BY AMY ANDERSON, RENO SCHOOL STUDENT & LOVER OF FANCY PRACTICAL STUFF

Flashback to week one of Reno School… that’s when I first had my ‘ta-da’ moment. I’d been a keen pinner and saver of images well before I signed up for the course, and had enough inspiration of how I wanted our family home to look, to fill an entire gallery. But it was when I was working through the first Reno School modules and got to the question “How do you want to feel in your home? Insert whichever happy words come to mind here!” that something really clicked for me.

I realised that I could pimp our pad out to look all kinds of amazing but if it doesn’t feel amazing, as well as being practical for our family and the way we live, what’s the point?

With two young children we want to feel relaxed and comfortable and our home needs to be practical and low-maintenance, without feeling ‘basic’. That’s where my little luxuries came in. They’re pretty much the non-essentials, the first-world splurges, that, at a push, I could have lived without… but that help give our home all the feels.

Do you take your water chilled or sparkling?

I kid you not, that’s what comes straight from my 5-year old’s mouth when someone mentions being thirsty. The novelty factor of a fancy water tap is still running strong in our house!

As a self-confessed sparkling water enthusiast, I’d had my eye on a sparkling water tap for a long time. Our Soda Stream did the trick in the interim, but given the option to be able to integrate the tap to streamline the benchtop, I was sold. The tap also gives an option of chilled water - bye-bye fridge full of water bottles, we’ve got cold water on tap, literally. Sure, it wasn’t cheap but I claim I’m saving the planet one sparkling mineral water bottle at a time. (Believe me, I can justify anything!)

A heated towel, Madam?

Oh, don’t mind if I do! I can’t think of anything better than a long, hot shower at the end of the day… expect for WARM, dry towel when I step out of the shower. I grew up in a house full of heated towel rails but never came across one again once I moved out of home. I knew this had to change when we renovated our own house.

The bonus is that the kids now pick up their towels after them too, knowing they’ll be rewarded with a warm, dry towel the next time they bathe. And that also means less washing for me.

Come on baby light my fire

Our house isn’t huge, so I jumped on any opportunity to maximise the versatility of a space. I love an outdoor room and I knew that adding a fireplace to our covered entertaining area would increase the hours-per-day and months-per-year that we’d use the space. I’m pleased to report, it’s a total winner!

There’s something mesmerising about an open wood fire. We huddle around it, red wine in hand, chatting with friends and toasting marshmallows with the kids.

Pool boy not required

My husband’s definitely not complaining about this one. Not the lack of pool boy, but the fact he doesn’t need to spend our precious weekends tending to the pool! We chose our pool pretty much solely based on the fact that it cleans itself. And it does such an awesome job of that, I just wish it would clean my house while it’s at it.

Of course, how you want to feel in your home and the way you’ll create this feeling is totally individual. There’s definitely no cookie cutter approach to this one. Just remember, it’s easy to get caught up in the looks, but don’t forget the feels.