Living at Omaha Beach is heaven on earth, say Mike and Margaret Masterantonio.
Mind you, says Margaret, it did take their amazing house to convince Mike to make the shift from Auckland.
They had another weekender in Omaha Drive for about four years before Margaret, who describes herself as someone who embraces change, came across this property in North West Anchorage in January 2007. "When my husband saw it, he said we could move up here. We could make this house work for us permanently.
"So that is what made us come to Omaha and I felt like I was living in heaven on Earth, it was just beautiful, and the peace and quiet."
Their contemporary home, built with cedar cladding and fibro cement feature panels, has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and open-plan living. It had been built by the previous owners in 1998 to maximise the views across the water to Pt Wells, Whangateau harbour and the Matakana hills.
North Shore architect Glyn Bilkey designed the home. "It is a great design, quite unusual. You can tell after just living here a short time that it was built specifically on the site for the views. All the rooms look out to the water even though they might be set back from the front of the house."
The house opens up back and front for the sun and the views (kitchen and dining are close to the back deck, the living area at the front), and all bedrooms open to decks. A favourite spot is the comfortable window seat corner in the living space.
A sloping roof starts from normal height at the back and rises to 3 or 4m high at the front, giving the master bedroom and the living space a high, raked ceiling looking out to the views.
Image 1 of 7: It's a lifestyle to fall in love with. The sunsets are magical and the beach is a walk away.
Margaret and Mike gutted and replaced the bathrooms. "We had them redesigned by a friend of mine who is an award-winning kitchen and bathroom designer. Most of the products for the bathroom are from SpazioCasa," she says. Bathrooms have underfloor heating and a heat pump in the main living area warms the house.
In the hallway and stairwell Mike and Margaret painted walls Resene Nomad. All other internal walls are Half Villa White.
"We had our sarked ceilings in the living room white-washed and we have replaced all the lights with LED recessed lighting. Our feature light is our David Trubridge light, over the dining table."
Downstairs, beside the garage and front door, they converted a boat garage into an office/playroom. "It would make a very good bunkroom. It is 9.6m long by 3m wide. We have just finished lining, painting and carpeting that."
In the kitchen, they updated cabinet doors and took out a Formica bench, replacing it with an Italian composite stone bench.
Margaret says the kitchen's unconventional design of having two islands works well. "People can be around us when we are cooking and entertaining. And we have the formal dining table in the alcove. On lovely sunset evenings, we sit out the front.
"Opening up to the decks back and front gives it a resort-style feeling. In fact our friends, when they come and stay, call it the Omaha Resort."
Outdoors they built a fence separating the properties, and a high screen by the back deck to create privacy. Down the northern boundary 12 olive trees create a screen on that side of the house.
Margaret thinks the back deck is a beautiful spot to start the day after they have had a coffee in bed and checked out activity on the harbour. "We get the morning sun and then the shade in the afternoon to get away from the heat."
After almost 10 years here, the couple are ready for a change. "We want a bigger site to potter and garden on. We are not moving too far out of this beautiful area, we are moving up the road a few miles to Leigh if all goes well because we love the area so much.
"We enjoy the many walks here. The beach is such a lovely long pristine beach and lovely for swimming. We also kayak out on the harbour. We just wheel the kayak straight across the road and into the water.
"I have always loved the beach and to live at the beach was the ultimate. The water views and facing the west with the beautiful sunsets was magic."
