BEYOND THE PALE

A villa that packs a punch with treasures from Morocco and Turkey

Meet & greet

Clarissa Thompson

(employee communications

manager),

Doug Thompson (training adviser), Gloria Thompson (Doug’s mum), Ivy, 11, Alice, seven, Charlie Sky

the bichon/papillon cross and French bulldog

Marla Mungles.

Clarissa and Doug Thompson’s brief for revamping the transitional villa they’d just bought was simple and unambiguous: “Anything but white.” They wanted the interior of their house to be colourful and to work with some of the special pieces they’d bought on their travels. “I’ve always loved terracotta and colours from Morocco and Turkey,” says Clarissa. And so the couple and Clarissa’s best friend, interior designer Mary-Ellen Hinton, set about planning the decor for the 1920s house in the central Auckland suburb of Mt Albert. Mary-Ellen interviewed them, made a mood board and then presented them with options for each room. “We said, ‘Yes let’s do it’,” says Clarissa.

Now the couple, their daughters Ivy and Alice, and Doug’s mum Gloria, live in a home that’s been renovated just for them and not for resale in a year or two’s time.

Rooms with a hue

The lounge is painted in a rich blue. “Because this room gets lots of light and sun, we could have it dark,” Clarissa explains. The bedrooms have patterned wallpaper features and colours that finish midway up walls with special pieces – gifts and items from the couple’s days of globetrotting – are everywhere. An orangeand blue-toned Moroccan rug, which has pride of place in the lounge floor (it’s turned over during the heat of summer because that’s what Moroccans do, says Clarissa), and a collection of small wall hangings, also from the North African nation, are clustered above a table in the hallway. A table made by Doug is the star of the dining space.

“We wanted a home that we loved living in,” says Clarissa. “We didn’t want to be overly cautious. It’s really cool doing what you want to do, and getting advice.” And, she adds, when you’re redoing the whole house, paying for an interior designer “is nothing in the scheme of things”.

DINING (left) Former builder Doug made the dining table. The chairs are from Cintesi and the lampshade was sourced by Hello Saturday. LIVING The sunny lounge gets a lot of sunlight and could handle the striking Resene Elephant blue-green wall. The wood basket was found at Citta and the trolley from rug and homeware store Bohzali. CAPTION HEADING Doloribero quossuntus dolorepel mil illaboris restis aliquuntiat velesti oreius ut doloreium enis minvenis quaectatis accus sametum simus plaut eum vel illicia speribu scidele cae volestrum eatem quisAtem nem rest atem

LOUNGE The colourful rug was bought in North Africa by Clarissa, with help from her interior designer. It is turned over in summer, which is what the Moroccans do, says Clarissa.