Visitors enter a mid-level reception hall, preceding a big open-plan living room with a reclaimed kauri feature wall. Wide macrocarpa floorboards continue past a restful sitting room with bay and arched windows inspired by originals, to a kitchen/dining/family room embracing the deck.
Detail and craftsmanship abound, from the kitchen bench hewn from one solid 40mm-thick piece of marble to an Egyptian fountain reinvented as a guest toilet handbasin. Its open-plan living/dining/kitchen with built-in indoor-outdoor multimedia system accompanies a bathroom and a bedroom with private deck admiring serene native bush.
The layout is versatile and brilliant for entertaining. This floor has two bedrooms - one with an ensuite and another with a mezzanine level and a neighbouring bathroom.
Upstairs the front master bedroom with balcony and bank of wardrobes gazes seaward. An exquisite bathroom neighbours a rear bedroom (alternatively a dressing room) with balcony overlooking the pool.
Downstairs the "garden floor" can be self-contained for guests. The pool complex contains a heated in-ground pool with swim jets, contemporary spa and guest cottage/pool house.
24 Inkster Street, Chelsea Bay, Birkenhead Point
Seven bedrooms, five bathrooms, two-car garage
Size: Land 2277sq m, house 569sq m (including guest cottage/pool house and garage/workshop).
Price indication: Still listed, interest expected above $4 million.
School zones: Birkenhead Primary School, Northcote College.
Features: Three-level waterfront home on big grounds in two titles, stretching from immediate waterfront access in a small bay to rear native bush. Close to Birkenhead Point Village and handy to Auckland CBD.
