At Essence we love putting together our house features. We love seeing how people live, how form and function combine, how trends and practices evolve.

From bookends to teddy bears – The Repair Café in Timaru sees a whole host of items through its doors.

“It’s really the same principle as the Repair Shop,” says volunteer and trustee of the Sustainable South Canterbury Trust, Rhys Taylor, referring to the popular UK reality television series.

Hollie Reedy is the founder and designer of NZ based Age Eyewear. She established the business more than a decade ago and now runs it from her office at home. She lives in Auckland with her partner and 8-month old son and juggles life, motherhood and great eyewear design.

If you’re looking for a quick way to revamp a room – paint is often the go to solution. Whether it’s painting a feature wall or, as Dorothy did recently, painting a concrete floor – a lick of paint can transform a space. (By the way – a tip from Dorothy – if you are painting a concrete floor make sure you wax it when you finish).

From the driveway the home of Janice and John Newell looks elegant with its schist stone and timber exterior. Tucked onto a central Rangiora section, the angular looking home has not a single window onto the street front. But looks can be deceptive. Step into the double width entry hall and the house opens out all around you – with its three bedrooms, two living rooms and large open plan kitchen dining area – it feels big.

The first time that musician Josh Keating (Ngāi Tahu) was up on stage for a musical performance was before he was born.

“I’m pretty sure I was at the NZ Gold Guitar Awards in Gore when I was in mum’s tummy,” laughs the now 19-year-old singer, song-writer and guitarist. “I’ve been going to those awards my whole life.”

The long, slow flight of harrier hawks circling overhead is a sight many of us love to see against our wide-open Canterbury skies.

When Michael and Brigitte Barker bought the Vicarage in Geraldine in 2017 – they knew that restoring a heritage building was a big undertaking. And they were under no illusion about their expertise in the area.

This is a love story. It’s a story about a man called Chris who set eyes on a woman named Julie many, many moons ago. At the time, he swore that he’d met the girl of his dreams. But the timing wasn’t right. Thirty years passed before the two met again by chance and, then and there amongst the chip packets and ice cream cones of a corner dairy, Chris declared his intention to marry Julie and whisk her away to Paris for their honeymoon. And that’s exactly what he did.

Everyone loves a risotto, especially this one as there’s no standing over a pot for half an hour stirring and stirring. It’s baked in the oven saving time but not cutting back on flavour and creaminess.