Renovation & Conversation Evening

October 24, 2017

Last week we held an evening at our workspace with our friend Laura Jeffares. Our aim was to let our guests know a bit more about our businesses, and for them to leave with a few interior styling and floristry tricks that they could try themselves at home. Dael and I work in a very cool old warehouse in Ahuriri, Napier which we share with a number of other small businesses. The building has an industrial vibe, and this combined with Laura's amazing floral arrangements made for a great venue.

A gorgeous big floral display greeted guests outside our building | photo: Florence Charvin

The lady herself, Laura Jeffares, next to one of her arrangements | photo: Florence Charvin

The entrance to our work is through an old shipping container which we lined with greenery. Inside guests were welcomed by the dulcet tones of super talented local musician, Sarah Wiig.

One of our favourite artists, Rae West, arriving through our shipping container entrance | photo: Florence Charvin

Sarah Wiig sings as our guests arrive | photo: Florence Charvin

Another of Laura's creations in a Bibby + Brady vase | photo: Florence Charvin

Even Sarah's mike and music stand didn't escape Laura's touch | photo: Florence Charvin

Upon arrival guests were treated to a glass of delicious Rod McDonald wine, and there was a spectacular 1m long grazing platter that was created by The Mad Platter - a relatively new local business that is growing in leaps and bounds.

Beautiful bouquets by Sarah Till of My Flower Cart were available to purchase | photo: Florence Charvin

One of the divine 'Mister' wines by Rod McDonald | photo: Florence Charvin

Laura models the Rod McDonald 'Mister' Syrah | photo: Florence Charvin

The incredible platter provided by The Mad Platter | photo: Florence Charvin

Sister-n-laws, Kylie and Birgitte, are The Mad Platter | photo: Florence Charvin

One of the best parts of our job is being surrounded by so many clever and interesting people. We had an incredible group of women at our event, both helpers and participants, as well as our guests.

From left to right: Sarah Wiig, Laura Jeffares, Sarah Till & Sarah Zonneveld | photo: Florence Charvin

Our fabulous friends and helpers, Kathryn (Savve) and Sally | photo: Florence Charvin

photo: Florence Charvin — photo: Florence Charvin

Birgitte explains more about her and Kylie's business The Mad Platter | photo: Florence Charvin

Dael and I have worked with Laura Jeffares a lot over the years. She is highly talented when it comes to floristry, styling, and hair, specialising in weddings and events. If you're interested, book her now, as she gets super busy over the Summer months.

Laura demonstrates a simple floral display using flowers from My Flower Cart | photo: Florence Charvin

Laura demonstrates how to use oasis when putting together an arrangement of foliage | photo: Florence Charvin

Dael and I wanted to explain a bit about how we work and show some "before" and "after" images of our work. We shared some of our top interior design tips, and finished with a quick demonstration and explanation of how to style a console table.

Thank you to everyone who attended our Renovation & Conversation evening, we had a fantastic time with you all. We will be holding more of these events in the future (including one next month in Gisborne), so keep an eye on the blog and our social media for up to date information. Please let us know if you have anything in particular you'd like to hear us speak about, or if you're outside of Hawke's Bay and would like us to visit your town. You can get in touch with us here.

A special thanks to all of our amazing friends who helped make this evening a success - Laura Jeffares, Florence Charvin, The Mad Platter, Rod McDonald Wines, Sarah Wiig, Sarah Zonneveld, Sarah Till, Kathryn McGarvey, Sally Barnett, and our awesome landlords, Band.

Style a console with Rae West art

July 3, 2017

One of our favourite artists, Rae West, just happens to live right on our doorstep - Hawke's Bay is full of so many talented people! When she recently offered us one of her spectacular original tondo's for our showroom, we jumped at the chance. Her work is super beautiful, she uses resin and ink, and this particular piece also has gold leaf for an extra layer of subtle shine. It's quite hard to capture the beauty on camera, believe me when I say this art is even better in 'real life'.

