SCHOOL ZONES:
Pukekohe Hill School, Pukekohe Intermediate, Pukekohe High School.
CONTACT:
Eden Thomson, Ray White, 021 790 552.
AUCTION:
April 7 (unless sold prior).
Kiwi builder David Hunt first went to Southern Spain to help promote New Zealand's delights but the local architecture charmed him right back, affecting his favoured style of building.
David says: "I got a job working for a New Zealand company in Seville in 1992 helping build the NZ Expopavilion from materials shipped over from New Zealand.
"I worked in Seville for a couple of years and I've had a love affair with the sort of buildings you see in Spain and in Italy ever since."
David's company specialises in high-end architecturally designed residences such as this new Pukekohe home imbued with a Mediterranean air.
He says: "I like the sort of classical, aged look you'll see in the La Escandella clay roof tiles on this house. They're new tiles imported from Alicante in Spain but they look like they could have been here for centuries.
"They're about three times the price of a concrete tile roof but they complete the look and they're proven to last for centuries."
Much of Auckland's land available for development is on its fringes and Pukekohe facilities, including shops, markets and train access, cemented David's decision to build here to on-sell.
He bought this section within a small subdivision in December 2013, impressed by its north-facing backyard and upper-level northerly views to Auckland City.
He's a repeat customer of architectural designer Kim Veltman, who designed this home, which is flanked by two double garages with battened cedar doors. Veltman conceived the formal front path, which is arranged around a small central feature garden to complement the symmetry of the house's layout.
David says: "The rustic, textural interest of the home's exterior walls has been achieved by trowelling mortar over clay bricks instead of raking out the joins between them. Then they're painted with three coats of Porters stone paint to give them that lime-washed look."
The subtly Mediterranean ambience continues indoors with wrought-iron staircase balustrading and a terracotta tiled hallway.
Image 1 of 4: Echoes of the Med are seen in the elegant symmetry of this new home. Photos / Ted Baghurst
This culminates in an expansive open-plan rear living area. Big stacker doors open to north-facing and east-facing decks. The latter is ideal for morning coffee admiring the lawn, smattering of olive and citrus trees and young hedge, which will grow into a green wall concealing fencing.
David says: "I really like the fact the kitchen, dining and living all catch the sun at different times. In most properties you'll get two out of three of those but not all of them."
The warmly hued kitchen includes two pyrolytic ovens, an island topped with the longest granite piece possible without joints and a butler's pantry.
Cosiness is bolstered by above-standard insulation, the lounge's Jetmaster fireplace and by chunky loop-pile wool carpet.
David and his wife Carolyn, who manages early childhood centres, enjoy under-carpet heating in their own home so replicated that here.
David says: "It's really comforting. When people arrive on a cold day the first thing they want to do is lie down on the carpet."
Downstairs includes a bedroom, bathroom and storage but car enthusiast David's favourites are the two over-height polypropylene-carpeted double garages. The one with rear stacker doors opening to a private garden area might double as a rumpus room.
