The room that has it all
Gossip king David Hartnell’s bobble-headed Queens are the stars of his favourite summer spot.
When I bought this Auckland house 27 years ago, the outside did not have a roof. I’m not a sun worshipper and I never wanted a deck, because I ain’t sitting out in the sun. So I decided to build a sun room.
It’s a wonderful area and something I enjoy, particularly during the summer season.
The sun always comes out in here, this room is always light and bright. We’ve got the tree behind us that lights up and it keeps the atmosphere going. It’s also amazing when it rains, and the water thunders down the corrugated iron roof.
We’ve filled the room with a lot of crap that means something special to us. We’ve got everything to see that’s out because I love colour and movement.
My partner, Somboon, who I’ve been with for 25 years, is from Thailand and he’s a Buddhist. I’m not religious in any shape or form. But Buddhism is similar to Roman Catholicism with its icons and the way they do things.
A Buddha head is a main feature of the sun room. When my mother passed away, Somboon’s family sent us the statue from Thailand. There’s a brooch that belonged to my mother that we added and put in the middle of the head. It’s a memorial.
We also have lots of bobbing head statues of the Queen. We only had one displayed at first and a friend of ours came from overseas and had never seen those bobbing heads before.
She said it would be funny to have a window box and fill it up with these novelty statues, and that’s exactly what she did. It went from a one-line joke to reality. When it’s quiet, the bobbing heads sound like a clock ticking and it’s so soothing.
We also have a colourful plastic chandelier which was given to me by two good friends. There were two and they were going to throw them away. I stripped them down and cleaned them up and now they hang up in the room.
They make a sound when the wind blows and twinkle bright colours throughout the room.
It’s magical underneath the chandelier.
We entertain in here all the time and serve meals from our kitchen. I don’t cook, I’m a good washer upper though. Somboon is the cook and he makes Thai and European dishes. We can sit about 18 people in here, believe it or not.
I’m a patron of the Brotherhood of Auckland Magicians so this is where I read all the magician magazines and catch up with all the news from that world. The brotherhood sometimes convene here and that can be truly magical.
It’s also the perfect place to read and do all my research.
My home is filled with Hollywood memorabilia but this room is the only place that has no Hollywood stuff in it.
Miss Liza, my pekinese dog, loves it out here also. When we’re not in the house, this is her domain.
She always wants to get up on the couch and always wants to get close up to you. She snores terribly and farts.
So this sun room is a place where you’ve got snoring, farting, reading and relaxing. – As told to Aroha Awarau