Meadowbank - Golden run

A couple say a fond farewell to the home they've lived in for nearly 50 years.

40 Fancourt Street, Meadowbank.

The home's original tawa floorboards still lie under the carpet if the new owners would like to return the room to how it looked when Louise and Bob moved in in 1960.

Bob turned the garage into a rumpus room for his children, and now uses the space as an office for his volunteer work for Senior Net.

The foyer is a cool spot to relax on a hot summer afternoon.

Louise Austin remembers sitting on her balcony each morning after getting her children off to school and enjoying the view spread out before her.

``I would just sit out there and look at the clouds,'' she smiles. It was her way of taking a breath before getting on with the rest of her day.

That was 46 years ago, after she and her husband Bob moved to Auckland from Stokes Valley near Wellington.

``We'd had this boxy little house surrounded by hills - we loved the openness of this house and how high it sat. It felt like the first time in years we'd seen the sky.''

The brick and weatherboard house was only about three years old when a real estate agent drove Bob past it while out househunting.

``I said `That's the sort of place I'd like', and the agent stopped the car,'' chuckles Bob. ``It turned out the house was on the market - we couldn't believe our luck.''

The couple moved in with their children, then aged 3 and 5, and are leaving now only because they have reached their mid-80s and feel they should downsize before they ``slow down'' much more.

Yet they are both remarkably sprightly and could pass for a couple 15 years younger.

``It's going to be very hard to leave,'' says Bob. ``There's so much of us in this house.''

Many original 1950s features have been preserved. A foyer by the front door has been dressed with an indoor garden, a chair and a bookcase - Bob says it's the coolest spot in the house on a hot summer afternoon.

Up the stairway, with its slim cast iron balustrade, you are drawn into the lounge.

Tall windows face northwest, bringing in a view that stretches from One Tree Hill, past the city, to Orakei Basin and the Kepa Bush Reserve.

A balcony wraps around these windows, with a wooden balustrade that slopes outwards and is wide enough to perch on and balance a drink.

Bob has enjoyed doing just that after a hard day's work, be it in his former roles in sales and marketing, or in the garden. The sunsets can be spectacular, and the city lights are always beautiful.

Back inside, an open fire warms the lounge in winter. Bob says there are tawa floorboards under the carpet if the next owner wants the room as it was when they moved in.

Pine beams on the roughcast plaster ceiling follow its rise to a peak between the lounge and the kitchen.

A high wall between these two rooms has windows along the top to let light through.

A breakfast nook in the kitchen is a feature that deserves a comeback in modern homes.

``The children could sit there comfortably and do their homework or drawing out of the way of whoever was cooking,'' says Bob.

The dining space between the kitchen and lounge enjoys the view north through a large window - in 1963 this room graced the cover of Home & Building magazine to mark a feature about the ``versatility'' of venetian blinds.

It has an impressive bank of built-in cupboards and drawers, including a secret space Louise discovered after living in the house for about five years.

``I thought the panel in the centre was fixed, but found one day you could remove it. I used that secret cupboard to hide the children's Christmas presents.''

Along the hallway are three bedrooms. Each has a view of the city, the back garden or both. Louise planted a fragrant white magnolia outside her bedroom window.

It shares the yard with colourful azaleas and a citrus grove. You can pick your own lemons, oranges, grapefruit ``and lime for the gin'' grins Bob.

The sundrenched gardens front and back are full of a wide range of succulents, still tended by Louise.

``I find the gardening therapeutic,'' she says. Her garden has been a quiet retreat during decades of voluntary work for the Guides, meals on wheels and the Citizens Advice Bureaux.

Bob converted the garage under the house into a rumpus room for their children.

It now serves as his office for his voluntary teaching work with Senior Net, a computer education network for over-60s. Next to this room is a large workshop and storage space that runs further under the house.

Despite their age this couple are not yet ready for a retirement village, and plan on finding a smaller home somewhere in the area. ``I grew up in a tenement in the East End of London, so I've always appreciated having my own house,'' says Bob. ``It will be very hard to leave this one.''

VITAL STATISTICS

BEDROOMS: 3

BATHROOMS: 1

GARAGES: 2+

SIZE: Land 809sq m, house 181sq m.

PRICE INDICATION: Buyer interest is in the early $700,000s. Auction October 14.

INSPECT: Sat/Sun 2-2.30pm.

ON THE WEB: www.harcourts.co.nz # RM060909

CONTACT: Cathy Smith, Harcourts, ph 021 825 149, 520 8124.

FEATURES: Sunny 1950s brick and weatherboard house with wide views. Many original features intact. Open fire in lounge. Rumpus room/office downstairs. Large garden with citrus grove. Close to Meadowbank Primary School.