Christmas Tree Decorating

Here's a fun job I did yesterday...
I got an email on Friday afternoon from a branding company asking me if I could decorate a Christmas tree for their government client - and if so, quickly. Once I saw the photo of the sad looking tree, I had to say yes. I visited the office that day - saw the aqua and blue colours behind the reception desk therefore had the jumping off point for the decorations. Shopped in the weekend and on Monday afternoon, I decorated the tree. This is how it went...

The tree - before.

Moved the tree onto the carpet (closer to the waiting area) and the branches got some loving treatment.

Add fairy lights (x 3 sets of 200) and covered the stand with turquoise tulle.

And covered the tree in decorations - all 296 of them and pop the star on top.

Mission accomplished.

Photographs by Charlotte Minty.

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New Cushions

Here is a job that I have been assisting with since last year and today we installed some of the finishing touches.

This interior has a great mix of vintage and modern pieces throughout and we continued the theme with the cushions. The top photo shows the Morris and Co 'Strawberry Thief' fabric, originally released in 1883 and recently re-released to celebrate 150 years of William Morris' work. To offset this piece, the other cushions come from the modern range by Dwell Studio. My client made some great choices here.

Photographs by Charlotte Minty.

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New Work - Kitchen Before and After.

The Kitchen - Before. This was a former showroom kitchen.

The previous kitchen did not allow direct access from the front door.

The Kitchen - After.

We used bamboo flooring and Corian on the island benchtop.

The kitchen tap with presence!

An upstand on the island creates division and a place for the powerpoints at each end.

A glossy black fridge.

The tiled splashback inserted with an art glass tile on the left.

Brushed stainless steel benchtop to match the freestanding oven.

Bamboo was continued on the island as the surround for the shelving at the end.

Double rangehood hidden in the cupboards above for the extra wide hob.

The commissoned art tile all lit up.

The art tile with light off.

We kept the client's chemistry collection from the previous kitchen and amped it up with some interesting lighting.

The lights slowly change colour - a disco in the kitchen!

Here is a kitchen that I designed and managed last year. I re-visited a few weeks ago and took some photos - I enjoyed seeing it again and to be reminded of the great transformation!
What I liked about this job was while the clients had some typical kitchen design requests like more storage, better flow, new bigger and better oven (had to come from Italy!), lots of drawers; there were other more interesting requests - they had commissioned an art tile for the splashback, they had a chemistry collection (signage, bottles) to display, they were keen on interesting lighting, they had a small scale art glass collection to display as well as a request for certain materials like bamboo flooring. I enjoyed working on this job and liked the surprises that my client handed me to work with.
Photographs by Charlotte Minty.

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New Work - Soft Furnishings for a Media Room.

An updated and cosy media room with new soft furnishings and drapes.

A comfortable new sofa from David Shaw and new drapes with a falling leaf pattern.

We re-upholstered the previously 'blah' cream chairs in this great patterned fabric.

Close up detail of this fabric from Westbury.

And for interest, we did one in each colour.

I got a chance to visit a client earlier this week to see the results of a job I worked on. My clients wanted to update their media room with new soft furnishings, drapes and to make the room more cosy. It was great to see everything in place and looking really good.
If you are interested in the fabrics and new furniture used here, they are available through Charlotte Minty Interior Design.
Photographs by Charlotte Minty.

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Patterns, Prints and Drapes.

New drapes for a client's home - this one in lovely faded vintage style floral fabric.

A great colourful paisley for the main Living area.

I had some drapes installed into a client's house this week and I think they came up beautifully. I have enjoyed working on this job as it is a character home and the client is working a mix of traditional and modern aesthetic throughout the house. So we aimed for patterned fabrics that had a traditional touch but still looked fresh and contemporary. These print fabrics from Westbury Textiles worked well into the scheme. All fabrics are available through Charlotte Minty Design.
Photographs by Charlotte Minty and via Westbury Textiles.

