Guthrie Bowron

 

We sat down with one of Guthrie Bowron’s colour consultants, Marilyn, to give interior decoration a whirl. It turns out, there is a lot that goes into designing a home, office, or any space - and an expert can make a lot of difference.

 

Owner and managing director, Stacey Graves and her husband, Luke, have designed three homes and knew how stressful and intense the process was.

When the opportunity to take over Pukekohe’s Guthrie Bowron store came up last year, she followed the passion. Their store allows you to match and decide the various aspects of your design in one place – flooring, paint colours, wallpaper, curtains, and decor.

While we were happy to run wild and explore all the beautiful options on offer – we started with a colour consultation for our office renovations.

We began by learning how every project and place requires different considerations. Asking questions about where you are located, how much privacy you want, how much sun or shade the building receives, and which way it faces ensures the consultants can offer the best advice for the unique project. Even things like having kids and pets affect which carpets and flooring you should use.

 

Outdoor spaces also require planning and knowledge such as if the current paint is oil or water-based and how long it takes for the tannins in a new deck to be drawn out before staining it.
Guthrie Bowron sees clients coming in for everything from new builds and redecorating to fitting out cabins and carpeting garages. Most of these people have some concept of what they want but the experts guide them through each area to evolve the design project.

Nowadays, many people are inspired by bold designs they see on Pinterest and other websites. This is reflected in the range of fun and unique wallpapers, colour schemes, and curtains available. Currently, warmer colours are trending as well as ‘greige’ the mix between beige and grey.

For our small office with limited natural light, Marilyn helped us choose lighter colours to make it feel open, with pops of our brand colours in the furnishing and dark-toned dividers to create depth and contrast. She even created a mood board for us that covers what we discussed.