The 1/2 We Don't Tell You

As you probably know at this point, we do a lot of quoting for properties all over Auckland City. We quote to provide AirBnB packages, full stages (which means we stage a completely empty property), part stages (which means we work some of our items in with the client's pre-existing items), or to offer a styling service where we visit a property, head back to the office and draw up a suggested plan of attack for our client. The point is, we run around quoting a lot!

Now, we show you the beautified results after we’ve been through and worked our magic but boy do we have some stories of properties we’ve only ended up quoting for! My personal favourite is having arrived at a property when a party had just finished and the cleaning crew hadn’t been through yet! We find ourselves in an array of different situations upon arrival. 

We visit properties that haven’t been built yet and we aren’t going to get to see before the day we’d bring all of our gear in! Our skills accommodate for this. But we also arrive to screaming kids, families in the middle of a move, I’ve literally had to step over a sleeping child before, ha! I mentioned in another blog that we get dogs running full force at us too! Luckily we’d do the same thing to them if it was socially acceptable. Another skill we have though is showing up in people’s lives and properties at a time where things are usually a whirlwind for them and commit to just meeting people where they’re at.  

We exchange jokes, assure our clients as to how we can help and leave them hoping we’ve brightened their day at the least, before heading back to our office to draw up a proposal and quote should they be interested in going ahead with our services.

I wanted to help you understand through this blog that it's a wild ride being an interior designer sometimes. Yes, it’s so beautiful to be able to do what we do and meet so many amazing people but it’s also a delicate art to meet people where they’re at and paint a picture for them of what their property can look like when their minds might be in overdrive, their homes might be a smidge chaotic in the middle of a move, or their 4 kids might all be home on school holiday and their multiple dogs might be getting potty trained still! We pride ourselves in hosting people to an exposé of our services on their turf and get excited with each new property at the vision we develop while we’re there.

Let me assure you here, like I would do during a visit to your property, that Nook has got you! Needing to grab a quote? Inquire with us now. :)

Confessions of a Flat: Hannah Edition

Have you taken some time lately to listen to the story that your home is telling? If you’re anything like me, my place can get real messy, real quick, the busier I get. Floor-drobe can become such a political issue we should hit up our PM about it. Point being, our surroundings reflect our lifestyle. Most importantly, they definitely influence our attitudes about life, the experience others have of our hospitality, and plain and simple, can sometimes become a health and safety issue, ha.

Let me explain the story my house is telling at the moment to give you an idea of what yours might be saying. My house whispers that it holds a lot of visitors, because we have one too many sofas in our lounge. Honestly, we have 3. It’s also saying the whole flat likes to cook, as indicated by our many exposed pots, pans and cooking utensils. It’s laughing at us about how my flatmates and I need to utilise our dining table more, because currently there’s a paddle board on it, as depicted by the intro photo here. It’s saying that there’s a bunch of transient young adults living here as we haven’t put up much art around the place, but those of us looking to lock down a long term place are starting to hang art in our rooms! It’s a start.

More specifically, let’s talk about my room. There’s a large piece of art, nestled into an oak frame, featuring Toetoe above my bed, a light green duvet with light brown decorative cushions, a white closet unit, rattan bedsides and an old-school picnic basket that holds an even more retro mirror. I’ve placed my furniture thoughtfully throughout the room to make sure I’m taking advantage of how open it could be. I’ve thought about how lighting hits the room throughout the day and want my bed to get that first, crisp morning sunlight while I sip on my coffee. My room is saying that I like earthy tones, nature, sunlight and open spaces. I like to sit on the floor while I do my makeup in the morning (because most of my upbringing I lived in places you sat on the floor), and that I like photography and interior design as depicted by the magazines in my bedside drawer and cameras on my wardrobe. 

What tale is your house spinning? Have a wine and go room to room to think about it, because we often don’t. Visitors notice and if we’re honest with ourselves, we do too on some level. May your home be a happy, productive, hospitable place. If you can take anything away from this wee blog remember, your interiors reflect your lifestyle. I'm looking forward to Megan's blog about the story her house is telling next. Keep an eye out x

Aroha,

Hannah

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