Somewhere along the way, you were told to choose: a home that looks beautiful, or a home that works.

The decorator or the cabinet maker. The showpiece or the workhorse. It's a false choice, and it's cost women real money on both sides of it: stunning kitchens that fight you daily, practical kitchens you've never once loved walking into.

Fresh by Design Interiors exists to end the choosing.

This is what that false choice costs you.

Pick looks without function, and no colour or material will save you: you get a kitchen that photographs beautifully and drains you nightly, a bathroom that's gorgeous until four people need it at 7am.
Pick function without design, and you get a house that works and a home you never once feel proud walking into.
Either way, you've spent the money. Either way, you're still managing the house instead of living in it. And the fix everyone reaches for, new handles, new organisers, a repaint, doesn't touch it, because the problem was never the finishes.

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I don't do "normal" interior design, because colours and materials alone can't change how a space works.

The foundational work has to come first, or at the very least alongside it, if we want a home that truly supports you, not one that photographs well.

I've watched countless clients go through this from both sides: some working only with interior designers, others only with cabinetry designers. I've seen the results of each, and how stressed and disappointed people feel when a home ends up pretty but impractical, or practical but plain.

Neither option married the practical and the beautiful, so it was always missing something.

"You don't have to sacrifice function for a beautiful home, or aesthetics for a functional one. You need a designer who knows what the heck they're talking about, and a process that does the foundations first." — Nichole Davis

Awards

Hawke's Bay Kitchen Design Recognition
Hawke's Bay Bathroom Design Recognition
DKNBA Silver Bathroom Design NZ Wide
Best Kitchen Hawkes Bay

DESIGNER & SELF DIAGNOSED HOMEBODY

My dream day is a life filled with the people and things I love, not constant busyness and stress. I love slow, intentional days at home: reading in a sunny spot, baking in a kitchen where everything is easy to find, and hosting friends without it feeling like a production.

My happy place online is Pinterest. I can lose hours there gathering ideas for myself and my clients, and I leave feeling full of possibility.

At my core, I'm observant, whimsical, creative, and grounded. And I hold my own home to the same standard I design to: it has to support the life I live in it.

Nichole Davis outside the studio.

7 things I know to be true

You don't have to choose between beauty and function.
Design should make everyday life easier, not harder.
Your environment directly affects your mood and your mental load.
Homes are busy, lived-in places, not showrooms.
Storage and flow are foundational, not nice-to-haves.
Decisions made in the right order save money, stress, and mistakes.
When your home reflects who you are, it becomes a support system instead of another job.

And that’s why I do what I do.

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