Lots of overseas treasures and a “drop in” vibe are the hallmarks of this designer’s home in Taupo.
Forget minimalism – this interior designer surrounds herself with the things she loves
Trace Beaumont-Orr can do the less-is-more thing, the slick hotel foyer, the stripped-back apartment where every object is highly curated. But when it comes to her own homes – she’s had four – the Taupo-based interior designer has always given free rein to her collector’s instinct, filling the space with objects and art that mean something to her. “I’m definitely no minimalist,” she says. “More like a little magpie.”
She bought her latest house a year ago. Tucked away in a beautiful patch of bush a minute’s walk from the lakeside at Two Mile Bay, she calls it her “castle”, a very private retreat for a busy working life that involves a lot of travel, including frequent trips overseas to visit design fairs, lighting and furniture outlets, and to gather inspiration and ideas. >
Taupo, where she was born and bred, is a kind of refuge as well as being handily placed for her work. “I can do a day trip to Tauranga; I’m doing a home at the moment in Hamilton, and one in Wellington, and it’s just so easy from here. But it’s also a very stressless place to live. The lake is beautiful, and there are some lovely walks. I love having that mix of going away and coming home to that slow pace of life.”
It’s also a small town, so it’s no great surprise to learn that Trace knows Fraser Cameron, the architect who designed this 16-yearold house – in fact, she lived across the road from him as a child. “I’m thrilled I could buy one of his homes. He’s very clever.”
Fraser’s design makes the most of the bush setting and northfacing aspect, with plenty of large bifold and clerestory windows to draw sunlight deep into the interior. A covered gallery connects the main house to the garage, with a pond on one side and a sheltered courtyard on the other.
Trace’s three adult sons have all left home – Tyler and Hunter are in London, and Reilly is studying design in Wellington – but there are two large bedrooms above the garage for whenever they visit. The main house, meanwhile, is set up like an apartment. “It’s a very simple design, with just my bedroom, the kitchen, living space and an office.”
She put her stamp on the house during her first year of ownership. With a good friend, Sue Rauch, she landscaped the driveway area in front of the house. “We had to roll our sleeves up – it was a big, big job.”
Inside, she recarpeted the living area, made over the bathroom, transformed a linen cupboard into a powder room, replaced the lighting fixtures and painted all of the walls white for a neutral background. Then she got busy adding her own touches.
But she wasn’t interested in making a showpiece. “I like a home, not a showhome. I like people to come in and put their feet up – this is a very ‘drop-in’ kind of house and I do a lot of entertaining.” >
And I love my pieces; I love to walk into a room and feel that the things in it all carry a memory and make you happy.”
The artwork, for instance, includes several pieces bought for sons’ birthdays (“I’m the guardian until they settle down and become sensible,” she says) while an entire bathroom wall is papered in a blown-up photograph of an African woman – Trace spotted the picture in a restaurant near Cape Town and photographed it.
In the living room, an LED-lit cabinet displays a number of her finds: objects picked up on working trips overseas as well as treasures inherited from her late mother and father.
Her parents were also the original owners of the 1970s beaten copper lamp on a nearby Chinese sideboard. She loves lamps, and estimates that 30 per cent of her design work is about lighting.
“I try to get a lighting designer involved to create subdued lighting so I can use lamps. And I only ever have lamps on here at night. I love special lighting pieces, too,” she says, citing the pendant bulbs above the kitchen bench by British design firm Tala as a new favourite. >
Her other thing is texture: cushions, throws, wooden objects, animal skins. “I’m a texture girl. You can put something textured with a block of colour or a busy fabric and it calms it down.”
Calmness is what she is after here; a sanctuary. After a long working week, she’ll throw open the bifolds on a warm evening, or crank up the Jetmaster if it’s cool, flick on some of those lamps and turn up the music. She seldom goes far.
“I just enjoy my home. During the summer, I will walk down and swim in the lake every day. We have a beach nearby called Wharewaka where a few of us will meet in the afternoon with a bottle of Bombay and have a gin, and then I’ll walk home. I feel very lucky to live here.”