Do Try this at Home

The interior designers who put together colour palettes and select materials for show homes have some nifty tricks to make the spaces sing - tricks that you can borrow for your place. For more inspiration, Hobsonville Point in Auckland's northwest has nine brand new show homes all on one street, which are open to view daily. Here's some thought starters from the designers of the Jalcon Homes and Classic Builders show homes at Hobsonville Point.

In the living spaces:

Limit your colour palette. The black and white from this home's exterior is used throughout the interior. "The contrast provides the drama," says the designer.

Using the same flooring material throughout the living areas will maximise the feeling of space. Here the designer has gone for timber throughout the kitchen, dining and living rooms.

Texture adds visual interest and movement. In the Jalcon show home the designer added a subtle whitewash to the oak flooring to accentuate the grain.

Repeat materials throughout the house for continuity. The stone around the fireplace reappears in the bathrooms, and the timber veneer used on the kitchen cupboards is used again for the built-in TV cabinet.

You can also take a lead from the architecture and bring some of the exterior materials inside. The Classic show home repeats the white painted bricks from the exterior in the hallway to add interest.

Determine a focal point for each room and keep everything else simple. "Your eye can only take so much in. Try not to overthink it or you'll lose the impact," says Classic's designer.

Blur the boundaries between inside and out. Jalcon covered a section of the deck with louvres to create an outdoor extension to the living room. Matching the width of the boards on the deck to the flooring inside will help create a seamless transition between inside and outside and make the interior space feel roomier.

In the kitchen:

Limit your materials and you'll achieve a sense of harmony. The Classic kitchen uses just three products - Melamine, TriStone (for the bench tops and splashback) and timber veneer.

Use a timber veneer where it counts, such as on the cupboard fronts, and a more cost-effective lookalike such as Bestwood Melamine where the product will be under less scrutiny, such in the scullery shelving. Many of these products are such good imitations that, with attention to design and lighting, nobody will notice it's not timber.

In the bathroom:

A large format tile has some advantages. It's the grout that often gets dirty/mouldy, so the less of it the better. Bigger formats are quicker to lay so they save on labour costs, too - money you can put towards quality tiles, like these 800 x 800mm beauties in the Classic show home.

Or follow Jalcon's lead and use the same material for both walls and floor to maximise the feeling of space and make a hero of a beautiful bath or basin. They used porcelain tiles in two different formats - a square for the floor and a plank for the walls.

There's no rule to say that you have to hang a pendant light in the centre of the room. In a small space, such as a bathroom or powder room, a low pendant (or a pair or group of three) hung in a corner looks great.

Visit the nine show homes on Liquidambar Drive, Hobsonville Point this weekend for some design inspiration. Open daily between 10am and 4pm.