Lot tour: Café Carousel 2.0

November 2026

Café Carousel has been one of the most popular restaurants in Wellington for 20 years. Now Jackie Whitfield has stepped down as the head chef and it is time for her daughter Dawn to take over. Dawn and her team have worked day and night and the restaurant is ready for re-opening.

The old layout and decorating choices.

The new layout. There are no dramatic changes in the layout, only the kitchen has been renovated a bit and is now sealed with walls instead of being open. New walls, floors and furniture make the place look more modern but yet still warm and inviting.

A view from the entrance to the host's station.

The waiting area in case your table isn't quite ready when you arrive.

The counter for customers who just want to grab a quick bite.

The dining area.


Notes:

• Here it is, the new Café Carousel. As you can see from the pics the layout hasn't really changed that much. I changed the exterior a bit after taking the topview photo in case you're wondering where the columns went. At first I had plans to build a second storey but then decided against it. I prefer to keep it a small place and I think it's much more manageable for Dawn to handle.
• Pink is Dawn's favourite colour but I didn't want to go crazy with it so I went with neutral colours for the walls and floors and used just a touch of pink here and there. I'm pretty happy with the look of the restaurant, I think it looks stylish but at the same time modern and represents its young owner.
• I still need to make recolours of those paintings because the walls look a little bare but other than that I'm done.