No one loves a dull home. Kirsten Matthew talks to four experts to find out how to avoid the seven biggest pitfalls of interior design.
Let's face it: not many of us live in a picture-perfect home. It's time-consuming to maintain a spotless, curated, up-to-the-minute interior, especially when there's a career to slog away at, bills to pay, partners and pets to feed and kids to de-louse, yet again.
You can, however, make your home look and feel better with just a few quick and easy tweaks. "New Zealanders, as a whole, have a lot more at their fingertips than ever before," says Auckland interior architect and designer Janice Kumar-Ward.
"The knowledge base is wider, the retail outlets better and the online presences more accessible and trusted. We are so bombarded with DIY shows, blogs and advertising that we don't really have an excuse to not have a clue." We asked Kumar-Ward and three other New Zealand interior designers just how to create a happier, prettier home.
Come on, admit it - you've felt envious of your friends' homes and probably even more so of the souped-up, made-over spaces that appear endlessly on our television screens.
"Envy is never pretty but, when it comes to interiors, everyone has an inner green-eyed monster. And if you haven't, you be lyin'," says Kumar-Ward, who has worked as a judge on The Block and consults at Macintosh Harris Design and The Recipe Ltd.
"I'm all for stealing a scratch of inspiration here and there," adds Alex Fulton, interior designer and owner of AFD Store in Blenheim. "But, to use an X Factor judge's turn of phrase, 'make it your own' by making sure it's really your taste and not someone else's. Bad design mistakes are made when you copy from envy and not from true love."
And keep your jealousy in check, implores Wellington designer Stephanie Bruce. "Be envious of those being brave or being themselves at home. That, to me, is most inspiring. And if you are going to be competitive, compete with your beige self."
What should we be coveting in 2015 (before it all gets completely overplayed in 2016 and has to be thrown out)? Metal accents (brass, copper and gold), stone surfaces and accessories, graphic elements and whimsical wallpaper.
"A major return to wallpaper in wonderful prints and florals is a trend in the US and Europe," says Sandra Nunnerley, a New Zealand interior designer based in New York and the author of Interiors. "I like many of the classic florals by Colefax and Fowler, as well as the new David Hicks wallpapers."
"RIP geometric deer prints, concrete planters and fluoro macrame hangers," says Fulton of the done-and-dusted trends of 2014. "The power of the grid pattern is strong at the moment. This makes me happy, but my fingers are crossed that it won't get bashed to heck like most trends." And if you really want to be on trend, you should be thinking of the big plan, way bigger than a few new cushions, says Kumar-Ward: "Renovation and building is totally on trend. So, take the time to find your right match in tradespeople and then wait until they can fit you in!"
Nobody likes the greedy person who hoovers up everything at the dinner table. And the interior design equivalent is similarly unattractive.
"There is nothing worse than a house - I'm not going to validate it by calling it a home - that is full of designer garb," says Fulton. "Yes, we see you have the money to invest in good design, but where is the soul; where are the memories and, most importantly, how do we know the space is lived in?"
By all means, throw some high-end, flashy pieces into your home - "I arduously support anyone whose scope extends to sumptuous velvets, glamorous golds or anything that sparkles. I like a bit of glitter and glamour," Bruce says - but mix them with sentimental and low-cost pieces that aren't self-conscious.
"Curate with meaning and with stories that tell your design tale," says Fulton. "Choose things that exist because you truly love them, not because they are the most expensive."
We're known, as a nation, to avoid showing off like the plague, but Kiwis could do with taking a little more delight in their finished living spaces.
"Anyone and everyone should take pride in their home," says Bruce. "We need to make ourselves more widely known, because we can rock it with the big guns, can't we? Take pride in your home by sharing it - invite people in." But be careful not to show off too much; no one wants to hear how much you paid for that custom-made Mongolian cashmere throw or Italian chandelier.
If you've drunk the reality TV Kool-Aid, you'll feel like your house will never be tidy or good-looking enough.
"We think that it has to be picture-perfect because it's what we see in the home magazines. It's much like the model industry," says Fulton. "Realistically, would we be happy to see an old pair of underwear lying on the bathroom floor [of a house on Grand Designs]? I think not, but we all know the reality of what our houses can look like and what they really are." So, if you're a lazy so-and-so when it comes to housekeeping, do what you can - making the bed each day and opening some windows is a good start - and then embrace your limitations.
"Nothing should feel so precious that it can't be used," says Nunnerley. "How wonderful is it to plop down on a big generous sofa and put your feet up on a coffee table after a long day?" If all else fails, fork out for a cleaner.
The boudoir, where the magic happens, should be the most relaxing room in your home but typically it's not. "It's the last room we update," explains Bruce. "Those darned kids get all the attention instead!" To make your bedroom more lustful, ditch the TV, the laptop and the desk, suggests Fulton. Introduce storage space so you can minimise the clutter. And invest in some good-quality bed linen.
"The bedroom can be sexy just by way of being fresh and crisp," says Kumar-Ward. "Lamp lighting creates calm or drama, and the colour of the room itself can be soothing; I love a delicious, dark room with rich velvets and crisp white linens."
Next time you get annoyed with your too-small kitchen or your lack of indoor-outdoor flow, take solace in the fact that even the most experienced designers get enraged by their own interiors.
"I have approximately five anger-inducing spaces in my home, each corresponding with the different moods that assail me daily," confesses Bruce. "They include the diminishing space in my pantry as my boys get older and hungrier; the fact that my carpet doesn't just suck up its own dust; and my predisposition to want to change every room in my house on a monthly basis."
"We are currently living in an old cottage alongside half of the West's rodent population," says Kumar-Ward. "But the one thing that irks me is not the leaking ceiling, the rodents or the crooked floor - it is that there is no symmetry in the house."
"My least favourite room in our home is the laundry; it's the only room we haven't attacked with a paintbrush," says Fulton. "It's currently a yucky shade of Nothing with an accent of a deeper shade of Even Worse."
So how do you minimise the aggravation? Develop a sense of yourself and what makes you happy, within the confines of budget, of course.
"If you feel relaxed in light, neutral colours, then play with that palette for your decor," says Bruce. "If you want more personality, then introduce some bold patterns or colour. Something that is right for one person may not be for another, so create a home that you love, and make it your own."
The Herald's Mitchell Hageman and Bethany Reitsma try Whittaker's latest concoction.