SCHOOL ZONES:
Churchill Park Primary, St Ignatius School, Glendowie College.
CONTACT:
David Nightingale, Bayleys. 027 227 2949.
TENDER:
Closes 3pm, May 1.
Right turn or left turn? Christine Hosford has taken both turns at the bottom of the path that zig-zags down to Karaka Bay and each has gone on to notch up significant milestones in her life.
In her late teens, Christine and her friends turned right for their Wednesday night Sea Rangers boat races from the old boat shed.
The opportunity to take a left turn came decades later when her then-boss rented a home along the beach from here that was everyone's ideal party home.
"That was when I really got to know this area," says Christine, who grew up in St Heliers. "The sea is part of me, part of who I am but this part of the beach where I live now didn't mean much to me way back when I was very young."
When Christine came by this cottage, it was hidden behind a privet hedge. Ripping that out was her first priority when she became sole owner in 2007, following seven years in which she had a stake in the property including a period of joint ownership.
According to her neighbour Tony Watkins writing in Architecture News in 2006, this cottage was the only remaining one of 10 baches built here in the mid to late 1920s.
"Other baches were extended and slowly absorbed into new structures," he wrote.
At one point architect Warren Dennison had a hand in this property's early changes. In 2007, local artist Corina Koning ran her studio here.
Christine's hands-on renovation required all materials to be brought in by barge, but it was worth the effort.
From the original grey courtyard pavers that once graced Queen St prior to its 1920s upgrade to the brickwork in the kitchen that she cut and laid with her own hands, it is impossible to distinguish the new from old.
The picture inside is vastly different from Christine's first viewing, too. Shingle was under foot in the far end, twin bedroom and the then-boatshed that is now the office/second living area/second bedroom at the entry end.
With its painted plywood floor this flexible room steps up into the separate dining room, then into the adjoining lounge with its coved ceiling and built-in furniture.
The kitchen that was a long, narrow room with a door at one end is now "new" and open to invited guests and big sea views.
"I love entertaining and I'll entertain 16 to 20 on a boat no problem, so this is a luxury," she says.
It was Christine's brother who made the first cut into the problematic wall with a garden saw.
The view confirmed, they cut out the entire wall to create the open space above her new tiled benchtop and kauri counter top.
Christine commandeered both slabs from her brother's garage.
In the kitchen, the fridge fits neatly into the original food safe cavity.
The view out the back window takes in Christine's re-plastered and painted retaining wall by the original back door. In the adjacent, renovated shower area, Christine installed copper piping, plastered the shower cavity and painted the hexagonal floor tiles white, leaving the larger terracotta square tiles untouched for effect.
Christine's long-term plans here include a cable car, for which she has geo-technical reports completed, and her own drawings for a new home on the site.
But the lure of the Canadian coast is about to see Christine and her Canadian-born husband Peter Steenbergen set sail in their 50ft yacht, which is moored here, and divide their time between Canada and the Bay of Islands.
