Okay, I have to confess, colour hasn’t always been my thing. I mostly wear black, plenty of my household possessions are in relatively muted hues and anything with a raw finish will always have my heart — here’s looking at you, bagged-brick cladding, unglazed ceramics and slubby linen weaves.
That said, for some reason, the season of life I’m currently in has me craving something bolder, something brighter, so while researching the homes we’ve decided to share with you this issue, I was excited to find others have been feeling the same way. Regular readers of homestyle may remember Kate and Aaron Paterson’s wild and wonderful Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland garden from our October/November 2023 edition, and revisiting their property to photograph their house increased my colour curiosity. In a street dotted with white and grey dwellings, the paints (and aforementioned landscaping) they’ve opted for really set their bungalow apart. Read the story in the magazine out now to be inspired by how they’ve used not just their walls but also their window frames, skirtings, skylight surrounds and then some to infuse optimism into even the darkest corner.
From one Tāmaki Makaurau architect’s home to another, Kate Rogan’s new pad takes you on a creative journey through a whole spectrum of hues too. I’ve never met a beige powder room I’ve loved as much as hers. See how well it works with the green, blue and pink in each new room you encounter.
Catchy phrases like dopamine dressing, chroma couture and rainbow renaissance have been popping up everywhere I look while I’ve been considering where this colour crush might lead me in my own life. I’m not one to get caught up in a trend cycle, though, and imagining you might feel the same, in our June/July issue, we haven’t tried to predict what the next hot hue will be. Our hope is that the contents of its pages might help you to determine what you’re genuinely drawn to — whether that’s colour or not.
Editor Alice Lines