Bright spark

The renovation of this family home in Wellington may have been a slow burn but its joyful way with colour has warmed the heart from day one

- Sharon Stephenson.

On a windy Wellington day, the yellow front door of Fran and Ben Storey’s Houghton Bay home is a vivid beacon amid a grey landscape. Beyond it lies a collector’s heaven: here a vintage wooden oar, there a quirky artwork… The only constant is colour.

Until recently, Fran ran a homeware styling business which mixed pre-loved items with more contemporary pieces.

“Clients would get a group of friends together and I’d take along products that I’d help them style,” says Fran, who moved to New Zealand from the UK with husband Ben in 2003.

But when this started to impact on her fulltime role as a health researcher, the former nurse put her hobby on hold. Not surprisingly, many of those demonstration pieces have ended up in her hilltop home. “I’ve always loved interior design and collecting homeware,” says Fran.

CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY

If Fran isn’t Wellington’s biggest Christmas fan, then she must come close. The build-up starts around September, when the expat gets out her boxes of decorations, including treasured ornaments inherited from her English grandparents. She usually has two trees – one with every kitschy ornament she can find, the other more tastefully dressed.

“There’s no limit to where I can go with festive decorations,” laughs Fran, who as well as having fun with traditional decor also loves to get creative with everyday objects, such as the old medical lightbox she decorates with washi tape in the shape of a Christmas tree.

“It’s all about having fun and thinking of different uses for objects,” she says.