At home with Emily Writes
Author and blogger Emily Writes is known for her entertaining honesty around parenting young children, and she’s just as candid when describing the pluses and pitfalls of living in her Island Bay, Wellington, home.
The mother of two – who has just released her second book Is It Bedtime Yet?, and whose first book, Rants in the Dark was recently adapted as a play – describes opening the front door naked from the waist up, delirious with fever from mastitis.
Where is your home and who lives there with you?
We live on a hill on the South Coast [Wellington]. It’s me, my husband, and our two boys Ronnie, 5, and Eddie, 3. There’s also our 15-year-old cat, Borro, and our retired greyhound, Twinkle Princess.
Your favourite area in the house?
I love the dining room table. I love to look out at the ocean: every day the view seems different. We have great chats at the table and I work there too. The sun comes in and it’s just so lovely. My 3-year-old is yet to recognise how great the table is, and spends meal times running around instead of staying seated.
Finish this sentence, once someone came to my door…
I had mastitis so I’d become quite delirious with fever. I thought the delivery guy was my husband getting home and I answered the door crying with no top on. Poor dude was terrified.
Your proudest DIY moment:
When we first came to this place it had this hideous red wall which I called the Red Wall of Anxiety. Our landlord (who luckily is my husband’s mum) let us repaint it. It took eight coats of paint and I didn’t do any of it. My husband almost had a breakdown – but I’m still claiming it as my proudest DIY. We currently have no blinds and outside there’s a bus stop. We are the entertainment.
If my partner would let me, I would get rid of:
His poster of the Chatham Islands. It’s ...ugly. It’s a framed tea towel. And another Red Wall of Anxiety in our bedroom.
A book, film or television show that best describes the mood in your home:
Can I be a narcissist and say my own book? Because I say ‘‘Is it Bedtime Yet?’’ a million times a day and I’ve slept in every room in the house, including on the floor of the bathroom when my son had gastro.
Worst thing that’s ever gone wrong while entertaining?
My husband informed our guests that the veges we were eating tasted so delicious because our dead dog was buried underneath where he grew them.
One item I wish I had kept or not got rid of is:
My wedding veil. I would have liked to have hung it on the wall.
Favourite piece of furniture:
Our L-shaped couch. We used to have really bogan black leather recliners. We just bought this proper grown-up adult couch. When I sit on it I feel responsible.
If I had $50k, what I would change about my house is...
My own bathroom! We have just one tiny bathroom and I have to share it with three boys.
Which home habit annoys you the most?
We don’t have a bath so we put our two kids in flexi tubs. They cannot have a bath or shower without getting water everywhere. I am constantly laying towels down – I feel like I wash a load of towels every day.
What’s one domestic/ housework/gardening trick you’ve learnt?
I’ve learned to not do too much. Each night we do a five-minute toy tidy up to try to feel like grown-ups and that helps a lot.