Angels in the house

Meredith Lee. Picture / Carolyn Robertson

Every night before Meredith Lee goes to bed, she takes a look around her villa and wonders if someone turned up on her doorstep at 8am, would she be relaxed about it?

She's not an obsessive neat-freak, it's just she lives in the showroom of her business, European Antiques & Furnishings, and it's important things are kept in order.

"The only place people don't see is my dressing room and my bedroom. I live with the antiques and they're just spread through the house but it makes it easier for clients to visualise how a piece will work," she says.

Lee was passionate about French antiques long before her six-year stint in London. Part of the appeal of moving there was to be close to France. Every third weekend she'd take the minivan to France and load up.

"I worked to feed my passion. I just love the intense sense of style, I love the fact that it seems quite highly decorative but quite classic at the same time. I love the culture, the food, the fashion. In a design sense, everything they do they do so beautifully. I find English antiques can be heavy and ponderous."

People kept telling Lee to make antiques her job, so upon her return to Auckland, she decided to do just that and opened a shop in Grey Lynn a year ago.

She deals mostly in French furniture, mirrors, lighting, linen, artwork and religious and decorative objects, but she also has some Belgian, Italian and English items right up to the 1950s. "I like to mix antiques with modern pieces. I love up to the 1950s but after that I just don't get it. They've lost me. It's too difficult to mix after that and the colours are harsh. They're not aesthetically pleasing for me."

The same cannot be said of the collection of 200 pieces of hand-carved wooden angel wings and gothic adornment she managed to acquire on her last buying trip in January. They were carved by an artisan between 1870-1910 and are wooden models that a moulding would have been made from for casting in bronze to decorate religious institutions. They were in the style of architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, who helped to renovate Notre Dame.

The sellers didn't make it easy for her to buy. "I had to move heaven and earth to get them. It was ridiculously expensive and there was some argy-bargy with three Frenchmen. They also had an amazing set of zinc and wooden shutters and I told them I'd only take the collection if I could get the lot. We spent half an hour debating it."

Still, there are some things Lee just can't bear to sell - the pair of nymph statues, the bronze Napoleon III jewellery stand and the gothic oxidised bronze crucifixes and candlestick from an old church for instance.

Good thing she's on a buying trip in France at the moment then.

My 10 favourite things 

1. Chandeliers. My standout piece of the moment is a spectacular French amber and aqua blue crystal and gilded metal chandelier from the 1940s.

2. Art Nouveau. I love its organic forms and direct reference to nature. I've been collecting art nouveau prints and decorative objects for about 10 years. I have a full bedroom suite in my showroom which I am loath to let go of. My ultimate art nouveau indulgence was a stay at the glorious five-star Grand Hotel Villa Igiea in Palermo, which is totally furnished with original art nouveau pieces.

3. Paris Interiors by Lisa Lovatt-Smith. This book is packed with photographs of the private homes of Parisian artists and designers. It's inspiring and blends the classical with the eclectic in a way that is quintessentially French.

4. A pair of tiny white leather Victorian children's boots. They were a special gift from my twin sister about 20 years ago and reflect two of my addictions - shoes and all things white, the ultimate classic.

5. Vintage jewellery. I'm a real magpie and jewellery is always a splurge on my buying trips. When living in London I had a permanent date on Friday mornings with the Bermondsey markets, where I'd pick up fabulous Venetian foiled bead necklaces and other vintage pieces.

6. Adam Aaronson vases from London. They're contemporary in their design and colour range, the silver-leaf foiling is exquisite. and they work well in antique or contemporary interiors.

7. My collection of 18th-century gilded wooden candlesticks. These candlesticks were buried in the mud in the 1966 floods in Venice and are slowly being recovered and sold in antique fairs around France.

8. Freshly laundered antique French linen. For that chateau-at-home feeling I go for the monogrammed pieces.

9. My vintage black silk shoes. They have diamante studded heels but are too small to wear. I fell in love with these in London shop Cornucopia, a regular haunt for my ever-expanding collection of antique and vintage bags and shoes.

10. Maison du Vauron in Newmarket. For the fine French Bordeaux - so good on winter nights in front of the fire.