The flat-fronted villa also had excellent street appeal, private, peaceful front and back gardens that felt like they were miles from the central city, and was just a quick walk from Kath's sister's home in Tohunga Cres.
Previous owners had renovated the house to give it a lovely French provincial feel including adding panelled doors to the northwest-facing front of the house that open on to an elegant walled courtyard with clipped, evergreen plants.
But soon after Derek and Kath moved in, they realised their own renovations would need to be more extensive than they first thought.
"The house needed repiling and was not insulated so, when we first lived here from April to July, we almost froze to death," says Kath.
A painstaking five-month renovation followed which, Derek says, "grew and grew" as they opted not to compromise on creating a beautiful, functional environment that suited their busy lifestyles and would still look great and work well in years to come.
The renovation included repiling and insulating, adding underfloor heating and flow-through gas-water heating, changing some ceiling levels and angles and installing Velux skylights with rain sensors above the kitchen and central landing to let more light into the centre of the house.
Reconfiguring some of the internal spaces included converting a TV room into an en suite and large dressing room for the master bedroom and reorienting the kitchen to face the dining and living rooms. Derek and Kath employed Maggie Bryson to oversee the renovation, do the interior design and help with the layout of a new kitchen that has ample storage and a minimalist look that blends with the light, airy living spaces it adjoins.
"Derek is a cook so he was pretty adamant about the specs in the kitchen, but it was great to have Maggie's input," says Kath.
Behind the kitchen, stairs from the landing lead to two "half" levels. The upstairs one includes a bathroom and east-facing double guest bedroom with views over Remuera's northern slopes and a peep of the sea.
Downstairs is another bathroom and spacious open-plan bedroom-cum living room that opens on to the garden.
Straddling the hallway landing on the main level are floor-to-ceiling cupboards that house the laundry on one side and office equipment and storage space on the other. A servery, wine fridge and oversized sink in this area are designed to take the overflow from the kitchen when the couple is entertaining large crowds.
From the single carport at the front of the house, it is just a few convenient steps to unload the groceries in the kitchen, behind which is a sunny west-facing study that could also be used as a fourth bedroom, reading room or snug.
Derek and Kath have loved living in this home and are in no great hurry to move if the right buyer does not come along.
Their next goal includes buying an apartment in the city and spending more time at their bach on Waiheke Island.
