PETERSON BATHROOM
About the project….
New guest bathroom which was in a small internal space, so the challenge was to make it feel light and spacious.
What the client said…
I asked Marrion to transform my extremely small and dated guest bathroom into something more suited to my 100-year-old terrace house. I couldn’t be happier with the result – it now looks like a very cool European bathroom with concrete tiles matching the exterior and a feature tile resembling faded Persian rugs. It also feels a lot bigger!
The size of the bathroom meant the toilet and basin needed to be smaller than usual and Marrion was very resourceful in searching out these products, and in keeping with the desired look. A mirror cabinet solved the problem of storage which had been non-existent before.
Marrion was great to work with and didn’t blink when I asked to look at yet more places for ideas! She knew what I didn’t want and persevered to create the exact look – it certainly wouldn’t have looked this good without her.
PETERSON KITCHEN
About the project….
New kitchen in a heritage terrace house.
What the client says …..
I was really impressed with Marrion’s renovation of my small bathroom and asked her to look at my kitchen. It had been renovated 30 years ago and was badly in need of a complete workover.
I was after an industrial style using different materials and mainly black and that’s exactly what I’ve ended up with! Marrion designed a black steel framed island bench and suggested changing the orientation of the bench and moving it into the middle of the kitchen. This has made the biggest difference to the living/dining/kitchen area and I love it – it’s so useable now and has really defined the kitchen space.
She also suggested using a ceramic benchtop which meant it could be super slim (12mm) and would appear to be floating over the drawers/cupboards. The island bench and the benchtop have given my kitchen the industrial look I was after. I’m keen on NZ design so F&P black appliances were selected and Blum hardware was used throughout.
My kitchen is now an absolute pleasure to work and live in. And although I knew the look I was after, I really didn’t know where to start and I tend to procrastinate in these situations. Marrion came on board with all her ideas, her great spatial awareness and resources, and my kitchen was created - thank you Marrion!
CAMERON HOUSE
About this project….
Two new bathrooms for an existing house, one family and one ensuite bathroom.
What the client said….
Marrion has designed two bathrooms for us and I would thoroughly recommend her to others. She pays attention to detail and has ‘an eye’ for what looks right and also works well. I took on her suggestions and am pleased we did so. The building team she arranged fro us were superb and finished the job as per schedule. She was also available if there were any queries or concerns. Her facility to purchase on our behalf excellent product at excellent prices meant we were well within our budget. I would never suggest that anyone tries to arrange work like this on their own – it is a recipe for disaster, especially when for very little cost it can happen with the minimum of stress
HERNE BAY APARTMENT
About the project……..
Complete refurbishment of a two bedroom apartment including , alterations to kitchen, new bathroom, all new finishes and curtains and blinds.
What the client said…..
Recently I renovated an apartment in Sarsfield St, Herne Bay, Auckland. The building was originally designed by Neil Price in the 1970s’and has a strong heritage look and feel. Whoever I chose to design and oversee the renovation had to understand that cool 1970s concrete look and choose textures, surfaces and fittings that had modern functionality but enhanced the heritage qualities. In my mind this was not an easy task and Marrion stood up that challenge perfectly.
In summary I found Marrion originally presented her ideas well and always had a strong vision for the project. She is excellently organised and I had no hesitation in accepting her offer to project manage her design. She chose her contractors well and we had no issues with timing or quality during the build.
I have been involved in several renovation projects over the years but looking back, this would be the first project that ever came in finished on the exact budgeted day and exactly on the budgeted cost. That speaks volumes about how well Marrion could see the issues that needed dealing with when we began. Lastly, she allowed timeframes to solve unexpected problems in order to bring this project to completion. My renovation project was a complete success.
I would have no hesitation in using Marrion for my next renovation project.
SHORTLAND MANAGEMENT
Shortland Management a property and investment company with a portfolio of CBD office buildings. They provided turn key solutions for business’s providing a design and fit-out service for tenants. Marrion worked with us on numerous office fit-out projects. Her ability to prepare sketch plans for existing and prospective tenants was invaluable as it helped people visualise how the space could be designed to accommodate their specific office requirements.
She co-ordinated consultants, contractors and suppliers during the design, documentation and construction process.
Marrion project managed the entire process often working to very tight timeframes and developed good relationships with our tenants and contractors. She selected finishes and sourced furniture, artwork and accessories to stage office fit-outs for marketing purposes.
We enjoyed working with Marrion over a three year period until recently selling our portfolio of office buildings.
