My Home - Michael Baker and Katie Chalmers

When Michael, a professor of epidemiology at University of Otago Wellington Medical School, and Katie, a graphic designer, choir singer and collector of outsider art, set out nine years ago to find a north-facing family home near the green belt and a good school, they certainly landed on their feet. The couple live with children Augusta (18), George (9) and Euphemia (15 months) in a four-floor Fritz Eisenhofer-designed modernist masterpiece in Brooklyn, complete with an enclosed pool and sauna on the lower floor and impeccable harbour views.

The house, which was built in 1969, had been the property of a notorious Wellington nightclub owner in the 1980s. His influence was apparent when the family arrived – enormous waterbeds and intercom systems were swiftly removed, while a conversation pit in the living room remains (at least for the time being), albeit now serving as a kids’ play area.

Katie and Michael describe themselves as having minimalist aspirations but acquisitive tendencies. The result is a house with an elegant colour palette and clean lines, and whose walls and surfaces are dotted with objects from second-hand stores and the pair’s enviable collection of contemporary art – as well as a sizeable accumulation of kids’ toys.