Continental flavours in Remuera

190 Remuera Rd, Remuera, Auckland. Photo / Supplied

190 REMUERA RD REMUERA

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SIZE: Land 879sq m, house 279sq m plus extensive decks.

PRICE INDICATION: Interest expected between $2.6 million and $3 million. Sale by negotiation.

INSPECT: Sat/Sun 1-1.30pm.

ON THE WEB: barfoot.co.nz/455891

SCHOOL ZONES: Remuera School, Remuera Intermediate, Auckland Grammar and Auckland Girls' Grammar schools.

CONTACT: Andrew Shepherd, Barfoot & Thompson St Heliers, mob 029 575 5000, wk 575 9079, a/h 575 5000.

FEATURES: Big north-facing northern slopes home set back from the road. Views, three living areas, real chef's kitchen, decks and infinity pool.

The poolside aura of this gracious three-storey Remuera home may be European, but the focus inside can jump continents depending on the ever-changing menu of the cooking school it contains.

Accountant Grant Hally and wife Karen have lived here for nearly 25 years, with Karen running her "Innovative Cook School" from the home for some two decades. Up to 24 cooking enthusiasts regularly congregate in the deluxe kitchen. "There aren't often many leftovers for me after they've gone" says Grant, who isn't complaining, given Karen regularly whips up extraordinary meals and tests new recipes.

Kids, not cooking, spurred their purchase here in 1987. They needed more room when their eldest, Nicola , was joined by sister Michelle. The property boasted a big section and a handy location with great schooling, but Grant says it had been rented out and their purchase was largely about "potential".

He understands the 1930s home was originally stucco, but was renovated using weatherboard a few decades later; transitioning from Spanish Colonial to what he describes as more of an American Colonial look. Late mayor of Auckland, Sir Dove-Myer Robinson, was a former owner.

The Hallys' significant changes included commissioning architect Simon Carnachan to help them develop the basement level, adding a pool and decks, terracing the rear yard, extending the garaging and having interior designer Rose Schwarz advise on decor. Some original clear-glass leadlight doors and windows found in the garage were reinstated.

The home is set well back from the road, separated from it by a parking pad, then a single garage followed by an internal-access double garage.

It's hard to imagine the now light-filled interior looking anything but elegant, but Grant says it was quite different when they bought the home.

Entry is into the mid-level's fine foyer, which reveals a character staircase to upstairs and lustrous rimu floors which are a hallmark of the mid and upper levels. As Grant recalls: "Karen's mother told us to pull up the carpet because she didn't like the idea of the children crawling on it and the rimu was underneath."

This mid-level focuses on north-facing living and, like the upstairs, has great northern slopes' views from Parnell, across to Rangitoto and around to Orakei. Its most elegant room is the spacious and formal lounge-dining room with a gas fire in an ornate plaster surround and sumptuous curtains framing leadlight doors to the deck. The TV/sunroom is a cosy suntrap, with another fireplace and more deck access.

Karen and her pupils frequent the big kitchen boasting two ovens, a large central island and oodles of Corian bench-space. This level also has a separate laundry and a study corridor leading to a separate toilet.

Bedrooms are upstairs, some opening to the upper deck. The large view-laden master suite with wardrobe trio and en suite accompanies another three bedrooms. In a nod to the home's origins, the original hexagonal floor tiles in this level's upgraded family bathroom and separate toilet were retained.

The lower level has a bathroom and storage room but is mainly devoted to a spacious family room with extra kitchen facilities.

Looking through its open bifold doors over the in-ground infinity pool and spa, you could easily imagine you're in southern Europe. "I love this outlook," says Grant. "And we liked the girls being able to have friends over and play loud music in this room, a bit away from us!"

Now the girls have left home the predominant soundtrack is typically birdsong, undisturbed by traffic noise given the living areas' distance from the road. The property's rear section has been terraced into useable lawn and gardens.

Grant and Karen are selling, not needing so much space now their children have grown.