Gavin lived here for five years while planning the alterations. "I chose architect Jim Stephenson because I've worked with him a lot before and his work is really well thought through."
The resulting well-insulated home is much bigger than what was here previously. "I think overall we've added about 2000 square feet, including the garage." A weatherboard top storey crowns the entry and basement levels in rendered brick and block.
"There really is just about nothing left of the old home," Gavin explains. "That whole upstairs came right off." He completely did away with the previous upper level, which had been plaster, including its framing.
Gavin lived onsite right through the project, accompanied by his beloved springer spaniel Anka. "You'd see people in passing cars do a double-take when they spotted Anka roaming around on the upper level scaffolding."
The fenced property with automatic entry gates is on the lower part of Paritai Drive, just after the first major bend past the Ngapipi Rd turn-off. Harley aficionado Gavin super-sized its former carport into five-car internal-access garaging with laundry, forming part of the basement level.
Inside the red front door there's a lounge-dining room with enclosed gas fire, which Gavin says really pumps out heat. The sunny kitchen-living room has solid oak floors and big bifold doors opening to the level front lawn irrigated with automated sprinklers. It's edged in garden and sits above the garage.
Sue Gillbanks of Kitchens By Design conceived the entertainers' kitchen with Miele appliances, including two ovens and two dishwashers, one in a separate scullery. An impressive marble bench teams with the tactile detail of a splashback of textural white tiles and doors in undulating wave board.
A pair of sunny front bedrooms accompanies the first of four bathrooms, featuring under-floor heating, Italian tiles, feature marble mosaic panels and tapware from SpazioCasa.
The uppermost level includes an en suited bedroom with his 'n' hers walk-in wardrobes, a lounge and the master suite with waterfall spout filling its en suite's bath. A sun-drenched deck with stainless steel handrails looks over Hobson Bay.
The exposed pebble front driveway incorporates lighting, and slopes down, allowing the basement level to also have its own entrance. You can imagine teens or a nanny lapping up the roomy bedroom-lounge spread here, complete with built-in cupboards with sink, wall of wardrobes and bathroom.
Neighbours have been complimentary about the finished home. However, Gavin reckons his 3-year-old son Edward preferred it during the less precious building site stage, when he was allowed to ride his trike inside.
Now Gavin's completed the home he's decided it's too big for him, especially as his daughter has left to study at Victoria University.
