Trends New Zealand Trends Volume 31 No 8 New Zealand | Page 94

Holiday homes are all about laid-back living and informal entertaining. Interiors, and kitchens especially, need to reflect this casual, relaxed lifestyle. This holiday home, which will one day be a permanent home for the owners, was designed and built by Box Living to provide such a welcome retreat. Designer Samantha Elliot says radiata pine plywood was chosen for wall linings throughout the house, including in the open-plan kitchen and family living area. “The radiata pine has a large grain, which is very bach-like. It creates a warm, inviting interior,” she says. “There are no plasterboard linings anywhere in the house. Even the ceilings are plywood. But here we specified poplar, which is lighter in colour, with a smaller, tighter grain. However, because poplar is a much softer wood, we couldn’t use it for the kitchen cabinetry.” Elliot says a contrasting timber was essential for the cabinets and open shelving, to add visual interest. And while birch would have been a close match for search | save | share at trendsideas.com the poplar ceiling, it would not have been exact. So a completely different marine plywood, gaboon, was chosen instead. “Gaboon has a slightly smaller, more swirling grain than the pine, and is pink toned, rather than gold. It makes a good contrast to the walls. And because it is a marine ply, we could carry it through to the cabinetry in the bathrooms to provide visual continuity.” Handles routed into the ply enhance the casual, beachy look of the cabinets. The shadows make them appear as black