177 Garnet Rd, Westmere, Auckland. Photo / Ted Baghurst
Size sealed the deal for Khim and Andrew Fletcher when they saw the huge amount of space the open plan living area of this late 1930s bungalow offered.
The couple had been living together for a few years in a Westmere house Khim owned before she met Andrew.
When they decided to marry and have children, they began hunting for a family home to buy together in the suburb they both love.
After two years of searching they had almost given up when Khim spotted this house online and checked it out.
"Khim gave me a call and I could tell straight away by the tone of her voice that she really loved it, so we moved on it straight away," says Andrew.
The previous owners had done a large extension to the single level house, which is on the corner of Garnet Rd and Faulkner Ave, just a few metres walk from Westmere's Garnet Rd shops.
The extension involved removing an old lean-to and pushing out the northern side of the house to create a light, 62sq m kitchen, dining and living space.
This large room has bi-fold wooden doors that open directly to a level, sunny garden.
"We knew that open plan areas work well with young children. The whole family can eat together, you can watch the kids and people aren't separated at different ends of the house," says Khim.
Before the couple had their three children - Sean, 4, Leigh, 3, and 10-month-old Patrick - they often travelled overseas so wanted a reasonably low maintenance house and garden.
It also had to be fully fenced for their dog.
Both bathrooms in the house had also been recently renovated.
"It just ticked so many boxes for us," says Khim.
Khim and Andrew's changes to the house have included repolishing kauri floors in the main living area and hallway, recarpeting the bedrooms, putting in more insulation and installing a heat pump.
They have turned a second semi-open plan lounge off the main living area into a large double bedroom so the house now has four.
Landscaper Louise Reid also designed them a "dry" garden that features attractive paving and low maintenance plants including a variety of succulents and palms.
"One of the bonuses of this size open plan space has been that it is great for entertaining. We've been able to have great children's parties here with plenty of room for parents as well," says Andrew.
The home's simple layout includes a central hallway off the main living area with two bedrooms to the left and two more, as well as the main bathroom, to the right.
The two bedrooms that face Garnet Rd both have original bay windows.
One of these bedrooms is the master, which has an ensuite and a walk-in wardrobe that Khim and Andrew created, along with other useful storage spaces in the house.
The extension has a large modern kitchen with wooden cabinetry and also has features in keeping with the age of the bungalow including traditional architraves and a beautiful, Art Deco-style leadlight window.
Khim says that with three young children it has been brilliant living just metres from the Westmere Medical Centre. A pilates studio, some great cafes including Catroux, and the Westmere Butcher - a local institution - are close by.
They can get on the motorway to go in any direction from the Great North Rd entrance.
But now that their kids are getting older Khim and Andrew have bought a bigger house in Herne Bay Rd.
The mortgage is just the start of it.