SCHOOL ZONES:
Cornwall Park School, Remuera Intermediate, double Grammar
CONTACT:
Diana Buczkowski and Peter West, Barfoot & Thompson, Diana 021 408 303 or Peter 021 939 222.
Most people get halfway down the hall before the full impact of this place hits them. Lynne Horne didn't get that far. Everything about this wide street frontage that came into view the days she drove past told her all she needed to know to secure this villa as her family's next home.
That was 14 years ago and she had spent months knocking on the doors of single-level villas in the hope of finding one suited to her young family.
While driving past here, Lynne noticed a man painting the exterior of the house and she wondered if he might be painting it to sell. It turned out he was and offered her one chance only to take a look through.
"I fell in love with it before I'd even come through the front door because I'm a real villa girl," she says. However, her cool head prevailed and reluctant to waste the one chance to view, she phoned her husband, Phil.
During that single inspection they took in its scope for family living plus the potential for flexibility that meant the garage could double as a showroom for Lynne's children's furniture business.
Rolling up the garage door (since replaced with a ranch slider) was her indicator that she was open for business. Pulling it down at the end of the day signalled private family time when the three spare bedrooms that were styled for customer viewing became part of the family's private domain.
"This house has had a lot of transitions," says Lynne, who later moved her Kidzspace business to retail premises.
"A lot of people have been through here. It worked really well because it was functional for the business and also how we lived as a family."
Guests invited past the Iceberg roses by the front door invariably get halfway down the hallway before they stop in their tracks with a "Wow!" when they take in the living area's grand connection to the rear garden beyond.
"Everyone says that," says Lynne. "It's unexpected and I think it's because people have this preconceived idea of what a villa is going to look like."
The entire living area encompasses the large kitchen and a conversation area by the bay window where there's a separate door out to the front veranda. Adjoining the dining area to the right as you walk in is the formal front lounge with an original wood-burning fireplace and French doors out to the veranda.
Lynne and Phil, a late 1980s/early 1990s New Zealand international cricketer, also have abundant wall space for their art.
There is plenty of back lawn, big enough that their 20-year-old son, Ben, an under-19 NZ cricket rep, used to play backyard cricket there with his friends. Lynne and Phil extended the rear deck to better connect to the lawn and they installed an eating area embraced by a sub-tropical garden complete with towering mature palms.
Image 1 of 4: Adaptable villa has played host to a home business and showroom as well as countless games of backyard cricket
Inside, they had to do little more than install their en suite and dressing room to finish off the house.
Their bedroom opposite the formal lounge is on the same side of the hallway as the other bedrooms, which is why this layout worked so well when Lynne ran her business from here.
Upstairs above the garage/games room is an office/spare bedroom with views to Mt Hobson and flexibility for even more diverse uses.
Lynne Horne knows firsthand how adaptable this home has been and she sees scope for another family to put its own stamp on it.
"We've had 14 years here and it has been a great family home and great for entertaining," she says. "It's time for us to look for something a little different, although ... I think I'll find it hard to go past a villa."
