Blooming bright in NZ’s capital

The brief to the designers of this Wellington hotel was 'no white, which explains its vibrant interiors.

The brief to the designers of Wellington's Naumi Hotel was "no white", which explains why it looks like a rainbow has exploded inside my room. The diagonal-striped carpet contains at least half a dozen hues from orange and mauve to mustard and lime. The sliding glass door across wardrobe and kitchenette shimmers gold, pink and green. Elsewhere there's a curved purple wardrobe, minty-green chaise and a jumbo 65-inch TV framed in a swirl of pinks and plum. It's all rather vivid.

So, too, is the ground-floor arrival experience. Guests enter a reception area bursting with colourful flowers on the baroque wallpaper and bloom-shaped lamps covering walls and ceiling. There's clashing florals of carpet and upholstery and a large, pink-petalled sculpture soaking up sunlight in the rear atrium.