SPACES WITH SOUL
Interior designer Lucinda McDonald, owner of Soul Interior Design and Home Matters in Matakana, shares her insights on creating homes with personality, warmth and a strong sense of individuality.
What advice would you give someone looking to engage an interior designer?
Ideally, engage an interior designer early to help optimise layouts, spatial planning and clarify your vision from the start, avoiding reactive, compromised choices later. They’ll help you get the best bang for your buck and advise where to invest or economise. Do some groundwork: consider how you want your home to feel and function, and gather inspiration from spaces, art and objects you love, anywhere! Be upfront about budget – a designer’s role isn’t to push you beyond your means but to allow for smart decisions and creativity within it.
What interior design trends are you currently seeing and which ones do you think have lasting appeal?
Colour drenching is popular, treating the ceiling as a fifth wall – painted to match walls or finished in feature wallpaper – creating moody, cocooning spaces. Texture is big with finishes like Venetian plaster, limewash and wallpaper adding depth. Curves and scallops are everywhere right now and can feel overdone, but when used thoughtfully, they soften spaces beautifully. Rich, dark woods are making a comeback, statement stoneware and biophilic design remain popular. More broadly, trends themselves are shifting towards a more timeless approach, focused on personal style and lasting appeal rather than chasing what’s new. Long may that continue!
How do you approach designing a home that reflects the people who live there rather than trends or a set look?
Truly understanding the people who use a space and what they need is at the heart of everything we do – their lifestyle, values, inspirations, challenges. My role is to translate that into homes that feel personal and authentic. The building itself matters too; each one has its own character, rhythm, and potential, and good design works with that rather than against it. I love mixing old and new – meaningful pieces layered with fresh elements and personal details that reflect a family’s history or passions. Trends have their place, but only when they genuinely enhance the space.
What is your process when working with clients from the initial concept through to completion?
We approach every project as a collaboration, guiding clients through our step-by-step design process. It begins with listening, carefully, to establish a thorough brief. This informs the design concept stage which becomes the guiding vision for every decision – a purposeful, cohesive plan. From there, we move into sourcing and detailed development, liaising with suppliers, builders and trades while managing timelines. Projects shift and evolve, which in itself is part of the process, but we always come back to the vision to keep everything aligned and resolved.