Condo Design: Nadia Sakey

Nadia Sakey and her 'Metropolis'
wall design in the background

If you've been following my blog you'll have seen my recent post on the Firefly Light & Design workshop. A highlight of the evening was meeting their resident interior designer Nadia Sakey. Well respected within the industry I had heard great things about Nadia, not to mention having drooled over her beautiful home that has featured in both Homestyle and Your Home & Garden magazines.

Originally from the UK, Nadia now lives in Auckland with her Kiwi husband and their two young children. On top of motherhood and consulting to Firefly, Nadia also writes for Homestyle magazine and runs her own business, Hit The Wall. An interior design and property consultancy, the business also specialises in custom designed wall spaces within the domestic, retail and commercial environments.

While studying at Jacob Kramer, a top design academy in the UK, Nadia had the opportunity to redesign the interior of a nightclub and from there her career in interior design took off. Taking up a corporate position, Nadia's career continued to flourish. During this time she also completed a postgraduate diploma in furniture and restoration, upholstery and interior decorative techniques. The purchase of a property in London ignited a passion for property development and later a thriving business in house doctoring. To find out more about what a house doctor does, take a look here.

Nadia's love of wallpaper is the reason she now specialises in this area. She says wallpaper is making a huge comeback as people realise that it's a great way to introduce texture, glamour and variety into their home. Hit The Wall goes a step further by turning an image or design, either theirs or the client's, into a custom designed wallpaper mural. Nadia has also introduced Bleux into New Zealand, a company which provides graphic design for interiors. They offer a vast gallery of designs applicable to most mediums from canvas, vinyl, wallpaper, window film and frosting to stone, glass, tiles, mirrors, resin and even corrugated iron. Bleux is unique in the wall covering market and since discovering them I've been lusting over their products. You can take a look at some of my favourites here.

As you know, I love taking you inside the homes of the wonderfully creative people I feature on the blog so I'm very grateful to Nadia for allowing me to share photos of her stunning home. Nadia was pregnant with their second child when they purchased the small two bedroom 1930s weatherboard cottage by the sea in Bayswater, Auckland. So while the issue of space needed to be addressed, the full site allowed for plenty of room to do just that. The renovation resulted in the addition of another bedroom, a family bathroom and an open plan living space. The original floor plan was very workable allowing them to simply open up the back of house. In doing this, they achieved the indoor/outdoor flow and seamless living which they desired.

Of course Nadia took the reins when it came to the interior, turning it from a neutral palette to a black and white canvas, adding "splashes of true colour, illusions of grandeur and glimpses of glamour". Sounds fabulous? Take a look for yourself.

The gorgeous black and white kitchen with pops of colour, and a glimpse of the 'Metropolis' wall design by Hit The Wall. Don't you just love the Kartell lights and stools?

'Metropolis' in full view. That cowhide chair must also get a mention.... swoon ...

Nadia is a big fan of Deborah Bowness wallpapers. Having been friends since college, Deborah designed this amazing hand printed paper for Nadia. The bookshelf image works perfectly in the recess of the hallway.