Add More Pzazz to Your Home I Our Top 5 Tips

Pzazz Tip #1:Lighting

The days of a single lightbulb per room are long gone. These days you’ve got a choice of lighting options that’s almost daunting – recessed lighting, pendant lighting, spotlights, uplighting, downlighting, floor lighting, stair lighting, chandeliers – you get the idea.

With so many options, it’s easy to go over the top, but your home doesn’t have to look like bridge of the Starship Enterprise. The beauty of modern home lighting is its flexibility and the ease with which you can adjust it to suit any situation and mood from a quiet evening at home watching telly to a lively dinner party for 15 of your closest friends.

There’s a growing trend in New Zealand to light the outside of your home as well as the inside, and not just at Christmas. Subtle lighting can highlight the distinctive architecture of your home and turn your garden into an oasis of harmony and peace. 

Pzazz Tip #2: Paint It Bold

It’s hard to believe there are Kiwi homeowners who paint all their walls in one neutral colour so as not to alienate potential buyers. The trouble is, by trying to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody. So our recommendation is: Do what you want to, but don’t ever, ever be wishy washy.

Ready to embrace colour but need some inspiration? Click here to check out our 2025 Colour Trend Forecast.

Pzazz Tip #2: 2D is Out, 3D is In

Our homes are three-dimensional – that is, they have height, width and depth – but the trend of minimalism often seems to be doing its best to eliminate the third dimension of depth with flat, featureless surfaces. To bring back the feeling of depth and dimension we love the use of wall paneling in both modern and traditional styles. We also recommend searching for art that has a 3D or sculptural image as opposed to a flat painting or photos.

Pzazz Tip #4: Use Art To Spice Up Your Space

Art is one of the best ways to express your style in your home while adding a good dose of Pzazz. Of course, art isn’t confined to paintings or prints on a wall. You can also spice up your living space with rugs on the floor (or walls), ceramics and sculptural pieces.

Sites like Etsy and Isntagram make exploring and buying art from all sorts of makers all around the world so easy and accessible. That's not to discount the wonder of visiting local galleries and supporting your local artists.

Pzazz Tip #5: Fire Up Your Imagination

It used to be that fireplaces were brick or iron shrines, immovable, and with about as much pzazz as an old shoe. Because modern fireplaces tend to be fired by gas, they’ve become decorative features, versatile enough to bring ambience and warmth to any room in the house (they’re becoming popular in bedrooms and even bathrooms) and across two rooms by straddling them.  You can even move them around, as with this rolling bio-ethanol fireplace by Commoto.