KEY POINTS:
Boh Runga faces a steep climb to her front door but it's well worth it.
It's a travelling musician's perfect accessory - a battered vintage suitcase covered with hotel travel stickers from New York to London.
It's also one of Boh Runga's prized possessions.
"I love the idea that someone lugged the suitcase around the world. It's the most fun I've had spending $12."
The suitcase may be on the road again, as Runga takes up a contract in October to write music for LA-based publishing giant Chrysalis Music.
"I'm really excited at the idea of packing up and leaving town."
Better known as front woman for rock band Stellar*, Runga has for the past month been playing with fellow songstress Carly Binding at Toto's Montecristo Room and tomorrow is the duo's last gig.
"It's been a lot of fun. I don't often get to play with women. We do a lot of chatting on stage," she says.
There have also been changes at home - Runga and husband Campbell Smith have been renovating their inner city, hill-top home.
"We've just finished the bathroom so it was really chaotic for a while."
Many of the items in the couple's home are commissioned pieces, including an artwork by Karl Maugham and a massive stainless-steel dining table.
"We call it our autopsy table," grins Runga. "It's big enough to cut up a body."
Another vintage gem to rival the suitcase is a gold record award presented to singer Donny Osmond in 1972.
"It's even got Puppy Love on it - but obviously it wasn't that important because he left it behind."
Your home's history?
Our house is a bungalow - three bedrooms. Not particularly large but comfortable with sunny living areas.
The best thing about living here?
How removed it is from the road. It's quiet and very private. I can play music loud without my neighbours complaining. Or at least they haven't minded so far.
The worse thing about living here?
The Himalayan steps you have to traverse to get to the front door. A bit of an ordeal after a night out. Visitors really have to want to visit. People don't just drop in. There's a certain amount of conviction when it's a bit of an effort. I like that in a visitor.
What do visitors first notice?
First-time visitors notice how unfit they are. After the climb here, they normally just take a few moments. Also they notice the artworks. In the lounge there are two large pieces you cannot help but notice. And then the flat-screen TV. Everyone seems to love a big, flat-screen television.
How are your character traits reflected in your home?
I'm a hoarder of the highest disorder. I like the unusual. I like the beautiful. I also have a liking for the slightly macabre but that doesn't get a showing in town. At Campbell's house in the Coromandel, I started a cabinet of skulls, bones and flotsam and jetsam. My pride and joy is a puffed up blowfish that was washed on to the beach. I dried it out. Campbell lacquered it. It's amazing. I wanted to bring it to Auckland. A custody battle ensued.
Favourite resting spot?
I guess bed. I love being in bed. Anyone who knows me knows that's the honest truth. Bed and my laptop. Bed and my guitars. Bed and a book. The list is endless. The couch, too, is perfect for kicking back, but bed is best.
The chattel with the most colourful past?
There are a few things I've collected that are interesting, that have a tale to them. The longhorn cowhide was impounded after being in a truck that was involved in a car incident in Texas. The lovely old suitcase in the hall has travelled all over the world and has the tags and stickers to prove it. The romance of it inspires me.
If you had to pick between elaborate and minimalism?
I would love to say minimalism but I'm too untidy and too much of a collector to have everything just so.
How often do you move the furniture around?
I have a lot of chairs. I have a lot of lamps. I went through a severe lamp and chair fetish. I was swapping stuff around all the time. It was ridiculous. I'm over that now. I hope.
If your home was a wine what would it be?
A cheeky little number. Complex. Affordable. A rose.
Your greatest interior extravagance?
I guess renovating. It ain't cheap.
Best advice for buying vintage items?
If you love it and it makes you smile, buy it. Or get someone else to buy it for you. Ha!
Any interior design disasters to confess?
The interior of the house doesn't have any interior decorating design to it, really. It's whatever, wherever. "Can it fit here?" Good, it can stay here for a bit.
If we gave you $1000 to spend on your home? I need storage for my shoes and handbags. $1000 worth of that, please.
Favourite interiors or antique store?
The antique stores in Christchurch. I'm not telling which ones, though. Design stores - there are so many!
Any design inspiration?
Have you ever watched the television series Poirot? I want to live in his apartment. Beautiful.
