Beige is banned in this interior designer's home

Written by

23 July 2023

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5 min read

Colourbolt’s Carley Lloyd moved into her dream career of interior design after 15 years of teaching – which she also loved.

Interior designer Carley Lloyd took stock of her life one night last summer, resigned from her job of 15 years, sold her beloved Petone home of 10 years, and moved to tiny Māpua, a settlement along the Tasman Bay west of Nelson.

Lloyd, and her husband Bryn Lloyd wanted to be near family, especially for their children Beau, 9, Lilou, 6, and Felix, 2. They soon set about renovating their new home, in keeping with the tagline of Lloyd’s business, Colourbolt Interior Design: “Putting the brakes on beige interiors”.

CARLEY LLOYD: We just sat down one Sunday afternoon at the end of January, looked at each other and said, ‘What are we doing?’

We’d just fully renovated our Wellington house, and we loved it. It was a tough decision to leave my (Korokoro) School, my colleagues – I was part of the furniture there.

But we've got three little kids, they’ve got both sets of grandparents in Nelson, both active and healthy, my brother’s here.

Carley Lloyd’s mother-in-law hung the graffiti wallpaper in nine-year-old Beau’s bedroom. The wallpaper was custom printed by Swedish company Rebel Walls.

We took a massive risk because we both resigned from our jobs and sold our house, and we hadn't found anything. Sometimes you just have to throw everything in the air. It'll fall into place.

Māpua has been my happy place forever, so I feel very, very fortunate that we managed to find a little doer-upper. It’s 120 square metres, but on a massive section, right by the wharf.

We've got plans in at council at the moment. We've renovated the whole back of the house, and we're pushing out the driveway with a big extension for two more bedrooms.

Lloyd says the key to mixing patterns is to know when to stop. She had had her eye on the Kitty McCall wallpaper for some time, but says it would not have worked in the Wellington house, but is perfect for Lilou and Felix’s room in the Mapua house. “People think it's full on doing all four walls in wallpaper, but I think you need a minimum of two,” Lloyd says. “It cocoons the space a bit more.”

Bryn’s parents live in Ruby Bay so we’ve always spent two weeks here every summer.

We’re right next to the wharf, on a big long section: 968sqm. We can see Alberta’s, the best coffee shop in the world, the most friendly people in the world. We can smell the coffee being made.

We stay in the village mostly. The doctor is here, the dentist. The supermarket gets in things I want that they don’t stock. We’re vegetarian, so I asked if they could get quorn nuggets, quorn mince, and they do. And their wine selection is pretty fabulous.

Everyone’s been super-welcoming. But after 15 years in Wellington, it’s a big thing to leave that. We’re going through an adjustment period. But we wouldn’t change it.

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Lloyd's parents bought her one of the Crown Lynn swans for her 30th birthday. Her aunt gave her the other one, after inheriting it.

When Felix was five months old, I decided I needed to follow my passion for interior design.

At high school I was very driven, and I took myself a bit too seriously. I did sciences, maths. But I’m a really creative person and I should have followed the art side of things.

I was excited about going in to work at school each day, but I didn't want to get to 40 and not have done something to follow this passion.

I feel like I live and breathe it, so it’s something I had to do.

Lloyd’s brother, and brother’s partner, make these propagation stations, under the name The Good Leaf.

The kids are at school nine to three, and my son is at preschool two days a week and with each set of grandparents one day a week, which he adores. That gives me time to work on projects for clients and to research.

I sink my teeth into everything; podcasts, trawling Instagram, watching Resene webinars, recently an online renovation summit with Alex Fulton and all of those creatives on it.

My husband is really good at testing me. He asks, ‘What were your three takeaways from it?’ I love learning.

Carley and Bryn Lloyd’s bedroom is a converted garage. It will eventually be a rumpus room.

I could go in and design a space for a client, but it’s really important to be a listener. You want to hear how people function in their home, whether they want carpet or wooden floors, and with pattern whether they embrace it a little bit or a lot.

I tell clients to choose three colours and not sway from it. It makes a world of difference. If you’re out and see a cushion you like, but it’s bright green and not one of your colours, you can’t have it.

My colours are blush pink, green, and Indian ink – a really dark blue. I do have pops of yellow too.

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Bryn and Carley Lloyd both grew up in Nelson, but met in Bristol, England when they were there on their OEs. This artwork of Bristol is one of the few non-Kiwi artworks they have.

My own style is probably eclectic/mid-century modern. When I walk in the door, I’m so happy. Every place I sit in the house, I see something that I love and I don’t want to leave.

Interior design it's effectively creating a piece of 3D art – I really love that I get to live in this three-dimensional art space.

Carley and Bryn Lloyd sell prints of this artwork they created, as well as eight or so other designs, through their sideline business Missy Moo Creations.

Lloyd collects Crown Lynn – she loves the colours and the fact they are a slice of Kiwi history.

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