Kitchen and interior design studio in Hawke’s Bay, working across New Zealand
— NEW BUILDS AND RENOVATIONS —
You don’t just need a prettier kitchen. You need a home that stops draining your energy by 5:30 PM.
We replace the chaos of renovating or building with a clear, judgment-free design process. By engineering the floor plan and joinery first, we create spaces where everything has a home and resets happen quickly.
The result is a guest-ready, completely practical home where you feel supported, regulated, and back in control.
Plan. Design. Layer.
We engineer your floor plan and joinery first. This ensures the 5:30 pm cook, the morning scramble, and the Sunday reset stop draining your energy and start running themselves. Once the daily function is flawless, we layer in the colours, materials, and personality that make the home yours.
KITCHEN DESIGN —
BATHROOM DESIGN —
WARDROBE DESIGN —
LIVING ROOM JOINERY DESIGN —
LAUNDRY DESIGN —
SPATIAL PLANNING —
KITCHEN DESIGN — BATHROOM DESIGN — WARDROBE DESIGN — LIVING ROOM JOINERY DESIGN — LAUNDRY DESIGN — SPATIAL PLANNING —
What type of designer do you need?
THE GAP
Most home advice gets it backwards. You are told the fix is to buy more baskets, get more organised, or create a pretty mood board. But if your floor plan and storage zones are wrong, organisation will never solve the problem.
THE PROBLEM
Because nothing has a dedicated place, the bench is covered before dinner even starts. The constant cycle of tidying leaves you feeling frantic, exhausted, and disconnected. You assume you are failing at running your own home, while everyone else has it figured out.
THE SOLUTION
When you work with FBD Interiors, you don’t get a stylist who starts with a mood board. You get a joinery-led design studio that engineers the daily function first. We map the zones and solve the hidden friction points on paper before you spend a single dollar.
The result is a home that is always guest-ready. It’s beautifully practical, lowers your mental load, and effortlessly runs itself.
Real homes.
Real families.
Real changes to everyday life.
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Kitchen Renovation
NAPIER HILL
Before: Bottlenecks everywhere, frustrating corner cupboards, and 20cm of usable bench space everyone had to fight over.
After: Two adults can prep dinner without colliding. The appliances are hidden, the bench stays clear, and the room resets itself. -
Extensive Rebuild
NAPIER HILL
Before: A planned extension that looked great on paper, but the daily flow was chaotic and expensive layout decisions were still hanging.
After: A flawlessly engineered layout where every room earns its space. The builder had a clear, complete brief before he started.
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New Build
HERALD ISLAND
Before: Building their dream home, but terrified they would get the storage wrong and be stuck with a house that was as messy as a 90s’ ‘eclectic’ home.
After: Kitchen, wardrobes, and built-ins engineered together. The entire house has a dedicated place for everything from the exact day they move in.
Joinery-led
We are a joinery-led studio. This means we lock in your floor plan, kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities, and built-in storage first. We start here because these exact elements dictate whether your day is stressful or easeful.
When your storage matches your daily routines, the heavy mental load of a disorganised house vanishes. The space resets quickly so you can stop managing chaos and be the calm, present woman you want to be.
This is why we do not start with paint colours and curtains like most designers.
Pretty finishes cannot fix a kitchen where you have to move five appliances just to prep dinner.
Meet Your Designer
I’m Nichole Davis, the joinery-led designer behind FBD Interiors. I have designed over 500 kitchens and interiors for New Zealand homes, from single rooms to extensive new builds. While my work has won national awards and been featured in design media, the part that matters to you is much simpler.
I find the exact friction points in your layout and engineer the built-in systems to fix them. Then, I hand your trades complete, builder-ready documentation so there is never any guessing on site. You avoid expensive mistakes, the project runs smoothly, and you step into a home that effortlessly runs itself.
The F-L-O™ Method
The order you make decisions matters more than the decisions themselves. We use this three-step framework to eliminate overwhelm and prevent costly mistakes.
FINALISE THE FLOOR PLAN.
This is where your daily ease or frustration gets permanently locked in. We resolve the layout first before anything else complicates it.
LOCK IN THE SERVICES.
Lighting, power, plumbing, and appliances must support the plan. We map them out early so they never get squeezed in as an expensive afterthought.
OVERLAY THE FINISHES.
The room already works flawlessly on paper. Because the function is solved, choosing colours is no longer stressful. Now we layer the materials and fittings that make the home feel like yours.
What every project includes
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3D Visuals
Remove the guesswork and decision fatigue. You see exact, photo-real 3D visuals of your home before anything is ordered, so you know exactly what you are getting without having to visualize from a tiny tile sample.
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Documentation
Avoid the construction chaos. We provide your trades with complete, technical drawings and specifications. There is no improvising on site, no delays, and no frustrating "I thought you meant" conversations.
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Fixed scope
Protect your budget and your peace of mind. We provide a clear, step-by-step roadmap with transparent pricing before you sign. You know exactly what is included, how long it takes, and what happens next.
