One thing I was looking forward to doing once the renovations* were over, was to re-do my family B&W mood board.

You may have seen the original one in Bolig magazine here, VT Wonen here, Elle Decoration here and Milk magazine here. If you are using masking tapes, it’s a very easy project to do and one that I find very uplifting and versatile. Ultimately I want to make a family mood board out of all the smiling family photos we have. I realised when I put this montage together how amazing it made me feel to look at Mila‘s infectious smile over and over but I haven’t got around to print them all so for now I’m using printed photos I had. It’s also a great, creative project if you rent a space and you don’t want to damage the walls.

Another home addition to our new lounge is the famous Eames RAR rocking chair from John Lewis, which incidentally has some great iconic pieces. I also cover the Yanagi Butterfly stool but that’s another story…

I got it for Steve as a Christmas gift and to begin with, he wasn’t sure he would use it but in the end, he spent each evening during the holidays sitting in his rocking chair by our new window in the kitchen, watching Netflix, or reading the New-Zealand Herald on his iPad so a great investment piece to have and one that fits perfectly in our new space.

I also wanted to show you a bit  more how much we opened up the space in the lounge*. We’ve cut into the wall separating the lounge and the hallway (see hallway before) to open the space and converted what used to be a DIY cupboard into a downstairs toilet (new door on the right). We’ve also opened up the space between the two rooms. You can see here a bit how it used to look. The room by the window was where we had our lounge but the one between the kitchen and the lounge was just an intermediary (and dark) room which we didn’t use that much. By opening up the wall, we’ve turned into a one big open plan lounge. For those interested in doing the same, it’s quite a big structural job and one that requires to install a metal beam to support the structure so not cheap.

In addition to the new Koushi shades I’ve added in each part of the room, we’ve added extra spotlights too.*You can see all the renovations photos on Instagram under hashtag bodieandfourenovations

Photo 1: London print | print in the background leaning against the wall | Paper bag used as a planter | wall lights in the kitchen from here Photo 3: New-York print | dining table | antique elm wooden stool | paper bag

Photography: François Köng, Styling: Karine Köng, All rights reserved. Please contact me if you wish to use these images thanks