Stories

Whether you like them or not, trends are a part of our everyday life. Here are three tips to ride the trends in a timeless way. In architecture and interiors, trends help keep the design aesthetic fresh and interesting, constantly bringing in ideas. But trends do change, some faster than others. Trends that we see in New Zealand are influenced by the seasons, fashion, decades gone by, and our northern hemisphere friends. The reality is that nothing is new, everything that is trending now has trended somewhere else in history or around the world. This is a common question I get: how can we feel like we’re on trend without the fear of regretting it in five years’ time? Within interior design, decorative aspects can easily roll with current trends. We can more easily change cushions, rugs, window dressings, some furniture, and colours than the permanent aspects of interiors like kitchen...

Often window treatments are not thought of in great detail until well into a project. Get on to it early with these key things to consider. Ideally, you should be discussing window treatments in the early architectural design phases of your build or renovation. You don’t need to choose the exact colour or fabric just yet, but deciding what system can go where is vital to avoiding disappointment at project completion. Think on these questions. Would you like to take advantage of views during the day? Feel cosy in the evening? In what spaces will you require privacy, filtered light or full blockout? What kind of treatment best suits you: drapes, sheers, roman blinds, roller blinds, venetians blinds, vertical blinds, honeycomb blinds, shutters, or a combination of these? And lastly, how would you like to operate these treatments? You can opt for home automation, hard-wired power source, battery operation, or hand...

Anna from Anna Margaret Interiors says our senses are how we perceive the world around us: sight, touch, smell, taste, and hearing; they guide our experiences, enjoyment, and way of living. She tells Cityscape how we use them to guide our home design, too. In our homes, these senses are vital to feel warmth, welcoming, calm, safe and happy. And this is never more important than during this time of the year. As the days grow shorter and the leaves fall, we can often feel the winter blues start to creep in. Creating an inviting and warm home can elevate the pleasure we get from our homes during the cooler months, starting with the lovely things we surround ourselves with, whether big or small, costly or not. We get to offset the way the outside world feels with a few changes inside; an exciting prospect when thinking about our homes. What...