Trendsideas

Down the garden path – here, a glass gate allows the eye to follow the ‘lavastone’ bluestone steppers to the Karaka and shaded deck, a favourite spot deep within the garden

While the floors in this interior were colour-matched to echo sandy beaches nearby, salt-soaked driftwood would not be suitable fare for the room's Escea DS1150 double sided, gas fire

Removing the worn plaster ceiling for this apartment interior project revealed the elegant original concrete ceiling of the building, which ideally complements the introduced wood-look wall finishes

In keeping with its coastal setting yet bold in its design strokes, this Japanese-style shou sugi ban-clad home stands strong on the skyline – a kwila boardwalk path leads to the front door

Refined touches abound in this coastal kitchen – a waterfall oyster stone benchtop; dark, touch-to-open cabinets; and fluted glass-fronted upper cabinetry all finely balance the elegant and the practical

A Spanish quartz vanity, ceramic plaid wall tile and grass cloth wallpaper combine to create a sense of luxury in this powder room with optimised privacy – custom pendants complete the picture

A shapely Kado Lussi freestanding bath stands out in this bathroom – in part due to its plinth base and backdrop of large format monochromatic textured tiles

Passive house design responds to sun, wind, rain and land-forms to optimise energy savings and indoor living quality – for this scenic Queenstown home, Altus Window Systems played an integral role

Need more storage and workspace? Here, a front peninsula provides more bench and storage space while creating an informal demarcation of the kitchen zone

While offering many expansive picture and clerestory windows, this home also features low, long windows that balance views, privacy and sunlight mitigation

For this kitchen, the cabinetry's timber framing connects with the room's plywood-finished walls and ceiling – helping to assimilate the workspace into the wider interior

In this bathroom, a wooden vanity benchtop loosely connects with the bathroom's timber wall boards – except, they're not timber at all, but rather textured board-formed concrete