Category: Living Room

A Multi-Room Renovation in Westmere
Last year, one of our most diverse projects was a double room renovation in Westmere. This was a highly involved project that showcased our cabinetmaking expertise in tailoring to numerous use cases. The family’s lifestyle was fast outgrowing their original rooms and required solutions that better suited their needs and activities.
Conducive Study and Work Space
To start off, the owner required an unused bedroom to be converted into a study room. BoxMakers’ role included designing and incorporating a solution that allowed for dual desktop computer placement with specially installed cable grommets to minimise visual clutter. The client envisioned a clean, neat, and productive workspace that could be used for both study and work. As a whole, the study room included a large corner desk, complete with a full suite of cabinetry – including overhead shelves and cabinets, as well as drawers and corner shelving.
Exquisite Materials
Material-wise, Dezignatek’s White Thermofoam became the choice for the cabinet face panels, with their Oslo-style door profiles. Their centre indents create a subtle sense of texture and tactility without detracting from the clean look. The shelves were finished with a Timber Veneer in American White Oak while the desktop featured the same finish, and featured a mixed core Plywood constitution for lasting durability. Häfele’s soft-close series was used for both the hinges and drawer runners, hampering those jarring door sounds. iLLUMAX’s LED strips were applied underneath the open shelves to provide warm task lighting – perfect for reading and paperwork.
Well-thought Play Space
Elsewhere, the children’s playroom was renovated to serve as a general living space, adapting to the family’s evolving needs. The room had also inherited some extra space thanks to a recent expansion. Taking full advantage of the renewed space, the owner called upon BoxMakers to design and build a set of cabinetry befitting of this new and improved room.
The layout consisted of an arch arrangement of open shelves over a row of cabinets with a flat benchtop – perfect for showcasing pottery, books, and framed photos. The base benchtop features the same mixed-core plywood found in the study, keeping aesthetic consistency while providing an incredible amount of storage room. The TV-space is also immense, allowing room for large screens that could be watched from the other end of the room.
This multi-faceted project showcases BoxMakers’ ability to create purpose-built, space-efficient rooms and effectively transform spaces to accommodate a broad range of lifestyles.
Designer: Mona Simathamchai
👉 Get in touch with us today to book your first free consultation.
October 9, 2025
A Special Scandinavian Kitchen in Mt Albert
Our ongoing work at this Mt Albert home is helping bring to life the owner’s visionary passion project. Envisaging a crystal-clear idea of exactly what they wanted for their family, the owner worked closely with BoxMakers to ensure part of the kitchen and cabinetry was how they dreamt it to be.
Core Philosophy
The core design philosophy behind this project is to create a minimalist, clean, and airy kitchen that feels simply freeing the moment you step in. A simple and light Scandinavian-style kitchen was the goal. The colours were selected to mirror this relieving nature, being a warm beige and gentle white. Melteca’s French Cream was chosen as the primary colour, a decadent tone evocative of elegantly-presented desserts.
Palette and Materials
Prime Panels’ Embossed White fills out the rest of the scene with hints of levity. Beneath the melamine colours, the cabinetry’s core material is a sturdy MDF – a versatile substrate for hosting such a palette. Uniquartz’s Sparkling White makes an appearance as the benchtop’s finish. The textured grey of the engineered stone strikes a perfect midpoint between the cream and white.
For the handles and drawer features, we found Häfele to hit all the right notes for the owner’s vision. Their intricately engineered drawer runners, sides, and faces made storage both satisfying and accommodating. In keeping with a flush, minimalist design, Häfele’s Luxe series were chosen to serve as hidden extrusion handles, hiding away even the slightest amount of visual clutter. The theme continues with Enko’s Vibo Pull-Out Bottle Organiser, and FIT’s Tanova Dual Pull-Out Bin.
Cohesive Entry Way
The centrepiece of the cabinetry, however, is the full-height glass display cabinet, right beside the kitchen. It comes complete with a full set of per-shelf LED lighting, primed for figurine display.
BoxMakers’ work continues on another home in the same complex, with much of the same principles carried over, such as a clean, minimalist design, and a feature-set designed to cater to all generations of a growing family. The project’s tenets of simplicity, durability, and versatility can be seen in both lots, but the former is undeniably something special.
Designer: Mona Simathamchai
👉 Get in touch with us today to book your first free consultation.
September 26, 2025
Smart Homes: Why you Might Consider an Always-Online Home
The gradual integration of smart technology into our lives has become more and more prevalent over the past decade. From watches, to clocks, to fridges, “smart” has developed a tendency to prefix itself before all the most popular appliances. It’s no surprise of course, it allows the parts of your home to be the very best version of themselves, all controllable from the ubiquitous device in your hands.
Why The Shift?
