What we're loving right now

January 21, 2025

In the spirit of being authentic and embracing our individual styles - which is what we’re predicting more of for 2025 - we’re sharing some of our “favourites” which are wonderful examples of that…

Spaces we’re loving…

Studio Giancarlo Valle is an award-winning design practice dedicated to creating spaces that are playful, studied, and unexpected. Their portfolio of work is so inspiring, and radiates joy, style and sophistication. We particularly adore this Soho Townhouse - six floors dipped in a saturated palette of deep emeralds, mauves, pistachcios, and cotton candy blues.

What we’re loving listening to…

Arent&Pyke is a Sydney-based design practice and a long-time favourite of ours. They were the first guests on This Much I Know - a podcast by Est Living hosted by design writer Karen McCartney. If you love interior design or are planning on embarking on your own project, we highly recommend listening for valuable insight into how these talented designers create unique homes for their clients.

Style we’re loving…

Blair Eadie is the owner and operator of the personal style site Atlantic-Pacific. She is a fashion guru and an inspiration for anyone who wants to dress to express their personality and find joy in their outfits. She’s written a fantastic article on “how to find your style”, and it’s amazing how similar her process is to the one we tell our clients. There are many crossovers in the fashion and interior world, and we often tell people to look to their wardrobe for clues to their interior style.

Food we’re loving…

We’ve both had our kids home from University over the Christmas break and I know I’ve had to adjust to cooking for more than just two people again. We’ve been loving making these wellness bowls as they’re super delicious and nutritious, and everyone can build their own bowls to suit their taste. We’ll have different protein options, as some are vegetarians and some are not, and people can add more of what they love and less of (or leave off altogether) what they don’t love.

If you’re inspired to inject more style and personality into your home we would love to help you. If you’re overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, let us use our wealth of knowledge and experience, and our extensive network of suppliers and manufacturers to bring your visions to life.

“SHINE BRIGHT, BE YOURSELF” - Stephen Richards

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

Cafe Tennyson + Bistro | Before & After

August 16, 2019

September last year we received a short email requesting our help to refurbish a café. The email was from Julien and Sophie Debord, a French couple who had recently bought the well-known Napier café, Ujazi. When we met with them, their brief was to makeover the café, creating a warm and welcoming space and combine Napier’s Art Deco style with a hint of French tradition.

While we began work on the design concept, we put Julien and Sophie in touch with our clever friend, Kate Merrifield Mason, of Ripe Design. Kate designed the logo and the beautiful menus for Café Tennyson + Bistro. Much discussion was had about whether to keep the Ujazi name, which was so well known in Napier, or begin this new journey with a fresh name. In the end the latter was chosen. Located on Tennyson Street, we all loved the name Tennyson. It felt quite “Gatsby” which fitted the Art Deco vibe we were going for. Our first design concept was to give an overall look to see if our vision married up with Julien and Sophie’s.

We then put a second design together with more specific pieces and finishes for the café.

With the designs approved, the next step was to implement them. With the shortest time frame we’ve ever had to work to - Sophie and Julien had given their staff two weeks holiday while the café was closed for refurbishment - we knew we had to work with a professional company with a full team of trades available to them. Your Solutions were absolutely brilliant taking our designs and making them a reality in twelve days! Yes, twelve long days to transform the café. We will be forever grateful that they made that happen.

Previously the café was painted a myriad of bright colours - orange, lime green, purple… To create that Art Deco vibe and to draw people in, we chose a stunning wallpaper called Hollywood Palm in rose gold. We teamed that with glass sphere pendants and green velvet booth seats.

Although the street front tables were often full, we noticed that people didn’t tend to sit indoors. As well as the colours we decided to change the layout inside to give it a better flow. Julien and Sophie, having owned a bar in France, knew exactly where they wanted their new counters.

A wall was removed to allow space for the pâtisserie counter. As head chef Sophie knew she wanted to fill this with French pâtisserie, salads and savoury treats.

We designed both the pâtisserie and barista counter and then handed it over to the clever joiners at Your Solutions to create. We chose a gorgeous subway tile in deep green and white with a handmade effect to emulate those French bistros that had been around for many years.

The barista counter was designed in reverse with deep green tiles and a stripe of white. It’s located straight in front of the entrance, at the end of the original counter.

I always love a mezzanine floor, but the original upstairs area didn’t get a lot of customers. Our original design featured the Hollywood Palm wallpaper in gold and black for a moodier vibe, but to stay within budget we had to loose it. Instead we added panelling to the bottom of the wall to create an architectural feature.

Your Solutions made the panelling that we designed. We loved visiting their workshop to see it laid out on the floor, and then following the progress of it being installed and painted. It added that interest to the stairwell leading you up. We chose a glossy black for the panelling and a gorgeous pinky brown for the wall above.

The mezzanine floor is now my favourite space in the café. The gold velvet booth seats, black bistro chairs and walnut tabletops give the upstairs area a different identity whilst still feeling cohesive with downstairs.

Looking down into the main café is quite different now…

The original bathroom was quite something in the brightest Fanta orange. We gave this area its own makeover, repeating the panelling we used on the stairs and topping with another beautiful wallpaper, installed by our mate Claire Condon. A new vanity with gold tap and pretty mirror completed the look.

A lot has changed in this little café and not just the decor. As well as the treats available in the pâtisserie, you would be wise to take a seat and check out the menu. There are delicious breakfast and lunch options, and you can enjoy a glass of wine or a beer with lunch.

Sophie and Julien have more exciting ideas to introduce to Café Tennyson + Bistro, so make sure, if you’re in Napier, to pay them a visit.