Rohan has only been living in his brand new Palmerston North townhouse for two months, but already it looks and feels like home. Mind you, that's what happens when you have a clear idea of what you like and don't like, a specific design style in mind, and a team of professionals helping you to turn your dream into reality.

"It was my design," explains Rohan. "I wanted to build a home with an industrial feel about it, hence the steel staircase, stainless steel skirting boards and polished concrete floors."

When it came to choosing the paint colours and wallpapers, he enlisted the help of Sandra Carroll at Colour & Design Group. "I told Sandra that I wanted a bright and funky feel to it," explains Rohan. "I wanted it to look different."

Where did your inspiration come from? I always wanted to do up an old warehouse or something with that feel, so this is close.
What was the biggest challenge? The hard part was designing something on a section that is only 283 square metres, and still having the feel of a spacious home with good indoor-outdoor flow.
Which space in the house do you get your greatest satisfaction from? I love the whole house. It's very sunny. I just love coming home.
What is your advice for someone trying to achieve a similar look? Just be brave and make it yours, not how people think it should be. Sandra was great to work with and gave me great advice. 
What colours did you use? The walls throughout the house are Resene White Pointer, with Resene Quarter White Pointer for the ceilings, doors and frames. The kitchen and laundry have feature walls of bright yellow - almost lime - Resene Bird Flower, and there are five different wallpaper feature walls throughout the house (in the living area, three bedrooms, and small bathroom), all done with wallpaper from Resene. The exterior of the house is painted in Resene Bird Flower and deep brown Resene Triple Mondo.

Get the look:
If you want to combine your wallpaper with a painted finish, a good option is to have a statement wall in the wallpaper and paint the adjacent walls in a complementary or contrasting colour. Finding the right wallpaper can be tricky as there are many many options to choose from. A good place to start is the wallpaper library on the Resene website, www.resene.com/wallpaper. In the online library you can search for wallpaper types and colours and it will display options for you to choose from. Once you have narrowed down your choices you can pop into your local Resene ColorShop to see the wallpapers in the books and order in samples of your favourites.

The exterior of the townhouse is painted in lime-yellow Resene Bird Flower and deep brown Resene Triple Mondo.

Black outdoor furniture is offset by a bright stripe of Resene Bird Flower.

The master bedroom features a clever textured wallpaper that is patterned to give the look of padded leather fabric, complete with stitching effect. (This wallpaper, Skin SK73405, is available from Resene.)

The guest bedroom features textured wallpaper (Wildlife 25332, available from Resene) and walls painted in Resene White Pointer.

The small WC room features black padded wallpaper inlaid with metallic lime-yellow stencils of large roses. The various layers in this wallpaper create a 3D effect and give it a rich look. (This wallpaper, Brocante II 45963, is available from Resene.)