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SMALL WONDER

Stylish yet small, this Auckland cottage will inspire you.

WORDS VICKI HOLDER PHOTOGRAPHS TATIANA SKORIK

Tracy Ellis’ character cottage in Ponsonby, Auckland, is tiny – there’s barely room to swing the proverbial cat. But her many treasured objects and pieces of art are so meticulously organised and curated that her home doesn’t feel cluttered at all. The lack of space doesn’t worry Tracy – it’s here that she finds her equilibrium, chilling out with her 14-year-old daughter Esme and two cats Darcey and Toby. “I like to live quite simply but beautifully,” explains Tracy, who surrounds herself with special pieces that have an emotional connection.

When she comes home from her busy job leading human resources at Auckland Airport, the first thing she does in summer is to open all the windows and doors wide to the leafy garden terrace. Then she turns up her music, waters the garden and relaxes with a glass of wine. If friends come over, they sit outside in the sun at the antique outdoor dining table that she had shortened to fit the spot.

Having moved from an apartment, Tracy relished working with the character of an older home to give it a gallery-like, contemporary vibe. Her aim was to make every inch work hard to maximise the feeling of space.

“Previous owners had done a great job of the extension,” she says. “Everything from the kitchen back was added, including my bedroom and the ensuite, which is where the original outhouse sat. With skylights and the bifold doors open, it feels much bigger than it actually is.”

Tracy has altered nothing structurally, but she painted the wooden skirting boards and architraves white, switched honey-toned floors to a soothing dark chocolate colour and changed the carpet in the bedrooms. She also added much-needed storage by having discreet cabinets made to match the existing kitchen; they sit in the corners of the dining room to hold her electronics, books and linen.

The key to making the cottage work well for Tracy was improving the outdoor area – it seemed to have been forgotten and was on different levels. Raising the decking to the same height as the floors inside created a natural extension of the living area and the main bedroom.

Big trees that blocked the sun had to go, but the chunky railway sleepers along the border stayed. Now magnolias and buxus form levels of hedging as a green backdrop, with black mondo grass and trailing rosemary completing the picture.

“Rosemary – I love what it looks like, smells like and I use it a lot in my cooking. I’m also busy planting emerald thyme [Thymus ‘Emerald Carpet’] into the garden, which is creating a beautiful ground covering. The bumble-bees love it too.”

Because the house is so small, Tracy likes to leave the door open between her bedroom and the adjacent living area to create a sense of openness. So all the decorative elements, especially the fabrics, had to somehow relate. Interior designer Olga Skorik helped Tracy make some bold choices in unexpected combinations. “Everything connects but it doesn’t match. I really don’t like things that match.”

It all started when Tracy spotted an animal print on two chairs in Olga’s own house when it was featured in NZ House & Garden [October 2019]. “I contacted her and she came to the house. We found we had similar taste and she continued to work on the project. A lot of it was about experimenting with

Olga and going on little jaunts, trying things out. She was great at finding fabrics or things I wouldn’t ordinarily have considered and putting them together. One of the things I was most interested in was combining textures.”

Designer elements now pair with pieces that unashamedly show their age, such as the faded Turkish rug and the low-slung sofa and chair by Simon James in a pale café au lait coloured leather which, she says, is beautiful to sit on. “It’s starting to get squashy and scratched, so it will look wonderful when it’s 10 to 15 years old.”

One of the things Tracy could not imagine living without is art. Collecting New Zealand art is a passion that started when she and her now ex-husband returned from London 17 years ago. Her first significant purchase was the striking Te Rawhiti by Robert Ellis, a beautiful woodcut of a marae. This sits just beneath the Ray Haydon carbon fibre and timber veneer sculpture that she bought herself for her 50th birthday.

Another eye-catching piece is the sculpture by Anton Parsons. “The shadows they both cast in the evenings are really wonderful.

“The beautiful Ans Westra photograph was a very special gift, and last year I purchased the Bill Hammond Singer Songwriter triptych from a friend who didn’t have enough room in his new home. Lucky me!

“Other special pieces that will always live with us are the Peter Stichbury drawing, the Gretchen Albrecht and the linocut in the dining area that Esme and I created together when she was seven.”

Asked how she selects her art and furniture, Tracy explains, “There is a real textural element that speaks to me. It’s like all the pieces whisper to each other and they’re meant to fit.” Precision is required when furnishing small spaces, but Tracy has overlaid that with a heartfelt, emotional response. The result is a beautiful jigsaw puzzle where everything sits in perfect harmony.

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2021-08-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-08-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

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