S C Design

I had the privilege of working with Sue over several months (May-Nov 2023) involving a few visits and email exchanges. I appreciated Sue's approach with me, providing suggestive design ideas to enhance my home. She helped me to understand how to achieve the style I wanted which involved mostly cleaning and clearing, upcycling existing furniture as well as choosing blinds, light fixtures, carpet and lots of paint! Its been a journey of sweat and tears. What I appreciate and most grateful for was Sue's encouragement every step of the way helping to make decisions (saving time and money) and cheering me on with even the smallest improvement like sorting cupboards. I've learned a lot about styling and feel more confident. Sue helped me to uplift my home from shabby and bleak to sophisticated (on a budget) which I love love love! Thank you Sue for helping me to make my home comfortable and cozy. You are magical xx

Sue, is so helpful, easy to talk with which makes the process run very smoothly. She always advises me extremely well with the colours and I am never disappointed. Sue has helped me now on four occasions from commercial buildings to my own home. Sue is always my first port of call.

Sue assisted me with a plan for the exterior and interior colours for our new build in Hanmer (while both being based in Nelson). She had good contacts so that we were able to meet in local paint and flooring shops to look at possible products. She listened carefully to what I was wanting and my price constraints, with helpful suggestions. She emailed a clear summary of our decisions, refining this document as we went. I considered her charges were reasonable for the peace of mind that her advice gave me, and I would happily recommend her services.

We had employed Sue a couple of times over the years, when we had updated interior colour schemes in our home, so when we came to renovating it inside and out, we didn't hesitate to call her again. We appreciated her candid opinions and her eye for detail. Sue ended up masterminding the entire project. The brief was for an "upmarket apartment". Sue put a great deal of thought into the colour scheme. Colours are her strength and the shades she selected throughout the house are beautiful. They're a talking point with visitors. Sue also worked with us to design the kitchen, laundry, bathroom and ensuites and recommended, curtain fabric, flooring, lighting etc, providing a myriad of samples for our perusal. She suggested tradespeople and suppliers. She did all the hard work and basically presented us with a blueprint to hand to the builders, painters and project managers. We have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Sue. She nailed the brief and we are thrilled with our upmarket apartment. Five stars!

Sue of SC Design has helped us on three occasions. All were major projects and we sought advice on interior and exterior colours and drapes and blinds. In all cases we were delighted with the results and feel her guidance probably saved us from making a costly mistake or two. Sue is efficient and knowledgeable and quick to respond to any queries. Also working with her is a fun process - she has a wicked sense of humour. Heather Davis & Gordon Trotter

Sue has lead us on interior design aspects over multiple houses. Including Our forever home .Which after 15 years we still love and haven’t altered her original colour scene. Sue was invaluable on a couple of challenging Reno’s who’s original state Sue described as Grim. The grim property is now cute and charming beach bungalows. Sue’s suggestions saved us money while still transforming the property. She’s not just a high end designer , she sees how to realise potential within tight budgets. I was particularly impressed with her ability to develop positive relationships with occasional challenging workmen.

Moving to a new location in NZ, as well as coming to a very different environment and to a completely different type of house compared to what we had previously lived in, we employed Sue to guide us on our design process. From the initial meeting, Sue developed an immediate rapport with us, gaining an understanding of our needs and what we liked. Complimenting us about the choice of our exisiting furniture and possessions, she used these items as a base, suggesting colours and options to compliment and enhance our belongings, and work these into the bigger, overall plan. Throughout the consultation journey we trusted and liked Sue's suggestions and recommendations. Hence, her gatherings and collections of colour, fabric samples and items made it easy for us to choose from. We are delighted to now have the house we are living in, feeling like our home, where our family and friends will feel welcomed. Sue's warmth of personality and genuine interest in clients is to be commended. Thank you again Sue for your guidance, advice and support during this seamless process.