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Bathroom - Vanity Basins with a touch of Colour.

Soft blue with T&G on the bathroom vanity.

In a neutral bathroom, colour on the vanity works well.

The same combination was carried on into the Ensuite.

I met with a client today and when I proposed allocating a soft blue-green onto the new bathroom vanity, she was uncertain about this combination. So I thought I would bring up this bathroom from last year - all neutral with a side of soft blue. Hope she's keen.
Photographs by Charlotte Minty.

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Styling - the Finishing Touches

Close-up of some interior styling.

Getting the interior ready for a magazine shoot.

I did quite a few private styling jobs as a request from some of my clients in 2010. They enjoy the fact that I can come in and re-hash their existing belongings and put them in a new light. I can also point out possibilities for future purchases or what to keep an eye out for. Clients really appreciate this! Last year my mum (she's clever too) and I came on board for my sister's house and styled her place for a magazine shoot. The photographer didn't move a thing so we see that as a sign of success...
I hope to continue to do more styling in 2011.

From the NZ Home magazine.

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Work in Action - Kitchen Splashback

Lukas the tiler at work.

Leading up to Christmas, December has been a month of installations and finishing off details. This photo is from one of the more interesting jobs that I have been working on. I designed this kitchen for my clients around the middle of the year, however, it was delayed due to the purchased freestanding oven having to travel from Italy - a good 12 week wait. So in result, the kitchen has been installed this month (probably the most craziest month to do so) and the oven is arriving tomorrow. Woohoo.
Lukas the tiler is standing in the spot where the oven will sit and he is finishing off the tiled splashback. My clients commissioned a glass art tile and that is what Lukas is working on. It has been lit from behind hence the glow. Hopefully, I can get some good overall kitchen photos and show you all the cool details soon.
Photograph by Charlotte Minty.

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Resene

I have previously posted about the new Studio over Garage that you see above - you can read about it here. I have just found it on the Resene website - Minty Architecture and I had entered this job into the Total Colour Awards and it is on display with a selection of other entrants. It is quite a useful tool to observe what colours are being used by other designers/architects and how they look in reality. Check it out here.

Photograph by Charlotte Minty.

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New Work - Joinery with Sliding Doors

The new entertainment unit with the doors closed.

Doors opened for TV watching.

Plenty of storage.

Open shelf for easy use with remote controls.

Beading detail and traditional style handles.

Here is a joinery unit that I designed  earlier this year. When I first met my clients and asked for their brief, I was directed to a small TV sitting on a coffee table, piles of books and various TV paraphernalia sitting in an unordered array under a window. They wanted to move up to a bigger TV but not have it dominate the room; to hide away the subwoofer which still needed to have an opening so that it can still work and to store the huge collection of DVDs, CDs and other personal items that was hogging up a wardrobe in an adjoining bedroom. Taking on board their brief as well as the traditional surroundings and furniture of their home, this is the result. The sliding doors cover the TV when not in use, the subwoofer is in a cupboard next to a opening covered in grill cloth (like a stereo speaker), the joinery is the same colour as the wall so that it is not imposing, we copied a beading detail of an adjoining sideboard for the panelled doors and we use traditional handles to tie in with the rest of the interior. The clients are happy. Mission accomplished.
Photographs by Charlotte Minty.

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New Work - Bathrooms.

Main Bathroom - before.

Main Bathroom - after.

Ensuite - before.

Ensuite - after.

Separate WC - before.

Separate WC - after.

Today I visited one of my lovely clients who I worked with earlier this year. We transformed their main bathroom, ensuite and separate WC and it was great to see the finished results today.
All of the rooms were located on the same floor so it was important to maintain continuation with the design as well as a style to suit a traditional house. I also wanted to achieve streamlined rooms with no wasted spaces. By doing this, we were able to create bigger showers and an overall spacious feel.

Photographs by Charlotte Minty.

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