It’s just days after Auckland’s devastating floods when I catch up with Shelley Ferguson for our pre-booked interview.
The sun is shining, sky brilliant blue and knowing she lives in a leaky home I’m almost expecting the house to be crying tears.
Aside from a minor hallway leak it’s fine, though a neighbour’s house down the road almost flooded to the ceiling. “I feel quite sombre,” she admits, as she lets me into her home. “I’m usually an upbeat person but I see people’s connections to their homes, and it just breaks my heart what people must be going through.”
Two years ago the respected interior designer, author, editor and judge on TV Three’s The Block, bought a leaky home in Westmere, Auckland with her husband – Olympic athlete Steve Ferguson – and during the unprecedented weather event they were understandably worried about how the house would hold up.
Fortunately, the week prior, Steve had done some routine maintenance including waterproofing work on the outside of the house and clearing the guttering. Shelley admits being in disbelief at how well it had fared as the family had been away for the weekend and feared what they might find.
Now, as thousands of people are faced with rebuilding or refurbishing their homes over the coming months and possibly years, the release of her new book, Live Luxe – a practical step-by-step guide to being your own interior designer – is coincidental but timely.
“It’s not a coffee table book, it’s more of a guide with lots of easy tips and tricks of the trade to elevate your style and save money,” Shelley explains. “It’s looking at the principles of the design process so that you can take your home from being something that you just exist in, to being a bit more luxe – and not in terms of glamour, but in terms
