Country seat - made to measure

235 Paremoremo Rd, Albany. Photo / Michelle Hyslop

235 PAREMOREMO RD, ALBANY

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SIZE: Land 4550sq m, house 420sq m.

PRICE INDICATION: CV $1 million. Auction June 6.

INSPECT: Sat/Sun 2-2.45pm.

ON THE WEB: barfoot.co.nz/493321

SCHOOL ZONES: Albany School, Albany Junior High School, Albany Senior High School.

CONTACT: Nadja Court, Barfoot & Thompson, ph 478 9089 or 021 777 690.

FEATURES: A 15-year-old architect-designed home on 0.4ha at Lucas Heights, a few minutes from Albany and 22km from Auckland's CBD. Living spaces include open-plan family room, large Italian kitchen, cosy formal lounge with commanding schist fireplace.

When Allen and Kenina Court bought a bare acre of farmland near Albany for their first home even they were surprised.

They'd spent six months looking for what they thought they wanted - a spacious, private home around Titirangi that didn't need a lot of work. After traipsing through hundreds of open homes, they felt disheartened.

"We weren't finding anything we liked," says Kenina.

On one weekend drive they ended up in a real estate office in Albany. When they told the agent what they were after, he shook his head and said, "Would you be interested in buying a section?"

The thought had never occurred to them, but he gave them directions to a plot of land off Paremoremo Rd that was part of a farm subdivision.

When Allen and Kenina found it, they wondered if they'd misread the directions. They really could afford this?

"As we drove down to the section, both of us were going, 'Wow!"' says Allen. "We fell in love with it straight away."

It was a sloping section of native bush and paddock, resplendent with cowpats and gorse, among lifestyle properties now known as Lucas Lookout. The outlook was the biggest drawcard - over Lucas Creek across to Schnapper Rock and Greenhithe.

They bought it the next day.

"It had to be the easiest commission the agent had ever earned," says Kenina.

That was 18 years ago. As the couple didn't have a lot of spare funds, it was a case of buy in haste, design at leisure. They spent three years reading home and garden magazines, checking out design features at open homes, attending home shows and clipping and pasting ideas.

They engaged architect Judith Cunningham to turn their concept into a two-level design that brought in the sun and made the most of the views. A key design concept was cathedral ceilings in the formal and informal living areas for soaring spaciousness.

Intense landscaping formed private, garden-fringed lawns and outdoor areas to the north and west, so living spaces and almost all of the five bedrooms open to decks, courtyard or lawn.

Kenina project-managed the build and landscaping while pregnant with their first child. Two more boys followed, and the couple say the property has been wonderland for the kids, with plenty of room indoors and outdoors for everyone to do their own thing, a choice of living areas and native bush to explore and build huts in. They were even able to accommodate an au pair in a private guest suite downstairs.

They're reluctantly selling to free capital to invest in their fast-growing retail chain, The Clearance Shed.

"Sometimes you need to make sacrifices to take the next step."