We recently took on the mammoth task of building a new home, (our first build), and I was overwhelmed with the seemingly never ending decisions that had to be made. Sue was a lifesaver and from our first meeting I felt she understood our vision for the style of home we were looking for. We had numerous meetings throughout the build process - at home, at the building site and at a variety of retail stores - nothing was too much trouble for Sue. She helped with everything from finalising the plans, paint colours, curtains and blinds to furniture and placement. Sue’s advice and guidance gave me the confidence I needed to trust my own choices and I knew she would keep me on track. The result is a new home we are thrilled with. It’s a lovely balance of the ‘coastal farmhouse’ style we were looking for, easy and relaxing to live in. We couldn’t have been happier with the professional and friendly service that Sue provided.

We enjoyed working with Sue on the refurbishment of our home. Her advice was wide positive speedy and encouraged us to think broadly about style. The results we are happy with and we highly recommend Sue as a friendly professional who can make a complex project flow with enjoyment. She was able to recommend tradesmen and those we used we were very satisfied with.

We recently moved into a new, modern home, and sadly some of our furniture just didn’t seem to ‘fit’. Not easy - was buying new the answer? That didn’t seem right really - our furniture had been gathered over 50 years of marriage so lots of emotions and memories there. Plus we didn’t want to spend huge $$$$$$! Sue’s response was so helpful - “This furniture has meaning and memories. It is you. Why don’t we try to revamp it so that it fits more happily?” And that’s what we did - the 4 piece suite was restructured and recovered in modern fabrics, the nest of tables (dark woodenbut so useful) that came from my parents home we’re enamelled in different colours to blend with the suite and artwork, and, at Sue’s suggestion I painted 2 30 year old lamp bases to achieve a brass-like look that was so good. Only 4 new buys - a lampshade, 4 cushions made from the suite remnants, a floor rug and 2 bar stools. Sue was a delight to work with. She’s a careful listener, and we felt she really wanted to get what was right for us, rather than pushing us to go beyond what we wanted or needed. A particular asset for us as newcomers to the district was her extensive knowledge of the retailers and services in Nelson. We would never have managed this transformation ourselves.

Sue advised us on new interior colours for our ten year old home, helped with rearrangement of furniture and pictures, provided curtain samples, chose suitable light shades and sourced furniture retailers for me. She was always punctual with her appointments and followed through in a timely manner with any of my requests. Sue was extremely patient and honest in her opinions. When choosing our colours I never thought we would end up with a dark ceiling in our entranceway but we did and it is fantastic! I now have a fabulous new couch after Sue pointed me in the right direction. That's why you need a professional - they bring different ideas to the table. I would recommend Sue without hesitation.

Sue designed our new kitchen for us. She really did listen to what we wanted and helped us with compromising on what we could actually have given space and budget constraints. We still have in what matters most! Sue was very patient through a number of iterations and showed us other options that we hadn't considered. We're very happy with the design and are impatient to get it built.

We were feeling overwhelmed with all the choices we had to make whilst building our first home. Sue came to our rescue. She listened to us and what we imagined our new home to be like then presented ideas based on this. Sue did all the hard work, locating samples and researching options available. We ended up with the easy job. We love all the choices we made and were so happy we asked Sue to come back and help with our interior furnishing plan after we moved in. Sue is a pleasure to deal with, she really listened to what we wanted and had amazing ideas. I would highly recommend Sue to anyone wanting some guidance on Interior Design, and I do!!

Sue designed the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry for our new house and provided assistance with the colour scheme for our new house both inside and out which was a great help. It can be quite overwhelming and she was a great help! She also worked with us to select curtains, blinds and light fittings and sourced providers. Ten years after our build visitors still thought our house and especially the kitchen were brand new achieving our desire of a timeless house. Sue was invaluable in helping to place art works and providing tips on how to best place our existing furniture. She was mindful of our budget and helped us to use existing pieces. She was very patient and helpful at a stressful time.