Designer bedrooms being auctioned to help fight breast cancer

Reporter·Herald on Sunday·

13 Oct, 2018 04:00 PM3 mins to read

Award-winning designer Melissa Greennough relaxes in the room she created for the BCFNZ fundraiser. Photo / Supplied

Beautiful bedrooms created by award-winning New Zealand designers will go under the hammer in the fight against breast cancer.

Top interior designers LeeAnn Yare, Melissa Greenough, Evie Kemp and Alex Walls have created their own styled sanctuaries for Sealy's annual Designer Bed fundraiser.

The fundraiser, for Breast Cancer Foundation NZ, is in its sixth year and in previous years famous New Zealanders designed bespoke beds for the Sealy auction.

This year, instead of the mattress receiving a makeover, it's the bed and surrounds, including beautiful linens, headboards and accessories.

The beds and accessories will be auctioned on Trade Me at the end of this month to coincide with the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

In New Zealand nine women are diagnosed with breast cancer each day.

More than 80 per cent survive 10 years or more but more than 600 women die of the disease each year.

For Melissa Greenough, host of TVNZ's HOMEmade, the chance to raise money for Breast Cancer Foundation NZ was an honour.

Melissa Greenough used pared-back colours to promote relaxation in her room. Photo / Supplied

"I've had a lot of friends and family that have suffered through breast cancer. Some have survived and some haven't, so it's a cause that is very dear to my heart."

"It's amazing how many people are affected when a woman gets breast cancer. It's heartbreaking to see what families go through."

Greenough kept her design simple and timeless. Relaxation was key.

She wanted to create a place "where you can go and read a book if you are not feeling great, somewhere serene".

"The colours I used are pared back and I imported some beautiful hand-painted fabric from France to incorporate flowers into the room."

All designers started with the pink velvet Sealy Posturepedic Exquisite bed and added linen and accessories.

Designer and illustrator Evie Kemp said her creation was based around the "road to recovery".

Designer and illustrator Evie Kemp in her room with a one-off vase print in background. Photo / Supplied

One of the main features in her design was a framed one-off print of a repaired vase that she created especially for the campaign.

"I was inspired by the art of kintsugi, a Japanese art form and philosophy based on the idea of repair to a broken object, particularly ceramics, which can then tell a story and make the object even more beautiful," she said.

Alex Walls in the room she designed for Sealy's breast cancer fundraising auction. Photo / Supplied

"It shows that broken objects are not something to hide, but to display with pride, and I love how that resonates as a metaphor for breast cancer recovery."

Alex Walls, designer and owner of Alex & Corban Home, drew on the beauty and calm of nature for her room and LeeAnn Yare, owner of homewares store Collected, wanted to showcase the colour pink.