It was always going to be a challenging year, renovating their 1970s ‘bad house on a good street’ with two toddlers – but they had no idea that renovating was to be the least of their worries.

In early September Suzanne’s husband’s father was diagnosed with leukaemia. He had been in hospital for just three weeks when disaster struck again – this time it was Suzanne’s Dad who died very suddenly from an asthma attack.

The renovations were put on hold until Suzanne decided that painting and decorating would take her mind off things. All her previous decorating efforts had been ‘50 shades of grey’ – she was the person who played it safe with the walls and added colour with cushions.

Suzanne’s father had been a fan of colour and had always called her colour choices boring, and after having such a ‘grey’ year she figured they needed something bright and happy – something like Resene Moon Glow would be perfect! After painting the walls Suzanne decided she wanted a bit more pop so turned her attention to the piano she had inherited nearly 30 years ago – choosing Resene Half Baked to bring it into the 21st century.

And as Suzanne tells "We love the results!"