Growing a two-bedroom 1970s brick and tile home into a fully-fledged three-storey family home with sea views from every level was a process not to be rushed for Sue Woods and Tony Stevenson.
By the time they'd completed their plans with architect Barbara Draper, they'd already been living in the little house for three-and-a-half years and they'd got to know every aspect of the site down on the cliff overlooking the harbour.
Then they took a step sideways, renting the street-side villa next door that was the original house on land later subdivided for the 1970s home and two adjacent dwellings.
Sue and Tony rented out their place and, without intending to, let time and the tides slip by.
"We moved up there for four-and-a-half years, but we never quite got around to building," she says.
Rolling out their plans on their relocated dining room table high above the little house gave them a fresh viewpoint from which they could observe their building site.
It helped them visualise everything that they have created here with entry-level living and one guest bedroom, the master bedroom and study upstairs, two bedrooms and another lounge downstairs and a guest suite beneath the garage.
Unfazed by any pressure to get started, they just carried on with family life in a street that Sue describes as "a real borrow-a-cup-of-sugar kind of a neighbourhood".
The kids all continued to play together and their son Jack, now 17, learned to swim in neighbourhood pools long before his parents put in their own.
"When the kids were little I suggested we should put up a flag on the letterbox so we'd know which house all the kids were at," says Sue.
The two-year build went smoothly and was completed at the end of 2010.
Image 1 of 8: Couple were in no hurry to build this three-storey home with panoramic harbour views
"There was nothing stressful about any of it because we'd had a lot of time to think things through."
Better still, they were in a prime spot to oversee the builders' progress on the spot where their little bungalow had delivered the same panoramic views of Auckland city across Waitemata Harbour.
The dining area and kitchen are where the little home originally stood.
The room at the far end with its cantilevered bay window that Sue calls their "champagne lounge" used to be the master bedroom.
The pitched roof and weatherboard cladding was a requirement of the Auckland City Council.
Sue says: "I'd originally wanted a flat roof but I love the pitch of the roof that you see upstairs."
The higher 3m stud in the living area and the central entertainment area at the heart of the well-proportioned spaces intrigue visitors, too.
"A lot of people walk in and don't realise there are two wings on each side of the house.
"They think it feels like a much smaller home and certainly from the street it looks like a little home."
Design-wise, the challenge was to maintain the sea view and account for the path of the sun on different sides. This was overcome by the double-fireplace feature wall that lets the late afternoon sun into the "champagne lounge" while diffusing it into the wider living/dining/kitchen area.
Upstairs, the leafy branches of the soaring 80-year-old kauri tree fulfil the same role.
"They are my curtains from that morning sun coming into the bedroom," says Sue.
Throughout the home, recessed mood lighting in the living areas, three 70s-style pendants in the dining area and task lighting elsewhere complete the detail of the home designed with time on its side.
