Design On James

About

We are an Interior Design concept showroom located on an orange and kiwifruit orchard, with beautiful surrounding gardens, 15 minutes north of Tauranga in Te Puna, Bay of Plenty. We stock and specify an amazing range of beautiful New Zealand made furniture, textiles and accessories from around the globe and we are skilled at coordinating projects using colour and/or textiles to create the WOW factor.

Using an Interior Designer is an interactive and exciting adventure, as we tune into your project and take away all the indecision and procrastination, which can sometimes occur. Building a new home can be a daunting task for the novice. We are able to determine a strong vision for the style and keep you on track when making key decisions.

Alternatively, either purchasing a new home which is tired and in need of a make-over or embarking on a renovation to update your home, we know the pit-falls and have superior contractor knowledge so that we are able to provide the right type of support, in order to make sure the end result is not just stunning, but well suited to your lifestyle.

We also love the textiles and soft furnishing side of Interior design and offer superb drape and /or shutter ideas and solutions along with fabrics for furniture, cushions, headboards and lampshades.

Accessorising is also an important aspect of Interior Design. The hanging of art and placement of decorative objects completes the picture and personalises your space, along with supplying beautiful rugs to define the space.

Interior Design gives a cohesive and wonderful result to your project.

We look forward to helping you achieve an inviting and well thought out home that you love coming home to.

Get in touch with us to arrange an appointment, to discuss your project, or visit our interior design showroom in Te Puna.

Testimonials

Lynette and the Design on James team recently provided us with a single source service on "Interiors" for our 2019 completed new home build. The scope of the service was wide ranging and covered the entire spectrum of Interiors from design, colours, fabrics, soft furnishings, material selection, design and manufacture of bespoke furniture, refurbishing existing furniture and selection of artworks.

During this time we soon grew to appreciate Lynette’s skill and artistry. She has a wonderful eye for detail and we thought quite astute at interpreting tastes and preferences and love now having her signature in our daily lives. She was outstanding to deal with and we would have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending her to others. Thank-you Lynette and best wishes.

Jenny and Tim, clients.

Lynette helped us choose a wonderful update for our home that complimented the atmosphere and design of our home. It was evident on first meeting Lynette, that she had a clear understanding of what we were trying to achieve.

The whole house was transformed in no time and each room was provided with the best quality furnishings and window treatments. We even received information on hanging art correctly and the placing of accessories.

Nothing was too much trouble and Lynette’s vision dovetailed ours perfectly. We enjoyed Lynette’s helpful approach and her knowledge and professionalism. She has an extensive selection of fabrics and furniture to choose from and her advice on suitability and functionality were much appreciated.

We are delighted with the beautiful new look of our house and would definitely recommend Lynette and her team to help you re-decorate your home.

Rex and Louise, clients.

I have recently built a new home and was fortunate enough to have Lynette help me.

Lynette was involved right from the beginning, accompanying me to the architect, assisting me with every detail and her input has been invaluable. At every state, Lynette has given sound advice and has been part of a team of “really good” people I have had around me, which has made the build a pleasurable experience. Lynette has a wealth of knowledge, contacts and a diverse interior design portfolio. She is calm, capable and can “see” what is trying to be achieved. No matter what your “style” is, Lynette will be able to work with you to create your design.

It has been a joy to work with Lynette, and I would recommend her to anyone about to embark on the renovation/refresh /new build journey.

Jacqui E. client.

We built our very first home in Whakakamara on an acre of land overlooking rolling hills to Mount Maugnanui in the east and the Kaimai's to the west. We came to Design On James with a style of easy living, clean lines and love of natural products. They helped us to further develop this by creating mood boards which laid the foundation for our design and kept us on track throughout the journey.

Lynette provided us with a lot of expertise to help make our dream home a reality. From cladding decisions, colours, tiles, sourcing our feature brass light fittings, soft linen drapes, cushions, sustainably made rugs and NZ made furniture. All of this helped make our house a home.

We are very thankful for Lynette's guidance and advice throughout our journey and continue to enjoy working with her and her knowledge going forward.

Julia and Bradford Stricker, client.

We take great pleasure in writing this letter of recommendation for Lynette Lochhead from Design on James.

In January 2014, we purchased a property that needed a complete interior refurbishment. When meeting Lynette for the first time you see a lovely personality that she easily maintains during discussions and when looking for solutions. Lynette listened to our ideas but also brought an abundance of new ideas to our home.

She has immense skill to mix textures and helped us choose flooring, lighting, colour schemes, drapes, furniture and accessories that we would never have thought of.

Lynette’s product and contractor knowledge was superior and took a lot of stress away from us given we were not residing in Tauranga during the process. Her professionalism and integrity, advice and guidance have proved invaluable. It is also notable that Lynette never lost sight of look and feel we wanted – she is subtle and the antidote of the sometimes pushy interior designer.

As a result, we now have a property we consider our “sanctuary” which now has definite “life and soul” and we could not be more pleased with what Lynette has delivered. We feel fortunate to have had Lynette and Paula on board throughout the refurbishment, it has been a genuine pleasure to work with both.

Miriam Gutierrez

We are pleased to acknowledge and recommend the services of Design on James.

We found Lynette to be extremely skilled and talented with all aspects of interior and exterior design. She went to a lot of trouble to listen to our likes and dislikes as well as being sensitive to costings. We have a contemporary style home with special thought going into the colour scheme that blends in to the landscape of our coastal location.

Her expertise in design, colour, textures and exquisite fabric suggestions made the whole experience enjoyable.

Elaine & Peter Gavin, client.

I initially discovered Lynette’s business Design on James at the Home Show a few years ago.

When I was ready to update my furnishings, I visited the showroom in Te Puna. I instantly fell in love with many of the furnishings displayed and knew we could work together.

After Lynette visited my home, she was able to capture the essence of my vision and supplied couch, chairs, cushions, an over dyed Turkish rug, coffee table, throws, curtains and a specially sourced hand knotted rug, which is absolutely beautiful.

We also recovered two existing statement chairs which succeeded in bringing the green of the formal clipped topiary garden inside. It was also her suggestion to put shutters in the living room, which diffuse the light and create a lovely ambience. I am so thrilled with the way everything came together and the way I was guided through the process which was very professional.

Every day I admire everything and it feels very special and complete.
I am so happy.

Martha Wright

We were first introduced to Lynette as a referral from a builder and a visit to the Design on James showroom as part of a “Garden Ramble”.
From the first meeting at home, we felt that Lynette made an astute and careful evaluation of our old house and respectfully considered our initial thoughts about what we wanted to achieve.

She was not pushy or forceful and nor did she project any “biased” design theme. As a result, the engagement has turned into a relationship of trust and confidence and this has grown over the duration of the renovation. We believe her skills are broad, with wide experience and the Design on James showroom reflects this diversity also.

We commenced the process with an objective of determining colour and theme but ultimately we trusted Lynette with colour, style, furniture, art, contrast, texture and mood as we moved to completion.
We now believe the time and cost of the engagement with Design on James has been an investment – there are no decisions or product choices we regret and we absolutely love the finished outcome.

We also enjoyed Lynette’s patience when we found our own “items and art” and the willing input she gave us even though sometimes she needed to make changes around what we triggered.

Based on what we have experienced, we would be happy to recommend Design on James to others and to endorse Lynette as a professional in her field.

Richard and Judith Smith, client.

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