Interior designer and author Laura Heynike learned a lot about resilience when she was running her business through tough Covid times with a new baby.
The 34-year-old has had to dig even deeper since her house was red-stickered during the Auckland floods at the end of January.
According to Auckland Council, a red sticker means the building cannot be entered because it is deemed unsafe and has sustained “moderate or heavy” damage, posing a significant risk to health or life.
Heynike says a graben, or “underground landslide”, has impacted the Swanson property she has poured love and money into, with renovations almost complete.
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“As a designer you can imagine all the renovations we put in over the last six years.”
The house was initially yellow-stickered and the family was able to get some possessions out but it was soon red-stickered and Heynike says her time is now spent running her company Pocketspace Interiors and meeting with assessors.
She’s also pregnant again, due in June, and living at her in-laws’ with her now-toddler son Hudson and her husband.
Aside from not being able to live in her own house, she says what has been distressing is watching security footage of people trying to break into it.
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A number of would-be burglars have been trying the windows and doors, and despite the danger some people have been seen having a look out of curiosity, she says.
“There was a father with his pram with an infant and this is unstable soil and he’s just cruising around our property putting an infant at risk. “
She says the family first noticed their garage door not closing properly then says the house seemed to lift and sink at the same time.
“Our driveway is all beautifully hand-laid bricks from the 1980s and they just started to lift like a wave where it would have been flat and then on the Friday our house lifted from its piles and they came in and red stickered it.”
The 1980s country villa, which they have owned for six years, has been a house of many firsts, she says - it’s the family’s first home, it’s where they did their first kitchen and bathroom renovations and where they brought their first baby home to.
They had completed a lot of work, including the exterior decks and paintwork and they’d painted out the lavender/purple interior, opting for an “industrial rustic” interior.
They’d put in new lighting, done a lot of landscaping and they had even refurbished the “man garage”.
The Swanson country villa that was Laura Heynike's pride and joy. The property has now been red-stickered. Photo / Supplied
Heynike spent years refining and beautifying the villa. Photo / Supplied
Heynike says her husband made the TV cabinet and even sewed the curtains because as a young family they needed to make savings.
“My husband hand-sewed all the curtains two weeks before I was due with my first baby because we couldn’t pay a curtain company $8000 to make our curtains.”
She says they would like to find a rental property, which are in short supply out west, but still have to pay the mortgage.
“It’s not just our family, there’s hundreds of families that are displaced or wanting rentals at the same time.”
Heynike had also written her first book, now out on Amazon, saying The Pumping Entrepreneur began as journal entries but became a candid book about juggling a business and a baby.
She says her resilience is “next level, that I never knew was in me but apparently is” and it’s business as usual for Pocketspace.
She says design-wise, the trend for the year ahead is a move away from the minimalist, organic and mono-coloured look of recent years to more opulence and luxury.
The house sports an "industrial rustic" look. Photo / Supplied
The impact of the underground landslide on the villa's garden paths. Photo / Supplied
That can be achieved by the use of materials such as velvets and wools, through different layers and colours.
Trends don’t change overnight, she says, with the Milan Fashion Week setting a lot of the tone for colour and style, and that is then followed in the furniture fairs of Europe.
Minimalist becoming opulent is achieved through subtle changes – the rectangle rug becoming more sculptural in shape and with colours weaved through it to create a pattern instead of the bold patterns of six years ago.
“It's kind of an interesting evolution,” she says.
“It never really goes from ‘right, this year we're industrial and then next year we’re boho…’, there is always that transition period.
“The trends subtly layer as we educate on what the consumer likes and what doesn't like from the last season.”
For example, this season there will be a lot of curves, she says: “You'll see archways in architecture, in mirrors, in furniture like console hall tables or buffets; nice curved fronts instead of harsh square edges.”
Along with curves there will be a big shift away from the blonde Scandinavian-toned woods towards luxury warm, caramel walnuts in a tactile trend which she thinks relates to people having so much time in their homes over Covid and wanting a sense of security and coziness.
People are also influenced by being able to travel again and want more of a “punch of colour” with inspiration coming from aqua blues and raspberries.
“Aqua blues and raspberries are going to make a huge come-back in the next I'd say two years, almost as we experience bringing those culture accents back into our interiors again.”
Patterned tiles will also be back. Instead of having plain gray concrete tiles in the bathroom people will be more courageous and go for a coloured concrete tile, she says.
But as far as renovations go, the year might be one where many people down tools, preferring to spend their time out walking or going away for the weekend.
In the real estate market, she thinks homes that are already renovated and stand out a bit will have an edge on homes that are a blank canvas.
“I think people are actually wanting to buy into a bit of personality coming up – it’s not going crazy but it's definitely being a little bit more adventurous.”
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