The Style Guide First Edition
Stylemaker
Hello
Thanks for opening the doors to your inbox, I’m delighted to visit. The inspiration for my Style Guide is far bigger than a few handy tips - behind the words is a piece of my story. It reveals a humble upbringing, a resourceful child, a devotee of treasures and order. For you, I hope the pages resonate, inspire and help. Or if it’s just plain pretty to look at, that’s okay too. The motto of ‘one treasure in, one out’ was not a luxury I knew as a kid. Being inventive with the very few pieces I had taught me creativity. Better still, it showed me beauty in everyday things. Sophistication isn’t a hefty price tag, it’s about infusing your story into a home. It’s as simple (and hard) as that. From small-scale budgets, to clients with eye-popping freedom to spend, I will always carry these childhood learnings like a mission statement for my business. So gather what you will, it takes courage to display your pieces, plus an artful eye for texture, scale and colour - let’s troubleshoot the nine corners of your home. Yours stylishly,
Nikki
1............................................. Step Inside A welcoming entry
2..................................................Tell Tale Putting your story on show throughout your living spaces
3.............................................. Outside In Bringing in the texture and pattern of your garden to your lounge
4...................... Tablescapes & Landscapes Using your dining table as a display platform
5.............................................. In the Mix Where pretty meets practical on the kitchen bench top
6................................... Pattern on Pattern Playing with the right amount of pattern in the master bedroom
7....................................... Cutting Shapes How shape repetition can have an overall effect in children’s bedrooms
8...................................................Store It A place for everything and everything in its place
9............................................. Tray Away How a hold all creates a collection, even in the bathroom
1 Step Inside
Hello and welcome. The first hint of the people who live at your place, starts at the entrance. It’s equal parts fun and function — a spot to hang, store or sit. My best-ever buy is this bench seat. Super budget yet bold, it’s somehow punchy but unobtrusive, and it will happily star in many different rooms across our home. Theme wise, I’ve run with black, white, green, and oodles of natural materials and texture. yy The entrance is a first reveal of your design style. Bring your A game. yy Spaces should speak to each other — create a theme using colour and pattern. yy Stay on theme, scattering it throughout — think rhythm through repetition. yy Rejig from time to time, changing-out bowls, foliage, books or vases.
2 Tell Tale
If these walls could talk… Sharing our story at home takes away that sterile showroom vibe, it builds interest, personality and connection. The heart of my story here is a tall black bird. Travelling in my beloved’s suitcase from Ho Chi Minh City, it used to be gold. A basket from a holiday in Fiji, brass art for birthdays, an ancient paddle buried in mud on the Hawkes Bay River — the lounge is an injection of our character, a journey for the eyes using shape, colour and form. yy Revamp your treasures with a can of paint. A simple colour tweak can totally rejuvenate. yy Tap into your sense of adventure. Dig out those exotic locale pieces, they tell your tale. yy When unsure, return to the safety of wood. A little raw grain adds warmth and never grows old. yy Crushing on vases, trays or baskets? Own it. Start collecting a combo of your favourites.
3 Outside In
Nature got it so right. Take design cues from the outdoors, the garden reveals colour, light and texture to mimic. My theme is led by the leafy green hedge, anchored with a black side table and texture is repeated using foliage in a vase. For me, black, green and white are crisp yet tranquil colours. They evoke a little sophistication too. On the tray are fillers from our Vietnam travels and the vase is a treasured gift from a friend. yy Greenify spaces by taking inspiration from outside your window. What texture can you mimic? yy Coordinate interior colours with the outside vistas to help connect your spaces. yy Mass plant hydrangea, monstera, ferns, magnolia - you’ll be gifted striking foliage for indoors. yy Pick out patterns from outside and find fabric to match, like the flora cushion in this picture.
4
Tablescapes & Landscapes Bring your art to the table. A table gathers our loved ones, it’s also the perfect platform to display personality through art. At my place, a cherished painting has driven the choice of hues for the table. I’ve grouped edibles in colour schemes to tie it back to the artwork on the wall. My love of the everyday ordinary, such as fruit, harks back to a frugal upbringing and these days I can’t resist crafting it into something beautiful. yy The statement piece in a room will help define the supporting colours to choose. yy Repeat a colour from your theme in every room. Black is a gem, like a bold punctuation mark. yy Cluster similiar things together. Don’t be afraid to turn regular things into art, fruit is a winner. yy A table is a generous platform for homewares, but make them easy to move come dinnertime.
