Colour and classic 60s style in a sunny Lowry Bay home.
A sunny 1960s classic defies the Wellington weather
Wellington might have its winter coat on, but at Lowry Bay you’d never know it. Follow the motorway out of the capital, curve around the harbour towards where the city fades into the Eastbourne hills and there you’ll find the small suburb famously depicted in Katherine Mansfield’s short story At the Bay.
As the harbour glints 200m away, Debbie Summers throws open the floor-to-ceiling doors of the 1960s home she and her husband Stephen bought in 2007. “It can get too hot in here, which isn’t a problem you’d normally associate with Wellington,” she says with a laugh.
Having returned from Auckland where Stephen’s job as a sales manager had taken them, the couple moved to Normandale, Lower Hutt, into a house Debbie had built before they married and had children – Harry, now 16, and Chelsea, 13.
But it didn’t work so well for a growing family. Most importantly, it was a long way from the sea. >
“We’re a sporty family. We love kayaking, paddleboarding and being outside,” says Debbie, a contracts manager. “My brother lives in Lowry Bay and we’d visit him and get really jealous.”
They started casting around for their own seaside dream and although this 240sqm house was far from that, it was on the flat, close to the water and bathed in all-day sun.
The couple was also won over by its history: the land was once part of the Taumaru Homestead, built by Francis Bell (of Bell Gully law firm fame), and used as a convalescent home for injured Kiwi soldiers from 1916-19, as well as housing maternity patients affected by Napier’s 1931 earthquake. Sadly, the original homestead was demolished in 1963, two years after the Summers’ house was built.
Little had been done to the house since then. “It was boxy and dark and the rooms had no connection to each other,” says Debbie.
Worse, the basement was basically a dirt floor that flooded when it rained. “After two years in the house, one morning we awoke to a virtual lake in the basement and had to have it pumped out.”
It was their cue to make renovation plans. As luck would have it, Stephen played touch rugby with local architect John Mills, who helped turn the space into a light, airy family home that takes advantage of its coastal setting and bushy backdrop.
First to go were four walls in the lower level, to open up the space. The kitchen was relocated from the back of the house to a more central position, and a fourth bedroom was turned into a stairwell to provide the internal access Debbie wanted. >
The master bedroom also borrowed from that fourth bedroom for its walk-in wardrobe, and an odd, unsafe balcony was closed in to become the couple’s en suite. Downstairs, the troublesome basement was excavated and converted into a guest room, bathroom and office.
Although the aim was to modernise the house, Debbie wanted the integrity of the 1961 build to be retained. “The house had good bones so we were able to keep features such as the original windows in the living room and the schist fireplace. I’m keen on being as sustainable as possible, which extended to re-using many of the materials.”
John Mills is known for his love of colour and although Debbie originally wanted an all-white space, she’s glad John convinced her that splashes of colour on the interior walls could work. When it came to furnishings the couple went for a mix of contemporary and retro pieces.
Previously, the sun-drenched backyard was unusable, thanks to a hulking great concrete shed that former owners had used as a pottery studio. It took some doing to remove it, but once it was gone the couple added a generous deck and landscaped the garden so the family can make the most of the Lowry Bay weather.
“In the summer we lie on the deck on beanbags and watch the sun go down,” says Debbie.
‘I’m keen on being as sustainable as possible, which extended to re-using many of the materials’