The Roadmap:
Most renovations feel like taking on a second, highly stressful job.
Here’s how we take the mental load completely off your plate.
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1. Fix the Function First
Before we look at a single tile sample, we engineer the layout. We map your daily routines, solve the lack of bench space, and create a floor plan where everything has a dedicated home. We make sure the morning scramble and the dinner rush stop feeling so hard.
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2. See the Photo-Real Truth
Next, we layer in the materials and show you exactly what your new space looks like in 3D. We provide a judgment-free space to guide your decisions, replacing the stress and overwhelm with total certainty. You know exactly what you are getting before you spend the big money.
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3. The Builder-Ready Handoff
We hand your trades a complete, technical set of drawings and specifications. There is no improvising on site, no chasing trades for updates, and no mid-build surprise invoices. You get to skip the construction chaos and simply step into a home that makes you feel supported, regulated, and confident.
Design is about 10% of your spend. It protects the other 90%.
The advice that is meant to protect your budget is exactly why it blows out. Getting three quotes on an unfinished plan means you are getting quotes for three different kitchens, or bathrooms, wardrobes.
When you pay for professional design upfront, you lock in every specification before quoting. This means no hidden builder costs, no "we thought you meant," and no mid-build surprise invoices. The quoted number becomes the final number. Get the order wrong, and the 90% pays for it twice.
What Our Clients Are Saying
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"I put this off for two years because I was terrified we would spend all this money and I still would not like it. I just could not picture anything from a flat floor plan. Nichole showed us exactly what the room would look like in 3D before we committed to a single colour. We are living in it now, and for the first time ever, my bench actually stays clear. It just works."
— Sarah, Havelock North
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"My husband wanted to just get a builder in and get it over with, but the quotes we got were all over the place and I didn't know who to trust. Nichole stepped in and gave our trades such clear drawings that there was absolutely no guessing on site. We had zero surprise invoices mid-build. I thought renovating was supposed to be a nightmare, but she took all the stress out of it."
— Kate, Napier
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"Our old kitchen was basically a hallway where the kids were under my feet the second I started cooking. I had to prep dinner on top of a folded tea towel because the benches were always covered. By 5:30 pm, the room just made me anxious. Nichole completely changed how the space flows. Now the kids have a dedicated spot to sit, everything actually has a place to live, and I genuinely enjoy having friends over again."
— Mel, Havelock North
Let's clear the overwhelm before we start.
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This is why we never expect you to visualise your kitchen from a 2D plan and a tiny tile sample.
You will see exact, photo-real 3D renders of your space before you commit to a single finish. We lock the layout first, then we layer the design, meaning the risk of a very expensive "I thought it would look different" is almost completely removed.
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When you get quotes without a locked design, builders have to guess your finishes—which means every quote is actually for a different kitchen.
By working with us first, you hand your trades a complete, builder-ready specification document. Because there is no guessing on site, the quotes you receive are accurate, comparable, and final.
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No. Right now, you are probably spending your evenings scrolling Pinterest, feeling overwhelmed by 400 different opinions.
We take over the mental load. We map the zones, solve the storage problems, and present you with clear, guided decisions in the exact right order. You get to enjoy the fun parts of the process without project-managing the chaos.
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Your design fee is not an extra cost—it is the insurance that protects the rest of your budget.
The most expensive mistakes happen when decisions are made out of order, or when trades have to improvise on site. We engineer the space so it actually works, and provide the technical documentation that keeps your build on time and out of the redo pile.
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A standard builder’s allowance usually covers the bare minimum: basic cupboards that do not account for how you actually cook or live.
When a joiner does "free" design, the cost is hidden in the build, and their job is manufacturing, not solving your morning routine. We engineer the joinery-first systems that actually lower your mental load, and hand your builder a locked specification so that allowance doesn't suddenly double.
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Ideally, before the slab is poured. If you wait until the builder asks you to pick your kitchen colours, it is already too late to fix a broken layout.
We start by analyzing your architectural plans to catch the hidden friction points, ensuring the walls, windows, and plumbing are in the exact right place from day one.
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Absolutely not. We actually need to see the reality of your daily life—the appliances taking up all the bench space, the corner cupboards that don't work, and the school bags dumped on the island.
You don't have a tidying problem; you have a layout problem. This is a completely judgment-free space, and our goal is to design the systems that fix it.
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You do not have to choose between a pretty space and a practical one.
We do not design fragile show homes; we design camera-ready spaces that are kid-proof and guest-ready. By creating dedicated zones for the school-run scramble and using durable, future-proof finishes, your home will look incredible while actually surviving your family's daily routines.
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Yes. We take the decision fatigue entirely off your plate. You do not need to know the technical answers, the right order to pick things, or how to explain your style to a tradesperson.
We guide you through plain-English options, make expert recommendations based on your habits, and give you the confidence to simply say "yes".
