The Going Home Blog
Hi, I am Ryn Going and welcome to my first ever blog post. Today I thought I would do a bit of an introduction so you know a bit more about me, why I decided to create this blog and what you can expect to see on The Going Home blog.
A bit more about me
I am mum to Hannah (7), Cameron (4) and wife to my farmer hubby Jeff. When I am not working in my corporate day job for a tech company or wrangling my kids, I tend to spend my time on my never-ending list of home projects or dreaming up new ones to add to the list.
Interiors, styling & renovations has been my lifelong hobby with my love for interiors starting when I was a kid. Somehow when I was 10, I convinced my mum to let me paint my room using a 90’s sponge painting technique as the backdrop for the dolphin theme I had envisioned. I also have vivid memories of saving all my pocket money for the perfect blue lava lamp rather than the latest toy.
Since then I have renovated 4 houses, a caravan, and helped my parents design their new home. In 2018 I designed, built and styled my forever farmhouse that was featured in Stuff and Haven Magazine and soon to be featured on the Landmark Homes website. My farmhouse feels like a never ending project particularly doing the landscaping! My latest project underway is a relocated bach in need of a full renovation that was moved from Whangamata to an empty section in Mangakino.
In addition to finding the perfect items for my home I enjoy upcycling and making home décor crafts. To me you don’t need the latest cool high-end décor or furniture to create an amazing home that you love. A designer piece adds as much to your home as a second hand or even Kmart item if it is something that makes you happy. Before we brought our farm, we lived in other people’s farmhouses so during that time I expressed my interiors passion through painting and upcycling furniture as well as renovating our caravan. These days I like to relax with simple décor projects or re-arranging my house.
If you asked me 3 years ago, I would openly tell you I was biggest house plant killer and that gardening in no way appealed to me. I am now learning to keep my house plants alive, enjoy gardening and have dreams of a cut flower garden one day. Not sure if this change was inevitable as my dad is a big gardener or if it’s an outcome of living on the farm or just be getting older? Either way I am trying to lean into it and work on my skills.
I consider myself an open book happy to share any learnings or answer questions so if there is more you want to know about me put it in the questions below.
Why the blog?
The process of designing and building our farmhouse gave me the confidence to start putting myself out there and share my passion with the Instagram world. My friends and family were very supportive and wanted to see and know more. Over time I started getting lots of questions and requests for interiors advice and new build tips. This helped me grow my confidence and cemented my desire to share my learnings and help others create a home that made them happy.
My thinking on the role of home happiness in our lives was reinforced when I heard a statistic on The Great Indoors Podcast. The GoodHome Report from Kingfisher found that 73% of people who are happy with their home are also happy in life and that our home accounts for 15% of our total happiness. Our home is as important as our health (14%) on our happiness and significantly more than what we earn (6%) and the job we do (3%)
Although our new house gave me the confidence to share my hobby with the world, I truly believe you don’t need the perfect home, a massive budget or amazing DIY skills to make any space into a beautiful home. Remember despite what you see on Pinterest or Instagram no space is perfect, no budget is as big as we want but with some elbow grease and smart thinking you can make your home your happy place.
While I have been sharing my home and renovations on Instagram, I see this blog as a natural extension of that. Creating good interiors doesn’t need to be snobby or about high-end design I would love to help others work through their common design challenges like dark rooms, tiny budgets and ugly rentals. I have really enjoyed being part of a community on Instagram and would like to create a safe, non judgmental space where people can ask questions and be inspired to make their homes their own.
On a personal level I also see the blog as a new challenge, creative outlet and better way to spend my time than binging Netflix when I am not working.
What you can expect on The Going Home blog
Given the juggle of working mum life I will try focus on consistency and adding value over perfection otherwise nothing will get done around here. As a first-time blogger I will also be learning on the go so I fully expect the odd hiccup.
My goal is to post a minimum of once a week but ideally twice on a Tuesday and Friday. On Friday’s I will share what I am calling my Friday 5 a collection of 5 things for example 5 top tips, 5 learnings or 5 favorite items and on Tuesday I will share a standard blog post. Posts like my Instagram will focus around 3 main areas
1. Home and interior design – room inspiration, tips and tricks, learnings from my renovations, colour schemes, styling and products
2. DIY, home crafts and projects – getting on the tools, picking up a paint brush and giving it a go to change a room, upcycle furniture or create pieces you love.
3. House plants and gardening – come along for the ride while I learn how to be a gardener, if you are a novice like me I will share my what’s work, easy plants to get started with and you can learn what not to do from my mistakes.
My goal for this blog is to help people create their happy home so get involved, reach out, join in on projects and don’t be afraid to give it a go. I am open to questions, topic suggestions and helping others so don’t be a stranger and get in touch. I also love seeing people home progress so share your projects too.