Riverhead: Perfect setting living

Designer flair and up-to-the-minute interiors give a modern twist to this English-style home. By VICKI HOLDER.

The owners of a bare piece of land with spectacular city and harbour views were well-placed to capitalise on the fabulous country setting.

Fleur Taylor is a designer and her partner, Hilton Bartholomew, owns a building firm. Together they created Stoneleigh, a handsome home on an elevated equestrian property that could be straight out of an English country home magazine.

"Somebody drove up the other day, looking for a new home," says Fleur. "They didn't think this was the right house because it doesn't look brand spanking new." That's when she knew she had achieved the right result, as she didn't want something that stood out as being new. "We both like the English country homestead look," she adds.

With its black weatherboards, copper cappings, steep pitched roof and large dormers on the second level, the traditional design - by Rotorua firm Millenium Architects - has a familiar ring. Yet, the beautifully detailed interiors are dressed with some of the latest design products to venture into this country.

Fleur had worked in the commercial interiors industry for years so she was familiar with the process of finding the right products for the project. She also had help from ex-husband Tom Skyring, a designer well-known for his work on TV One's Changing Rooms programme. He helped choose the intricate metal door handles used throughout the home, which were originally brass and have been finished to look old.

Planned as a family home, the surfaces had to not only look good, but be hard-wearing. Light-coloured fossilstone tiles in the huge, double-height entry make an elegant first impression. Yet they're also practical in a rural situation.

The flooring switches to French oak as you proceed along to the family living area painted in warm, earthy hues. A big, long room with views over the countryside, it incorporates the kitchen at one end. Although all the downstairs floors gain the benefit of underfloor heating, a fireplace framed in riverstones at the far end adds a country lodge ambience.

Both sides of the room open out through bifolds. The outdoor area to the rear is a sheltered terrace where the children can be watched over as they play in the gas-heated swimming pool or on the huge expanse of land below.

A lounge sits on the opposite side of a central hallway from the family living area. This room also opens to the pool and barbecue courtyard through bifold doors. Stunning Murano glass and copper wall lights from ECC Lighting give the appearance of thick slices of ice formed into a candelabra.

Many of the lights are by Philippe Starck, including the lights above the dining table and the big petticoat-style light above the white terrazzo island bench in the kitchen. Dark wenge timber cabinetry contrasts with the pristine look of terrazzo and pale stone-coloured pantries around the fridge-freezer. Little aluminium door pulls are recessed into the timber for a clean, uncluttered design. The kitchen caters well for large crowds. When Fleur and Hilton had their son Josh's birthday party recently, the two dishwashers were handy at clean-up time.

The versatile home has bedroom suites both upstairs and down. Even two-year-old Josh has his own bathroom on the ground floor, located between the living area and his parents' room. Theirs is a more sophisticated affair beneath a pitched, sarked ceiling. The bedroom opens to a make-up area fitted with an alabaster Antonio Citterio basin in a separate make-up area opposite the fitted dressing room. Surrounded by fossilstone floors and walls, the bathroom is a big, luxurious sanctuary.

The three bedrooms upstairs are made all the more interesting by the huge dormer windows and tall sarked ceilings. The fifth bedroom is an alternative master bedroom suite with beautiful wenge bathroom cabinetry and Duravit fittings. There is a spacious area in the upstairs gallery, with room for a study as well as a big playroom above the triple-car garaging where the children lived when the house was being built. The bathroom underneath is used as a pool changing room and bathroom.

They never intended moving from a home that they had invested so much energy in. But Fleur and Hilton have set their sights on another similar property just across the road and are getting ready to do it all again.

Vital Statistics

ADDRESS: 161 Lloyd Rd, Riverhead.

FEATURES: New traditional country homestead designed by Millenium Architects; equestrian property with two huge paddocks; room for tennis court; five bedrooms, three with en suites; Antonio Citterio basin in main bathroom, Duravit in others; big living areas opening to terraces; Philippe Starck light fittings; gas-heated swimming pool; rumpus room or office above garaging with remote doors; underfloor heating on ground floor and in all bathrooms.

SIZE: Land area 2.0032ha, floor area 490sq m.

AUCTION: 1pm, Nov 16, on site.

AGENTS: Peter and Debbie Young, Harcourts, Kumeu. Ph 412 7666 bus; Peter 021 276 0808 mob; Debbie 021 646 131 mob.