PHIPPS HOUSE
Phipps House, Epsom
About the project…
This was an extensive alteration and extension to a character 1930’s home.This included a new kitchen, three new bathrooms, dining and living room extension downstairs and a bedroom ensuite extension upstairs. In addition to the significant changes to the house in my role as Architect I also designed a new garage with guest room above and redesigned the pool and pool house.
Kathie and John Phipps comment ….
We worked with Marrion on a major renovation of our home. We had lived in our home for over twenty years and had made a couple of attempts to address the awkward flow of the house. We had previously consulted two architects and neither could seem to solve our major irritations with the house so we had given up and thought our house issues were unsolvable. Fast-forward another five years and we finally decided our 80s rimu kitchen was well past its use-by date. Morgan Cronin – kitchen designer came in and took a look. He said he could design us a beautiful kitchen but said the current kitchen was in the wrong place. He recommended we talk to Marrion May.
We met with Marrion. She agreed with Morgan that the current kitchen was in the wrong place. The better spot was the current mezzanine but she felt that it would not flow properly with the way the house was at the moment. She walked around our four-level home and within half an hour, made several suggestions which immediately we could see addressed the rabbit warren feel of the house. She suggested lowering the mezzanine floor, and extending out to the pool on one level. What started out as a meeting about a new kitchen turned into the beginning of a nearly three-year relationship.
Marrion drew plans, steered us to a town planner who helped with the council issues and helped us interview builders. Marrion also project managed the work. She is a rare architect who is gifted with both vision and practicality without being precious. She was very involved with the project, often just popping in to check things were up to par. She is exacting and expected things were carried out according to her design and drawings.
We are thrilled with the result. Five years down the track there is nothing about the design we would change. Our house is no longer a large, cold up-and-down nightmare which was only liveable for about six months of the year. It is now a warm family home with fabulous indoor outdoor flow, which is a pleasure to live in year round.
MEADS HOUSE
This project involved the refurbishment of the kitchen, dining and bathroom of the original 1851 Ponsonby farmhouse. Being a heritage house we had to be mindful of maintaining the architectural integrity of the house while creating a home for modern day living. While making a few minor changes to the room layout we worked within the existing footprint of the house making some changes to joinery in the dining area to improve the connection with the garden. Kate had a clear vision of how she wanted the house to feel and was very involved in the design and construction process so it was very much a collaborative approach.
Kate Mead Comments……
With a long narrow room and tight spatial constraints Marrion has worked out a kitchen design that is a pleasure to work in, adding more bench space and convenient storage. The actual mechanics of a good working kitchen was something that Marion excelled at, as was her selection of fittings in the kitchen that maximise storage space.
The Blum fittings Marrion specified are fantastic especially the narrow pull-out pantry doors which are a real space saver in a tight kitchen and other features like the bottle drawer are really useful.The reconfiguration of the existing bathroom with a request for a separate toilet and built-in laundry was another spatial challenge that has been a success.
Marrion managed to achieve all of this and we are very pleased with the result.
DORRINGTON HOUSE
I was involved with two projects for these clients – their home and holiday townhouse
Epson House Alterations - Alterations to a1920's English Arts and Crafts style house included a new family room extension, double garage extension with TV room and new bathroom above and refurbishment of two existing bathrooms. Outside work included a tennis court, swimming pool and landscaping.
Beach Townhouse Alterations - This project involved a complete refurbishment of the existing townhouse including adding another floor.
Shelley and David Dorrington comment …
Marrion has undertaken extensive design work for us over a period of 20+ years.
When we first purchased our house we asked Marrion to prepare a concept design of what could be possible with our Tudor style home. The concept covered all that we wanted in a house – and we have followed that plan over a number of years.
We started with kitchen, dining room and laundry. Three years later we added a family room, pool/patio area and tennis court. Our resultant kitchen was of such a high standard it was featured in the Trends New Zealand kitchen magazine in 1994. 8 years on we added a double garage with internal access, movie room, storeroom and bathroom, and renovated the existing upstairs bathroom along with adding an ensuite to our existing bathroom within the confines of our bedroom area.
In all of this substantial renovation/ improvement of our house – we have found Marrion to be particularly understanding of our needs, and to reflect them in her very practical, workable design. We were so delighted with all the work she undertook that we asked her to redesign our beach apartment. This entailed completely gutting the entire property and adding an extra floor. The result was outstanding.
Marrion is extremely talented, and what we have particularly liked about Marrion’s work is that everything she has done has been so practical without exception and has worked very well for us. Marrion is totally professional, lovely to work with and a stickler for detail, something that we consider to be essential in a designer. She is passionate about her work, keeping up with new ideas and approaches. We would highly recommend Marrion to anyone wishing to redesign/build a new kitchen or bathroom. In fact we have done that on several occasions. We are more than happy to support this reference verbally.