SCHOOL ZONES:
Mairangi Bay Primary, Murrays Bay Intermediate, Rangitoto College.
CONTACT:
Jackie Smith, Bayleys, 021 505 520.
AUCTION:
February 5.
Life in a 1930s terraced house in Kent and a brick detached house in Suffolk was all that Englishman Peter Taylor had ever known about home ownership before he moved to New Zealand in 1997.
Certainly he had never aspired to building a new home until he met Joy, a devotee of new architecture with several new-builds to her credit.
"Some people love villas, some people like more contemporary homes. I love contemporary, modern homes," says Joy, a primary school teacher.
Their vision for a first home together, their appreciation for the seamless blend of indoor and outdoor living that epitomises so many Auckland properties and their love of change and new ventures blend well in this home that they had built in 2008.
The couple had earlier missed out on buying a home they'd coveted but they did note down the name of the builder, content to wait until the Van Der Vorst family of builders -- Brian and his sons, Josh and Hamish -- were ready to build again.
When Joy and Pete got the call that plans had been drawn up for the builders' next project here, they knew they were under way.
"We bought the house off the plans and didn't change anything apart from the position of a couple of the doors. That's how much we liked their design," says Joy.
Joy and Pete chose the site at the bottom of the driveway for its privacy and its potential for upper-level sea views. But it was the aspect that has mattered the most. "I'd never want to be in a house that didn't have a north or easterly aspect," Joy says. "Aspect is really important. I must be able to get the morning sun, not necessarily the afternoon sun but definitely the morning sun."
Image 1 of 5: Light and passion helped create this multi-level house and its great indoor-outdoor flow
Theirs is a home with multiples of everything that matters. Its five gentle levels roll out, up and down from the lobby with the living areas a few steps down on the main level with the powder room, bathrooms, study and guest and master bedroom wings upstairs. Downstairs, Joy's galley kitchen with its engineered stone bench extends into a well-equipped scullery. The nearby formal lounge with a gas fireplace is their favourite place to relax in the winter months. Off this lounge and the main dining area, bifold doors stack back to a private dining space centred on a circular Italian dining table.
Off the family room there's a delightful little spot for a pre-dinner aperitif. Extended family, grandchildren and friends converge on the larger deck with its built-in seating and separate lounge and dining area.
This cedar house with its soft grey carpet and oak flooring has been a great first project for Peter. "You don't generally get to design and build your own home back in England," he says. "You are so restricted and that is the beauty of being in New Zealand."
For them both, the beauty is being able to open up the entire living area to the outdoors and the upstairs to the balconies. This project has given them the chance to inject their personalities into their own home. Peter says: "Otherwise we'd always be going 'Oh if only we'd done this', or 'if only we'd done something else differently'."
Keen for a change of aspect, they are moving to Millwater, between Silverdale and Orewa and tinkering with their ideas for another hands-on new home
