Herne Bay - Instant attraction

Impulse buying is not a problem for an adventurous couple.

40 Hamilton Road, Herne Bay.

Homeowners Sarah and Simon Kember make a habit of buying homes on a whim.

They did it one Queens Birthday weekend 12 years ago when they walked through this house, liked its lofty, elegant Edwardian villa lines and signed off their purchase on only the second day of the sales campaign.

Now they've done it again, and they're about to swap all this villa charm for another spontaneous purchase closer to their children's schools and Sarah's interests, which include the November charity garage sale for Preventing Violence in the Home (www.getorganisedauckland.co.nz).

When they moved here from their small villa with their two little boys (ahead of the birth of their daughter Sophie), they were content with the house as it was, managing with one big bathroom because that was all they needed.

Structural alterations over several years with colour/furnishing input from design consultant Peter Dunnachie have refined their personal and family spaces.

With its solid 1911 kauri bones and 3.4m stud on both levels, this light-filled house has an easy flow from the ground floor living areas to the bedrooms and main bathrooms upstairs.

A two-storey addition linking the south-face of the house with the internal access garage has created a sunny mezzanine upstairs study, and a lockable bike porch/delivery area off the redesigned portico entrance.

There is architectural evidence of earlier renovations of a house that, like so many of its contemporaries, has also served time as a student flat.

A Carrara marble fire surround moved from the main bedroom down to the dining room stands alongside built-in cupboards with 1950s-style reeded glass.

``It's nice that the house has evolved over the years, and we've purposefully kept a few features from each era throughout the house for that reason,'' Sarah explains.

Off each bedroom and the dining room, stable doors beneath sash windows open to the deep, wrap-around verandahs. Off the master dressing room, verandah space has been converted into a gleaming, private en suite with the same expansive views.

Downstairs, new matt-finish stainless steel kitchen cabinetry and a composite stone island bench play up the light and airy connection with the conservatory/family room.

The courtyard vista beyond is part of a series of elegant outdoor rooms that Sarah had input into as a design student, working beside acclaimed landscape designer Robin Shafer.

``She did the handholding and she gave me wonderful ideas,'' Sarah explains.

Inspiration for the raised brick potager kitchen garden and the rustic garden shed/studio came from the south of France, where the family lived for three months during Simon's sabbatical.

There is much they will miss about the house that the family feels it has grown up in.

``It's quite a grand house and I felt very grown up when we moved here'' says Sarah. ``We'll miss this neighbourhood, but it's time for us to move, and that's all part of the evolution of this house as well.''

VITAL STATISTICS

BEDROOMS: 4

BATHROOMS: 3+

GARAGES: 2

SIZE: Land 1022sq m, house 330sq m plus verandahs.

PRICE INDICATION: CV (2005) $3.39 million. Tender closes September 28.

INSPECT: Sat/Sun 1-1.45pm, or by appointment.

ON THE WEB: www.barfoot.co.nz #347471

CONTACT: Gillian Brodie, Barfoot & Thompson, ph 307 6340 bus, 308 9574 a/h, 021 906 811.

FEATURES: Two-storey 1911 villa with study and children's lounge. Formal dining and living rooms, casual dining and family room to the outdoors. Lockable bike porch and delivery area. Extensive verandahs on both levels.