We decided to combine Rae's piece with a little styling demo, and show you how we styled the console in our showroom in six simple steps. Styling flat surface like consoles, coffee tables and bookshelves is one of our favourite things to do. In my home I'm constantly changing things around to suit a new piece I've found, or just to keep things fresh and interesting.

It can be hard to know how to get the right balance, and how to make it look pretty but also have functionality. To help you get started (if you're new at this), we'll run you through our steps and explain why we've used certain pieces:

Step 1: We like to start with a large piece of art, or a mirror can look great too. Hang it just above your console - too high and it can look disconnected from what's going on below it.

Step 2: A lamp is a great starting point. It adds height as well as light for functionality. We've chosen a lamp with a fabric shade we had custom made. The shade will soften the light rather than having directional light like a desk lamp.

Step 3: Add something sculptural or quirky, purely for fun. We liked the curves of the swans next to the round artwork and the curve of the lamp. The brass links to the subtle gold found in Rae's artwork (although it's hard to capture this on camera).

Step 4: Books are a great tool for grounding objects, they act like a little platform for smaller pieces like bowls or vases. They also add a bit of weight and squareness to balance the curves. If you're anything like me (book crazy!) you'll love the chance to have some of your favourite coffee table books on display.

Step 5: To balance the right side we added a large floral arrangement. It's always great to add fresh flowers or greenery. They bring life and add another sculptural and textural element. We were lucky enough to have this stunning arrangement by Laura Jeffares, but if you don't have access to Laura, a pot plant in a beautiful planter will do the job, or grab your secateurs and snip some greenery from your garden.

Step 6: We could've left it at that last step, but that little space to the right of the vase felt like it needed something. A little dish, bowl or tray is handy for throwing your keys, sunglasses etc in as you walk in the door. It's a functional piece and also another low, horizontal element to balance the height of the vertical pieces - it's all about the balance.

So there you go, six simple steps to create a pretty good looking console. We've kept our colour palette consistent with greens and blues to compliment the artwork, and pinks, gold, and the light wood of the console to balance those cool tones.

This beautiful artwork is for sale, so if anyone is interested in purchasing a stand out piece for their home, please get in touch with us. You're welcome to come and see the art in our showroom so you can truly appreciate it's beauty. Make an appointment to make sure we're not in a meeting or out and about, as we'd love to give you our full attention.

Arranging Furniture in Rooms with Little Wall Space

April 11, 2016

Last week Dael & I were thrilled to be part of an interactive interior workshop in Auckland run by Farmers, in conjunction with Your Home & Garden, using their new homewares range. Editor of Your Home & Garden magazine, Shelley Ferguson, worked together with the Farmers buyers to create this fantastic range inspired by the latest trends and our New Zealand lifestyle.

At the workshop guests had the opportunity to ask us questions about interior design, and time and time again the topic of furniture placement came up. It seems many of us have open plan spaces and multiple doors and windows, which is great for letting in natural light and creating spacious homes, but it can be tricky to know where to place your furniture when you don't have a lot of solid walls. Never fear, there is a solution...

It's seems to be a common mistake for people to think they have to push all their furniture up against the walls of a room. In fact pulling your furniture into the room can create a much cosier arrangement. This works particularly well when there are a lot of doors and windows that you don't want to block. To help ground the arrangement place a large rug under your furniture, it will suddenly feel less like it's floating in the middle of the room.

If you don't have a lot of extra room, simply pulling your furniture a small distance away from the windows, creating some breathing room, will do the trick.

Natural light is immensely favourable in your room, so try not to block it with your sofa. If, by moving your sofa away from the window, it means the back becomes a feature, consider placing a low table or storage unit in front of it to deflect the attention.

You could also try looking to your other rooms. A dining table is more than happy to sit in the centre of a room, so the lack of a solid wall is less of an issue. Can you swap your living and dining rooms around? A pendant light hung over the centre of your dining table will help to define the space.

We're heading down to Wellington and Christchurch this week for two more workshops, so I look forward to reporting back on more solutions for tricky interior spaces. If you have a question you would like us to help you with, drop us an email, it may make a great blog post.