5 In the Mix
We sink hours into the kitchen. The hub of the home. The kitchen is an area that deserves its own special narrative. Practical can hold hands with pretty, and the kitchen bench is a perfect place to start. I have taken style direction from the grid like pattern of our tilework and mirrored it with a handmade wire basket. On the work surface at my place is a combo of mass-produced and handmade pieces (they happily team together) and always a wellworn cookbook. yy Layer upon layer for the win. Achieved with contrasting materials; rough, hard, soft, smooth. yy Vary the heights of your pieces, think tall with squat, landscape with portrait. yy Curvaceous, soft shapes look striking when contrasted with angular, strong lines. yy Turn everyday kitchen tools into decorative pieces, oil decanters are a lovely example.
6 Pattern on Pattern
Playing with pattern. If something is very patterned it pulls punch and looks heavy, which is just fine if matched with the right supporting acts. A scatter of patterns can be the difference between harmony and chaos – with too much contrast the patterns have no common ground. Sharing a bedroom with Mr. M means limiting the number of cushions, but not the impact. I’ve used a mix of my chief colour, black, along with chartreuse, and repeated them in our artwork. yy Floral prints will soften out masculine grid patterns, as shown here in the cushion Vs bed linen. yy Solid colours create calm in a room, and velvet is a gorgeous texture to achieve this too. yy Patterns don’t stop at the bed, they dance across handles, homeware, furniture and prints. yy One patterned cushion can do the trick, pull out secondary hues from this dominant piece.
7 Cutting Shapes
Going around in circles... it’s an artful eye that executes shape to best effect, yet they are in every corner of a home. Underrated, but soft and pretty is the humble oval. In my daughter Ruby’s room we snipped apart an old wallpaper sample book and the frames came from my parents’ picture framing art supply shop. Tucking them away for safe keeping has paid off, they have been a thrifty yet fun way to play with shape. yy Repeat shapes for impact. Try circular; pompoms on cushion, chair, wall decal, side table, frame. yy Get resourceful. Once dowdy mahogany frames have repurposed to crisp, funky artwork. yy Harmonise soft shapes and floral patterns with harder grid lines like waffle bed linen.
8 Store It
A place for everything... If the secret to a happy life is an organised room, I have it down. Good storage helps generate a relaxed, paredback space. My son Theo’s bedroom has the key items for a teen; storage, light and an alarm clock. It’s an ordered retreat, without compromising on personality. The wallpaper framed art reappears here too, this time to support the white bedside lamp which could get lost against a plain wall - a patterned background helps it pop. yy Don’t make it hard to reach beloved items packed away, storage should be accessible. yy Only store what matters; the gems you genuinely love and will always use. yy Go shopping with a well-oiled plan. Know what needs to be stored, measure items, then spree. yy Storage is art. Theo’s bedside table stays on theme, and the circular shape softens harder lines.
9 Tray Away
Trays for days... A tray is my style weapon, spotted throughout our home. While featured in black (of course), it’s the shape that works hard too. Rectangular basins call for an oval tray — it chills out the linear and is more sensual for a bathroom, a place to relax and revive. A solid dark colour anchors the objects, and is effortlessly chic. yy A tray makes objects feel collected. Caution - wisely picked items are better than every bit n bob. yy Connect and group items by colour choice, followed by texture and shape. yy Scent over sensibility, always. Whip the lid off those precious candles and burn baby burn. yy Be tray smart. Despite overwhelming choice, seek out ideal shapes and buy only what you need.
Last Thoughts “Next time you think of beautiful things, don’t forget to count yourself in.” I’m not even sure who authored the words, but they hit the spot. Let your style come from your heart, inject it with abundance – ditch the seasonal hot-trends. Simply check-in with yourself and ask how it makes you feel. Above all, enjoy the ride. Laugh at style blunders, magpie old treasures, don’t be afraid of a bargain, pay extra attention to detail, and behold the magical powers of a spray can. From my place to yours, style freely.
Nikki Follow us for more inspiration
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