Spring 2020 Issue

Long has there been this banter between reasonable people over whether it is better to live a life without excess or one of excess. Arguably this “disagreement” if you will has manifested itself most prominently in the arena of interior design. Minimalists covet pristine white surfaces, furniture and décor that […]

It’s a familiar story: when youngsters enter the picture, the excitement of the big-city dream tends to pale. Childhood memories of beaches, open space and a more relaxed pace suddenly become irresistible. Expat Luisa Andrew and her Scottish husband Stephen Dewar were living with three young children in a Hong […]

Many people often assume that buying an existing house is cheaper than building new. After all, creating a brand new living environment uniquely designed to your needs is often thought of as an expensive dream than a potential reality. International research shows that twice as many people would prefer to […]

Maybe you’ve thought about subdividing, but put the idea in the too hard basket? Subdividing your existing section and building a new home gives you a range of options. You could:  Sell the section, pay off your mortgage  Live in one house, sell the other Live in one house, rent […]

It’s a common misconception that the construction industry, New Zealand’s fifth largest industry, is solely a male domain. Sure, men may currently make up a significant proportion of the construction workforce, but change is in the air. The sector is diversifying. Women are moving into construction. Today more and more […]

Today’s Instagram-driven world might still be flooded with airbrushed beach selfies and heavily-filtered “beauty standards” bearing little semblance to everyday reality and our real, genuine selves but we are, thankfully, seeing an incremental abandonment of that heavily-altered standard of perfection for authenticity and down-to-earth realness – and in ways that […]

Wouldn’t it be nice to feel the wind in your hair, dip your toes in the warm, crystal-clear water, feel the silky-soft sand between your toes and slowly sip from a freshly-cracked, umbrella-ed coconut? Odds are, it feels pretty good just to think about it. Covid-19 might have turned all […]

“The only thing that is constant, is change” to quote the famous Greek philosopher Heraclitus, who believed permanence to be merely apparent and change to be the only reality in nature. Change can be difficult to adapt to, for all sorts of understandable reasons, yet it is a part of […]

With a myriad of tightly-organised marathons and fun runs out there, there are plenty of options for running newbies and seasoned pros. However for those with an itch for something a little left of field, it’s hard to find a race with a different kind of challenge. Daniel Donegan and […]

With 2020 not exactly going to plan, it’s important to recognise that your colleagues or employees may be feeling some stress and anxiety due to the uncertainty this year has brought. With this in mind, we asked qualified yoga + meditation teacher and author, Rachel Grunwell, to give us some […]

A cluster of cabbage trees stretching into the sky, against a backdrop of islands and ocean, is an iconic indicator that locates this property immediately in New Zealand. The Cordyline australis that grow here are well-loved because the owners of this spectacular site are not only nurturers of nature but […]

With the Earth making (literal) waves of waste and dumping rubbish on our coastlines, the world is now drowning from its dependency on the widely loved miracle material – plastic. The ocean has become a minefield for aquatic life and wildlife alike due to being entangled by plastic or misconstruing […]

The chilly winter months go hand in hand with making hibernation a ritual – of just giving in, curling up, getting warm and battening down the hatches – but with that often comes the seasonal hazard of departing from a healthy routine with more comfort eating and less exercise entering […]

Mindfulness is everywhere; the quality of being present in the moment without judgement or criticism in order to create a state of “bare awareness”. Since the godfather of the mindful revolution, Jon Kabat-Zinn helped shepherd esoteric Buddhist principles into the Western world in 1979, the growth of the mindfulness industry […]

It may seem gauche to launch into talking about money from the get-go but, when you’re considering who will design and build what is probably the biggest investment of your life, cost is always front of mind so it’s bound to come up sooner or later.    And when the […]

With health and economic issues impacting the world at the moment, stress and anxiety are a profound side-effect that can build and accumulate to cause plenty of issues in their own right. And while we might be doing relatively well in New Zealand in terms of our approach to the […]

Environmental consciousness has never been so important. Energy, transportation, agriculture, forestry, and production are the main sectors that contribute the most to carbon emissions. When we think of the fashion industry however, most, if not all these factors are weaved into creating this abundant and profit-driven industry. Chemical usage, water […]

Seasonal transitions often inspire an adjustment to everyday life.   The right colour can do wonders for your new home and is vital for creating your ideal living space and showing your personality. Resene has supplied paint and colour schemes in our homes for over 20 years and has been […]

It’s true that life can sometimes get too overwhelming at times. The stress of the day-to-day work running you to the ground, the kids driving you crazy and you can’t remember how many years it’s been since you’ve had a good nights sleep. It’s given you a foggy brain and […]

A verdict has been reached, at least according to a panel of “nationally recognised” experts in diet, nutrition, obesity, food psychology, diabetes and heart disease for U.S. News and World Report, on the No.1 “best” diet for 2020. According to the team of 25 panelists, the Mediterranean diet is the […]

It’s automatic. We do it 23,000 times a day and we don’t even need to think about it. Or do we? As strange as it sounds to say, breathing is all the rage. Breathfulness, it seems, is the new mindfulness with the market now flooded with a plethora of books, […]

You’ve seen the interiors in Box™ houses right? The way they look so cohesive and complete and well, just darn fantastic actually. We can’t take all the credit because, while our clients come to us for our design smarts, they generally tend to be the type that want a fair […]

Joico is here with a solution to dull and shineless hair. Their K-PAK Color Therapy Luster Lock Glossing Oil is an oil blend that will provide tired and colour-treated hair with the vibrancy and soothing moisture that it is missing. The Joico formula includes Agrican Manketti, a potent source of […]

The nostalgic Tom Collins is about as classic as it gets, though its rum cousin is an equally icy and classic highball that deserves just as much recognition. For lovers of simple, iconic cocktails – including Bond, James Bond partaking of one in Thunderball – this member of the Collins […]

If the Greek gods had a home on Earth, it would surely be Santorini. Surrounded by the sapphire blue waters of the Aegean Sea, the island of Santorini consists of a labyrinth of white-washed buildings atop a steep precipice. With panoramic views visible from almost every inch of the island, […]