Renee Wright is a Television presenter for TVNZ. She lives in Bayswater, Auckland with husband Charlie and children Leo, Gigi and Arabella.
We’ve been here for about four or five years. It was originally a tiny bungalow and we’ve since doubled the size. Because Charlie is in construction he goes “Yip we can do this” and makes it happen.
It’s been taking a long time as Charlie started his own commercial construction business, we’ve been having babies, and there’s just been a lot going on.
You know how they say a grocer’s pantry is always empty? It’s kind of the same with builders so you just get there when you get there. We’re on the home stretch now. We’re putting in the pool then the outdoor area will be done.
We basically dropped this part of the house down to get these high ceilings and turned this extension into the living area, TV lounge and laundry.
I think when you go high with the ceilings you feel like you have a lot more room. And we’re really big people. Charlie is big, I’m big. So it’s nice to have that feeling of space – especially with three kids around.
Everyone gravitates to this area. As much as I try to get the kids to go into the TV lounge – that’s their little play area – they always come out here because I’m always doing things in the kitchen.
The concrete floors are great with kids because they can drop and splat everything onto it, but when they’re small it’s very hard so they do need to be careful.
Don’t look too closely at those white cupboards – I can see big smears from their fingers from here. But you have to let go of it or you’ll drive yourself crazy.
Look at the state of the windows. It’s just life with little kids. I’d love to have a pristine house but I’d much rather have one full of happy kids.
I can see every mark they make so I have added elements of distraction – maybe that’s why I have the candles everywhere. And baby wipes are great. I need a holster on my hip to use them to clean things off the floor.
I get to do the decorating in this house. I love interiors. I think because I love fashion, it’s sort of an extension of that.
I’ve put lots of bits and bobs around that we’ve collected over the years and I’ve put lots of photos up.
I like memories and I like taking photos. I quite fancy myself a photographer – just quietly I’m giving Annie Leibovitz a run for her money!
I’ve chosen a very monochrome colour palette. I love black and white and I’ve grown up in black and white houses.
When we were teenagers we could always pick our room colours. So my sister would always do turquoise and I went through a red phase.
As I’ve gotten older I’ve stripped it back to a bit of black and white – and a bit of animal. It’s around the place but not too much.
It’s good to have a full-length mirror in here. Although most of the time I don’t even have time before I leave the house to look in the mirror and sometimes I get to the school drop-off and think ‘Oh my god, have I even brushed my hair?’
