Home decorating frenzy
You’d think after so many months of being at home, two long weekends in a row would be all about getting out. For us Easter and Anzac weekend have been all about home decorating. Thanks to the fabulous collection of home stores at Albany Mega Centre we’ve got the house looking just the way we want it. Just in time to return to the office.
Both Megan and I have been working from home since mid-August. During that time at home we often talked about redecorating different rooms throughout the house. It was all talk until the PM announced the move to Covid level orange and our respective bosses told us we were due back in the office after Anzac Day. We decided that we needed to get the house done before returning to work. Holiday plans to visit the in-laws in Taranaki were cancelled - without much protest from me mind you – in exchange for 11 days of doing the house up.
We started in the bathroom and adjacent laundry by repainting the walls a very sophisticated ‘putty’ colour offset by a strong aubergine purple for the cupboard doors. The rooms immediately moved from late 20th century to something modern, clean and vibrant.
The next step was a trip to Bed, Bath & Beyond to start the decorating process. What’s great about this place is its huge range of brands and colours. Megan lamented that we hadn’t had matching towels since we got a full set as a wedding gift so we went for one style across everything. We bought two complete sets of bath and hand towels, face cloths and bath mats from the Design Republique range, the first in moss green and the second in a charcoal grey. Both colours go well with each other and the room colours.
We also purchased a range of Home Co. terrazzo bathroom accessories including a soap dish, toothbrush holder and toilet brush holder. The natural stone look works well with the other colours in the room.
Next stop was One Story for storage. Our first purchase was a tall storage rack that allows us to display the towels, soaps and ornaments we’ve collected over the years. For the laundry, we bought a tall storage unit – in white – that is super functional and holds all our cleaning stuff: washing powders, cleaning products, cloths and brushes right through to the vacuum cleaner. The other thing we buy from One Story is a great laundry hamper that will sit nicely in the corner next to the washing machine.
By Easter Monday the two rooms are painted and redecorated and we’re both feeling great about how they look. Time for phase two: the living room, lounge and office.
After a bit of time packing things away, moving furniture, throwing stuff out and prepping walls, we get into our bold decoration scheme. All three rooms, which are connected, have high ceilings so we go for a two-tone approach, separated by a dado rail at head height. Below the rail is matt black paint while above the rail is a designer wallpaper featuring a bold symmetrical pattern in brown, grey, orange and taupe. I promise, it looks a lot better than it sounds.
Late in the week, after painting and wallpapering are all done, we are back down to the Albany Mega Centre, looking for lighting, furniture and homewares.
We find a beautiful chandelier at Lighting Direct which will become the centrepiece of the living room. Together with the new up-lights and the two freestanding lamps, the room will have a very different feeling. We also buy new lampshades for the other two rooms.
In Farmers Home we find the most amazing M&Co rug which is 3m long by 2m wide. Its geometric shapes will become the centrepiece of the room, offsetting our existing oak floorboards. We also buy a pair of Luca Marli leather chairs in a rich toffee colour.
We finish the afternoons shopping at Adairs, largely looking for beautiful finishing homeware items for all three rooms. We buy a range of smaller items including a coffee table, two teak Budha heads, a woollen throw, a metalwork mirror, and mix-and-match range of cushions in colours that complement the rug and new wallpaper.
By Anzac Day the living room, lounge and office are looking amazing and Megan and I are feeling more than pleased with ourselves. Yes, it was hard work but having such an amazing collection of stores all in one place made it so much easier. The success of our home decorating efforts are as much thanks to us, as they are to the wonderful stores at Albany Mega Centre. House work done, now it’s back to work tomorrow.