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Lynley Elder adds modern style to her Auckland apartment

Article by Simply You

With a love of Italian design and a penchant for furniture she’s passionate about it’s no wonder Lynley Elder’s Viaduct apartment is the epitome of modern style

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Lynley Elder adds modern style to her Auckland apartment

A desire to “give city living a go” led interior designer Lynley Elder to her current luxury apartment in Auckland’s trendy Viaduct Basin. With unimpeded water and urban views, the three-bedroom, open-plan home she shares with her husband Peter also answered their common passion for renovating and revamping.

“I started renovating in 1978 with our first home and we did it all ourselves. We then regularly bought and did up houses before building three. Our last one – which we did with our builder son Ryan – finished in 2016,” she says. “We found this place surrounded by water on both sides with beautiful views of Wynyard Quarter and the city – it looks back to the Sky Tower and the Sofitel Hotel. We see people coming and going around the marina all day.”

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Describing her style as “simple monochromatic and very uncluttered,” she added wooden floors to the kitchen, lounge and entrance area in Baltic Wood Oak Ivory and Cream Classic from Vienna Woods.

She also carpeted the bedrooms, retiled the glassed-in extensions and ensuite, and installed a new kitchen, with a classic pale marble benchtop a focus feature and cabinetry in a matte white finish.

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Elder is a big fan of Auckland-based importers and wholesalers of fine furniture Sarsfield Brooke – for her own homes and for her clients – so she buys most of her furniture from its store. The company also sources special items for her.

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“Their furniture is modern European design, a lot of it Italian, which fits excellently with my style. I have learnt to buy pieces I feel passionate about so you can retain them forever.”

Words by: Naomi Larkin. Photography by: Helen Bankers.

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