On a colour journey

Nadine and John’s 1905 villa has evolved over time with much thought and patience as funds allowed.

Nadine has spent many hours writing down ideas, measuring spaces, looking at magazines and searching the internet to come up with ideas which she then passed onto the architects who incorporated all these and made them even better.

Timber in the backyard has been stained in Resene Crowshead. It was one of the first parts to be done and has been restained to keep it looking fresh.

They had so much to do inside, which was a little overwhelming, so they started with the backyard removing an old deck, dangerous phoenix palm and begun the process of streamlining a narrow section (and house) to appear bigger. They spent hours in the backyard over the summer; it is their oasis!

Resene Tangerine painted in the lounge is very uplifting and the room gets a lot of sun which reflects off the wall. This is teamed with Resene Sisal. Nadine has tried to keep the room simple as they have lovely trees to look at through the windows and it is very relaxing. The orange door hides the TV. Nadine is itching to put some hot pink in this room so is working on slowly converting her family into thinking this is a great idea.

The kitchen is home to black wall tiles, white drawers and cupboards, Caesarstone Cocoa, and warm wood. Nadine likes the simplicity of the straight lines and wanted the kitchen to remain timeless, so they minimised the colour palette, using Resene Eighth Ash. We would not change anything six years later.

The children have a variety of colours, with their daughter changing her room colours to suit her style over the years. Her current choice is Resene Eighth Parchment, a soothing option that showcases her artworks and other colourful possessions. Their sports fanatic son needed a streamlined space so that he would have room to store all his sports gear. It is painted in Resene Harp, a colour that is continued into the spare room, with a feature wallpaper.

The master bedroom continues the colour from the kitchen, using Resene Eighth Ash. The bedroom is long and narrow with a walk in wardrobe and ensuite. The whole room is a retreat, a place Nadine goes to think or when times get tough.

The hall is also finished in the same colour. It has had a lot of use over the years with soccer balls, cricket balls, rugby balls, scooters and more. They are slowly filling the walls with the kids’ art. The artificial grass runner is a bit of fun and has been used for bowling at birthday parties. With a bit of luck, the George Nelson lights have never been damaged.

The bathroom is a contemporary take on the ‘shower over bath’ but the shower is positioned towards the back of the tiled wall. They sacrificed the separate shower in this room so the kids could have a basin each and a big linen cupboard. The tiles, wood, marble and the Resene Black White paint makes it a very relaxing place to be.

Outside the front fence and garage are painted Resene Tuna with the garage/front door in Resene Koru. The house itself is painted in Resene Raffia with Resene Dutch White trim and Resene Alabaster soffits. A bright yellow Hello sign welcomes in guests.

Resene Tuna is continued inside the garage combined with fun window frames painted in bold Resene Smitten and rafters in Resene Alabaster. When decorating the garage the aim was to have some fun and make this space usable and give some life back to the old garage by tidying it up and strengthening the rafters.

Decorating inspiration gallery
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