Colour Crush | Green

Green is one of my favourite colours to decorate with. It's a restful colour and is known to have a calming effect; it's gender neutral - not overly feminine or masculine; and it's a reflection of the beautiful environment we are lucky enough to live in here in New Zealand. You only have to look to nature to see how green goes with every colour.

The Bogart Block sofa in lush forest green velvet available to purchase via Bibby + Brady

I was asked to write an article late last year predicting what 2017 would have in store for us in terms of interior design. I suggested that we would see a lot more green this year, and sure enough Pantone released their colour of the year as Greenery - "satisfying our growing desire to rejuvenate and revitalise. Greenery symbolises the reconnection we seek with nature, one another and a larger purpose".

My favourite green tones are slightly deeper than the 2017 colour of the year, I prefer emerald green and forest green tones, or soft muted sage greens. But I do think "greenery" looks beautiful in smaller doses mixed in with deeper tones. I was inspired by the colours in the photo I snapped (below) on a morning walk - dappled light and a carpet of green overhead.

Green is beautiful in an entranceway where it truely brings the outdoors in and creates a lush and fresh welcome.

We used a gorgeous emerald green on the ceiling of one of our client's entranceway. It's slightly unexpected to see a coloured ceiling, which creates that 'wow' moment we were after.

Green and white is such a classic colour combination and one that will never fail to look fresh and beautiful. I'm a huge fan of this home (see the two photos below) which has a clean white base and light parquet floorboards throughout the house, peppered with pops of green.

I also love this image (below) where the picture wall and that burst of green completely take the focus away from the TV when it's not on.

You can create great impact whether you use green in large or small amounts...

A green and white combo is particularly beautiful in kitchens...

We did a bank of green cupboards in this kitchen (below) of our client's and combined them with tall white cabinetry on the other side. It looks amazing with the plantings outside the window.

For a bold move in your kitchen choose a classic subway tiles in a deep green, as seen on the exterior of L'Americano Bar in Sydney - how amazing is that?!

This kitchen (below) has taken advantage of the greenery outdoors and really brought the outdoors in by adding a low window instead of a splash back.

Of course the simplest way to bring green into your home is through plants, whether it's potted plants or some leaves snipped from your garden. As well as colour, plants add instant texture and life.

Here are just a few ways to brings green into your home (many of these items can be ordered through us)...

clockwise from top left: print | paint | wallpaper | sofa | plant | stool | cabinet | vase | quartz verdant tile

Establishing Your Style

Last week I was contacted by the lovely Tina from Roomie. She was putting together an article for Stuff and asked if I could share one of our most commonly asked design questions. I was happy to help, and decided to focus on a question that I think is very important... how to establish an interior style...
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We often work with clients who want help defining their style. Some people were born knowing it, and for others it takes time. Your home should be an extension of you, it should reflect your likes and interests, tell a story, and celebrate the people that live there.

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Try looking to your wardrobe for inspiration. What colours, patterns and textures are you drawn to? What places make you feel happy - the beach, a certain cafe…? Try and translate that feeling into your home.

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Definitely the most favoured Bibby + Brady tool for establishing your style is Pinterest - a free website that enables you to ‘pin’ images from anywhere on the internet to your own pin boards. If you don’t already know your style, you will be surprised how quickly a pattern emerges once you start pinning.



Even if, and when, you find your style and know what you love, you still may want help pulling it all together. Maybe you don't know where to start looking for that perfect piece of furniture that is unique to you; or you're just so busy with the rest of your life that finding the time to design and decorate your home is tough... This is where Bibby + Brady can help. Dael and I specialise in creating amazing spaces that reflect their owners. Our job is to make things easier for you, and in the process of creating a home that you'll love, I'm pretty sure we'll also save your huge amount of time, and money (by avoiding costly mistakes). Come and visit us!

My Kitchen | Part 3 - Tiles

If you look at these pics (below) it may not look like we've had much progress in our kitchen reno, but in fact we have. You can see the from these earlier posts that all of the old kitchen cabinetry has now gone. I no longer have an oven, a dishwasher, or a washing machine. I'm actually coping OK without an oven, as we have set up a mini kitchen in the living room with a microwave, kettle, toaster, slow cooker, and electric frying pan, and the BBQ is outside. But the loss of the washing machine with our family of five has hit me the hardest. Thank goodness for my Mum and Dad around the corner!


Last week our electrician, Davyd Auckram - Bay Cities Electrical, and our plumber, John - John Riggs Plumbing, were busy doing their part. They're both great guys, and I can highly recommend them - email me if you want their contact details. We also had our hot water cylinder removed and an infinity gas water heater installed, which did mean no hot water for a day - eek!

 Today the builder, Glynn Pritchard - GCP Construction Ltd, has started, which is exciting because it means we should have walls again soon. Next comes the floor sanding, and all the while our kitchen is being built by the talented guys, Rick Martin and his righthand man Ben, at Sunshine Joinery.


In my last post I was looking into our option for benchtops, and I can report back that we have chosen an engineered stone with a marble look. Now it's the tiles for our splash back that I'm trying to decide on. My first choice was a small marble hexagon tile, and I still love these, but unfortunately they may be outside of our budget.


I really love these cube tiles, but they're from an Australian company, which means shipping complicates matters.



These cube tiles from Tile Space are pretty gorgeous, but they only come in gloss and I was thinking of going matt. They looked great in Alex and Corban's Block kitchen though, so I haven't ruled them out yet.



There is a similar tile found at Tile Space which does come in a matt white, called Rhombus. It featured last week on the TV programme Our First Home, but you can see it's a lot bigger, and possibly too big for our kitchen splash back.


Perhaps this matt white hexagon tile is the one, it is, after all, the same shape as my first choice only a little bigger. If you're wondering why I'm not considering the good old subway tile, our cabinetry features wood panels (vertical lines), so I want to introduce a more contrasting shape in the tiles.


Here's another hexagonal option from Porteous Tiles which looks pretty fab in pink and red. Hmmm... what do you think?


I talk about this as our "kitchen reno", but really we're tackling the kitchen, dining room, and laundry all at once. It's pretty huge and explains why we're living in a mad house at the moment. Spare a thought for me with my dining table in our living room, our console table holding the mini make-shift kitchen, the pantry in the hall, the dishes in the bathroom sink, and now with the arrival of Cyclone Pam, most of our outdoor furniture has also been crammed inside.  Good things are a-coming (I keep telling myself!).