Take a seat

When Jen Boyce and her family moved into their Hobsonville new build in Auckland, they loved how much of a blank canvas the space was, allowing them the opportunity to decorate the space with colour and style. Their first port of call was finding a solution to the daily pile-up of shoes in their high-traffic entryway, with all the comings and goings of the household.

"It's the first place people can get a sense of us as a family – our personality and style. We wanted to make this space both practical and beautiful," Jen says. She found an inexpensive MDF cubby bench seat on Trade Me that could be given a new lease on life with a paint job and a seat squab. "I wanted to take the opportunity to make a statement against the crisp Resene Rice Cake white of the walls, so I chose Resene Deep Teal from my local Resene ColorShop as it perfectly matched some fabric I'd chosen for the seat cushion cover," Jen says. The finishing touches included a round mirror, some woven baskets and a wall vase to tie patterns and colours all together with a pretty flourish.

Her children Elle, seven, Liv, five, and Zion, two, enjoy using the space every morning – it's a small and delightful area where they can put their shoes on before heading out into the world.

Project colours / More Resene colours to try: