Let’s Make This House Our Home

Making a home away from home gives us a sense of belonging and safety. When we moved into the Salient office, we had to make it ours. We brought in plants, revived a struggling peace lily, and made a lounge of couches and crochet blankets. It’s not just our office now, it’s our second home. 

Over the past three years, we have been stuck inside a fuck tonne. If you weren’t a homebody before 2020, you now at least have an appreciation for the WFH lifestyle. Over this time, we either thrived or almost died from boredom.  

Week-long Covid-19 isolation periods have taught us how valuable having a space to call your own is (and also that Fran looks funny in her gel mask over FaceTime while we are writing this). But making your space a home is challenging when you're a renter—moving every year to a new space and dealing with shitty landlord after shitty landlord. How do you make a house a home when it’s mouldy and you aren’t allowed to have an emotional support cat? What if your flatmates are creepy, or you just don’t vibe with them? 

Our advice is, and we know this as children of divorce: make a little sanctuary out of the parts of your environment and surroundings that feel like home! For Aunty Vic’s advice on why or why not to romantically pursue your flatmate, hit up page 33.

To quote our wonderful designer Bella, “Fran’s bedroom is constantly cast in a sparkly pink tint from her pink lace bed canopy and disco ball.” Maia has her trestle writing desk facing the window, surrounded by plants. After a few years of flatting, and moving between family homes before then, we know a thing or two about nesting. We love a good pillow, plushie, or blanket fort. Sometimes even the space under your desk can be a cosy refuge from hours of study. Don’t you worry, we are experienced hermits. This ain’t Maia and Fran’s first enclosure-time rodeo. That’s what Salient is for. Cut out our illustrations and centrefolds to cover the mould stains and paint peels on your walls. We can confirm, cosy comfort can be found within a good cup of kimchi noodles and a flat Married At First Sight Australia sesh. 

No matter how many stolen city posters cover your walls or how many candles you burn, sometimes you can’t get over the fact that most of Wellington's student housing stock are shitholes. Renting is cooked. That’s why the “Home” issue is focused on advocacy. 

We’ve teamed up with Renters United to bring you first-years a guide to renting basics—get to know your rights. Bridget asks what to do when you’ve got a flatmate that oversteps your boundaries, Lauren reflects on how halls sometimes aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, Kiran weighs up living at home in a cost of living crisis versus flatting, and Maia writes about the rollercoaster that is moving in with strangers. 

In the news section, Niamh brings you her opinion on why landlords should provide references too. Ethan probes the sub-standard pink chicken catering of VUW halls, and takes a look into the overcrowded uni buses. 

That’s all from us folks. Enjoy covering your walls with this issue and thrifting blankets to make your space more cosy - we all need a hideaway.