SCHOOL ZONES:
St Heliers Primary, Glendowie College.
CONTACT:
Vanessa Mowlem, Bayleys, 021 840 700.
AUCTION:
August 26.
From the mature sub-tropical gardens to the golden earthy tones of Denise Nel's selective interior accents, this expansive bespoke home reflects everything that is significant in the colourful lives of her family.
Denise and Gary Nel both hail from South Africa and their arrival in New Zealand 22 years ago was only meant to be a stopover on their wider travels. The signs that they were never going to leave here surfaced during a stopover in Fiji where they met Greg Rassie, a builder from New Zealand who has since built two homes for them in Auckland (including this one), both of which were designed by architect Simon Pirie.
Gary's background as an engineer and Denise's as a graphic designer and artist all fired the creativity that's evident in the landscaping of their grounds and in the design features within the house.
Denise knows her plant varieties here. She grows flowers in her boundary garden above the kitchen courtyard. Her orchard and vegetable garden is along the opposite boundary past their play area for Zoe, 10, and Scott, 7.
Since its inception this home has been a carefully balanced melange of the New Zealand open plan lifestyle, local sub-tropical climate and the warm golden tones of the African savanna.
Built four years ago, the house sits behind its street side doppelganger -- also designed and built by the Pirie/Rassie team.
Within the double-storey interior Gary and Denise have maximised the flexible options of its split-level floor plan. Off the atrium entrance, their pavilion-style open plan living and dining area has the central kitchen (with rear scullery) as its natural focal point.
All of this opens up to the main deck with its UV protective glass roof and stack-back louvres for a seamless connection to the garden.
Image 1 of 9: Here, the concept of Kiwi open-plan living is enchanced by the rich, golden tones of the African savanna. It's a beautiful collision
The media lounge with its dark textured wallpaper can be opened up to be part of this or closed off entirely as required.
"In winter it is so cosy and in summer we can open the whole place right up to the outdoors," says Denise.
In the common areas, and in the upstairs children's wing and separate adults' bedroom wing, her preference for golden hues, dark timber accents and white over the more common grey/white/black contemporary choices is evident.
"The South African touch would be the wood and the dark textures and using those here means I can throw in bright greens and purples to change it all," she says.
The bathrooms have deep golden floor tiles, a colour that she has used elsewhere as a paint colour she specified to match the colour of a cardboard box.
Dark vertical cladding in the entrance and horizontal dark cedar behind the family room gas fireplace is part of that aesthetic, as are the horizontal timber battens behind their en suite bathroom mirror.
Even their garage got its share of her strategic thinking.
Its partial double-height ceiling makes it perfect for use as her art studio when it is not being used as a play area.
This adventurous family is about to relocate to South Africa where they'll live in a protected game reserve on the edge of the Kruger National Park. Photographs of their next home (with a very similar interior aesthetic to this home) include one of a giraffe taking a drink from the backyard pool.
Their 12 months in this house adds another perspective to their South African/New Zealand lifestyle balance. "We've loved being Kiwis and we've brought so much of that into this house here and loved it," says Denise.
