As a child, Olivia Grainger and her family lived a nomadic lifestyle, shifting in and around Christchurch seven times, sometimes to the suburbs, sometimes to semi-rural areas.
They lived in the former St Mary's Anglican vicarage. It is now a restaurant and Olivia has since enjoyed coffee and food in what was her old bedroom. Later, as a law student at Canterbury University, home was a house on the site of a garden nursery.
All this rubbed off favourably on Olivia. She lived in the Middle East and Switzerland during her legal career but always hankered for New Zealand's green spaces.
It was that love of nature that brought her here with lawyer husband Stephen Rendall.
Olivia has toned down the house's brightest elements, including replacing the green glass splashback with black and white tiles.
Bi-fold doors and windows link both the living area and kitchen to the rear deck. Above the kitchen bench, two corner windows further add to the appeal of outdoor entertaining.
