Fake grass, once considered a bit tacky, is making a kitschy comeback - popping up in backyards, apartment patios, commercial buildings, bars, schools and even inside some homes.

Popping into the Tile Warehouse proves to be a pleasant retail surprise.

Happiness is a waterproof roof over your head.

Timber? Man made? It’s a minefield.

Let there be light – and wires and heating, at the flick of a switch.

The Block NZ 2012 winner Ben Crawford and his girlfriend Kylie are building their dream home. Share their proud moments and pitfalls every week.

The Heroic Garden Festival offers the chance to visit 26 gorgeous Auckland gardens.

Herne Bay’s community garden will be under new management.

The bush setting and the need for sunlight mean one thing: a flat roof.

Make summer last even longer with some relaxation-inducing outdoor living furniture and accessories.

It's the morning of New Year's Eve and I'm writing this from Matarangi in the Coromandel. Kylie's parents have a bach here, just a stone's throw from the beach and a world away from our construction site in Castor Bay.

A bit of brute force and the walls appear.

The Block NZ 2012 winner Ben Crawford and his girlfriend Kylie are building their dream home. Share their proud moments and pitfalls every week.

Masonry blocks will become a piece of art.

I enjoyed researching this story, as I don't often peruse websites for garden gift-giving. My go-to presents for special days are often plants (not a surprise).

The builders are getting stuck in, even by hand.

A small fibre-cement-board do-up cottage on a large tree-lined site in the Waitakere Ranges has been bought for TVNZ's new DIY reality show, Our First Home.

There’s a lot to be said for wet weather.

Tricky weather gets building progress stuck in the mud.

Mud sticks, as the piling contractors found.

Builders are on site and the dream will soon be a reality.

The Block NZ 2012 winner Ben Crawford and his girlfriend Kylie are building their dream home. Share their proud moments and pitfalls every week.

The paperwork’s been approved so it’s all systems go.

A Scottish-based Kiwi designer is flushed with excitement as her colourful and unique take on the humble toilet is turning heads in the UK.

Glass is for warmth, as well as looking through.

The Block NZ 2012 winner Ben Crawford and his girlfriend Kylie are building their dream home. Share their proud moments and pitfalls every week.

The building hasn’t begun but the buying has.