enough, I’d just been reading about Zeffer in our local paper the day before, and was impressed with how well their young business was doing, sweeping up numerous awards, both locally and internationally. Of course we were only too happy to help.

Our brief was to provide a design concept for the overall feel of the space, helping with material selection, and also to design a moveable bar and fixed tap wall. The space is long and narrow and the idea was to be able to move the bar if they wanted to open the space up for events.

The original space had a lot of dark wood and the existing bar took up much of the space. The old floor boards were removed and the concrete floors polished. The ceiling was cleaned up, the walls painted and the introduction of lighter wood panelling brought texture and warmth.

Some of the windows on the back wall were removed to allow the tap wall to go in, and the dark wood door was updated with a lick of black paint. We love the finished result of the bar and tap wall, it makes a fantastic feature when looking through the arched door from the deck.

We designed the moveable bar alongside our resident interior architect, Briana Joll, who created these amazing 3D visuals for the client. We chose a chevron design for extra interest and a panel at the back that could be pulled out to prevent customers walking behind the bar.

The tap wall is exactly how we designed it with the exception of the taps themselves, which evolved from colourful handles to beautiful wooden handles.

The tiles from Tile Depot on the tap wall have the look and feel of exposed brick, but with all the benefits of porcelain tiles.

Our new bar design left more space along the window side of the building allowing the addition of small tables and stools to enjoy cider tasting at. The wood wall panelling echoes the panelling added to the entrance.

On a sunny day you can also choose to sit outside either at the tables or the large picnic blankets we provided Zeffer with.

The built-in office furniture at the back of the room was all removed and we designed a built-in bench seat to wrap around the corner.

We had the pottery lights over the bar custom made by Kim Morgan. We’d previously designed a wall light in a similar style that Kim had made for us, so knew they’d look fantastic in this space. We love their natural, organic aesthetic.

To make the most of the approach to the taproom, a previously stony area with a couple of trees was paved and turned into another seating area for customers.

Thanks to Hannah, Sam and the team for allowing us to share these photos with you. If you’re in Hawke’s Bay and haven’t yet visited Zeffer Cider, you should make a point of doing that really soon. Taste the beautiful range of award winning cider, fill your own flagon, or grab some bottles to take home with you. Winter hours are Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11am - 6pm; and in the summer they’re open 7 days, perfect for enjoying a drink and a picnic or platter in the sun.