SCHOOL ZONES:
Laingholm Primary School, Green Bay High school, Glen Eden Intermediate.
CONTACT:
Gaston Coma, L J Hooker, 021 234 3788.
AUCTION:
Sun, Feb 26.
Early in 2008, Lily and Karl Dewstow bought themselves a renovation project that has been all about messing around with paint, wallpaper and concrete blocks.
The six-bedroom modernist home on the ridge above Laingholm Bay came with its 1969 architectural integrity intact.
Its exterior was vertical cedar cladding and stack-bonded concrete blocks with slate tiles on the veranda.
Inside there was even more drama of the colourful kind.
From the separate kitchen, dining room and lounge down to the bedrooms, there were vivid wall colours and flooring materials ranging from cork and ceramic plain and patterned tiles to floral and natural-toned carpet.
In the lounge, the concrete block walls on all sides were a bright canary yellow, as were all four walls - one concrete block wall included - in one of the bedrooms.
Another bedroom was a red/purple colour with cork tiles underfoot. Another bedroom had been wallpapered in a purple colour.
The patterned tiles had been laid in the hallway and the floral carpet in the master bedroom.
There were red ceramic floor tiles in the dining room and cork tiles in the kitchen and the lounge.
Amid this busy picture, Karl and Lily saw significant potential and they bought the property during a late 2007 trip home to visit Karl's family.
41 Tane Road, Laingholm. Photo / Supplied
On their return to India, where Karl was based as a consultant, they rented out the property.
This time away and at a subsequent posting in Singapore gave them space to focus on the details of their long-term update to modernise the home while preserving its architectural integrity.
Aside from minimal internal structural alterations, they have stripped out the bright colour in favour of a neutral palette.
Outside they did the reverse by painting the white concrete blocks mustard yellow alongside the charcoal grey timber cladding and pergola.
41 Tane Road, Laingholm. Photo / Supplied
"I wanted it to be bright outside but that wasn't easy because there are so many shades of yellow," says Lily.
The first stage renovations began in 2012 when the kitchen, dining and living areas were opened up, given new fit-outs and unified with new bamboo flooring.
The bathroom was also renovated. Restoring the interior block walls to their raw form required all spare hands and Karl did his share while on holiday.
Despite all of that, not everyone liked the look of the raw unadorned blocks that greeted them.
"The builder didn't like them but everyone who came in thought they were lovely," says Lily of the tiny coloured stone chips in the blocks.
In 2014 Lily, Karl and their daughter, Raquel, 14, moved back to New Zealand and into the house.
41 Tane Road, Laingholm. Photo / Supplied
Late last year they completed the final stage of their renovations, rejigging the footprint to incorporate two more bathrooms and a master dressing room.
"It is a much more modern feel inside now," Lily says of the home that is framed by tall puriri trees, colourful low-level planting and a red grape vine above the pergola.
This family's decision to downsize comes with an appreciation of how lucky they have been to own this now-five bedroom home.
"In India we saw people with nothing and when we came back here we felt as if we lived in a palace. We have to assess what we really want and need in our lives," says Lily.
