Our Place: Vicky and Mike Warren

Vicky and Mike Warren are directors of Jennian Homes Tauranga and were instrumental in setting up the Heart Foundation's annual home-lottery package. They live in Bethlehem, in the second of two homes they have built and lived in, on a property with views out to the Wairoa River. Vicky gives us the inside story.

We lived in "the shed" for five years while we saved up to build this place.

The shed was supposed to be for Mike's boat, but the boat's never been in it. It had one bedroom with a mezzanine floor over the garage.

This place has got three bedrooms and an office, so it was like moving into a mansion.

There's a scullery behind the kitchen. It's a shortcut to the bedroom. Yes, the kitchen is tidy, but it all goes in the scullery, so when we have a dinner party no one needs to see the mess.

We do a lot of entertaining there's a portico area out the front that people spill out on to. I wouldn't say I love cooking, but I am the cook and I do have a dream kitchen to cook in.

I like art. Mike's not into it so much, he just buys it for me. He doesn't mind it when it's up on the wall. There's one piece in the library that he picked up on when we were at the Bethlehem College art auction a couple of years back. I dragged him along to it and he spied this painting and never let it out of his sight all night. Then he didn't want to pay what they wanted for it, so I went back and bought it for him.

Mike collects Wilbur Smith books hard cover, first editions. I like historical novels. Mike's into manly things like fishing. Fishing is his stress relief - the building industry's pretty stressful at the moment. We try and eat whatever he catches, as soon as gets it, and we give quite a bit away to family and friends.

The house is big, but it never feels like we're rattling around in it, and it's actually pretty easy to clean because it's so open-plan. The floor does drive me a bit buggy because footprints show up on it, but I've learned not to be precious about it.