Having started in 2014 as an online store, within a few years A&C Homestore had grown to boast four stores, one \u201cvery big\u201d online store, and employs 30 staff.<\/p>\n
But Walls\u2019 professional success had come at a personal cost.<\/p>\n
Her son Austen was born in September 2016 \u2013 just six weeks after A&C Homestore had opened its first physical shop in Mt Eden \u2013 and she admits balancing those two major responsibilities was a \u201cshock to the system\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so hard to be two people\u2026 I still was in denial that I was about to become a mother, the most important job of my life,\u201d she told Real Life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had Austen, and the business wasn\u2019t booming yet, but I was really hanging on to trying to be two different people. I was trying to be a career-driven woman and trying to be a mum.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing wrong with being those two people in your life, but I know so many women that really struggle with that mum guilt of not being there for their child all the time or having to drop them off to a nanny or caregiver.\u201d<\/p>\n
While she wouldn\u2019t call herself a workaholic, Walls acknowledges she likes to \u201cdo things well\u201d \u2013 and that can mean pushing herself to her limits.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve done personality tests in my lifetime and normally it\u2019s about achieving; I create goals and I love to be an achiever. <\/p>\n
\u201cA bit of a love language from my parents was them saying \u2018Alexandra, you\u2019ve done so well\u2019, and that makes me keep on going,\u201d she told Cowan.<\/p>\n
Alex and Corban Walls took the massive $307,000 she and Corban earned when they won The Block to launch and grow her own high-end homewares business. Photo \/ Jason Oxenham<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so before having children, my goal was career \u2013 lets establish a great business. And I worked very, very hard, doing 80-hour weeks sometimes, to make sure I got it right.\u201d<\/p>\n
That drive extended to the birth of her first child.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in labour and I was in so much pain. I finally got my epidural\u2026 and I was like, \u2018Right, Corban, pass me my laptop, I\u2019ve got an EDM [marketing email] to send out.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the business grew, so did the demands on Walls\u2019 time \u2013 and it all came to a head in 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had Goldie, my daughter, and we were forced into Covid lockdown like everybody else. And while we were in lockdown the workload for my business went through the roof,\u201d Walls recalled.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just absolutely boomed, and I had an amazing team of about 30 staff who were like family to me, but everyone was on panic central and the demand on me was that I had to prioritise the business over my children, who also were panicked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hated it. I was forced out of maternity leave to get straight back into business and I remember crying [about] having to go back to work instead of being at home with my kids. I saw them drawn to Corban over me \u2013 that was not how I wanted it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
By this time, balancing the business with motherhood had become unsustainable \u2013 but it was only after a \u201cvery extreme\u201d dream one night that she took action.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my dream, I was on my deathbed and I said out loud \u2018Oh I\u2019m just so, so thankful that I built the most amazing\u2026\u2019 \u2013 and then I said \u2018business\u2019 instead of \u2018family\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so disappointed. I woke up and I was just horrified that I couldn\u2019t say family, because that was what I wanted to do, but I couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd right there, that\u2019s when Corban and I were like, \u2018The business means nothing. Yes it\u2019s been great, but it means nothing if I don\u2019t have a family\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walls sold A&C Homestore in 2022 to focus on being a mum, and says life now is \u201ca lot calmer\u201d. The family is now on the cusp of a move to \u014crewa, north of Auckland, where they are building another house.<\/p>\n
While life has quietened down, Walls has recently been thrust back into the spotlight with the release of the first season of Love It Or List It NZ on TVNZ 1.<\/p>\n
The show sees her in competition with real estate agent Paul Glover, using her interior design chops to renovate homes that are no longer working for their owners \u2013 and convince them to \u201clove it\u201d by staying put, rather than \u201clist it\u201d on the market.<\/p>\n
\u201cI listen to what the family needs. They give us a budget \u2013 anywhere from $50,000 to $300,000 \u2013 and once I know what their problems are in the home, it\u2019s my job to remedy that,\u201d Walls explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I design, then we project manage it, then style and set it up for a final day that the families walk through and they decide whether I\u2019ve hit the mark for them or whether it hasn\u2019t been good enough and they\u2019re moving on.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the series having concluded a week ago, Walls won five out of the six episodes, which she admits took even her by surprise.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t get to see what Paul takes the families through until the actual episodes have aired, so I\u2019ve been watching them going. \u2018Why would you love it? You should have gone and bought that house!\u2019,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I think sometimes I wonder whether I catch the family with emotion. They\u2019ve been living in this house for six, seven, 10 years, and I\u2019ve finally given them what they wanted\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of weight in it. We spend most of our lives trying to save to be able to own our own pieces of land or a home and then when we finally get in there, it\u2019s pretty heavy. There\u2019s a lot of emotion with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked whether a second season of Love It Or List It NZ is on the horizon, Walls says she\u2019s unable to confirm: \u201cWe\u2019re waiting to see how NZ has responded to the show, but it seems quite positive,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Real Life is a weekly interview show where John Cowan speaks with prominent guests about their life, upbringing, and the way they see the world. Tune in Sundays from 7.30pm on Newstalk ZB or listen to the latest full interview here<\/a>.<\/p>\n