August 2005 finalist

A healthy dose of imagination and practical advice from the staff at the Resene ColorShop in Masterton helped Ann Gray put together this eye-catching paint treatment for the kitchen of her coastal Wairarapa holiday home.

Ann and Noel Gray built their home out of concrete for its thermal mass qualities and its appropriateness to the raw beauty of its location near Cape Palliser, but Ann wanted to enliven the plywood kitchen to bring colour to the neutral interiors.

Rather than going with the popular blonded plywood treatment, she chose Resene ‘Pigeon Post’ from the Resene Waterborne Colorwood stain chart believing the stains on that chart were the only colours appropriate for what she envisaged.

When she sought advice from her local Resene ColorShop, she learned that any Resene paint colour could be applied to create a similar effect if used to add colour to a paint effects medium. Looking for visual impact, she promptly picked out the vibrant violet Resene ‘Christalle’ from the Total Colour Multi-Finish System.

Resene staff calculated the paint/effect medium proportions for the painter who applied the Resene ‘Christalle’ colour at the same time that he also sealed all the concrete benchtops and flanks that are a key feature of the kitchen. The Resene ‘Pigeon Post’ stain was applied during the manufacture of the cabinetry components rather than after installation. It’s a look that Ann and Noel are delighted with. “I wanted something bright, rather than bland, against the concrete,” says Ann. “The sunsets here are pinks and yellows with blues in there as well sometimes and these colours mirror what we look out to in the evenings.”

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