How Kiwi Live: James and Cole love their Capital City apartment

Considered. Practical. Evolving.

Our apartment in Tāmaki was a lot smaller than our new home in Wellington and so we spent a lot of time finding very particular and practical pieces that fit within the footprint of that space. However, with all this new space we are starting to collect some larger and more colourful items.

The move down to Pōneke really made us consider what home meant to us - and what I think it boils down to is a space to call our own and to share with those we love. I think I feel most at home sitting at the dining room table with our dachshund Willow sitting on my lap and playing cards with my husband, ideally with a glass of wine in hand.

There weren't a lot of options as we both wanted to be within walking distance of our jobs, and we needed a dog-friendly spot for Willow. After living in a serviced apartment for a month we finally found the perfect spot in the old Children's Dental Clinic building - beautiful double height windows in the living space, a carpark, and dog friendly too. We both have a shared appreciation for historic buildings and architecture, which is another reason we gravitated to this apartment.

Every morning we get up and head out to the gym and when we come home we make coffee and breakfast and sit at the dining room table. It's the perfect start to our day, we get to spend some quality time together before heading off to work.

Usually evenings are spent preparing a quick meal and then watching MasterChef on the projector sitting on the couch. We love to have everything tidy and reset ready for the next day.

My husband and I love to entertain, any excuse to have friends over and to share in good food and good wine, we are all about it. We are really passionate about cooking but don't often find the time, so the ideal weekend is a slow Saturday picking out recipes that we want to try and preparing a meal for friends.

One of my favourite memories in this home is from a recent weekend when a group of friends from Auckland visited. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we were preparing food for a friend’s leaving party. The house was filled with people and the delightful aromas of cooking. We took a moment to sit on the little balcony, enjoying the sun and a beer before the soirée. It was truly idyllic.

I'm most proud of the fact that my husband and I have built our home together from scratch. When we first moved into our apartment, we had just a few pictures, a mirror, and some clothes. Now, we've created a space that is carefully curated with things we both love and cherish.

We recently finished hanging some of our art, and it made me think of a picture a friend gave me for my twenty-first birthday — of a pavilion on the Waikato River. I messaged them, saying this would be the one item I’d save. I'm not overly sentimental, but this piece holds a special place in my heart.

My dream home is a small, well-appointed character home by the coast, with a garden and some lawn to relax on. While we love our inner-city life and apartment living, I envision moving somewhere quieter with more outdoor space for Willow and entertaining as we get older and want to slow down.