Netballer Storm Purvis makes over her rental’s bedroom every time the season or her mood changes. The latest incarnation is a tranquil space with a soft colour palette, ornate decorations and a little rock-and-roll attitude to throw it all together
How Netballer Storm Purvis adds personal style to her rental bedroom
There are so many fun ways to do up a space without renovating and I’ve been lucky enough to experiment with many of them over my eight years of flatting,” says netball star Storm Purvis. After making her Silver Ferns debut in 2016, Storm has recently returned to Auckland to play for the SkyCity Mystics. Her bedroom in the Westmere townhouse she shares with three others is where she unwinds from the fast-paced action on court and hones her decorating skills.
How would you describe your interior style?
Constantly changing! My room could reflect my outlook on life at the time, or the season, or could be based purely around a single interior item I’ve fallen in love with. Not so long ago my room was really different to this. It was a white-out filled with indoor plants, Indian-themed wall hangings and lots of crazy little pieces I found at stores like The Third Eye on K Road.
It was beautiful but it was chaos, and it reflected my life at that time – I’d just moved back to Auckland and had a new netball team, new job and new friends. I’m now feeling much more settled and I wanted to reflect this in my everyday spaces. I fell in love with a Hobbs & Co cushion and HAD to have it. My mother (who owns homeware and gift store Cinnamon Brown) gave it to me for my birthday in April and the rest of the room was styled on that one cushion.
Tell us about the DIY elements of your room.
The drawers (not shown) have been through a few costume changes. When I first got them, they were pale wood and had these rather ugly silver handles, so I swapped them for some beautiful, hand-painted ones. When I recently redecorated, I changed the handles again, to brass ones from Bunnings. I tried to whitewash the drawers, but if you look closely you can see that it was clearly done by a 24-year-old with very little experience of using a paint brush!
It looks like you have some pretty clever storage solutions in this room.
The bedhead was a lucky find on Trade Me but it is originally from Ikea. I fell in love with it and had to have it. It’s got shelves built into each side; one side holds my smalls in white wicker boxes and the other side, my sleeping side, holds my journal and a few candles. When renting you aren’t allowed to hang things so the bedhead serves as a great leaning spot for my photos, including a poster of my favourite band, Led Zeppelin, from Real Groovy.
I thought a giant Robert Plant poster above my bed would be a great way to reflect that part of me that doesn’t really meet the eye, while also making the space feel less like a showroom for millennials (there’s a lot of ‘millennial pink’ in here, too)! The bookshelf is also great for storage – it’s where I lean my mirror and store all my cookbooks, novels and music memorabilia.
What are your favourite homeware stores?
Mum’s store, Cinnamon Brown, in Howick is pretty much a one-stop shop for me when it comes to linen and homeware. Decor can be easier to save on so you’ll recognise a lot of my items from places like Kmart. Trade Me is great for furniture, and any of the shops along K Road are good for one-off treasures. Junk & Disorderly is always fun for a browse, too.
How do you stamp your own style on a rented home?
I flat with three other people and we all have very different styles so the communal areas are kept really simple – that way, they are easy to keep tidy and are not overly reflective of one person’s style. But the obstacles that come with renting are easy to overcome. If you don’t like the carpet, for example, find amazing rugs. If you don’t like the window treatments, find art to distract the eye. Coming from a rural background and growing up in big, open, green spaces, I have quite a few indoor plants around the flat to bring that little bit of home with me.
Interview by: Jessica-Belle Greer. Photography by: Helen Banker
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