Flower bomb

Scottish artist Fiona Douglas’ hand-painted textiles are influenced by a love of colour and all things floral. Bright, beautiful and very covetable, they sit comfortably alongside antiques as well as contemporary furnishings. Douglas, whose work has been featured in many leading British interiors magazines (she was nominated for an Elle Decoration design award), works under the label Bluebellgray. Her gorgeously distinct and memorable watercolour-like cushions are now available in New Zealand. Check them out – and find a stockist close to you – by visiting www.importico.co.nz.

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All decked out

How handsome is our new deck starting to look? We love the way the ground appears to fall away as you look out to the sea (the deck height is actually less than a metre off the ground) and how the structure itself wraps around the trees. In total, we reckon it cost us about $3000 in fees; resource consent, ground survey, arborist and architect. That, of course, excludes labour and materials. But, despite the fact you can only see it from one side of the house, the view and the way the house nestles in the trees was a key reason for us in coming to live here. We're planning on spending a lot of time out here enjoying the view and listening to the tuis.

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Great kit

It was Kendyl Middelbeek, designer and stylist for NZ House & Garden, who first put me on to Mr Kitly, a store and gallery in Brunswick, Melbourne. The pieces – ceramics and textiles, jewellery, woodware and other objects – have a pared-back, slightly Japanese feel. Mr Kitly ships to New Zealand. Find them at www.mrkitly.com.au.

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Woolly tales

I am obsessed with sheepskins. My renovation 'look book' includes a zillion pictures of rooms with fluffy skins thrown nonchalantly over chairs and beds. I think I prefer them more on the furniture than I do on the floor. So now, despite the fact we have neither a proper bedroom (it currently doesn't have walls) nor or a dining room, I can take comfort in the fact our storage unit is stuffed with sheepskins, all awaiting the time they can move into their new home. There are black ones, brown ones and traditional snowy ones and I started buying them a few days after we bought this place. The good thing is that since New Zealand has quite a few sheep, it's never going to be difficult to find more.

This bed isn't actually wearing a sheep but probably something far more exotic, but this image is a good illustration of why I love skins. It was styled by a Danish stylist called Camilla Tange Peylecke. The room looks so serene and I adore the mix of blonde wood and grey paint but it is the addition of the skin that makes it so special.

The shot below is another of Camilla's. It has the same lovely calm feeling that makes a home so welcoming. camillatange.blogspot.com

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Bob and the builder

Our builder's name is Euan Smith, of Lifestyle Builders. This isn't him. This is Bob our dog saying his goodbyes to the shack. Euan was far less sentimental and the building and the spa pool were gone within a day or two. We found Euan by chance. When trying to find out whether we needed permission to remove the shack (it wasn't all that clear when I talked to the council) I happened to ring a building expert for advice who happened to know Euan and it all went from there. Apparently, this isn't the way to do it. Google 'how to choose a builder' and you get all sorts of advice on how to protect yourself (and the builder) from disasters, including having watertight agreements, definitive schedules and regular meetings. We've failed on all fronts. Like my husband Stu, I believe in a handshake. 'Watertight' contracts have never prevented me from catastrophe before. Euan might not be the type of person who sends regular email updates or pre-warns you weeks in advance of the need for something, but a face-to-face chat with him inspires confidence. We're not naive enough to expect there never to be any problems; one episode of Grand Designs is enough to make you realise the horrors that can happen when communication between client and tradespeople breaks down. But for now it's great.

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Bye bye shack

There's another good reason – apart from its inherent ugliness – that the shack has to go. And this is it. High on a ridge, we look out across the Manukau Harbour to Glenbrook and Clarke's Beach. The shack blocked this view. So, this is how it's gone down so far: we applied for resource consent to axe the shack. Mainly because the building was butting up against a couple of kauris, this was granted. The conditions are that we employ an arborist to supervise the demolition of the building and to ensure we protect the kauris' roots at every stage. None of this is a problem. What does seem a little odd though is that because we are building almost up to our boundary, we are also required to plant a privacy hedge (in a  native specified by the council) to stop us overlooking our neighbours on one side. To do this we need to remove a row of perfectly healthy (and native) griselinia currently there. Go figure.

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Star finds

May’s NZ House & Garden cover turned up two great new resources to add to your address book: The Vintage Table (www.thevintagetable.co.nz) a home-based vintage crockery and tableware hire company, and Bluebells Cakery (www.bluebellscakery.co.nz), a source of unbelievably pretty and tasty cakes. Both are well worth checking out, especially if there is a vintage-style celebration coming up. And if anyone is wondering… the cute edible flowers on the cake are from Milly’s Kitchen.

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