Many embrace the opportunity to modernize their home, many of us accept it as part of moving into the future, yet many also see it as invasive, and a threat to the simplicity of times past and the world of physical switches. So why has the smart home become the home of the future? The reasoning behind which can be attributed to numerous factors: from the ever-increasing functionality of our phones, to the desire to live in a movie-magic home, and the opportunities presented by product innovation. On top of this, the entry point is getting ever-lower, with wide brand adoption and products such as smart bulbs becoming more and more affordable.
What Do They Offer?
You can typically expect any smart product to pair to your phone through an app. This affords the opportunity to control the colour of your lightbulb, the volume of your speakers, or the recording of your security cameras, all from the palm of your hand – and those are just the basics. Deeper home integration can cover everything from garage doors to motorised shades, to HVAC control, truly bringing your home alive. Through app-control, you gain deep customisation features, such as changing the colour of your lightbulbs or the recording frequency of your cameras.
What Are The Downsides?
It’s understandable why many people see smart features as little more than a gimmick. After all, many smart features are more effective as a selling point than in practice. Smart homes also come with the risk of overreliance on a single ecosystem, with software issues potentially affecting multiple devices, and often forcing adherence to a single brand. Firmware updates and possible subscriptions can also add to time and cost.
While the cost might be low for simple smart products, major home systems will certainly extract a steeper price. This does, however, also mean resale value can increase; smart security and entry systems can certainly make a home feel more advanced. To summarise, it’s all about balancing function with convenience.
Images: https://linkmix.co/41131246
August 13, 2025
The 4.3m TV Cabinet That Doubles as a Library Wall
Rethinking the TV cabinet in a Renovation
In most renovations, the TV wall ends up as an afterthought. A screen, a tangle of wires, and maybe a floating shelf. But when we were asked to design this 4.3-metre-long cabinet, we saw an opportunity to create something far more considered, a piece that anchors the room, balances form and function, and quietly elevates the everyday.
The Cabinet That Does It All
The idea was to create a feature wall that didn’t shout. Horizontal lines draw the eye across the room, making the space feel wider and calmer. Integrated lighting interacts with the surface throughout the day, creating movement and warmth. With no handles and barely visible joins, the shelving appears seamless, a quiet, intentional rhythm that holds both books and screen without either dominating.
Designed for Daily Life
We set the TV height precisely to match seated eye level from the sofa, an ergonomic detail that makes a surprising difference. The bookshelves soften the visual presence of the screen and turn the wall into more than just a place for tech. It becomes part of how the family lives, reads, and relaxes.
Material That Tells a Story
To edge the cabinet, we used recycled native New Zealand timber, chosen for its character, sustainability, and connection to place. It gives the piece warmth and story without demanding attention. Combined with invisible joinery and a matte finish, the cabinet feels built in, not added on.
A Renovator’s Perspective
If you’re renovating, this kind of detail matters. Planning cabinetry early allows you to consider sightlines, storage types, lighting effects, and proportions. A well-designed TV wall won’t just hold your screen — it shapes how you feel in the room.
Planning a renovation? We design and build integrated cabinetry that transforms spaces from cluttered to considered.

Book a free design consult here.
August 5, 2025
A Reimagined Island Getaway — A Complete Custom Joinery Work
In a trip across the Hauraki Gulf, our BoxMakers team was called to renovate a beautifully situated residence on the southwestern tip of Waiheke Island. We were adamant on delivering a product that could not only compliment, but elevate the stunning views of the island’s flora. The project called for extensive cabinetry and joinery work across multiple rooms, including the fireplace, laundry, office, and more.
Our work in the living room featured a complex arrangement of stained American Oak panels and cabinetry, which sported concealable asymmetrical shelving and large sliding panels, which part to reveal space for a genuinely enormous television. Situated above a modern fireplace, extensive care was taken to ensure the longevity of both the woodwork and the items they housed.
For the office, BoxMakers delivered high quality, height-matching cabinets complete with finger pull-handles and soft-close drawers. Subtle LED accent lighting was applied to the overhead units, providing an elegant touch of light that accentuates the cabinetwork. Similar work was applied to the full-height entrance storage units, which featured a diverse range of joinery work, offering everything from shelves, to drawers, to sitting spots. The L-profile handles and warm white toe-kick LED lighting adds both convenience and accessibility while matching the home aesthetic.
The master ensuite also featured a wide range of cabinetry work, featuring floating drawers in black stained oak, tastefully contrasting the eggshell walls while preserving the natural yet modern tone of the home. The soft-close drawer systems minimise noise disruption when opening and closing, especially during times of peace and quiet. Also receiving an upgrade was the laundry room, which was renovated with premium birch plywood and a wide array of drawers and cabinets, eliminating any storage issues. The cabinetry was made to perfectly accommodate the two laundry units, serving as a prime example of space efficiency.
With splendid views overseeing Te Wharau Bay as well as vast stretches of the lush Waiheke greenery, BoxMakers elevated the residence with complementary natural colours and extensive functionality, making the home a luxurious getaway with plenty of room to grow.
July 31, 2025