Description:

I was approached by artist Nichola Shanley and her husband to assist with the decoration of their home in Lyttelton, a port town in Banks Peninsula.

The house had been beautifully restored post-earthquake, with local architect Peter Kent overseeing the architectural changes. Peter simplified the layout of the house, while respecting the original form. He kept the chapel ceilings and the proportions based on the French prefabricated module that the house was originally erected from.

The house had enjoyed many iterations of more muted tones and I sought to provide rooms with their own distinct language, punctuating the tasteful architecture and Peter’s signature tongue and groove with olives, burgundies, brilliant English yellows, calm greens and blues that spoke to this client's individual story.

I was deeply inspired by Nichola, her practice - which spans textiles, painted surfaces and ceramics - and her wardrobe. I decorated sympathetically, in the hopes that it felt seamless. I chose fabrics and designed custom pieces that reflected her. There is an eccentricity to the design, a playfulness, a delicate but firm touch, that unifies a bundle of separate notes.

At Nicholas' urging I specified colours for the house and provided a palette for her to create extraordinary murals on the walls. There is a visual comfort, depth and magic to the many layers and hues of contrasting matt paint.

A large, almost gothic, headboard upholstered in Madeleine Castaing’s monochromatic ‘Branches de Pin’ is the perfect foil to the prettiest pink walls and ceiling of the master bedroom. The snug walls envelope you, they are decorated with a scalloped, embroidered neon “Jardin d’Hiver” that draws you into the back of the house, like a strong current. A delicious muddy brown adorns the bathroom walls, contrasting brilliantly against the white fixtures. We elected to paint the laundry a spring green, and in favour of cupboard doors installed an underbench skirt in an almost edible Josef Frank fabric. The yellow exterior door underpins the warm tones of the green paint. The large kitchen, dining and living room was handled with the lightest touch so as not to disturb the existing mural. We painted the kitchen, doors and windows dark olive allowing the eye to calmly settle on the landscape beyond.

The overall result sings, as it always does when there is a true collaboration between designer and client.