The four-day show drawing in out-of-towners  

From creative home-styling advice to relaxed shopping, visitors to the Waikato Home and Garden Show found plenty on offer.

Designer Evie Kemp above showcases how you can use everyday things around you to spruce up your home. Photo: Cheryl Voss

You don’t need to spend thousands to make your place amazing.

That’s the view of Auckland designer Evie Kemp, who says she always thought creatively about her space: “How can I make this happen? I can’t afford that, but what can I do?”

“It’s also really nice just to give things a new life and to know things aren’t going to waste”. Kemp said.

The designer is at the Waikato Home and Garden Show in Claudelands, Hamilton, which runs from Thursday 1 October to Sunday 4 October. 

When asked about tips, Kemp suggests getting creative with painting by taking something you’re about to throw out and turning it into something new. “Sanding, letting your paint dry between coats and things like that,” she said. “Anyone can paint anything”. 

When it comes to sustainability, Kemp suggests using what’s around you. She has some bare branches to arrange in a vase, something she says will last forever. Then she lets me in on a wee secret of hers: “Look for shapes, look for colours, think how I would use that,” she said, especially for things to hang on a wall or use as a bowl. “There are so many different things we could actually use. It’s really fun, especially when you’re second-hand shopping.” 

According to Kemp, people panic buy new things when they can buy better quality things second hand. She points out that “people really think they need to buy new furniture, and they spend thousands of dollars, but the quality of that piece of not necessarily that amazing verses going on Marketplace or Trademe.” she said. “The thrill of it is like, I can’t believe I got this couch for $500 and it’s actually a $10,000 couch.” “And you don’t have to do it all in one day,” she added. “It can just build up over time”.  

Friends Lyn Williams (left) and Niki Dowe (right) enjoying their girls’ day out at the Waikato Home and Garden Show. Photo: Cheryl Voss

Visitors Lyn Williams and Niki Dowe have come down from Thames just for the event. When asked whether they found what they were looking for or got something completely different, Williams says she came for the garden stuff because she is renovating, but she’s saving the big items for last so they don’t have to lug them around all day.

It’s Dowe’s first time at the show, and the two have made a girls’ day of it without their husbands.  

While Williams has come for the garden stuff, Dowe has knocked out all her Christmas and corporate Christmas shopping early.

Williams says she’s impressed with her friend and tells me Dowe is originally from Auckland. “So, I’m telling you that you don’t need to go to the Big Smoke and be caught in traffic for hours. You can just come to Hamilton”.  

“We’ve been here all day and walked our way in and out of every building and just bought and bought and bought”.