Smart Products for Small Spaces

We think it’s time to spill the tea about some of our favourite small-space furniture items. So go grab one yourself as we tuck in for more small-space tips!

Our style is obviously a mix of Scandi and minimalism which means we have to think strategically about what furniture and accents we’re going to use for each space. Can’t have any  ‘dead zones’! These are some of the most helpful and beautiful products we’ve come across, plus use most frequently, for said spaces. Here are our current recommendations for your apartment if you’re trying to resource products for a smaller space:

1. The Fable Occasional Chair from Cittá is a perfect example of our style. It's a clever oak design that holds its smart fabric with strength. It photographs well because the oak hugs the back of the chair as well as accents the fabric all around, remaining a feature from all angles. This chair is the Beyoncé of occasional chairs. It doesn't overwhelm a smaller space while also maintaining the sophistication and comfort you're looking for.

2. The Sketch Root Round Dining Table from Soren Liv is just a treat. We like to go for circular tables for particularly cosy dining spaces as it keeps the room looking open and allows flexibility of placement. We also acknowledge that some of our clients are young parents and need the lacquered finishing to keep their cleaning process quick and their tabletops spiffy. We recommend this dining table for the practicality and efficiency effect.

3. Loves a rug! No matter how cool your floors are everyone loves a good rug. We can't count the number of times we have added a rug for a part staging job, and had the client tell us afterwards "I can't believe I've never put a rug down before, it looks so much better!" The Elias Floor Rug from Freedom Furniture has all the texture and appeal that a dinner party turned to sleep over party could want! We love the wool and viscose blends of this fabric, and lug it everywhere we can for jobs because it’s our fave. It comes in different sizes and at affordable prices depending on the measurements of your space.

4. With its nifty size, dreamy appearance and supportive back one has to vouch for this piece. The Radial Dining Chair from Cittá is our go-to! She has classy legs and a lengthy seating frame. It's actually pretty light when you consider that it's made of sturdy oak too! It wears really well, and looks even better over time. Have I mentioned that she’s pretty yet?

Those are just a few of our favourite things in rotation currently and we thought we’d let you know what we’re into, what they’re called and where they’re from in case you’ve wondered about them in any of our posts or stories on Instagram. Please let us know if you have any enquires and remember that you get the benefit of a stylist’s discount at most places when you hire Nook Staging for consultancy! Have a groovy Monday and we’ll catch you on the gram tomorrow.

First Homebuyer Series: Heidi & Dylan

Heidi and Dylan are the type of people I love to sponge knowledge from. They continually make clever and well thought out decisions when it comes to property (and everything else!), and when you add a tonne of hard work into the mix, the result is that they have both a home to add value to AND a tidy rental property. Talk about high achievers!

This week I talked to Heidi about their 3 bedroom home in Mangere Bridge, Auckland. Her and Dylan are at the tail end of a exciting renovation and I can't wait to see the end result.

I will also do a feature on their rental in the next few weeks - so stay tuned.

M: How long have you been living in your home? 

H: Five and a half years. 

M: What was your main purpose when buying it? 

H: We bought this as our first home with the view that we may not stay here forever. Our purpose has changed since buying it and we now have decided to stay here longer term. 

M: What immediately appealed to you about the place? 

H: It was an old do-up. It was a pretty villa under the poor paint job and tired decorating, so we were able to purchase at a good price and do the hard yards ourselves to make it into what we wanted it to be.

M: Tell us about what it was like when you first moved in:

 H: FREEZING, leaky, a horrid coloured yellow with mustard trims, lots of poorly built additions that needed attention. 

M: What have you done to the property since you bought it?

H: Basically everything!!!! 
In our first phase of renovations we
- Insulated the entire house, walls and all - this means re-gibbing and painting all the walls in every single room
- Added an ensuite
- Painted the exterior
- Re-did the toilet
- Got rid of the overgrown garden
- Built a small retaining wall to tidy up the driveway and planted a rose garden here

We then decided to stay put for the longer term so in the second phase we decided to extend the house, which involves
- A new laundry
- Open plan living/dining/kitchen in the extension
- New bathroom

M: Phew! That sounds like a lot of work! What was your best purchase? 

