SCHOOL ZONES:
Remuera Primary, Remuera Intermediate, Epsom Girls’ and Auckland Grammar.
CONTACT:
Heather Walton, Ray White, 021 432 167.
AUCTION:
May 12
In October you need to fill your diary with parties because the wisteria is just a mass of white flowers
Beyond the sheltered veranda, the formal lounge, the kitchen and casual living area by the wisteria-draped courtyard, Bianca Tree spotted something extra.
On the lower lawn, the pitched roof and villa finial of a Wendy house came into view and it offered a world of magical possibilities to Bianca and her firstborn, Estella, who was then 6 months old.
"It was a bit of a clincher, really," she says. "I remember standing by the kitchen and seeing it and then sitting on the bedroom floor here playing with Estella, talking to the real estate agent and just looking out at that," she says of the sweeping view.
Where other house-hunters hanker for upscaled versions of every aspirational design feature, Bianca and Simon wanted a warm, functional home with a lovely lawn. Along the way they got the bonus Wendy house, built by the previous owner, a builder who had also renovated the main house.
Not for them a big in-ground pool like some properties they'd seen for sale.
"So many houses had pools that sacrificed a lot of lawn and, anticipating that we'd add to our family, I wanted to have a good lawn," she says.
Now, eight years on, Estella and her sister, Alexis, have the best kind of playhouse.
"It's absolutely perfect for them in the summer because they can play in the shade or go out there and paint," says Bianca.
Elsewhere the best summer shade is beneath the wisteria that drips white flowers in spring.
22 Komaru Street, Remuera. Photo/Michelle Hyslop
"In October you need to fill your diary with parties because the wisteria is just a mass of white flowers and it is beautiful.
"I love it in winter, too, when it loses its leaves and you can see the texture of the twisted branches and it lets the sunshine inside."
In winter, the gas fire in the family room warms the entire house and the formal lounge, with its original wood burning fireplace, is a cosy focal point for guests.
For this growing family, the separation of the two bedrooms at the front, including the master suite, and the two at the back has appealed.
Significant features such as the original panelled ceilings in the lounge and the kitchen have been enhanced with timber as an accent in the kitchen and the choice of a lean-to, rather than a flat, roof line, in the newer, adjoining family room echoes that of the front veranda.
"There are lots of references to the way everything flows in this house," says Bianca of the long vistas from the rear garden through both living areas to the front veranda.
Importantly, Bianca, a lawyer, and Simon, a business manager, saw potential on all sides of this property.
There is width down its long, lower length for both a rear lap pool and an extension across the front of the house for either a downstairs lounge or a double garage.
Yet these parents have never felt the need to do any of it because the house has suited them perfectly as is.
"This has been a beautiful home for us as a family," says Simon.
The home that Bianca refers to as "the forever house" because of its appropriateness for young families through to older couples is about to become their former house.
They have done what they did when they bought this place in 2007 and made an impulsive decision to buy another house in the same neighbourhood.
