Resene Cello www.habitatbyresene.com www.facebook.com/habitatbyresene www.pinterest.com/habitatbyresene www.instagram.com/habitatbyresene Resene Moon Mist one big happy family editorial welcome When I first started working here at habitat 10 years ago, the magazine was an only child. It came out twice a year and was sent to Resene cardholders to inspire and inform, not just about paint but also other decorating choices. Since then, habitat magazine has not only grown hugely in distribution (we now send out double the number of copies) but has gathered up some siblings in the form of a website and e-newsletter, a collection of habitat plus booklets on various themes, and social platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. We’ve also been making step-by-step and styling videos which are hosted both on our own website, www.habitatbyresene.com, and on our YouTube channel, habitatbyresene. The videos are hugely popular, showing you how to transform everyday objects with paint, or create easy craft and DIY projects. The growth of our habitat family reflects an appetite for accessibility to inspiration from many forms of media. While online forums are dynamic and easy to digest, we still love producing the magazine – there’s nothing quite like opening its pages and seeing all those lovely decorating examples in print. This issue, we have a couple of colourful houses, we explore the trends, inspire you with some quick and easy paint ideas, and talk to others who love Resene paint and colour as much as we do. Who knows if our family will grow further – we hope so. In the meantime, happy reading. There’s always a sense of anticipation opening a Resene testpot for the first time, with all the endless possibilities of how it can be used. It never ceases to amaze us how even a small amount of paint can make such a difference. Buy a cup of coffee and you might get five minutes of enjoyment. Buy a Resene testpot and you can still be enjoying what you created with it 10 years on. Testpots have long been a favourite at Resene. While they may have started life as a way to test colour, that’s just the tip of the iceberg for how they are used these days. Over the years they have become the source of inspiration for many a painter and craftsperson, and a budget-friendly way to experiment with new ideas. We work with many community painting projects and a common thread is that the colour brings people of all ages and types together and adds a touch of long-lasting brightness to even the most mundane objects. Who would have thought even rocks could be turned into mini masterpieces with a few favourite Resene testpots (see page 39)? Yet the tens of thousands of rocks (and counting!) that have been painted shows us that we all have the ability to let go of perfection and just enjoy the simple pleasure of painting and creating. There’s no better time than now to add a little colour into your day. Happy decorating! the Resene team Resene Green Smoke Sharon Newey editor 3