Mother of three and blogger Mel Chesneau (of Armoire, Pegs and Casserole) has a lot of experience creating homes out of almost nothing. After all, she met her husband, Guillaume, while she was in the middle of a two-year long backpacking adventure. The couple were so smitten that Mel changed her travel plans to live with him in France for a year. After their year together in France, the couple moved back to Mel’s hometown of Sydney, where they started their family (now two boys and a baby girl). And then just about three years ago, the couple moved from Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand. Since they’ve been in New Zealand, they’ve already lived in three rental houses. This home is close to the city center, which was an important factor for the couple. It’s an old worker’s cottage that was extended to include a back living room. The biggest decoration challenge was the carpet in that newer living room. It was very nearly a deal breaker for Mel, who loves hard wood floors, but the kids love playing on the carpet and it adds quite a bit of warmth in the winter. And even though, it’s been a challenge to make a rental feel like home, Mel managed to do just that by adding lots of details from art on the walls to rugs on the floor to ambient lighting in every room. -Amy
Photography by Mel Chesneau
Image above: This is my favorite room in our house; I love the wooden floor, the high ceilings and character features like the mantle. The large mirror was from Guillaume’s grandparents in France, and the small mirror above I’ve had since my childhood. The lampshade was bought for a few dollars during a holiday in Bali.
Image above: The vintage Moroccan copper tray table was another treasure we received from Guillaume’s grandparents. The painting behind is by contemporary Aboriginal artist, Minnie Pwerle and is my all time favourite; I love how graphic it is.
See more photos of this New Zealand home after the jump!
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via Design*Sponge http://ift.tt/1mBXo7W From Amy Azzarito
