Murray and Susan

Kaiwharawhara Views Home Owners

“We have used an interior designer before and have found the process extremely beneficial in terms of getting a complete look for our home.

When I went back to my old interior designer he had retired so I set about finding another. I googled interior designers and found Frances because one of my friends had written a testimonial for her and had images of her home on the web site which I loved. You need to make sure that the designer you choose has designed homes that are similar to what you like, which Frances was.

We were doing a complete refit of our home that had been designed for a person in a wheelchair, so the home had lovely bones but just needed to be made ours. Frances was easy going and made sure we were involved in the process at every step, it was lovely pulling it all together.

We are very pleased with the final result which feels complete and ready for our personal touches which we love showing Frances whenever we add something new. This will be (hopefully) our last home and so wanted to make it exactly how we wanted it. We are delighted with the end result.”

Alan Atack

Project Manager, Masonic Villages Trust
Woburn Apartments, Wainuiomata, Woburn Aged Care

”I really look forward to the time when Frances tells us she is ready to present ideas, this is the time when the project goes from black and white to ‘pop off the page’ in shapes, textures and colours. It is the time when the architects vision gets dressed to the nines! It is from this time that I can tell our people about what’s coming and that it is going to be stunning.”

Ruth Chinn

Eastbourne Bathrooms Home Owner

“When I first visited my Aunty June at Woburn Apartments, I was amazed how beautiful everything looked. I instantly liked the feel of the space. I asked who the designer was — that’s how I got in touch with Frances.

When we decided to renovate the first bathroom, I didn’t really know where to start. The endless options for fixtures, lighting and tiles were really overwhelming to me. I needed someone to make all those decisions and give me a comprehensive plan that I could take and implement independently.

Right from the beginning I knew I could trust Frances, I had the feeling that whatever she came up with would be great. Frances understands family life and all the practical elements that need to be considered!

Honour Creative has done a phenomenal job on our second bathroom. Sometimes when I glance in, there might be a nod to the 1930s, a bit vintage with the bold green square tiles and then a moment later it feels really modern and clean. Both feelings being equally positive! Somehow they have managed to capture it all perfectly.

My favourite parts: the button lights either side of the mirror and the recess in the wall at the end of the bath.

Renovations are a big investment. In my opinion, it was worth consulting a professional to make sure the money is well spent for a quality result.

Both bathrooms really reflect our family and complement the style and age of our house.”

Sarah-Louise

Townhouse Kitchen Home Owner

“Honour Creative has a solid reputation with their attention to detail and asks questions about how you live in spaces to inform the design, this is taken onboard and adds real value to a fantastic outcome. It’s exciting to hear what options are possible and then enjoy them.

I chose Honour Creative for my kitchen redesign and interior redesign because they listened to the brief and gave me confidence with their response and considered options. The products and services that were recommended are quality and integrity.

My experience of working with Honour Creative was fun, honest and transparent. Frances’s knowledge of products and options is wide and deep, and she has great relationships with suppliers. The highlights from this experience are having a beautiful kitchen and house to live in.”

Nigel and Sandy

Home Owners

“Frances was great to work with. She took the time to get to know what we liked from a design perspective and listened to what we wanted to achieve. The results were exactly what we were after. What’s more is that she took a lot of the stress out of renovating by bringing us great options which gave us the ability to make decisions without being overwhelmed. Thank you for helping us make our home even more homely.”

Kate Hyndman

RADIUM

“When we shifted our offices from central Lower Hutt to the Petone foreshore we employed Frances Fraser as interior designer to help us make the most of the opportunities a new fit-out offered to support a wider cultural change, improved team experience and business development programme. Because her approach was to get involved and be collaborative, more than simply having her on the project, she joined the team.

As the professional in this area I trusted Frances to do what she is good at without feeling the need to micro manage and this made the process less intensive than it could have been. Once she had the brief and the design intentions were established we were able to get together at certain key touch points and beyond that I felt confident to let Frances do her thing.

Frances interviewed all employees at the outset, gathering information about how they worked as well as their hopes and expectations for the new workspace. This imbedded the team in the process upfront and added the value of understanding the current culture and potential for change.

The first design presentation introduced a total theme that incorporated the bigger picture and ensured all elements were cohesive. As well as our business goals we also had functional objectives for our new space.

An important consideration for us is managing noise within an open workspace that combines IT Operations and Software Development. Frances embarked on investigating the sound features of the design requiring additional, specialised research into different materials. The overall layout is functional and excellent for multi use. Having an enclosed office space for me that also features a large window into the office means I can have privacy, the noise of phone calls are contained and yet I don’t feel locked away and are more accessible to staff.

We have enjoyed having more, acoustically-managed meeting room spaces as well as open spaces to collaborate and gather in.

We also wanted a family feel around the kitchen which is used socially for shared lunches and Friday drinks as well as being a pleasant break out space for individuals during the day.

The office space offers expansive views of the Petone foreshore and across Wellington harbour. The views are uplifting and interesting in all weathers so is something we wanted to be maximised – to add impact as you enter the office space and be visible for all to enjoy during their working day.

Visiting suppliers and clients always comment ‘Wow’ — it portrays an image of a cool place to hang out.

Taking us from a workspace experience that was closed in and uninspiring to one that is funky and interesting was achieved. Having this is a valuable asset as we seek to build our team in order to facilitate our growth goals.

When more people are onboard the next priority will be to implement the plans around meeting pods and individual enclosed work spaces. Having the floor plan and furniture ideas in place means the design is future proofed.

This is a workspace to be proud of.”

Kate and Dave

Seatoun Heights Kitchen Home Owners

“We hadn’t used a designer before and were worried that we would be pushed into something that was over-the-top and more aligned with a fashion magazine than us… But instead Frances understood us, supported us, came up with fabulous options, never pushed her point of view and created a kitchen for us that is so much better than what we could have imagined.”

Haylee Harding

Accuro

“We were looking for an interior designer for to create a cohesive environment for our small scale office. We asked contacts and Honour Creative was recommended to me by a colleague.

Frances is great to work with, her process is inclusive and transparent and she is able to shift approach to deliver a great result within your constraints. A highlight for me was seeing the design process and how that ties in different design features. We have a colourful and fun environment to enjoy and our business objectives of a ‘happy’ space were very much met.”

Samantha Gadd

Humankind

“I really respect Frances’s approach and also value the understanding of our business.

We loved working with Frances, the collaborative approach to understanding the brief was appreciated. I loved receiving the strategy part of the job as it perfectly captured who we are and the space we wanted to provide. Also the mood boards and ideas were so exciting and creative!

I highly recommend Frances for her thoughtful, strategic, pragmatic and creative approach.”

Lesley Sleiker

CEO, Ronald McDonald House

“When construction of our new 34 bedroom Ronald McDonald House began in 2011 we selected Frances Fraser to lead our interior design team. At a very early stage of seeing Frances’ concepts we knew she fully understood our complex needs and desired results. We believed she was competent, and would be instrumental in bringing our blank canvas of empty space, walls and floors of our new House to life. The project was large and varied in our requirements and outcomes. One of the biggest challenges was delivering a high end product by securing products at discounted rates and having to incorporate donated product into the concepts to ensure everything was delivered under budget, without compromising on quality or visual dynamic. Another challenge Frances faced was certain areas not only had to meet the needs of the diverse range of end users, the products needed to be commercial but the overall effect had be like a home.

Certain areas were then complicated further when they had to reflect the individual donor or sponsor of the space, literally we had to merge commercial representation with homely décor. Frances worked diligently and passionately to ensure every box on our very long list was ticked for us. Our Trust now has a wonderful facility which meets our original design brief and our ongoing and future needs, our donors and sponsors are delighted to have space which they are very proud to have their name associated with.

All was achieved well under budget without concession. Thanks to Frances’ creative ability and talent, our families now have a place, which is not only light, bright and welcoming but is also visually inspiring and rejuvenates their spirit, giving them the energy to face the next day with their sick child. A place they are proud to call their home.”

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David Mould

Associate, Archaus Architects

“Frances is the consummate professional, terrifically talented and a real pleasure to work along side. From our first meeting I could tell that she was passionate about design and that she would embrace the project with excitement and focus. Frances approached the new Ronald McDonald House interior with a design ethos that was methodical, sophisticated and set a clear vision from the offset. Her design layouts, choice of materials, colours and furniture design were innovative, edgy and thoughtfully prepared. Her uncanny ability to collaborate with our client, design team members and suppliers with a minimum of instruction, manifested in a shared and enhanced vision, to what was an extremely challenging large scale project. Frances has a magic touch and a fantastic sense of style. Hopefully our paths will cross again on future projects. I would have no hesitation in recommending Frances’ Company Honour Creative to future clients.”

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Sandra & Mike Pope

Apartment Owners

“From the very first meeting with Frances we knew she was the perfect person to guide and help us decorate our new apartment. It was a great pleasure to work withsuch a talented designer whose creativity, passion and special understanding and caring of our needs encouraged us to be more adventurous. Nothing was ever too much trouble for her. My husband remarks frequently when he walks in that he loves our home and everything Frances has created for us. We now have a sophisticated, stylish and very liveable apartment which we just love and enjoy greatly. We unreservedly recommend Frances.”

Judith Watson

Home Owner

“Over the last 12 months we have  undergone renovations within our home and we asked Frances if she could be the interior designer for these. From the very first meeting with her, Frances did an excellent  job of listening to what we wanted, steering and guiding us on both the big picture and every intricate detail,  and yet always making us feel like we were very much a part of the process and yet able to own the results.

This was an extensive renovation and Frances’ commitment to the project never wavered. Her ideas are  clever and she uses a mix of architectural design and interior decorating flair that make for a very exciting  end product. She is innovative and creative, but not at the expense of what our particular place and style required. She pushed us outside of the box, and we trusted her to do so, knowing what we would get would be an outstanding outcome.

