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The kitchen joinery is stained in Resene Pitch Black wood stain, the left wall is painted in Resene Blanched Pink and the right wall and ceiling in Resene Alabaster.
The wall running the length of the hallway through the kitchen and living area is painted in Resene Blanched Pink from the Karen Walker Paints collection from Resene. “It was the only colour we both agreed on from the start!” says Geordie.
Geordie and Emma used soft, timeless Resene Quarter Powder Blue in the master bedroom for a relaxing vibe.
Bright pops of colour feature in the entryway with Resene Pelorous on the front door, and Resene Colorwood Emerald Green in the coat nook. The right wall is painted in Resene Blanched Pink and the left wall and ceiling in Resene Alabaster. “Our apartment features steel factory windows and concrete structural elements, so utilising surprising planes of colour is a means to balance the industrial feel and create a stimulating yet homely interior,” says Geordie.
The north-facing living area with walls painted in Resene Alabaster is filled with natural light creating the warm, open space the couple desired.
The Strandboard stained in Resene Pitch Black allows the concrete polished floor to shine, preserving the character of the industrial building.
The creative addition of a colourful coat nook in the entryway creates depth in the space, stained in Resene Emerald Green.
Former chocolate factory with a sinister history transformed into an elegant, light-filled apartment
Young architectural graduates Geordie and Emma Shaw had some guts when they purchased the dingy, worn apartment located at the scene of an unsolved murder in the capital. But the transformation to come resulted in an elevated, stimulating industrial apartment using a combination of bold and muted Resene colours – making it easy to forget the grisly history of the building.
Looking through design lenses, the couple purchased a dark, compressed apartment on College Street, Wellington, in a converted three-storey factory built for Queen Anne Chocolates in 1926. The same building where the factory manager was murdered in his office in the mid 1940s, a crime that has still not been solved. But despite the macabre history, along with the mould, faded carpet, and drab walls, Geordie and Emma could see the potential and couldn’t wait to make the place their own, using their skills and passion. “We bought it with the conviction that peeling back the layers would reveal the character of the original industrial building,” says Geordie.
With a budget of just 90k, Geordie and Emma wanted to overhaul and restructure the entire apartment to fix the poor circulation and low natural light. The first step to achieving this was to shift the kitchen into the hallway, making a galley-like space, also used as a thoroughfare. “It was the key to unlocking the apartment’s potential,” says Geordie. By doing this, the living area was doubled, creating an open space with ample light flowing through the north facing windows. The couple easily settled on Resene Blanched Pink for the hallway wall running from the front door through the kitchen to the living area, wanting a colour that was ‘unexpected but not overpowering’.
After tearing down the false ceiling, the apartment gained an extra metre of height which naturally opened up the space – once the decades of black mould growth underneath had been slowly scraped away. The unique concrete floor was also revealed once the carpet was pulled up, with interesting patching showing the years of use as a factory floor. A sliding door off the living room leading into the repositioned second bedroom gives the option for flexible, interconnected spaces. The living room and bedroom walls are painted in Resene Alabaster, a classic choice allowing for the natural light to stream through the steel-framed windows, stealing the show.
Geordie and Emma initially considered paying homage to the heritage of the building with a pastel palette – Queen Anne Chocolates also made ice cream, on the same floor as their apartment. But ultimately, they found inspiration from Swiss-French modernist architect Le Corbusier’s approach to colour in a few of the residences he designed. “Many of his projects utilised pure white surfaces, raw concrete and natural timber offset with polychromatic colour schemes to enhance form, volume and space,” says Geordie. They used a mix of Resene feature colours to add some warmth to the industrial feel of the space. The pair first played around with colour choices in their design software, “We spent a lot of time using different colours and shades on every surface, getting experimental and having long debates about what worked or not!”
The entryway uses pops of vibrant hues for a bold welcoming into the apartment, starting with the front door painted in Resene Pelorous, ensuring the dark story of what occurred in the building was put far from the mind. The colours work to offset the steel and concrete elements of the space. A creative coat nook, also referred to as the ‘green room’, is constructed with Strandboard finished in Resene Colorwood Emerald Green wood stain, overcoated with Resene Aquaclear. With the colour of stains varying on different timbers, they tried a few different testpots before settling on the elegant green. “It transforms a cheap material into something with a real depth and intensity,” says Geordie. The master bedroom leading off the hallway is painted in the calming Resene Quarter Powder Blue, warmly contrasting the concrete floor and steel windows with a homely feel.
Finding satisfaction in discovering cost effective renovation strategies, the pair elevated common materials such as Strandboard for joinery and shelving. “As the new kitchen doubled as a thoroughfare, we wanted it to feel more akin to built-in furniture, without the toe kicks and melamine panels of conventional kitchens,” says Geordie. The Strandboard shelves were stained in Resene Pitch Black, using a lab grade compact laminate with black core for the kitchen benchtop and splashback. A steel frame system custom designed by the couple for their unique galley kitchen was fabricated by a local metal worker. They also repurposed robe hooks as drawer pulls. Geordie said it was challenging to stick to their small budget, but by finding creative solutions through repurposing materials they reduced expenses.
Geordie and Emma found it bittersweet to leave their apartment in 2020 to move down to Christchurch, from where they now run their business, Shaw & Shaw Architects. “We were able to enjoy our new home for long enough that the renovation memories were superseded by us living out our millennial dreams; popping down the street for danishes, freshly ground coffee and a new magazine to enjoy in the sun on our sofa.”
Overall, they really enjoyed undertaking the process of designing just for themselves, finding it fun to play the roles of both architect and client. “We loved problem solving together, figuring out ways to carve out as much space and light as possible without blowing our budget. Now that we’re running our own practice, we love working with clients who may also have limited budgets but want to create something that reflects their own personalities and character.”
Find Geordie and Emma at www.shawandshaw.co.nz.
The wall running the length of the hallway through the kitchen and living area is painted in Resene Blanched Pink from the Karen Walker Paints collection from Resene. “It was the only colour we both agreed on from the start!” says Geordie.
The kitchen joinery is stained in Resene Pitch Black wood stain, the left wall is painted in Resene Blanched Pink and the right wall and ceiling in Resene Alabaster.
Geordie and Emma used soft, timeless Resene Quarter Powder Blue in the master bedroom for a relaxing vibe.
Bright pops of colour feature in the entryway with Resene Pelorous on the front door, and Resene Colorwood Emerald Green in the coat nook. The right wall is painted in Resene Blanched Pink and the left wall and ceiling in Resene Alabaster. “Our apartment features steel factory windows and concrete structural elements, so utilising surprising planes of colour is a means to balance the industrial feel and create a stimulating yet homely interior,” says Geordie.
The north-facing living area with walls painted in Resene Alabaster is filled with natural light creating the warm, open space the couple desired.
The Strandboard stained in Resene Pitch Black allows the concrete polished floor to shine, preserving the character of the industrial building.
The creative addition of a colourful coat nook in the entryway creates depth in the space, stained in Resene Emerald Green.
Published: 14 Oct 2022
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Resene Blanched Pink
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