Living spaces full of laughter

At myplace

TV’s Erin Simpson hasn’t let Auckland property prices faze her.

Television presenter Erin Simpson lives with five friends in a sevenbedroom new house in Waterview, Auckland. She bought the property a year ago.

The Waikato-born creative rose to fame as the host of the popular children’s TV series, The Erin Simpson Show, and has since gone on to stretch her artistic muscles with her popular homewares collection that incorporates Maori motifs into modern design.

Simpson recently celebrated her first anniversary of living in her latest home. The past year hasn’t all been smooth sailing: she is still cleaning up after an electrical fire.

She describes her home’s style as ‘‘not what’s expected’’ and says the best money she’s ever spent on the home is the house itself: ‘‘Seven bedrooms, new build in Auckland and still in our 30s? You do the math.’’

What is your favourite room in the house and why?

I can confidently speak for all of us when I say the dining area. When we were going through the purchasing process I searched for weeks for the best table in town as I knew it wasn’t going to be just a dinner table; it would be also serving up a lot of love and laughter.

What are your proudest DIY moments?

For this house? Installing our own roller blinds saved around $3500 and putting in a sump outside cost about $400 compared to a tradie doing it for $3000.

The project I have on the go (that no believes I can pull off) is attempting to transform the black light switch frames into white - they have to be so perfect as we want them to look like plastic but I’m only using spray paint so it’s a slow process.

What is your favourite way of entertaining?

Boys cooking, me serving, everyone laughing and carrying on for hours. Within a year we have built a wonderful family environment and now we love inviting people to over to share in that. Dinner, drinks, chat, it’s all centred around our table – unless someone gets up to show us their dance moves.

What home habit annoys you most?

Breaking wine glasses. It’s sad as they are expensive and hard to replace but when you have a solid concrete table and no carpet, what can you do?

What is your least favourite household chore?

Cooking. It’s time-consuming and I have no talent for it.

What’s one domestic/ housework/gardening trick you’ve learnt over the years?

Dishwashing liquid is the best thing for cleaning paint brushes.

Erin Simpson bought her seven-bedroom house last year, and shares it with five friends.

CHRIS MCKEEN ‘‘Dinner, drinks, chat, it’s all centred around our table unless someone gets up to show us their dance moves.’’

Cute meets sophisticated - there’s plenty of animal decor in Simpson’s home.

‘‘We have lots of animals. Our rabbit Tupance has been a favourite from the beginning,’’ Simpson says.

Drawings made by Simpson’s niece and nephew, given to her as a birthday present, sit between two framed prints.