Overcoming awkwardness

Do you have an ‘awkward’ space you’re not sure how to decorate? Hawke’s Bay interior designers Vic Bibby and Dael Brady talk us through how to tackle odd-shaped spaces, and how they can be your gateway to embracing new colour trends.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, and welcome to If These Walls Could Talk, The
Razine podcast where we discuss ideas on decorating color and
all things paint. Join us as we welcome guests from
across the world of design. If there's something you'd love
to hear about, email the team editor at habitat bar
Razine dot co dot NZT. Welcome back, Dale and Victim,

(00:24):
Bibbie and Brady Interior Design. Great to talk with you again.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Thanks Katrina. No, we're really happy to be here now.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
Just moving inside in terms of awkward spaces because a
lot of homes do have spaces that are slightly awkward.
Have you got any tricks that you use to with
color to enhance those spaces.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Yeah, We've worked with rooms that have low sloping ceilings
and you don't really know where to start. You know, where,
where does the roof start, Where does the wall stop?
How do we handle this? Is this the roof color
or the wall color? In this situation? It's a really
good it's great to wrap the whole room in a
single color and that just helps to blur the lines

(01:09):
so that you don't focus on these awkward angles. It's
all just one space. So that's a really good trip tip.
If you've got weird angles in a.

Speaker 4 (01:20):
Room, Yeah, it's a way of calming them by having
them all the same color.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
That sounds lovely and very peaceful. I think the other
thing is also when you're talking about wrapping a room,
you can use either light neutrals or the darker neutrals,
because it can really create a cozy space if you
go with that deeper, deeper shade sometimes.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Definitely embracing it. It's amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
And if we have clients who are a little bit
scared about using color, that's always a great place to
start is in somewhere like a media room or a
powder room, which even a laundry.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, like put color in there. Yeah, and you're in
the if you've got to walk in wardrobe, you know,
paint the back of the walls behind the clothes. You know.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Just this is a good place to start to get
to get adventurous with color and make sure that you
paint the whole room, no feature walls, Like let's just
embrace it and paint all the walls and if you
really brave, paint the ceiling as well. It just creates
such a cozy, warm space.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
It does, It does and speaking of feature walls, I
have to say they're not my sort of go to.
But they were huge for a while, wren't they They
were really in fashion. Do you think that they have
had their time?

Speaker 4 (02:37):
Definitely when you talk about feature walls a little bit,
and because our clients still love them, because it's a
way that they can feel brave enough to try color
but not commit completely. So they if they've got a
green or blue, they've seen something they really like. They
feel it's a safe way of adding color to their home.

(02:58):
So I understand why people do it. But once we've
got the color right, we need to go for it.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
I agree.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
So is fear. They've got fear on their walls. They
haven't committed. It looks like they were just too scared.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
That's exactly how I feel about a feature wall. I've
kind of like, why.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Didn't you do it the whole room? I know?

Speaker 4 (03:19):
And now we're saying, your course, now do the ceiling too,
so exactly showing them a little bit further, what do
you see as a shift in trends from say, five
years ago in the palettes that people are using these days.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
I think that on the whole kiwis are still quite
cautious with their color palettes, and they seem to have
really embraced the scandy vibe, which which I can completely understand.
It works really well with our outdoor living and lovers
of nature. But that's a lot of white walls, and

(03:55):
so we try and encourage people to get a little
bit braver and introduce a bit more color. And I
think people come to us because they know that we
love color, so we're lucky enough to deal with clients
who are willing to embrace that.

Speaker 4 (04:09):
There has been a shift away from gray though from
in the last few years where we were seeing a
lot of people asking for gray and that trickled down
to carpets, furnishings, was quite quite a pull towards gray.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
And now that's really shifted.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
And we think that's just the nature of the time
that we're in. You know, it's been We've had some
really turbulent years, and people are loving anything that's bringing
warmth and security and peace and calm into their lives.
So those warm tones are really trending, you know. Any

(04:45):
that's why we're looking at whites that have a lovely
warm tone to them rather than a cooler, cooler black
or gray edge to them.

Speaker 4 (04:54):
And that's why we'll often add texture to people's walls
as well, so you were getting the texture yourself when
you can't get that color, at least we can get
texture on their walls with paneling and then paint and
then use your different paint finishes just to add that
interest as well.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
It's a gorgeous way of doing it too, isn't it,
you know, creating a cohesive space but with the different
textures and having the color sort of allowing it to
sing a little bit. I think that's wonderful. Any plans
for the future. What are your thoughts moving forward?

Speaker 4 (05:25):
Oh, big question, Katrina, If you had ones here, I'll
tell you we go. We've got some really good projects
and the pipeline that we're excited about projects that would
never kind of tackled before. So that's quite cool to
be looking forward to doing different things for us as well,

(05:46):
which do definitely involve color, so that's quite exciting.

Speaker 3 (05:51):
And on the opposite side of the scale, we've also
got two or three clients who we've worked with in
the past that have come back to us, and that's
always really lovely because if you've worked with a client
before you've already created a synergy and yeah, and so
it's one. It's always wonderful working on additional projects with people.

(06:16):
So we've got lots to look forward to.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
That's wonderful. And do you find that their tastes have
changed from when you first worked with.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
Them growing up? Yeah, and sometimes getting of life.

Speaker 4 (06:30):
Yeah, So if you start when your kids are small,
and then the next stage and then the next stage, Yeah,
it's lovely so.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
That you're finding that there perhaps their palette choices are
evolving and maturing. I suppose.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yeah, some of these clients are coming from overseas. They
lived here, they moved away and are coming back. And
of course over seas in the Northern Hemisphere, they're really
embracing color over there, so being exposed to that.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
Is great. It means that they're really open to using
some bolder colors, which we love.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
I love that you're known for use of color. And
it must be such a lovely feeling when your clients,
as you say, are coming back and again and trusting
you with building palettes for them that work for different
periods of their lives.

Speaker 4 (07:19):
Yeah, and with people starting to wear a little bit
more color and you're seeing color and fashion, it means
that it'll translate to the home eventually as well. So
the braver people get with their wardrobes, often that translated
back to their houses.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
And often with our clients, we try and push them
a little bit out of their comfort zone because that's
our job. We have to give them things that they
couldn't do themselves or they wouldn't think to do themselves.
And we get a little bit of push back from
time to time. But the clients that trust us and
let us create the vision, it's always the things that

(07:56):
they are the most nervous about that they end up
loving the most, and that and it includes color.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
Tell me about the church, can you talk about oh
a little bit.

Speaker 4 (08:06):
It's definitely going to be challenging for us because it's
different eras of a church. The church was built in
eighteen something, and then it was added on to in
the seventies and then added on to into the eighties,
and so our goal is to bring it all together.

Speaker 3 (08:26):
But we've they've got the most beautiful stained glass windows
in the main church, so we're using that as a
little bit of a jumping off point so we can.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
Pull some colors out of there. To use in the
church itself.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
Oh, it sounds beautiful. It sounds like the kaleidoscope of
history coming together within one space. Well look forward to
seeing that. Well, thank you so much, Dalen Vick, Thank
you so much for your time. Baby and Brady in
Terior Design check them out, and thank you for joining
us on if these walls could talk. Remember to seeing
those questionstions through to editor at Habitat by Razime dot

(09:03):
co dot and said see you next time.