Design Consultations

Three samples on the kitchen bench. A plan you have looked at so often you have stopped seeing it. And one decision that will not settle, no matter how many times you move the boards around in the afternoon light.

That is how most people arrive. They leave with it made.

It starts with the room, not the floor

Colour comes up first, always. It is also the easy part, and rarely the thing actually holding you up.

A floor is the largest surface in the house and it sets the tone for everything that lands on top of it. So we start there: what the room is for, how you live in it, and what it needs to feel like when you walk in on a wet Tuesday.

• How it sits with everything else. Joinery, tile, stone, benchtops, paint, the rug you already own. Bring the samples. Bring the paint chip you have been carrying around in your bag since March.
• The light you actually have. South-facing and cool, or full afternoon sun. The same oak is two different floors in two different rooms, and this is the thing a screen will never tell you.
• Format. Plank at 240mm, herringbone, or the 120mm wall and ceiling board. All twelve colours run across every format, so a room can be resolved floor to ceiling in one material. People are often surprised by how much they like that idea.
• Texture and edge. Matt against brushed, micro bevel against handmade bevel. These decide how a room reads and they are almost impossible to judge on a screen. In the hand it takes about four seconds.
• The unglamorous half. Substrate, moisture, underfloor heating, acclimatisation. Nobody has ever pinned a substrate moisture reading to a mood board. It is still the reason floors fail, so we work through it with you.
• Quantities and budget. Bring the plans and we will take off areas, allow for wastage and give you a real figure to work with.

Who it is for

Homeowners deciding between three colours and wanting someone to be honest about which one suits the room. We will tell you, even when it is not the expensive one.

Architects and designers resolving a material palette, or needing fire ratings, slip data and E3 documentation for a commercial specification.

Builders working through substrate, moisture and installation on a job already underway.

The conversation adjusts. Same product, different set of questions.

Where, and who you will see

Auckland

Residium, 165 The Strand, Parnell. Open seven days.

Sarah Kerr, Interior Designer, is on site Wednesday to Saturday. Sarah brings twenty-five years of interior design across high-end residential and boutique development in Auckland, through her own practice, Sarah Kerr Design. She is very good at the conversation where two people want different floors.

Christchurch

149 Victoria Street. Open Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 2.30pm, and by appointment outside those hours including evenings and weekends.

Ella Fitzgerald, Creative Consultant, works from Ōtautahi with a background in graphic and interior design. She thinks in whole palettes, so bring everything.

Queenstown

313 Hawthorne Drive. Open Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 5.00pm, and Saturday, 10.00am to 4.00pm.

Julia Christie, Managing Director. On alpine projects the specification questions tend to be the difficult ones, and it is useful to be answered by the person who chose the product.

Before you come

Order samples. They are free, there is no limit, and nobody minds if you ask for eight.

Live with them for a week. Move them around. Look at them in the morning and again at six in the evening. A week in your own light tells you more than an hour comparing twelve boards under showroom lighting.

Then bring the three you cannot choose between, and the person you have to agree with, and we will settle it.

Book a consultation

Free, about an hour, and there is good coffee. Choose a studio and a time that suits.