Thompson | Before + Afters

August 19, 2025

Our clients came to us in February 2024 as they were about to undertake an extensive renovation of their home. They had bought the house for the location and the spectacular view with the goal to eventually renovate and create their ideal home. They lived in the house for several years and learnt what they loved and didn’t love, what worked and what didn’t.

After exploring several possible directions, they decided to stay within the original footprint of the home but, essentially, completely rebuild it. Architect Brent Scott of Citrus Design Studio had worked with our clients to develop the design, and they’d hired Redington Construction for the build, and Moth Light for all of the lighting. Already they were in great hands, but were still feeling overwhelmed with the myriad of decisions they had ahead of them, which is completely understandable. This is where we came in, and our brief included choosing materials for the kitchen, bathrooms, laundry, window treatments, flooring, elevator, as well as all of the furniture and the spatial plan.

*Before - The original home had an elevator from the garage to the first floor which was retained but seriously updated.*

One of the first things we do is work with our clients to understand their vision, their style and how they live or want to live in the space. Luckily these home owners had done their homework and were able to provide us with a selection of images that gave us a really clear direction. They loved natural textures and a very soft, neutral palette, and had fallen in love with a Hinuera stone which was to be used in the entrance, leading you upstairs, cladding the fireplace, and down the hall to the back terrace. This gave us an excellent jumping off point for the colour palette.

*Progress - Hinuera stone is a major feature in the home and played an integral part in our choice of colour palette.*

We designed the balustrade (which was originally supposed to be glass) in fine white powder coated steel. We love the texture it brings and how it reflects the fins on the outside of the house, and how the clean, straight lines juxtapose the natural finish of the stone wall. We also love that our clients trusted our choice and allowed us to push them out of their comfort zone. It’s now one of their favourite features.

*Before - the long, narrow living room was separated from the rest of the house by multiple doors and walls.*

Citrus Studios designed the main living areas to be more open and interconnected. The wall between the stairs and living room was replaced with the balustrade, and the wall separating the living room from the open plan kitchen, dining and family room was opened up and in its place a double sided fireplace was installed. This creates more of a light, spacious feel while still cleverly providing separate zones.

One of our challenges was to choose the right furniture pieces for the living areas which, as you can see from our furniture plan below, come out at an angle from the back of the house. The living room at the top of the stairs is where the family retreat in the evenings to watch tv. The curved modular sofa was the perfect choice to soften the various angles around it and create a cosy, inclusive setting.

*Progress - the view from the dining area looking back towards the stairs and elevator, and bedrooms beyond.*

*Before - the open plan family room, dining and kitchen were originally separated from the main living room.*

Previously the deck off the family room was quite small and not terribly functional as an outdoor space. So the architect “borrowed” space from here to push the family room out making this more useable. He then created a space on the deck around the corner for some outdoor furniture.

We created another seating area in the new family room which is zoned by the large wool rug. The corner sofa faces out towards the stunning view, and it can also be moved around 180° to face the fire on those few really cold months, if our clients want. This is the perfect setting for daytime relaxing or with friends before dinner.

*Progress - the builder installed the longest recessed curtain track we’ve ever done!*

The window treatments in this area took some consideration. The clients didn’t want to block the view and didn’t really need privacy from this angle, but the room gets a lot of sun coming through the floor to ceiling glass. We wanted curtains to add a softness to the space so we chose an organic open weave sheer that could be pulled across to diffuse the harsh sun when needed. The builders were amazing installing the longest recessed curtain track we’ve ever used, and at night it looks beautiful with the soft strip lighting in front.

The dining table features curved ends which, again, bring a softness to the angled room. The use of green is repeated throughout in small doses amongst the soft neutral palette, reflecting the nature outside. These dining chairs look quite beautiful as the light diffuses through them.

*Before - the kitchen undertook a major transformation!*

Molloy Joinery created the kitchen we designed using ivory oak veneer that complimented the flooring, and a porcelain bench and splash back with a subtle organic pattern. The kitchen has a clean, simple finish, which our clients wanted in their open plan space, with a small butlers pantry at the end to house the coffee machine, small appliances and a second sink.

For a sense of cohesion we repeated the ivory oak veneer and porcelain bench in the laundry and bathrooms.

*Before - built-in custom joinery does wonders to update and tidy the new laundry.*

*Before - the landing and hallway have been tidied and simplified, these doors led to the old laundry, powder room and bathroom.*

We love creating a bit of drama in a tiny powder room! We gave our clients two designs - one featuring these stunning dark liquorice coloured glass tiles, and a second in a soft, neutral colour. We’re so pleased they chose the darker option. In a room where you only spend a minute or so at a time you can afford to be bold!

The family bathroom, above, and the primary bathroom, below, repeat the materials from the kitchen and laundry, with the addition of these large format tiles featuring a subtle linear texture. The gun metal fixtures add a touch of depth.

*Progress - the tiler did a fantastic job installing and mitring these tiles with their linear texture.*

The primary bedroom continues the neutral colour palette with layers of soft texture to create a quiet space to retreat to at the end of a busy day.

