Purple sofa, yellow wall, and dedicated pink sunglasses cabinet – this Auckland home says no to neutrals

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

“I can see why people like a calm, neutral, beige environment. I am not one of those people,” says Louise Hilsz of the bungalow she shares with her partner Ben Emirali and dog Pickle in Auckland’s Kingsland.

You’ll find almost every other colour of the rainbow from pretty pinks and sunny yellows to bold blues and dramatic purples.

Being a self-described maximalist has also led the fashion and interiors stylist to use innovative materials when renovating the house. For vivid feature walls in both bedrooms, she opted for a textured soundproofing material from New Zealand company Autex Acoustics.

While it has a practical application, it’s the pop of colour – blue in the main bedroom and yellow in the guest bedroom – and felt-like surface that appealed to Louise.

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For the kitchen, Louise turned to friend Simon Ward, a designer and signwriter, to wrap the cabinets in vinyl – the same material used on buses and billboards. Not only did it lend the kitchen a vibrant shade of kitsch aqua, it was fast, cost-effective and the end result is hard-wearing.

“All I had to do was add the handles and it was like a brand-new kitchen,” says Louise.

Louise worked with several artists for the look of her mural but it was her friend, designer Simon Ward, who created the Salvation Mountain theme: "He just got what I wanted straight away. I think I only changed a couple of things from his original design."

Jane Ussher/NZ House & Garden

Louise worked with several artists for the look of her mural but it was her friend, designer Simon Ward, who created the Salvation Mountain theme: “He just got what I wanted straight away. I think I only changed a couple of things from his original design.”

The psychedelic mural to one side of the back garden is also Simon’s work, designed to Louise’s brief inspired by Salvation Mountain near Palm Springs in the US, and is also printed on billboard vinyl attached to the corrugated iron fence.

“I originally wanted to get a mural painted on the fence but the corrugated iron made it a bit trickier to paint. The vinyl just came in a big roll and took an hour to install. It’s been up for two years and still looks amazing,” Louise says.

The riot of colour and celebratory nature of the mural are fitting expressions of Louise’s approach, but also the joy she and Ben feel at having a place to call their own, and to decorate freely, after years of renting.

The couple have been in the house for two years, buying just after the first wave of the Covid pandemic. By then they’d had several years of frustration trying to find a house that met their budget in Auckland’s inner suburbs.

“We’ve lived in this area for a long time. One of my jobs is in the city and I like being able to walk to work. Plus, we’re a couple with no kids, we didn’t need to worry about things like school zones. It’s nice to be able to stay here, but it wasn’t easy.”

The three-bedroom house, which had been relocated to what was once a junkyard over two combined sections in the 1980s, offered the rare inner-city combination of privacy and space in a house that didn’t need a lot of structural work.

Louise immediately decided to repurpose the main bedroom and adjoining lean-to as a walk-in wardrobe and dressing room. The dressing room is a love letter to colour where Louise’s fondness for bold tones finds its purest expression in her clothes.

“I do not own a single piece of black clothing. I try to have at least five different colours in my outfits. I think most people aim for two; that’s not me at all.

When a plan to build their own dining table from metal pipes defeated them, the couple opted for a mid-century style table from Target; unusually for this house it's black, to work with the dark floors and built-in sideboard.

Jane Ussher/NZ House & Garden

When a plan to build their own dining table from metal pipes defeated them, the couple opted for a mid-century style table from Target; unusually for this house it’s black, to work with the dark floors and built-in sideboard.

“I can’t really choose a favourite colour. I do really hate brown although I blame that on my school uniform. It also means I don’t like wood. Growing up, our whole house was brown; leather couches, wooden furniture. It was not inspiring.”

Almost every piece of furniture or decor which has found its way into Louise and Ben’s house has been painted in a different vibrant colour. Louise says Ben sometimes takes a bit of persuading over her colour preferences.

The biggest challenge has been trying to find pieces that fit with Louise’s vision. “It’s quite easy to find colourful clothes in New Zealand but it is really hard to find colourful furniture. Everything is black, white or brown unless you have a lot of money to custom order things.”

Louise has invested in key custom-made elements such as the modular couch in deep purple and bright yellow, and curtains but has otherwise scoured Trade Me – and her parents’ storage locker – for pieces to upcycle in bright colours.

“When my parents moved back to Australia 15 years ago they left a storage unit filled with brown furniture, which I have gradually raided. There are a few pieces they’ve told me not to touch, otherwise they’re okay with it.”

Louise doesn’t have any rules for matching, or mismatching, colours and pieces within a room. She uses trial and error, trusting her eye until she’s happy. She’ll also keep moving things around to create different looks. Always the stylist.

Louise has worked as a fashion and interiors stylist on local magazines and websites for more than a decade and styles television’s Have You Been Paying Attention host Hayley Sproull in a different brightly coloured suit for each episode. But Louise started her working life combining the knowledge gained studying business with her love of the eclectic, by opening the store Winks in Auckland’s Newmarket, selling a mix of local clothing brands and vintage pieces.

“I opened in 2007. Retail had been really booming, but then the GFC hit. I was 23 and doing it on my own, which was really stressful and I was just so broke all the time.” The store closed, followed by jobs as a fashion editor then an interiors editor for local magazines.

Though Louise still helps inspire others’ fashion and interior design decisions as deputy editor and style director for website BeautyEQ, she hasn’t yet been tempted to design someone else’s interior.

For now she’s content with filling her own home with colour. She’s considering a bathroom renovation or even an outdoor bathhouse: “I am obsessed with getting a bath.”

Meanwhile she finds colour inspiration on various interior design social media accounts, like the UK’s Sam Buckley. “He does these incredible rooms with painted ceilings. As soon as I saw them I thought ‘I have to have that’.

“I just love the way social media has opened us all up to the whole world of design ideas and inspiration.”

Q&A with Louise Hilzs

Proudest DIY achievement: Upcycling vintage furniture with colourful paint. It’s amazing how good furniture looks when it’s not brown.

Favourite new find: My Staffordshire dogs from UK website Dogwood Lifestyle. I’ve had my eye on them for a few years and with the pound dropping they became better priced.

Favourite family treasure: Our drinks cabinet which I now use as a sunglasses cabinet. I got this from my parents’ storage unit and painted it pink.

Best seat in the house: Our purple sofa.

A quote I often use: Is from my mum: “If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly.”

We love this part of Auckland because: We are in the heart of the city and the neighbourhood has a friendly, relaxed vibe. It’s noisy and vibrant which suits us perfectly.

Best local attraction: Cruising along the Northwestern Cycleway. It’s a great walking, running and cycle track.

One thing you must do: Go bar-hopping along the Kingsland strip. So many interesting places to try.

Favourite local eatery: Kingsland is home to the best brewery, Urbanaut Brewing Co, which serves amazing burgers whether you want meat, vegetarian or vegan and it is dog friendly. Highly recommended.

Favourite local shop: The Little Flower Shop just up the road in Mt Albert. Its flowers are stunning and the staff offer such great service.

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