Design direction Happiness is a home in which you are at ease

Press, 23 September 1987, Page 16

Design direction Happiness is a home in which you are at ease

Sarah tads concludes her introduction to basic decorating principles defined by three Christchurch interior designers

‘MOST PEOPLE HAVE SOME IDEA OF WHAT THEY WANT

In Residence

by

Sarah Sands

Prudence Rothenberg is a name synonymous with style — many people in Canterbury and throughout New i Zealand have homes made beautiful by her hand. But her work as an interior designer goes beyond residential houses. In her long and varied career she has decorated everything from cages for showbirds to New Zealand’s foreign embassies. For the past eight years, Prudence Rothenberg has run a successful Interior design business in Christchurch. She believes that her success comes from truly getting to know the people for whom she wnrk<z “I like to feel that someone can go into a Prudence Rothenbergdesigned home and not know that I did it because it’s so much a part of the people who live there. “I consider that the whole Interior decor and design must be done around the people. A successful interior designer must enjoy people, must understand people, and must be sure that those people live in an atmosphere and environment that they and their family feel comfortable with.” Prudence Rothenberg’s home is an example of her philosophy — warm and comfortable, it also reflects her style and elegance. Huge ceiling to floor windows open to the sun to bathe the living areas in natural light. The lounge is avocado green — a colour she chose because of its warm yellow undertone. One wall is a kaleidoscope of paintings, and ornaments are gathered in haphazard yet orderly patterns about the room. "Everything I have means something to me — every painting, every ornament. They all have some little history — I can remember exactly

where I got each piece and what it meant.” Furniture in plain and patterned fabrics invites people to rest a while as Prudence Rothenberg gets to know them and their hopes for their own home. She explains that she uses her home as an example of her work. She describes how when she first saw it, the living room had three different wallpapers, and the bathroom had three different laminates. “With the living room, I

got a painter in and said ‘paint everything’.”

The result is the amazingly restful green everywhere — walls, ceilings, skirting boards, window surrounds — everywhere. Stamped with Prudence Rothenberg’s style, it is perfect.

“I use my house very much as a sample area — for example, many people look at me in horror,when I talk of wallpaper on the ceilings so I take them upstairs and show them my bathroom.”

This is a very pretty room in pink, white, and brown, with tiles, and a floral wallpaper that also covers the ceiling. For many of Prudence

Rothenberg’s clients, her home becomes almost as well known to them as their own. “I really like to understand my clients well — if it is a couple building a new home, I like to see them with their plans when the foundations are going down. On most occasions, they visit me and bring samples of things they already have, such as their suite cover or bedspread. “They come and sit in my lounge and they may

look totally miserable be-' cause their home is such a worry. I offer them a sherry if it’s sherry time and say that their home must be pleasing and they should start to enjoy it. “I like to be able to sit them down so they can relax and take that miserable look off their face.” This first visit usually lasts about an hour, and in that time the basic colour scheme for each room is decided. “By that time, they’re usually pretty exhausted — we may have some discussion about their curtains, but on the whole I give them another appointment to come back.” From beginning to end the clients may call “a

thousand times” and by the time their home is finished, they have become good friends with their designer. Prudence Rothenberg says that most people have some idea of what they want Those that don’t or have too strong an idea present some difficulties which are usually overcome, she explains.

“Only twice have I had to ask clients to go somewhere else. On the whole, if they want something terrible, I can explain why it’s so bad and when they understand they go to something else. Ohly twice have I not beep able to do it

"On the other hand, 1 have also twice had to ask people to come and have a drink with me for an informal chat because I did not understand what they wanted — both homes turned out beautifully.” It is not only whole houses that receive the Prudence Rothenberg touch.

“I do everything from the entire house to a kitchen or one bedroom because I consider it adds something to the mental attitude of the people who live; there.. % ’. •

“People have got to feel good in their environment It doesn’t matter if it’s the kitchen, bathroom, or hall, it’s got to feel good to them.”

She stresses that it is the person’s enjoyment of their home once the design work is finished that matters most to her.

“When they’ve got their new carpet in their living area, done the walls and put up new beautiful curtains, they are so overjoyed it gives me a wonderful sense of satisfaction. '

"I would really, be unhappy if I felt people were not happy in an envirdnment we created together.”

‘I like to sit them down so they

can relax and take that miserable look off their faces.’