After the devastating earthquakes the clients lost their hugely successful hospitality venue, the Dux de Lux, which was housed in the beautiful heritage Arts Centre. 'The Dux', as it was affectionately known for over 30 years, comprised a large restaurant, several bars and courtyards. As it was impossible to replicate the Dux as a whole again, the plan became to re-open the different parts in various alternative locations. Dux Live (a music venue and bar) on Lincoln Road, Dux Dine the restaurant arm, and Dux Brew (a craft brew bar).

Dux Dine is located in the old Station Masters Villa of the Riccarton Railway. It is a beautiful turn of the century villa that was being used as a work and storage space.

As the villa had been used as mainly just a storeroom for many years, the space needed to be reconfigured, which allowed plenty of opportunity to reintroduce many period features such as ornate cornicing, ceiling roses, anaglypta wallpaper, dado rails and feature mantelpieces.

The basic concept was a contemporary reinterpretation of the traditional. This reinterpretation brought together beautiful recycled kauri tables with turned legs painted to contemporise them, deep buttoned bench seating in bold colours, classic bentwood chairs painted for outside, and stained for inside, bespoke carpet in a regular design but with vibrant colours, which were then reflected in the wall treatments in different dining areas to create different spaces to appeal to a variety of people.

The interior colour palette needed to be fun. When customers are going to be in the space for a few hours only, it's good to push the boundaries a bit. There were too many white and chocolate restaurants already, so green became a 'food' colour.

The carpet is custom made and works with the deep button bench seating fabrics, and the colours were matched to suit. A feature wall of china plates is accented with Resene Madison, and the Resene Eden green of the 'lounge room' was designed to create a different vibe for the room, offset by the cute 'ottochairs' covered in a range of funky fabrics.

Resene SpaceCote Low Sheen tinted to Resene Donkey Brown was used to keep the walls coloured without competing with the other strong colours. It is also used in the hallway over anaglypta wallpaper. Resene Indian Ink looks dashing on the recycled kauri turned table legs, bentwood chairs and for other accents. Resene Black White sharpens the scheme and keeps it looking contemporary.

Struggling to find lampshades that suited, the drum shades are custom made with anaglypta painted in various colours – Resene Lustacryl tinted to Resene Indian Ink, Resene Madison and Resene Black White – to suit the different areas.