SCHOOL ZONES:
Western Springs College, Mt Albert Grammar, Kowhai Intermediate, Mt Albert Primary.
CONTACT:
Ruth Hawes, 021 482 797.
AUCTION:
Sun, Nov 27, 12.30pm, on site.
Builder and property developer Ryan Bickley has a simple philosophy when he takes on a new project - he does everything to the highest standard.
Bickley, who is also a quantity surveyor, and his wife Zoie had been living just down the road in Warwick St for two years when a subdividable property with a bungalow on the front and a large back section came up for sale in the same street.
They decided to buy the property within hours of viewing it, then renovated the bungalow, where they now live, before Bickley's company built this new home on the back site after making it freehold.
He designed the two-level, 350sq m house, which has taken about 10 months to complete between other projects.
Constructed with a concrete block base, vertical, black-painted cedar weatherboards, and a Colorsteel roof, the house is well positioned on its large site at the end of a private driveway.
"A lot of developers do not care about the aesthetics of a property and pay no attention to how it fits in with its neighbouring houses," Bickley says.
"But when I build a house, I want to be able to come back in 10 years and still be happy with its design and its quality."
To that end, he has put careful thought into how the house flows and used high-quality fittings and features, including a striking oak-panelled wall in the entrance way, vertical oak-panelled balustrading on the staircase and handmade oak light shades.
Although the four-bedroom home is set down off the road, all sides are positioned well away from its high boundary walls and fences, and generous windows and sliding glass doors in its rooms mean they get plenty of light.
Image 1 of 12: 3A Warwick St, Western Springs, Auckland. Photograph / Fiona Goodall
The home has pleasant views across the roofs of neighbouring Western Springs houses and from the three north-facing bedrooms you can see across to the Sky Tower.
Honed concrete floors in the open-plan kitchen, dining and living rooms flow out to matching surfaces on the north-west facing patio level with a large, low-maintenance Tiger Turf lawn.
A tall masonry wall on the home's western boundary provides privacy from the bungalow in front and creates the sense of a courtyard garden in the patio area.
Wide kwila decks wrap around the northern and eastern sides of the house and step down to a back garden that is landscaped with natives and has a vegetable garden in one corner.
Inside the house, 2.7m studs on both levels enhance its light and airy feel.
You enter the house on the ground floor, which has all of the main living spaces, including a separate media room, two storage areas, a separate laundry that opens to the double internal access garage and a scullery off the kitchen.
Upstairs are four bedrooms, including the master with en suite and walk-in wardrobe, the main bathroom and an office.
Bickley says Western Springs is a friendly neighbourhood full of families with young children.
"We love living here and I know every single person who lives in our street.
