SCHOOL ZONES:
Selwyn College, Kohi Primary School.
CONTACT:
Barry Saxon, Barfoots, 027 279 3400, Mark Edmonds 027 493 5657.
AUCTION:
Wednesday October, 21.
Aucklanders are infamous for changing homes at a rapid pace.
Sue Eustace and her husband Phil had planned to be one of those families, but then their house -- and neighbourhood -- took hold. It's not hard to see why.
"We'd moved from Mount Albert to this side of town to be closer to schools for our son. We said we'd stay five years, we've been here 15," says Sue.
"It's a five-minute walk to the beach -- I used to walk my two westies there every day."
Sadly both dogs have died in the past year, their son Alex has left home and daughter Maddie is off at university, so Phil and Sue are joining the Auckland migration to the sunny Bay of Plenty to be closer to elderly family. Their next house will have a tough act to follow.
The two-storey house was a couple of years old when the family moved in with their two small children. Its timeless classical styling has lasted well through all the ages and stages of small children, teenagers and now empty nest. Sue has simply had to inject her own colourful preferences.
The flow and layout of the ground floor rooms have perfectly fitted their needs for a great entertaining space, with a roomy open-plan kitchen and dining room, and two living rooms.
Over the years the dining room has switched places from a more formal room to the kitchen space, while the larger living room doubles as a more formal space and a media room, complete with gas fire.
Sue's makeover of the kitchen included inserting panels and an island of dark stained American oak into the existing cream kitchen, amped up with a fresh wasabi green glass splashback, a colour repeated in the dining area.
Sue isn't afraid of colour -- she's gone with a dramatic dark grey in the stairwell, perfect foil to her modern art.
Image 1 of 9: Fifteen years have offered ample opportunities for creativity on a timeless and versatile canvas
The ground floor also has a fifth bedroom, currently used as a study, plus internal access to the garage and a laundry.
The house is cleverly sited on the property to give all-day sun and access to the garden from every room, via large sliding doors and windows, but it was the complete makeover of the garden by designer Trish Bartleet that really transformed the property, and even made it into a design magazine.
Bartleet is well known for her architectural eye, so the swimming pool and spa she added into the back yard sit beautifully with the house.
She modernised existing concrete pavers with bands of black pebbles, repeated from the back of the pool and the water feature, and around the front door.
On one end of the pool a spa is discreetly tucked under the mature palms, while on the other a changing room anchors the space.
Sue chose a dark stain for the pergola and fences, and left enough lawn in the front yard to give her some greenery without too much upkeep.
She admits to soil shock from dealing with the clay of Mission Bay after the luxury of volcanic Mount Albert, but the palms and low-maintenance under-planting have flourished so much they needed a good cull.
A sweep of stairs leads up to the bedroom floor. The master bedroom has the best view from its generous decks -- a peek of classic Rangitoto and sea, framed by the queen palm trees, with sun all day.
There's a dressing room and smartly tiled en suite bathroom, recently refurbished.
There are three more generous bedrooms and a great family bathroom with separate toilet.
The atrium above the giant front door lets in unexpected light across the whole top floor landing, yet another clever design feature that Sue is going to miss.
The couple are excited to be moving even closer to the sea and finding a new house to put down roots in.
