Mt Albert: Tough love 

6 Alberton Road, Mt Albert. Picture/Geoff Dale

A Mt Albert family went just that little bit further to build a home of lasting quality.

The garage door at Julie and Vince Grgicevich's Mt Albert house positively gleams. It's because the paint job is more akin to what you'd expect on a car. The couple, who freely admit they like the best of everything, sent the double garage door to a panel-beater to create the finish they wanted.

The quality of their kitchen could almost be overkill, too - Julie specified seven-pot lacquer for all the wide drawers as there are no space-wasting cupboards. Now the pale gold satin-finish drawers seem to be highly resistant to the smudges and smears of everyday family life and the fingers of six-year-old twins Kaleb and Stefan. Two 900mm European ovens are more than enough to cater for having plenty of family and friends over for meals.

Julie and Vince, who own Global Masonry Homes, designed and built the house to be their family home. Building for themselves also gave them the chance to be experimental with design. This is seen throughout the house, from rumbled glass bathroom vanity tops to the carefully prepared concrete ground floor, which Vince says "you love and nurture as much as your marriage for five months".

This softly, softly approach to what is now a very hardwearing floor is to aid the process of embedding pebbles and autumnal tones of glass into the concrete mix. The concrete needs to be cured for some time and protected. Luckily Julie and Vince are experts. The floor stays warm in winter thanks to a reticulated gas system.

The house is built from Firth Hotblocs, which feature internally and externally. In some areas they've been coloured with an oxide, honed and stack-bonded, while in others they're plastered and painted. The house also features a concrete mid-floor.

"It's great. When the boys have friends over and are upstairs playing we don't hear them running around. We've also had a party for 80 downstairs and the boys have slept right through it," Julie says.

A custom-designed glass slider that can be closed off between the main living area and the entrance and stairs also helps to minimise noise.

A one-off, gold-coloured, aluminium-louvre slider near the kitchen leads to an impressive entertainment room, where TV images are projected on to a wall. Smoky gold curtains allow the perfect blackout for movies.

The main living area can be opened right up by an 8.5m-long, aluminium-framed glass slider. The courtyard outside features a swimming pool that's also heated with gas. In the summer months, an automated louvre pergola keeps the north-facing spot cool.

Externally mounted, automated louvres also feature as window treatments in the upstairs bedrooms, which are all positioned on the northern side of the house for maximum sun and light. Kaleb and Stefan's bedrooms are connected by a cavity slider, a layout that could work brilliantly for future owners as a home office, or guest bedroom and sitting room.

The Grgicevich family is moving to a larger do-up house on the slopes of Mt Albert. Julie is especially sad to be leaving this award-winning home, but realises her growing boys need a bit of space.

"I'll miss the shops across the road, too - I only had to go to the supermarket four times last year."

Vital Statistics 

Size: Land 330sq m, house 240sq m. 

Open Homes: Sat/Sun 3-3.45pm, Wed 7-7.45pm.

Contact: Anne Duncan, ph 021 996 426, Greg Whitta, ph 021 992 612, Anne Duncan Team Advantage.

Price Indication: Expressions of interest above $1 million. Auction May 23.

Features: Winner of three awards in Registered Master Builders House of the Year Awards 2004; gas fireplace; heated swimming pool; numerous custom-made features; seven-year Master Build guarantee; two living rooms; double garage and separate laundry.