Deb Crowe waited for the perfect place to show her interior talents to eager clients - and her patience paid off ...
Sometimes when you have a dream, you have to let things percolate for a while before all the planets align and you can make it a reality. That was certainly the case for interior designer Deb Crowe who'd nurtured the idea of a cool design studio that was both her work-space and a showcase for her design expertise. Oh, and out of the rat-race in somewhere pretty and country. She'd hunted without success for two or three years around Waiheke, where she lived, while commuting to a city office. It was en-route to a caravan holiday at Omaha that she and her partner spied a barn and run-down cottage on the road into Matakana. A new plan was hatched.
"The barn was board and batten, so that was the obvious name for the business. It presses all the buttons for people because it is an honest material, a style that is well received," she explains. "This place was zoned as a workshop, and previous tenants - a signage company, shoe repairs, mechanics - had all been boys' things. So I had to make this pretty and styley, but all within a tight budget."
Open un-officially only for a weekend or two (the official opening was Labour Weekend) Board & Batten has already welcomed dozens of customers and a string of commissions from Warkworth to Devonport. Crowe's intention to show how she integrates interior and exterior - the garden will be steadily planted up through spring and autumn - has paid off. She and her partner had to move quickly, renovating the 1940s cottage and barn in just over three months in order to make the most of the passing summer trade from the steadily gentrifying Matakana, Omaha and environs.
"We had to do glam on a budget, so in the workshop I put the money where it mattered." The rest was what is trendily called "upcycling" but is Crowe's stock in trade - making dash with less cash. "I had years as a homestager so I can walk into a room and immediately know how it can work, I can turn on a sixpence," says Crowe, who, as Deb Paton Decor Placements, pioneered the industry here. Crunchy white gravel provides the setting for beautiful French outdoor furniture, while inside Crowe has created a series of room settings and vignettes as idea-starters for clients.
"I love to layer, that is the character and depth of a room. It provides the sense of style. I can push the boundaries adding pattern on pattern on pattern, but it is harmonious when the balance is just right and the eye just floats across and reads it all as one."
In the house - which is open to clients as an extension of the workshop - Crowe has managed to renovate without major structural changes.
Tearing out the 70-year-old kitchen was a two-hour job, Crowe redesigned it on the spot with a felt-tip pen and measuring tape. Her cabinet-maker over the years is her black book secret - he also created the splendid cupboards to show off colours, fabrics and hardware samples in the showroom - and the kitchen is country, modern, not stereotyped, helped by the most wonderful French cooker and mosaic wall in appetite-stimulating reds.
"The house and workshop are about showing people what polish and paint can do to transform a space. But I also wanted to show that I can design and deliver a beautiful piece of furniture - the cupboards in the showroom are to die for - and that can make all the difference."
* Board & Batten Interior Design, Open Fri-Mon, 10-4pm, 897 Matakana Rd, Matakana. Ph (09) 422 7891 or 021 521 811.
