SCHOOL ZONES:
Ellerslie Primary and Intermediate, One Tree Hill College.
CONTACT:
Steen Nielsen, Ray White, 027 557 8336
AUCTION:
July 1.
Small windows left a big impression on Mei and Ben Smith during the two years they lived in a 1950s weatherboard home on this site in Ellerslie.
Every small window that wrapped around the oblong form of that house told them they'd never live with that size of windows again if they could avoid it.
It was part of what swayed them against renovating that house in favour of building a new house, and they did so with big templates in mind.
As they sketched the home's replacement, they discarded the oblong, modular form with its separate living area and kitchen, opting for this L-shaped footprint. And, during specification, they signed off on a hefty order of aluminium joinery of floor-to-ceiling tinted windows and doors that have so warmly catered to their love of natural light.
In doing so, they have seamlessly connected their downstairs living area to the rear deck and garden and enabled the upstairs bedrooms to enjoy a pleasing vista back towards the house with its contrasting textural exterior timber cladding.
"We wanted to make a big fuss about embracing the sunlight," says Mei.
"We wanted to open this house up to the outdoors and Ben was pedantic about having an L-shaped house to achieve it. We wanted to do it all in a flash way and create something that would appeal to a family like ours."
Ben and Mei worked closely with Pukekohe designers Blankspace to recreate the specific interior design ideas for the project which began during the summer of 2013.
"Ben really had the big vision," says Mei, "because he had such an architectural mind. My input was the interiors, the tiles in the bathrooms and having carpet in the lounge for comfort for children to play on. It's also a feminine touch, too, and I wanted that."
The black/white/grey palette counterbalanced by light timber is reflected in their choice of carpet alongside American oak flooring and similar timber/black steel tones in the Modernist-style staircase.
Image 1 of 3: Sunshine beams into a sleek modern haven where a dark wee cottage once stood
The frosted glass front door opens directly into a discreet lobby that is created by the stairs to the right, designed for their chic line and subtle filtering of yet more natural light directly into the lounge.
The drama of the lounge is in its glass doors to the deck and glazed wall on the opposite side. Privacy from the driveway and the neighbouring house has been achieved by the dramatic height of the exterior cedar screen that extends through both storeys of the house.
These battens have been tinted to match the vertical cladding, which lines the rear deck, contrasting with the black, bevel-backed, horizontal weatherboards that are a sympathetic acknowledgement of the more traditional homes in the neighbourhood. Opposite the lounge, the kitchen features a 3m-long island bench in engineered stone and a vista directly out past the outdoor dining area on the wraparound timber deck. At the end of the hall is the guest bedroom with en suite.
Mei chose to have the powder room beside the lounge. She is particular about guests having their own toilet and not having to venture into a family bathroom full of children's bath toys and the like.
Four bedrooms upstairs include an office/bedroom and the master bedroom with its walk-in wardrobe and tiled en suite.
Down the hall a family-size bathroom caters for the two guest bedrooms. Bedroom storage and a work desk in the rear guest bedroom are all behind sliding doors of which two of the four panels are mirrored for reflective natural light.
For this young family with two young children, an unexpected change of circumstances has meant that the family never got to move in here, which is why Mei is now selling the fruits of their joint project.
