Wellington kitchen and living room renovation

The clients felt strongly that they wanted a modern, muted colour palette with a white semi-traditional kitchen. The client had seen a piece of modern art in my office that I owned and had always liked the colours used: duck egg blue, pale blue, light brown, dark brown, warm greys and white.

The kitchen and open plan living area was to refer to the architectural era of their house, but they wanted the style of the kitchen to be neither classified as a strictly traditional style or as an uber-modern minimalist style. The design had to meet somewhere in the middle and also not be totally bland in the colour palette and it needed to have texture.

A softened traditional bevel edged panel profile was incorporated into all the white cabinetry along with Linen finish stainless steel and New Brown Pearl granite to the benches as the classical elements of the design. Resene Double Alabaster on the ceilings and woodwork was used to repeat the white throughout the space and was also wrapped down the high stud walls to the picture rail to give a sense of space.

The more traditional design elements were countered by the addition of texture, which was achieved by using the Laminex Innovations Aluminum Tracery laminate to the large overhead cabinets and an island wall clad with Bestwood Zebranocon laminate. This not only broke the white of the kitchen but gave it style as well as texture. The existing matai REF125 floorboards were stained using Resene Waterborne Colorwood tinted to Resene Black Pepper and finished with Resene semi-gloss clear polyurethane. This was a successful floor treatment as the irregular colouration and grain of the timber could still be seen through the black stain – however, it did take a certain amount of trust between myself and the client to go ahead with such a dark strong colour.

Warmth was added to the modern, muted colour scheme by the use of a warm grey palette of Resene Pravda, Resene Half Pravda and Resene Eighth Pravda. The use of orange LED lighting under the cabinetry and the purple cathedral stained glass panels to the windows were successful as accent colours and gave the colour scheme an element of fun. Elegant curtains and roman blinds made from natural glazed linen fibres in a duck egg blue/brown colour combination helped to complete the final look.

The clients love their kitchen and open plan living area and judging from the compliments they continue to receive about it they feel that the final result far exceeds their expectations.

Colours used: Resene Black Pepper, Resene Double Alabaster, Resene Eighth Pravda, Resene Half Pravda, Resene Pravda.

Products used: Resene Lustacryl, Resene SpaceCote Low Sheen, Resene Waterborne Colorwood, Resene Zylone Sheen.

Architectural Specifier and Colour Selection: Simone van der Plas, Encompass Ideas
Building Contractor: Keith Hollows, Capital Kitchens
Photographer: Adam Simpson, Station Creative
Project: Resene Total Colour Awards 2011

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