This homeowner collects monkeys, pineapples, globes, butler stands . . . and check out the gold door

This story is from the team at NZ House & Garden magazine.

Ever since she was a girl, arts festival leader Suzanne Porter has collected beautiful and intriguing treasures.

“I collected little perfume bottles, anything pretty and I loved shells as a kid as well,” Suzanne says, remembering her childhood in Napier.

“I think it would come from my Nana [Karen] Porter, who always made everything, even a tea towel, beautiful. She used to do lace work, tat and crochet,” she says, picking up a crochet-edged linen tea towel: “She made that for me when I was 15, so it’s lasted nearly 50 years and I use it all the time.”

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The oldest of 13 children, Suzanne loved visiting Nana Porter. “The milk was never put on the table in a bottle, it was in a jug. Her advice, always, was to finish everything off beautifully.

“She really did imbue that in me. I used to sit there and look at everything in wonder – and I was occasionally allowed to touch things.”

Now her New Plymouth home is like a pirate’s cave of beautiful objects, all with a backstory, just like her nana’s treasures.

Suzanne has collections of monkeys, pineapples, globes and other intriguing finds.

“I’ve got a thing about monkeys, I really like them. I’ve always been fascinated with the primates; they are so close to humans. I can spend hours at the zoo watching them.”

She also has fascinating furniture.

Two butler stands, originally used for holding alcohol, cutlery and china, are positioned in the kitchen like waiters on alert. “They are like hen’s teeth. I’ve had these since I was about 17. I picked them up at an auction for next to nothing.”

The 1930s bungalow bristles with discoveries she has made through online auctions, in secondhand shops around Aotearoa or while overseas on talent-seeking and knowledge-gleaning missions as the CEO of Taft (Taranaki Arts Festival Trust).

Taft delivers Womad New Zealand and the Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival, among other events.

“I’m not a renovator; I’m a decorator,” she says. “A lot of my stuff is used, it’s secondhand. I like things with a bit of a history, a bit battered.”

While the house might be full, it doesn’t look cluttered due to Suzanne’s simple colour palette – shades of white with a dash of daring. All of the interior walls are painted Dulux Cardrona while the outside is Resene Sea Fog with trims in Resene Alabaster – and a touch of pizzazz with a front door and garage doors painted with metallic Resene FX Gold Dust.

“I have had so many positive comments, including people walking past knocking on the door wanting to know what colour it is and was I planning to do more on the house? And I said ‘no, that’s enough’.”

The love of gold continues inside, including on cushions in a variety of black or dark blue with gold, which tumble over large comfortable sofas. Chandeliers drip with crystals and gold, and there’s a menagerie of plastic animals spray-painted gold. “They look a million dollars,” says Suzanne. But the look isn’t glitzy; it’s edgy and playful with a strong Pasifika feel.

Suzanne’s home is designed for entertainment. “A lot of people have been to this house before I owned it because one of the previous owners was the president of the New Plymouth Wine Tasting Club. And I’m a very social person.”

The house has been the venue for many Christmas functions for staff and their kids, and birthday parties for friends, herself and daughter Alexis. “That Sunday after her 21st we had this massive late lunch where everybody just pitched in and cooked. It was nice; it was a time of family and quite a milestone.”

It’s the second of three homes Suzanne has bought in Taranaki. In 2000, she arrived in the region to take charge of building and operations for the Puke Ariki project – a library, museum and information centre in New Plymouth. She promptly bought the old BNZ building in Eltham which she started renovating but then sold, then bought this house in 2006, the same year that she became the CEO of Taft. She rented it out for three years while living in a graceful turn-of-the-century villa in Inglewood that she bought and later sold.

While Suzanne came to Taranaki for the Puke Ariki job, she stayed for the role at Taft, a position she was shoulder-tapped for. “When I got in there, I realised it was my dream job; it was the job I was always meant to have.”

She loves project work and believes every festival is like a project. “You work, work, work and then you see that baby be born. You celebrate it, put it down for a few weeks and start all over again.”

At the end of 2021, Suzanne broke her leg, badly, and was house-bound for weeks while she healed. During those 16 weeks, her home was filled with people – three siblings took turns to stay with her and friends dropped in regularly to keep her company. “I never felt lonely or that I missed out. It made me realise that in your times of highest vulnerability, how many people care about you and want to help. It was actually quite humbling,” she says.

“The last two years have been tough – events and festivals got pretty hammered,” she says. Womad went ahead in 2020, just days before the first lockdown, but the 2021 and 2022 festivals were cancelled. She is optimistic that the popular music, art and dance festival will go ahead next March, and if it does, Suzanne will not only be leading the show, she will be in a prime position for hosting friends and whānau. Womad is held in the Bowl of Brooklands in Pukekura Park, an easy walk from her treasure-filled home.

Q&A with Suzanne Porter

My decorating style: Has been described as baroque and somewhat gothic.

A tip for other homeowners: You have to love whatever it is – whether it cost $5 or $5000. Don’t be afraid to mix things together; I have Victorian with contemporary. Move things around until you find the right place.

Best decorating tip: Keep everything simple and therefore timeless. Saves you a lot of money when you get sick of that colour.

Favourite kitchen appliance: My Nutribullet. I got one seven years ago as a Christmas present. I killed it and had to replace it. I use it every day, starting the day with a smoothie.

Best money ever spent: The big stand-alone wardrobe in my bedroom.

Favourite new find: Two clay busts of children that bronze would have been used to cast off. They cost me $30 from a Cordy’s online auction.

Favourite family treasure: Mum has just crocheted me a blanket. She’s always making people blankets. It’s grey and cream so it’s very muted. I think if Mum had her way it would have been purple and orange.

Best seat in the house: My big test for couches is that you have to be able to lie on them and if need be, sleep on them. Mine are 25 years old, with slipcovers and have stood the test of time.

Flowers I couldn’t live without: I absolutely adore lilies, of all shape and form.