Jun 27

Jun 27 Michelle Matangi's Colourful New Zealand Home

Today's home tour is with New Zealand based Michelle Matangi, seamstress and "on the side" interior decorator and renovator, Michelle runs a podcast called The Pink Room which you can listen to here. Michelle is also part of Fashion Revolution, a collection of designers, makers, producers, workers and consumers, academics and politicians striving for ethically produced clothes.

Read on to see Michelle's home tour.

Michelle, and her husband, Michael live in a three-bedroom bungalow in New Plymouth, a seaside city on the North Island of New Zealand, a short walk to the beach. Michelle runs her own tailoring business and her interiors are done on the side. Husband Michael helps with the renovation work.

Having tried moodier colours on the walls a couple of years ago, which really didn’t really work or bring calm to the space, Michelle has changed her rooms, after always being more drawn to muted, neutral colours; here pinks and earthy neutrals. Pops of colour for seating, artwork, and plants, help liven the space.

I have loved interiors since I was a teenager and possibly even before that, I was drawing room layouts as a kid and moving my room around all the time so I guess I was destined to be a serial room re-decorator, I love how a tweak to a room can give it a new feel. Thrift shopping has always been one of my favourite things to do, I love the challenge of finding something that someone else deemed unsuitable and making it over to have a new lease on life.

The mustard chairs and the gold/blush are prime examples, both sets cost $10 each from the Salvation Army, the blush ones were a quick job to just change the seat upholstery from an ugly patterned 80’s mottled grey to the blush velvet. The mustard chairs were a horrid red leather and I spent a weekend reupholstering them, while a lot of work I love that I have chairs that no one else does, it’s a rewarding feeling.

I’m a huge fan of having artwork on the wall, I feel like it brings my space to life and says a lot about the kind of person I am and what I am interested in.

We bought this bungalow 4 years ago and renovated it ourselves, the living room was the biggest change that Michael and I did, he did all the structural work and I did the painting and decorating. I would say my style has definitely evolved over the years, I am naturally drawn to quite a mix, I’m quite traditional but with a little edge, retro, glam and I love colour but always pared back just a little to keep it cohesive.