Mix and match

Christine Collaine and Todd Brady tested their new relationship in the TV room of his home on Auckland’s North Shore – by hanging wallpaper. Todd was renovating the room and Christine arrived in his life just in time to choose the vintage-style Sanderson design. That glorious, sunny room set the scene for their life as a couple and epitomises all that is deeply personal about their renovation of this 1939 former bach that is now a family home. Its warm, welcoming vibe combines Christine’s creativity with Todd’s practical know-how and each room is filled with cherished found and secondhand items of beauty and integrity.

Hunter-gatherers or hoarders and collectors? Call them what you will, this team of two have repurposed old items found in, around and under the Torbay house Todd bought 14 years ago. They’ve delved into Christine’s trunk of fabrics and brought Todd’s treasures out of boxes into a home that is uniquely theirs.

“We’ve got similar tastes; we are soulmates,” says interior designer Christine. “I’ve got the creative eye and Todd’s the practical one. If I have an idea, Todd will figure out how to make it work. Todd loves collecting. He had the light fitting for the TV room in a box. He brought it to me and said, ‘Is this worth keeping? What shall we do with it?’ He had things he had kept for years that he didn’t know what to do with, and putting things together is what I do.”

Todd lived here for some 10 years before he met Christine. She moved in only after he agreed to paint over the dark brown walls of the original downstairs master bedroom. From then on, this home has been a match made in renovation heaven – from the relocated front door and Todd’s man cave to Christine’s 1950s glasshouse and garden beds.