Our Place: Mount artist Rachel Denny

We have been in this house in Omanu for 10 to 11 years. I don't know who originally built it but I do know that the Mayor of Tauranga lived here many years ago (not the current mayor).

The home is what I would call a work in progress, with many things needing an update. Friends and visitors always feel very relaxed and more often than not mention what a great vibe the house has. It is also a very large home (a cleaner's nightmare). The section is huge for the Mount at just over 1200sq m, with a school-sized swimming pool in the backyard.

The style is a little of this and a little of that. I lean to bargain buys at auctions and also a mix of current trends. The Asian-style chairs were an auction bargain at $25 and are in the process of being updated.

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One room is the girls' living room. It has lots of colour. We call it "the green room" although I will be getting rid of the dated green this summer. I'm sure we will always call it the green room, though.

Colour is a big part of my world. No matter where I am, I will always find a way to inject it into my day. The couch was a re-cover that my mother and I did in Madder & Rouge canvas stripe. It was quite a task, but my mother is brilliant when it comes to re-covering, among a million other things.

The cushions are a random selection of Citta and others. The rug is from Citta and the pouf from The Importer. The dolls' houses are from Edex kids' store. The pot with flowers in is from Anthropologie in the US - one of my absolute favourite stores in the world.

The art on the wall is a copy of a David Bromely painting that I loved but could not afford, so I did the next best thing and painted it myself. David Bromely was a huge inspiration to me as an artist.

I work from home. The poolhouse has been turned into my studio - it's a few metres from the house and beside the pool. I have seen what some other artists have to contend with to get work done, so I'm fairly blessed with this space. My recent show at Creative Tauranga had a great turnout on the night with a good amount of sales and commission work from it. Then the pieces are up to Auckland for another show at House of Hedone on High St. The show is called Tin City and involves metal sculptures as well as my paintings.

I'm also spending time developing [new] portrait-based works, and will be doing a lot more of what I call "warbling" - a mix of words and thoughts made into images.