Alex is founding director of A&C Homestore a brand she and husband Corban launched following their win on The Block NZ as an outlet for their love of interiors and design. The pair live on Auckland’s North Shore with their two-year-old son, Austen.
7AM
Corban and I have a fabulous arrangement where we alternate the mornings with our son Austen (I love and need my sleep!). So if it’s my morning with Austen, we’ll wake up and settle into some breakfast and a nice strong homemade coffee for me.
9AM
At A&C Homestore, we realise that visual inspiration is key, so we have weekly photoshoots and ‘room reveals’ in our office studio to help inspire our followers with new trends, colours and cool new products. Loads of planning and prep is involved in this and is a team effort. We paint the studio wall every time, lay the flooring and then trek all around Auckland to pick up the key pieces we will need for styling. On the day of the shoots, hopefully all logistics have been sorted and I can get straight to the fun part of playing around with a room set-up in morning until it’s perfect and ready for photography.
12PM
We are in the process of building a new home in Beach Haven, nestled in the trees and looking out over the water. Corban is working on site each day and I love to go over and check out the progress. I’m always so amazed at what can happen within a week on a construction site. We’re hoping our new house will be ready to move in March 2019.
2PM
In the afternoon I might head over to do a store visit at our Bloc store in Mt Eden. It’s always nice to go and have a look at how things are being displayed and take some time to meet our regular customers – and it’s a great place to pick up an afternoon coffee to keep me going!
3PM
Back at the office I continue on with my day working on product development for our clothing and bedding lines. I love experimenting with fabrics and new styles seasonally.
Photography: Liv Buchanan
5PM
Time to head home to Austen and either start making him dinner or if it’s a nice night, we might pack up a little picnic for the beach. He loves the outdoors and it’s always good to get him to burn as much energy before the bedtime routine starts!
7PM
We have always stuck to a great routine for Austen, I think routine makes him happier as he always knows when he’s going to be fed, when he gets to play and when he gets to sleep. After dinner he has a bath, and then we normally play or let him run around the house naked for about half-an-hour (such a boy). When he’s ready, he says “milk and sleep” so we know he’s ready for bed. Story time, cuddles, prayers and “goodnight”! As soon as Austen goes down, I get on to making Corban and I dinner, and we will catch up on some terrible reality TV in the background while I work and catch up on emails, place product orders and plan my season ranges.
11PM
I shut up shop around 10.30-11pm. It’s a long day juggling being a business owner and a mother, and some days are a complete disaster if something unexpected happens, but I do like a bit of a chaotic schedule to keep things fun!
