But being from a background where parents work while their children go to kindy and preschool, New Zealand was really a very different experience for me. I was allowed to be at home and be a mum, which was incredible. But I just started craving doing something for myself. ANDY JACKSON/Stuff Kristina Weston in her cosy Taranaki home. I got into furniture painting, discovered chalk paint. I started just doing it out of our home, for a hobby. Once we moved into a much bigger house, it really needed more furniture, so I started going to hospice shops and secondhand shops, seeing all this amazing furniture made years ago – solid wood, beautiful shapes and retro style, but the cushions were in a desperate state.