Your design’s time to shine
Past winners share why you should enter Interior of the Year in 2018,
Each year the NZ House & Garden Interior of the Year competition offers the opportunity to put your spatial creations in the limelight.
Open to amateur design-lovers and professionals, it’s a level playing field and a great way to share a room or rooms of your home that a lot of love has gone into.
The six categories on offer are best kitchen, best living room, best bathroom, best bedroom, best indoor/outdoor space, and best ‘‘out of the ordinary’’ space,
Category winners will receive a trophy and $1000. The supreme winner, chosen from the category winners, will win a trophy and a three-night stay at luxurious Kauri Cliffs.
The judges will be looking for rooms where the spaces and the interior decoration complement one another and deliver a cohesive creative statement: beautiful rooms that speak about their owners and the way they live. To be eligible for entry, homes must be lived-in and fully furnished.
Factors taken into consideration will include colour use, texture, use of space, creative ideas, the vision/story behind the room and how the creator of the room has overcome space or budgetary limitations.
Winners of the past have included amateurs and professionals, the working and retired.
Angela Kemp, entered Interior of the Year for the first time in 2015, reaching the position of finalist in the living room category, before a big win the following year.
For this, she entered her plush conservatory into the ‘‘out of the ordinary’’ category and came out as the competition’s supreme winner.
Kemp loved her glasshouse-like space but feared it might be too small to win. She was convinced to enter by her style-savvy daughter, designer Evie Kemp.
Full of colour, the petite area packs a punch with a black-andwhite tiled floor, two seagrass chairs, a water feature and plenty of plants.
‘‘It was inspired by the Auckland wintergarden. It’s a lovely green oasis,’’ said Kemp.
Winning was quite the buzz. ‘‘When the pictures were shown [at the awards] there was a gasp in the audience,’’ she said. ‘‘Which was really lovely and surprising.’’
The look Kemp is drawn to, she describes as ‘‘English country house style.’’ A British native, she recalls being taken on trips to National Trust mansions and country houses as a child. She prefers ‘‘opulence and comfort’’ over style.
Her current sitting room, which she is considering entering in this year’s competition, is an homage to belle epoque pattern designer William Morris.
The room sports wallpaper in Morris’ iconic Strawberry Thief print and features Liberty London fabrics.
She knows her maximal look is not for everyone. ‘‘Go with what you love, go with it and feel confident,’’ said Kemp. ‘‘Furnish it with things that you love rather than things that are on trend.’’
Her advice to those entering this year is simple: ‘‘Take nice clear photographs with everything tidy as if you were having an open home and just let your style shine through.’’
Similarly, Matakana resident Cathy Gould, who took out the living room category in 2015, prefers ‘‘a mix of antique and contemporary, with art.’’
She loves for her home to be a beautiful environment that friends and family can make memories in. ‘‘I love sharing my home,’’ said Gould. ‘‘I love having people in it, groups of people or friends and family.’’
‘‘I take it as a personal compliment when people are relaxed and enjoy being there. You can give people something from [being in] your home and that’s important.’’
Gould’s home was designed and built by her and her partner with a clear aesthetic in mind.
‘‘We built the house and used brick internally to reference back to the structure of an old barn. We put down an oak floor. The colours in the living room evolved from the artworks we were putting on the walls,’’ she said.
‘‘I like vibrancy and warmth. It has to be a home rather than a showroom.’’
Of winning the best living room category, Gould found that ‘‘it was nice to be recognised for something you’re good at and really love.’’
She sees the Interior of the Year competition as ‘‘a great opportunity open to homeowners and professionals alike’’ and took a more methodical approach to her entry than Kemp’s spontaneous inclusion.
‘‘I spent hours taking photos and writing my brief. I entered five rooms so did the process five times over and did it slowly over two to three months. I also sent in a hard copy entry, rather than by email.’’
Her advice to potential entrants for 2018 is ‘‘just do it’’.
‘‘It’s fun,’’ said Gould. ‘‘It’s great. It was a great experience. NZ House & Garden does such a wonderful job.
‘‘It’s a fabulous magazine and we all love to see other people’s houses, that’s why we buy it. So let’s all contribute together.’’