*Progress - a walk-in wardrobe is a luxury and a way to keep the bedroom calm and uncluttered.*

*Before - the outside has also had a major transformation!*

it’s important that the exterior of the house reflects the interior, so the colour of the window joinery, the walls and roof paint are all a soft, warm white.

Thank you to our incredibly awesome clients who trusted us with their beautiful home and allowed us to share it with you! To see even more images of the home you can visit our portfolio.

Source: https://bibbyandbrady.co.nz/residential#/t...

Bluff Hill Kitchen, Laundry, Dining Nook & Entrance

January 15, 2020

At the end of 2019 we finished a renovation project that we had spent a good part of the year working on. Our clients, a young family of seven (dad and the two boys not pictured below), live in a beautiful big historic home on Napier hill. The house had amazing bones and character but was definitely in need of an update. Nicki and Scott hired us initially to design their kitchen, and when we realised there needed to be a lot of structural work we called in our friends at Architecture HDT.

As is common with houses of this era, there were a lot of smaller rooms, and the kitchen was tucked away at the back. With a busy household of five children, Nicki and Scott wanted to take out a wall to create a large open plan space so that there was a connection between the kitchen, dining and living rooms.

The windows above the old kitchen bench were replaced with French doors out to the courtyard and the kitchen was completely removed and a new one was placed perpendicular to the original one.

The floor plan below gives you an idea of the final layout, although it did change slightly. The main difference was the pushing out of the external wall beyond the end of the fridge to make room for a small day pantry. Nicki and Scott’s builder, Brendan Grant of Grant Property & Construction Ltd, worked tirelessly on the renovation throughout the year.

It’s normal for there to be a few tweaks and changes to our initial design, but on the whole the finished kitchen has stayed pretty true to it. We wanted the kitchen to have a classic feel to be in keeping with the traditional home, but with a modern, sleek twist. Navy and white are classic and timeless, and we were so thrilled that Nicki and Scott went with the herringbone floors. A patterned tile in the laundry/butlers pantry helps to zone it as a seperate space whilst still complementing the wooden floor.

So much time and thought went into the layout, storage and practicality of the kitchen. The huge island houses the dishwasher, rubbish bins, plenty of drawers and cupboard space as well as room at one end for barstools. At the other end the bench top waterfalls down creating a beautiful feature from the living and main dining area.

The butlers sink and tap are a nod to the traditional style of the house. We chose a brushed nickel finish for the taps and handles - timeless yet again and so elegant.

The day pantry is one of my favourite features. When closed it’s very discreet and the pocket doors open and slide back into the wall so as not to block the access into the laundry. It’s the perfect space for tea, coffee and breakfast foods.

We kept the top cabinetry handleless for a cleaner, less fussy look. All of the joinery is by Sydaz Joinery.

The wall between the old kitchen and the living room was removed to allow more space, more light and much better flow. Because the ceiling heights were different in these two areas, it was really important to keep the flooring consistent throughout. The old kitchen had cork tiles on the floor and trying to match the existing living room floor boards was near impossible. We are totally in love with the new herringbone flooring that replaced the old floors, so happy days!

Those of you who have followed us for a while will know we are big fans of dining nooks and banquette seating, and this corner next to the new kitchen was crying out for one. It’s used for casual dining, whereas a large formal dining table is being custom made to fit in between the kitchen and living room.

The laundry also has extra storage for kitchen overflow, like larger appliances. It’s essentially in the same position, but that’s the only similarity with the old laundry. The access to it has changed and we completely redesigned the layout and fitted it out with custom joinery, tiled the floor and splash back.

The entrance to this beautiful old house got a makeover too. The concrete shelf (below) was removed and the wall opposite the front door was extended. A gorgeous new window was fitted to let in more natural light and provide a view from the dining nook, and a large custom door replaced the old door.

The new wall is just waiting for a beautiful console and either a mirror or a large piece of art - the perfect welcome into this amazing home.

Your front door and entrance creates the first impression for your guests, so this newly renovated home needed a special entrance. The doorway was enlarged for a new, very smart custom door painted in glossy black. The brushed nickel hardware echoes the hardware in the kitchen and laundry, and new exterior wall lights continue the modern traditional theme. The front door step is a work-in-progress and will be looking fabulous very soon.

Thank you so much Nicki and Scott for allowing us to share your stunning home. We are so happy with the outcome and wish you many happy times in the new space.

Napier Hill Home Renovation

May 9, 2019

We’ve recently finished working with a fabulous client, helping her renovate her home on Napier Hill. Rachael had moved to Hawke’s Bay from Wellington with her two young children and bought a beautiful old character home. It had great bones and stunning views over the hill and out to sea, but the layout wasn’t quite right and the interiors were a bit tired. After working with Citrus Studio Architecture on the plan, Rachael hired local firm Davcon Construction to complete the renovation. It was Davcon director, Julian Davis, who recommended Rachael talk to us about her kitchen design. Jules knew we’d be able to guide her through all the tricky decisions regarding colours, bench tops, cabinet style, handles etc.

The old kitchen was completely removed and this space (above) has now been turned into a media room for games and movie watching. Walls came down and moved to create a much better flow and layout throughout the house, and the kitchen moved over into the old dining room.

