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A gun-toting woman with buffalo skulls at her feet greets visitors to Maude and Eddie Fairbairn’s home at Lincoln, on the outskirts of Christchurch. She’s spray-painted on the back of Maude’s often proudly displayed purple hot rod – a 1934 Ford Coupe fitted with a supercharged Chrysler Hemi motor, now de-tuned for the streets. At 60-something years of age, Maude doesn’t go drag racing any more.
The lady of this house is a multi-award-winning, record-breaking drag racer and repeat titleholder. Once the fastest female drag racer in the southern hemisphere, Maude reckons she still has the competition beat as fastest granny in New Zealand.
Maude’s hot rod and TransAm convertible are but two of the attention-grabbers here. In the Fairbairns’ two double garages and the memorabilia room out back, pictures and trophies from her medal-winning days join many other automotive collectables. But there the car theme stops. Inside Maude and Eddie’s house, it’s an entirely different story. There the main characters are cowboys and Indians, with a smattering of Mexicans.
Maude has long been a fan of American South-west decor, with its Native American, Mexican and Spanish influences. Think adobe homes with white plastered interior walls, terracotta floor tiles and exposed wooden beams, dressed with Native American-themed art, pottery, Aztec rugs, cacti and succulents.
Fifteen years of living in the US cemented Maude’s predilection for the style – so much so that when she and Eddie decided to build a new home a few years ago the chosen look was never in question. At least, not for Maude.
“Eddie wasn’t impressed at all. He wasn’t sure we would be able to create what I was showing him in books. But I knew – especially after living in the States – how multi-talented Kiwis are and that we’d be able to pull it off. As Eddie says, ‘It panned out’.”
These days Eddie hardly blinks at the extras that arrive in containers from the US amid the supplies for their business, American Auto Parts. “When I know a container is about to head our way, I get on the internet and shop and add stuff for the house,” says Maude. “They are good containers to unpack.”
A quick inventory of the contents of her home suggests that those containers have been coming with regularity. South-western symbols adorn the cutlery, the artwork features buffalo and dream catchers, the serving dishes and platters are unmistakably Mexican and the towels, curtains and mats are Aztec-patterned.
There are lamps hand-painted by Native Americans in Albuquerque and Kokopelli wall lamps – the hunchbacked flute player etched in the copper is venerated by some Native American cultures, Maude explains.
Painted cacti feature on the bathroom basin and toilet porcelain; even the soap dish is buffalo-shaped. In the kitchen, the drawer handles resemble arrows and doorknobs are shaped like Apache and buffalo heads.
Inside the drawers and cupboards, Maude’s colour fetish is revealed. Pots, rolling pins, kitchen scales and measuring cups – the contents are nearly all pink. Even her toaster is pink, though, in keeping with the larger theme, a friend has painted a desert scene on it.
“When I look around I think I am in America. The whole thing makes me feel good. I love America and miss it heaps, but living in this environment definitely helps.”
Outside, the landscaping is true to theme. A wagon wheel and a horse saddle hang on the post and rail fence out the back. Painted Native American faces on ceramic tiles look out from some plastered sections of the fence.
Despite the Christchurch cold, extensive plantings of cacti and succulents flourish. (The prickly characters get covered in protective cloths on frosty days.) It’s a garden that brings delight to many, as Maude arranges garden visits for the elderly and special-needs children. The couple have a special-needs son themselves, Paul, who lives with them. Maude has also developed the council-owned river bank next door and feeds the ducks and eels daily.
Maude describes her South-west-themed home as cosy and relaxing but the fun gets full throttle every now and then. “A few months ago, a girlfriend and I drove down to Invercargill in the hot rod. We were dressed as gangsters and had fake guns and got fake arrested by some fun-loving cops. It was a blast.”
Story: Monique Balvert-O’Connor
Photographs: Daniel Allen
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