H: I love my Penny Stotter and my Ali Gulec prints! Also the solid wooden door which I've repurposed into my desk so I can work from home :)

M: Do you have a purchase you regretted?

H: Dining room chairs, I wish I'd spent more on getting some good quality ones from the beginning.

M: What do you love about the place? 

H: It's warm, highly practical, has great light and we've made it our own so it feels like home.

M: What don’t you love about it? 

H: Not a lot to be honest, I would have said the kitchen before the second round of renos as we're keen entertainers, so having the kitchen in a separate room was not conducive to good conversation while entertaining.

M: Describe your interior decorating style: 

H: Eccelectic? New and old, wood and metal, concrete and wood - all the opposites.

Investing in Practice - Jason Hoe from Argo Property

One of the great things about being in the property industry in Auckland is that it is small. Over the years, I have had the privilege of working with some very experienced and knowledgable people in different areas of expertise. One of those people is Jason Hoe, who I worked with when I was a property manager. Jason and I both studied a Bachelor of Property at the University of Auckland, and have gone into different areas within the industry - but have both focused on Auckland apartments.

Recently Jason started a consultancy company called Argo Property which helps people who are not knowledgable about the apartment industry make informed decisions when it comes to investing.

He recently shared with me a story about how he and his partner purchased and renovated an apartment earlier this year and achieved over $7,000 positive cash flow. There's details about some of the problems they faced and a complete breakdown of the numbers on his blog.

Having more of an interest in design and presenting properties for sale than being numbers-based, I find it helpful to see the costs and income drawn up for me - something Jason does very well! My only gripe is that he didn't use Nook Staging to furnish or home stage it for him, crucial error! (Haha).

Have a look by clicking here - it makes for some very interesting reading.

Megan

Where to from here?

There is so much in the media at the moment about first home buyers and people struggling to get onto the property ladder. It got me thinking about the people who have already purchased their first homes, and what they are doing with them now. Did they buy to make some money in the crazy Auckland property market by then selling it on quickly? Did they buy a "do-up" they will work on slowly to create their dream home? Did they continue renting and buy an investment property instead, with the view that they would use it later as leverage? Did they buy specifically to get capital gain, or did they buy a property they loved to stay in long term?

People have such different approaches to property. I know that when my partner and I are looking to buy we inevitably end up in disagreements over whether we buy a "sensible" property which will do right by us, or whether we pushed our budget to buy something that has an X Factor we love.

With these questions in mind I thought I would do some short posts over the coming weeks on different people who have bought in this market, and what they are doing with their properties now. 

Keep an eye on the blog for more to come - and let me know if you have an interesting story to share.

Standing out from the crowd

I have been asked a few times "Where do you source your furniture from?"

The answer is, everywhere! I have felt passionate from the beginning that Nook's packages will be different, current and fresh - and because of that I spend a lot of time sourcing furniture from a number of different places and pulling it all together to create an overall look.

The larger ticket items are sourced from Freedom Furniture - sofas, coffee tables and dining sets, but a large portion of my packages is sourced from wherever inspiration strikes. 

For soft furnishings I often use Citta Design, and I pull together small decorative accents from multiple sources over Auckland and overseas (Etsy is a wonderful website which ships to New Zealand). Where practicality allows, I love putting live plants or flowers in my properties. You can't beat a pretty flower box or a lush vase of beautiful greenery to make a place feel like home!

Recently I was in the South Island holidaying with my family and I found some wonderful vintage bird prints. These are now framed up and will feature in my packages. I have even called upon a friend who is an artist to do some original illustrations, and use these drawings as decorative accents.

Today I have spent the morning at Unity Books on High Street searching for beautiful coffee table books to add to my collection. Great books are often overlooked in staging packages, but contribute to making an apartment feel a little luxurious. 

Because I offer the purchaser the chance to purchase the packages outright, I source each package individually, and therefore no two packages are alike. 

It's just another way Nook does things differently when staging your property.