Frances places great store on communication and because of this, her relationships with all those involved in this project were excellent. She is open to discussion and is always prompt in response to any  problems or queries. Frances strove to keep a difficult balance between aiming for quality of products, materials and design, and yet being conscious of our budget. She kept us up to date with this, using clear, regular spreadsheets, and she was consistently open to any discussion or clarification we required. Frances is passionate about her work and she has every right to be. She is a talented designer and we feel lucky that we had her lead us through this daunting task. We would certainly recommend her, wholeheartedly.”

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Louise Hockley

Chiropractor, Back To Living

“I have had the pleasure of working with Frances to create a great office space for myself and my team members which has met all our expectations. What makes Frances so talented is her ability to take ideas and expand them into something great! Frances saw the challenges with our vision for the small reception area and tactfully and with the confidence of a true professional moved us to a much better solution. The colours of our space are peaceful whilst still feeling fresh and modern which is exactly the atmosphere we wanted to achieve. I would recommend Frances to others as a truly professional and motivated individual with great ideas and confidence to meet the task at hand.”

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Craig & Claudia Hill

Home Owners

“We began the process of completely remodelling the bathroom and kitchen in our 1910 Villa ourselves and realised we needed a fresh perspective. We chose Frances because of her willingness to listen to our initial thoughts and incorporate our ideas throughout the design process, her high energy level, enthusiasm for the job, creative design ideas and obvious commitment to quality.

We had a small bathroom with limited design options and we got a bit lost working out functionality and design. Frances came up with creative ways to maximize the space, both functionally and aesthetically. People walk into our bathroom and their breath is taken away by what has been accomplished.

Frances gave us different design options for both the bathroom and kitchen and we were able to transform them into new amazing spaces together. We couldn’t have been more pleased with the entire process.”

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Michael & Kate Slade

Home Owners

“We talked Frances through what we were after, showed her some pictures and then walked through the existing space. Frances took all this information away and came back quick quickly with a design pack that gave us clear direction on colour schemes and design options for each space. Included were interesting design elements we had not thought of, which ended up being firm favourites. This was the real value add for us. The pack turned out to be invaluable as we often referred to it when making purchasing decisions and construction decisions with the builder. We also appreciated Frances setting realistic expectations about what was and what was not achievable on our budget. Frances listened well, responded promptly and was genuinely enthusiastic about our project.
 
We also felt that our experience working with Frances was one of the best across all the building tradespeople we dealt with during the renovation.”

Sue McCabe

Home Owner

“We are delighted with the result of the design, advice and project management work Frances from Honour Creative did when we undertook a renovation of our villa. Frances guided usto identify the look and feel we wanted that would also work with our style of house, and then provided advice and options for products that fitted with our vision. Frances is professional and pleasant to work with, and communicated really well and transparently with us. Frances worked effectively with a range of other tradespeople involved in our house renovation which helped itgo more smoothly. It is obvious Frances has high standards and cares about customer satisfaction and the quality of the end result. Frances is practical as well as creative, so our house not only looks good, but it’s also very functional.”

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Letitia Montford

Trust Board Member Ronald McDonald House Wellington and McDonald’s Franchisee

“During 2009/2010 it was decided that the existing Ronald McDonald House in Wellington needed to be demolished and a brand new facility built. The Board was looking at a $15 million project and we needed to make this 34 bedroom House into a very special home!

As a Trust Board Member of Ronald McDonald House Wellington and on the Interior Design Team for the new build, the CEO Lesley Slieker and I wished to engage a Wellington based Interior Designer to lead us through the project.

In December 2011, we procured the services of a newly qualified Frances Fraser. We knew instantly that Frances was the one to join the two of us on this momentous journey, and what would be a massive undertaking. Frances came from a graphic design background and had recently graduated with a Graduate Diploma in Design with Distinction from Massey University in Wellington. She came to us with a number of valuable contacts and lots of innovative ideas!!

Frances listened to the significant brief for the project and began to interpret this into design schemes and ultimately reality for us. Frances was always a few steps ahead of us and always come to our meetings well prepared and ‘creative juices’ flowing. Frances has the ability to not only deliver professional concepts through to reality but work effectively in a team so that all our strengths could be capitalised on.

Frances kept all our interior design subcontractors and suppliers well supported, keeping them in the loop of our deadlines and making sure they had everything they needed to complete their work. Maintaining professional and frequent communication allowed us to be kept up to date with the progress and assured that all targets were met.

We thoroughly enjoyed working with Frances and that was a wonderful bonus. The new Ronald McDonald House was a challenging but hugely rewarding project of significance for hundreds of future families and Wellington as a city, we needed to get it right!

I would have no hesitation in recommending Frances Fraser for Interior Design work big or small – residential or commercial. Personally, I wish her every success as she embarks on her next journey and designing and creating wonderful spaces for her clients.”