Says Andrew: "I've been told to declutter but, you know, I think even if we got rid of half of it we're still cluttered apparently."
The couple moved from Wellington to Auckland 11 years ago and rented for about nine months while they waited to get into the Auckland market.
When they found this house in the grammar zone with access to Cornwall Park up the road, they were delighted. "In spring you'll hear the lambs up in the park," says Jane.
They have updated, including putting in numerous high skylights, new bathrooms and roofing plus painting and gardening.
The property used to be one of the bigger, established homesteads of the area.
Andrew explains it was built by the owner of the Auckland Drug Company, then the biggest in Auckland, who also loved to grow orchids.
In the 1940s there was a tennis court and a swimming pool, though the land they were on has been subdivided off and built on.
You can tell the owner put a lot of money and love into this house, Andrew says, from the oak panelling in the entranceway to the character ceiling roses.
The house is T-shaped, with a lounge, TV room and master bedroom at one end and other rooms off the hallway, two of which have doors out to a private patio.
The couple's sons used to play cricket in the hallway, which has a glass door at the end framing the landscaped and grassy back yard.
Andrew's artwork lines the hallway, which he paces out at about 20 metres, and Jane says she has loved the separate dining room off the kitchen where the family has spent many good times around the big table.
The dining room has doors leading to a paved patio area that sweeps along one side of the house and where the original stone walls and the large hedges they planted keep the property private from the neighbours.
A big elm tree dominates the grassed area and the patio has a circular tiled spa pool that Jane didn't think they would use much when they first bought but which she says has been fabulous.
"It's a proper spa pool, like it's a deep, proper spa pool. We use it all the time, more so in winter."
Andrew has added a few props out here - a whale vertebrae and a giant clam shell, to name a couple.
He loves it outdoors, too, but the lounge with its big fireplace is his favourite spot and is where he has many of his "things", from Warren Visco sculptures to giant dung beetles.
They have both loved the peace and privacy of their family home and while they are moving on they're not going far - they have bought another house that is also adjacent to Cornwall Park.
They needed something bigger to accommodate extended family, but also, no doubt, for more of Andrew's "things".
