163 Queen Street, Northcote Point, Auckland. Photo / Kellie Blizard
Sally Brochocka and her husband, Justin, say that picking a neighbourhood is more important to them than the house: they'd rather live in a walkable connected place than a sprawling mansion that takes an hour to commute to.
So when they moved up from Wellington for Justin's work six years ago, they fell in love with Northcote Point just across the bridge from the city, but had given up finding a house.
They were about to sign up for a rental property, Justin had already gone back to work in Wellington, so Sally was on her own to make the call.
"We loved Mt Vic in Wellington, and I called Justin and said that this was just like it, minus the hills," says Sally.
"We loved the heritage streets, the layout of the house, Little Shoal Bay. The first time Justin saw the house was on moving-in day."
The 1920s bungalow, tucked down a winding path off Queen St, remarkably still had most of its original features. At some point in the 1980s or 90s the old lean-to kitchen and laundry had been added to by an airy open-plan dining and living room, with french doors opening to a two-level deck.
While their children were small (Sabina was 2 and Oliver 4) the couple focused on sorting out the landscaping to give them plenty of room to play.
The sloping banks from the street down to the house (there is an original single garage at street level) were re-contoured and tidied up, drainage and an exposed aggregate concrete path added.
Out came a tangle of shrubs and overgrown trees - a pretty wisteria and the side yard pohutukawa remained - and in went citrus trees and modern landscaping.
The side and back yards were levelled with retaining walls and hedges of feijoa, making room for the children's playhouse and a huge raised bed which has since produced the family's vegetables.
Back inside, Sally worked with her friends from Hart by Partridge design to make the most of the original features. Crisp white paint, fresh carpets and wide-wood white venetian blinds tidied up the four bedrooms.
The two front rooms, opening off the sunny porch, have corner bay windows, the smaller also has a fireplace.
Sally and Justin used this as their office, as it was handy to see visitors coming down the path.
All the bedrooms had built-in wardrobes, one of them is the old china cupboard from when this would have been the formal dining room.
At the back of the house, Sally and her designers replaced the kitchen and laundry floors with large-scale black stone-look tiles which help visually expand the space.
New cabinets and quartz benchtops make the most of the original kitchen footprint, the bathroom was updated with a new vanity and toilet and there is a laundry behind double cupboard doors.
The living room, down two steps from the main house, was re-floored in a wide-plank oak veneer floor. The family made the most of the split-level deck out the back, which has easy steps down to the lawn.
They did have plans drawn up for replacing the back of the house, with a master suite upstairs and an open-plan kitchen and dining room, but Justin's work is now returning them to Wellington and the house is on the market.
The neighbourhood was everything the family hoped it would be. Justin would walk five minutes up the road to catch a bus to the city, or for more leisurely commute, the ferry is at the other end of the street.
They won't be here for taking kids and bikes across the bridge when the Sky Path has been built, but have enjoyed walking to the Northcote Tavern with its family-friendly garden bar, or the Bridgeway Theatre.
Mucking about in the bush, beach and playground of Little Shoal Bay was a bonus so close to the city, and Sally loved that the children could walk to school on Onewa Rd.