Cottage industry

From the Resene/Your Home and Garden Colour Home Awards Competition - Grand Winner 2018

This year's Resene Colour Home Awards winners have crafted a charming country home with a refreshing, multi-hued colour palette

Meet + greet

Kirsty Wraight, 49 (director/PA at David Wraight Cottages) and David Wraight, 52 (director/builder at David Wraight Cottages).

Colour crush

You won't see many plain white walls in Kirsty and David Wraight's newly built character home in Blenheim. The winners of this year's Resene Colour Home Awards have used a number of Resene colours and wallpapers throughout their house, creating a soft, tonal effect with a lovely selection of pastel hues.

It's a real personal project: the home was built in 2017 by David, and the interior was put together by Kirsty. The home also functions as a bed and breakfast and part-time showroom for the couple's business (building cottages and transportable homes).

“This build has been a lot of fun for me, putting together the colourings, flooring and curtains,” says Kirsty. “I love playing with colour and spent a lot of time with fabric samples and drawdowns.”

Wall details of bedrooms

Country glamour

Kirsty and David's farmstyle home, set on 1.5 acres, is pine weatherboard and has been painted in the warm grey tone of Resene Kensington Grey with starchy white accents in Resene Half Rice Cake on the trim and verandas.

The kitchen is the pièce de résistance, with the soft green of Resene Emerge paired with Resene Quarter Rice Cake, and the spacious scullery featuring units painted in the striking black hue of Resene Blackjack. “I looked at several French farmhouse kitchens and also a few Hamptons-style kitchens while designing the kitchen and scullery,” says Kirsty.

Pops of colour such as those in the kitchen are offset by simpler tones: ceilings and doors are all painted in Resene ‘Quarter Rice Cake', as are the ensuites, family room and office. The formal lounge, hallway and main bathroom are painted in the subtle white of Resene Blanc.

“We knew we wanted Resene Emerge in the kitchen and the rest of the living areas fairly neutral. We still wanted a home with colour so we decided to put some life into the bedrooms.”

Kitchen and bedroom Kitchen details Kitchen & Dining: The open-plan kitchen, dining and living area features a timber island with solid oak top, plus a more formal dining table. The soft green of Resene ‘Emerge' lends a light, fresh feeling to the space.

Unique spin

The four bedrooms have very individual looks. Three of them feature a dado rail with Resene ‘Quarter Rice Cake' on the lower third of the wall, and the dusky pink Resene Brandy Rose, warm beige Resene Truffle and earthy green Resene Linen on the top. In the fourth bedroom, Kirsty has paired Resene Quarter Rice Cake with a blue Eijffinger wallpaper from Resene.

Decorating is one of Kirsty's passions. “It's something I love to do, and who knows – maybe one day I will get around to doing a course in design. It's a hobby I love at the moment.” She couldn't have done it without the fabulous painter David Price, she points out.

Now that the interior is complete, she is focusing on welcoming B&B guests to the home. “I spent 25 years in hospitality and I have missed the people contact,” she says.

Why not see the place for yourself? To book a stay, visit David Wraight Cottages.

Bathroom and bedrooms
Room details
Bedrooms: Kirsty opted for a number of different looks for the bedrooms in her Blenheim home, which doubles as a show home and B&B.