Several years ago, Audrey Chevallier and Brad Gartside were living in Goodwood Drive in Totara Heights.
They were out for a walk one evening and noticed a house in nearby Calluna Cres they liked the look of. "It just had a real appeal from the street," Brad says.
When the house came up for sale in 2009, the couple and their daughter Bailea, who's now 15, visited and knew straight away it was the home for them.
"I just walked up the stairs and thought, 'Wow'," Audrey says.
The 1980s house had already been renovated to a good standard, but with Brad being a builder and Audrey, a hairdresser with an interest in interior design, there was always going to be scope to make improvements to reflect the family's style.
They lived in the house for a while to determine what they needed to do. Brad then worked nights and weekends to transform his family home, bringing in other tradies where necessary.
The result is a stylish family abode. Outside the front door of the painted cedar-clad house is a soothing water feature.
Inside the entrance, stairs lead up to a living area and a dining space and kitchen with a sarked ceiling that soars to 5.5m.
The couple extended the footprint of the house by adding a generous walk-in wardrobe to the main bedroom, which also has a magazine-worthy en suite.
The natural light-filled wardrobe is so big it's Audrey's favourite place to practise her clarinet.
They also extended downstairs, building a kitchenette with a solid oak benchtop. The kitchenette is kitted out with a sink and fridge-freezer, but there is scope to add an oven and extractor to create a full kitchen.
Alongside it is a multipurpose media room, gym and games room, which was once the double garage.
"We thought we'd use the space for living in, rather than keeping our cars in here," Audrey says.
There is a double bedroom and bathroom downstairs, too, and Bailea has very much enjoyed the whole space as a teenage-hangout zone. There's plenty of room for everyone.
"What we like is there are so many options for people to be doing their own thing in the house," Brad says.
Upstairs, there's a guest bedroom and a family bathroom, as well as a fourth bedroom that's set up as a large study.
Audrey and Brad also improved the outdoor living, extending a deck to the rear of the house and adding a sunken spa pool.
"In summer, we have all the doors open and it's great," Brad says.
Decking at the front of the house has an elevated view out over the greenery of the neighbourhood, over to the Manukau Harbour.
To provide storage for the bits and pieces the garage once housed, Brad built a large, secure storage area and workshop under the house.
There's off-street parking for several cars, so they haven't missed the garage at all.
When Audrey and Brad moved to Calluna Cres, they discovered things about their neighbourhood they never knew while living in Goodwood Drive.
Take, for example, the neighbourhood paths that lead to the magnificent 64ha Auckland Botanic Gardens, access to which is only a couple of minutes' walk away.
In the other direction is the 216ha Totara Park, with rolling farmland, tennis courts, a swimming pool and barbecue areas.
Neither Audrey nor Brad grew up in the area, but they feel Totara Heights is a bit of an undiscovered secret.
