Style Insider: A homage to mid-century style in Dunedin – swirly orange carpets and all.

Step back in time to swirly carpet and hand-printed wallpapers

Obsessively watching Nordic crime dramas had an unexpected effect on school principals Greg MacLeod and Heidi Hayward. Countless scenes in pared-back places meant modernist sensibilities invaded their consciousness so, when they viewed this 1957 home in Andersons Bay, Dunedin, it spoke to them straight away. “I thought I was into Scandinavian interiors but as soon as I stepped into the foyer, I realised what I actually liked was mid-century design,” says Heidi.

Full-height windows, a built-in cocktail bar and a living room that steps down from the dining area are fabulous 50s features. But it was also love at first sight for the original hand-printed wallpapers and swirly orange carpet added in the 70s. “The clash of patterns made me smile.”

Their design philosophy has been softly-softly. The couple did pull up the carpet in the dining zone to whitewash the rimu floors underneath and removed doors from the upper kitchen cabinets to make the space feel more open but when it came to creating outdoor living, they agonised. A new deck made sense but access meant altering an angled pane of glass that was cutting-edge in its time. “We ended up removing a set of windows that were to one side and making a door that looked exactly like them. It’s a complicated arrangement involving four latches to get outside.”

The couple have three children, Lucas, 12, Ben, 17, and Charlotte, 25, and with four bedrooms, unexpected for the era, the house is big enough for them all – although Charlotte has now moved out.

To furnish it, the pair became fierce Trade Me cool-hunters and most of the furniture is pre-loved. The thrill is in the chase: be it a light shade to replace a broken one or a set of wooden-armed occasional chairs, there’s fun and purpose in the pursuit. “As only the second owners of a home that has survived pretty much intact for 60 years, we feel like its caretakers,” says Heidi.

‘As only the second owners... we feel like its caretakers’

THIS PAGE (clockwise from top left) Lower kitchen cabinet doors were replaced and the handles reinstated. In the foyer a “viciously sharp” copper leaf, a gift from Heidi’s mum, hangs above a work by Tony Walker; the wallpaper is original: “We found some leftover rolls in a cupboard.” The new deck is accessed via a door that mimics a set of original windows; the black sofa is from Nood. The house gets so much light that Heidi says all the pot plants, including this Monstera deliciosa, have grown like triffids.