When an Auckland couple relocated to a Hawke's Bay bungalow, the move was supposed to be temporary. Five years later, they are only now on the move.
When their first child was born, Fiona and Aaron Hosford decided to move from Auckland to Hawke's Bay to be nearer family.
After the arrival of daughter Imogen five years ago, Fiona didn't muck around when she spied an art deco bungalow for sale in Hastings.
"I had an unconditional offer on the table before Aaron had even seen it," she says. "Another buyer was keen on the house, which meant my competitive nature kicked in."
Aaron, however, could be forgiven for wondering what was going on when he first laid eyes on the brown concrete house on a virtually bare block of land. "It looked like an ordinary suburban house from the outside, yet there was a certain magic about it," says Fiona, an interior designer.
Initially, the house did need some work to make it comfortable for family living, not to mention a new exterior colour scheme. But having renovated and landscaped their previous home in Auckland and having helped friends and family with renovations, Fiona and Aaron weren't short of DIY experience.
They retained the interior walls in a restful sandy colour, but an old chipped brick fireplace in the lounge was reclad in fire-resistant plasterboard, painted smart black and topped with a neat wooden trim.
Then Fiona, a self-confessed textile junkie, went to town on the soft furnishings in the home. She removed the old calico curtains hanging in the living room bay window and replaced them with linen in a plum-red shade, completing the look with earthy red and gold cushions. That exercise reinforced Fiona's belief in the way textiles can transform a room.
Two Marimekko fabrics with similar designs feature in the bedroom Imogen shares with her two-year-old sister Elsa. "They're surprisingly romantic and decorative for this designer, who's best known for her striking, bold graphic designs," says Fiona. "Initially, I chose these fabrics for our own room, but then I thought it might be too much pink for my husband, so the girls were in luck."
In the main bedroom, the bed is adorned with a vintage floral fabric found by Fiona's mother at a church fair in Havelock North. Fiona threw it over the bed one day when she was considering cutting it up to cover cushions. "I couldn't bring myself to cut it, so it stayed there," she says.
Although the couple originally planned to stay in the house for only a year, they enjoyed it so much that they're still there five years later.
But now they've reluctantly put it on the market, having found a bigger place in which to indulge their rural fantasies and have more space for free-range chickens and the new addition to the family, a mini schnauzer puppy.
Style tips
Seasonal cycle: Consider changing your window dressings with the seasons: make rooms cosy with heavier fabrics in the colder months and then swap these for lighter, floaty materials come the warmer months.
Soft touch: If you want to revamp a room in your home without blowing the budget, try changing the soft furnishings. You can make quite a change with different cushions, curtains, throws and rugs.
Salvage operation: If one of your favourite fabrics is becoming threadbare, save the best piece from it and incorporate it in something else, such as a cushion, tea cosy or perhaps an apron.
Leanne Moore is the editor of Your Home & Garden. See the latest issue for the full story on this home and other ideas for your place.
