BRIGHT SPIRIT
Fun colours and pops of art and pattern in Omaha
The joyful spirit woven into the decorative palette of this new beach house at Omaha would indicate that the owners had something more significant than a successful house build to celebrate. And they did. Neil and Katie Salter’s second daughter, Daisy, was born five months after the house was completed. She came into the world at 23 weeks and two days – just over the survival threshold.
Their first daughter Ila, now five, had arrived early and with everything pointing towards an even earlier delivery from 16 weeks, Katie put herself on six weeks’ bedrest before Daisy was born. The couple couldn’t wait for their new baby to be strong enough to take to the beach house, which was filled with warmth, fun and colour.
Katie is a sun and sea girl who grew up on Sydney’s northern beaches and Neil is a commercial property investor, so when they saw this site (“you didn’t have to cross a road to get to the beach”) it ticked both pragmatic and emotional boxes.
The couple knew they wanted an architect-designed home, but not an eye-watering price tag, so they approached Auckland design-and-build company Box. At first their hearts were set on a U-shaped plan around a courtyard. When architect Tim Dorrington explained that was going to mean a big home and cost a lot, they settled on Plan B: a double-storey contemporary barn with a steep gable. “The gable was a challenging concept for the Omaha Residents Society at first,” Katie explains, “but we altered the angle by about 10 per cent and it got sign-off.” >