After putting the design concept together for Rachael’s kitchen, we worked closely with our joiners, Sydaz, to bring the design to a reality. We’ve developed a great working relationship with the Sydaz team, so it was a really fun project to work on. Both Davcon and Sydaz have exceptional workmanship, it was amazing to watch both teams help bring our design to life.

Our initial idea was to have a beautiful soft sage green on the bottom cabinets, but to achieve this look with the cabinets painted in a two pot polyurethane was a slightly more expensive option. In the end we opted for a more cost-effective thermoform finish in textured limestone, which is essentially a soft white. We then put a beautiful light grey with a hint of green on the walls to bring in some tone while still keeping the space calm, light and airy.

We’re all in love with the bench top we chose. It’s an engineered stone with a textured matt finish. It features a white background with velvety grey swirls and smaller specks of dark grey. Dael took Rachael out to the Archant warehouse in Hastings where they could view the actual slab of stone. This enables our clients a much better idea of how their bench will look, although we always start by showing them a small sample square. Carrying the stone up the wall as an up-stand was the finishing touch - we love it.

You can see from the progress shot (below) that we put a pull-out pantry and integrated fridge along the wall to the right of the main kitchen. There was nothing we can do with that wall in-between, as behind that is the powder room. Positioning the kitchen island long ways helped to connect everything…

But what really succeeded to connect and ‘zone’ the kitchen area was the wall panelling we asked Davcon to create. It absolutely worked with the style of the home, and wrapping it along the wall between the two pantries, and over on the opposite wall, clearly marked the kitchen area from the adjoining dining area.

The media room, where the old kitchen used to be, is off the kitchen, and we love the sneaky peek of the deep blue walls against the soft grey/green walls in front.

media room re-gibbed and ready for it’s transformation.

The entrance, kitchen and dining room have had new flooring put down. Rachael came home from Hutchinsons with a selection she had chosen and we helped her narrow it down to these boards, which look fantastic. These were the sorts of questions we helped Rachael tackle throughout the reno, another was which way to lay the boards. We would usually recommend running the wood from the front door straight to the back of the house, but the front door sits at the side of the house (to the left of the dining room entrance above). So, although the boards run across the entrance, they then lead your eye down to the beautiful big doors and view at the back of the house.

Rachael already had her dining table, chairs and rug. We sourced the pendant lighting for the kitchen and dining room, helped with art placement, and the colour to paint the fireplace. We sourced the kitchen handles from Archant and the chopping board, bowls and jugs are all ours.

The narrow double doors in the living room (above) were removed and an opening was made on the other side of the fireplace for easier access from the front door and kitchen through to the rest of the house. Large sliding doors were put in (below) to take advantage of the view and the light.

With new carpet and freshly painted walls, Rachael just asked us to help her choose a new sofa, coffee table, side table, and pendant light. We had this sofa custom made for her by one of our NZ furniture manufacturers. They’re made in New Zealand, and the quality and workmanship is superb, so it will last her a long, long time. To keep the cost down slightly, we chose a hardwearing but more cost-effective fabric in a gorgeous deep teal. The large coffee table is the perfect scale for the sofa, and the double layer is handy - you can pop baskets for storage on the bottom layer, or spare cushions. We also had new curtains made in a beautiful soft grey linen blend.

Rachael’s bedroom has these lovely character features, but we helped give it a mini makeover with a new wall colour, new curtains, and a new window seat squab.

The wall colour almost glows it’s so warm and gorgeous. It’s a dusty umber and ashen red toned neutral. OK, it’s pink, but it’s such a sophisticated colour that feels serene and restful in the master bedroom. The linen hydrangea cushions (below) we had custom made - all available to purchase from us.

Directly opposite the master bedroom is the tiny powder room. With no natural light this space would’ve looked flat if we painted it white, so we chose another soft, pretty colour.

The family bathroom was created from scratch in the old entrance area. A large space, we created wall-to-wall storage down one end to house the laundry as well as an extra cupboard for the mop, broom etc. I say “we created it”, but clearly Davcon did all the hard work…

And then Sydaz did a fantastic job creating all of the cabinetry. We chose the tiles from Tile Space, and used HardieGroove™ on the walls to add subtle texture.

The children’s bedrooms also only required mini makeovers. In Rachael’s son’s room it was choosing a colour that he would love, and also one that would grow with him into his teens. Also a cool new window squab so he could enjoy his epic view - lucky kid - and new bedding!

In Rachael’s daughter’s room we opted for a warm, happy colour scheme to add a bit of fun and interest. We kept the colour to the bottom half of the walls, and mixed it up with some different coloured bedding.

And here she is… Rachael was one of our most favourite clients and a joy to work with. We were so impressed with the way she managed a massive renovation with two young children, whilst holding down a very important, full-time job. No matter how smoothly everything goes, renovations are often still stressful, just because of the disruption they cause to your life. But this one was well worth it! The other reason we love Rachael is that she listened to us, trusted us, and followed through with everything we suggested. This is always the best outcome, so thanks Rach, and thank you for allowing us to share your beautiful home. x