SCHOOL ZONES:
Campbells Bay School, Murrays Bay Intermediate, Westlake Boys/Girls, Rangitoto College.
CONTACT:
Jo Glancy, Bayleys, ph 021 994874.
Catherine and Steve Bridge will miss the space, the bush walks, the privacy and the tranquillity of their sunny, north-facing home.
The house, though it was first built 12 years ago, is shiny and new. The couple have just finished a total reclad of the exterior and total update of the interior.
When the couple and their four children moved out to live in Red Beach further up the coast, they discovered some of the window sashes had not been put in correctly.
To correct the windows, which are now double glazed, they decided it was easier to reclad the entire house, which is now a stylish weatherboard and is solid and dry.
Says Steve, "By the time they took the windows out and fixed up around them, you're up for recladding anyway."
All the joinery is new -- and just about everything else is new as well. On recladding the exterior, they decided to modernise the interior. New European oak floors have been laid, a new entertainer's kitchen with big island bench has been put in, there are new bathrooms, and soft, new carpet has been laid in the lounge and upstairs bedrooms.
The entranceway is grand with a great sense of space and height up to a big cathedral window, letting in tonnes of light down below and up the stairs and along the landing to the bedrooms.
The master bedroom has a new private balcony, walk-in wardrobe and en suite which have little shutter windows, and one of the upstairs bedrooms has a peek of the sea.
All the rooms look out on trees and native bush. Because the house is elevated, it looks out over the neighbours and out to a golf course and the bush.
There is a formal lounge and a television lounge and courtyards which catch the sun all day.
As Catherine leads the way on a tour of the new house, she recalls the happy years spent here.
She particularly loves the huge attic space where the children used to play, and says she will miss the garden and native trees and nikau palms the family planted which have grown to form a natural tree barrier within the fully fenced, landscaped section.
The couple enjoyed living here very much: "It was so nice living here with the bush and the golf course," says Steve.
Catherine says they are bush people and when they heard there was a section available in this elevated part of Campbells Bay they grabbed it.
"I used to drive up here, once we purchased the section, and come and have a look because I just loved the setting."
There are walking tracks nearby and it is an easy walk to the main road where there are buses to Westlake and Rangitoto colleges.
"We always used to pack a backpack and take
a picnic and take the kids on bush walks, we were always in the bush," says Catherine. "We still miss that."
Image 1 of 5: 8 Tree Fern Trail, Campbells Bay. Photo/Ted Baghurst.
This great family home flows really well, she says. When the bifold doors are open downstairs "it literally opens up the entire of the outside because they all connect. It's a really nice feeling because it does flow very, very well.
"You can be in one end of the house and not know who's in the other."
She also loves the location, with lots of cafes dotted around, and Mairangi Bay and Milford shops nearby and Takapuna not much further.
"You can walk round the beachfront to Mairangi Bay for a coffee."
