Flying high: LeeAnn Yare's favourite things

LeeAnn Yare. Photo / Babiche Martens

There surely aren't many pilots-slash-interior stylists in this world, but LeeAnn Yare is one of the few. Yare is an international pilot for Air New Zealand and a prolific interior designer, styling for various magazines including Your Home & Garden as well as being a designer on TV2 show Trading Houses.

It's on the show that she puts her design skills to the test, with a budget of $10,000 to makeover two rooms in four days. Needless to say, the mother of two is a busy woman, with an eclectic interiors taste that ranges from retro to designer pieces.

What are some of her favourite things right now? She fills us in...

1. Polder sofa by Hella Jongerius for Vitra

I love the way it's cleverly made up of five different colours and fabrics and its quirky uneven shape. It's the most "designer" piece of furniture we own, luckily we managed to get it for a steal!

2. Pint-sized Panton chairs

The boys have two each in their rooms - everyone deserves a little style even if they end up being used to make the base of a hut at times! Luckily they can really handle the knocks.

3. Anything Crown Lynn

Including vintage Air New Zealand crockery. I have a huge collection of old Air New Zealand memorabilia, including several on-board dinner sets by Kiwi icon Crown Lynn, which is cool as it's both sides of my life merged together. My absolute favourite is the teal blue version with a chocolate Maori design, I am only missing a couple of tea cups which are the hardest pieces to find, most probably they were easily broken.

4. Rimini Blue ceramics by Bitossi

I only like the original old versions from the 1960s as they have a real handmade authentic quality to them and I think the colours are deeper and more vivid than the newly made ones. Some of the pieces I own are not perfect, they have the odd tiny chip, but it just adds to their character.

5. Vintage Beswick flying ducks

These remind me of my nana, who had some similar flying on the wall of our family bach; no one seems to know what happened to them. A lot of people don't realise there are actually five sizes in the complete set. A couple of mine came from Trade Me, another couple flew in from the UK, bought on Ebay, and the largest and rarest was a gift from my mum, who is a collectaholic just like me.

6. KumKum jewellery

These are Swedish-designed, and I have lusted over a piece that one of my best friends has had for years. Now she has moved here and is selling this range in New Zealand, so I have been lucky enough to acquire a couple of to-die-for rings. Check the range out at shopkumkum.co.nz.

7. Vintage velvet and diamante handbag

I snapped this up from Victorian Gilt after I had seen it in a Fashion Quarterly weddings feature - I was sure it would have already sold and I couldn't believe my eyes when it was still in the store. It was just so perfect for our wedding and is something I will definitely keep forever.

8. Pink art glass decanter

For many years I have scoured junk shops and the internet for coloured art glass, and I often sell off some of my collection to make room for newer pieces I find that I love even more. This tall pink decanter is amazing, it's such an unusual colour and unbelievably, has remained in one piece!

9. Interesting art

I am a firm believer that your walls do not need to be adorned with expensive artworks to add personality to your home. We certainly have an eclectic mix on our walls including vintage bus blinds from New Zealand, New York City and Europe, old advertising and signage, vintage plates, a very old and beautiful portrait of the Queen, and my two-year-old son Tyler's work of which I have several pieces framed and mounted. It's a great way to decorate his room.

10. Anything from Flotsam & Jetsam

This has to be my current hot favourite shopping spot, it's a crazy mix of the unusual and interesting and I find it extremely difficult to walk away without buying something every time I go there! My most recent purchase is a three metre-long old Irish table, where I love to imagine the many family dinners we will have around it in the years to come.