Two creatives find peace and inspiration in a mid-century Kerikeri gem.

Our photographer Jane Ussher and her partner have polished and perfected this Kerikeri mid-century gem

Picture this: sculptor Grant Gallagher on his hands and knees with watercolour paints and a fine brush, replicating delicate wood-grain markings on a tiny square of rimu glued over an ugly gap left behind when a power outlet was removed. It was nothing out of the ordinary for Grant, as he grappled with a painstaking, detail-focused, threeyear renovation of what his wife, regular NZ House & Garden photographer Jane Ussher, describes as their “modest little mid-century house” in Kerikeri.

‘Everybody that’s lived in this house has looked after it’

The couple wanted to escape Auckland and had scoured the country for a home with architectural merit. Somewhere quiet, but not too far from cafes and a library, and accessible to Auckland where Jane has a base for work. Everything had disappointed them – too much traffic noise, too remote, not the right house.

Then Jane spotted this place on Trade Me, and was captivated by its classic mid-century features such as the original copper fireplace complete with mesh screen. “We pretty much decided we would purchase the house as we were driving up the driveway. It would have had to have been mucked around inside very badly for us to have walked away,” she says.

They were in luck. “Everybody that’s lived in this house has looked after it,” says Jane.

No one had ripped out the rimu panelling or ceilings. “It looks like one run of timber joining the entire house together, which I love,” says Grant, who spent months sanding, oiling, patching and matching the rimu, and even longer perfecting the paintwork inside and out, filling every tiny gap and learning to plaster. “If you have a rough paint finish and gaps everywhere, it just looks shoddy.”

Jane and Grant both think this is a house worthy of effort and care. Horace and Joyce Mason, who built it in the late 1960s, were ahead of their time, Jane says. They had asked Auckland architect John Goldwater, who lectured at Auckland University, to design a simple house, with the idea of a whare in mind. And although Jane and Grant have modernised and finessed, Goldwater’s design aesthetic has been at the heart of everything they’ve done.

They are however intrigued by the unusually sharp door handles throughout the house. “They’re actually the most dangerous thing I’ve ever come across,” says Grant. “The previous owner said, ‘Be very careful of the door handles.’ I didn’t take any notice until I tore a hole in my shirt walking down the hall and cut my arm. He said that women don’t seem to run into them, but men do.”

Jane is often away on assignment for a month or more and while she was away, Grant continued to put in 12-hour days on the renovation. “Grant did this absolutely single-handedly and I think he’s done the most extraordinary job,” Jane says.

Did he mind the solitude and the long hours? “Hell, no. It was so much better than sitting in an

open-plan office, worrying about whether we were going to achieve our revenue targets,” says Grant, who comes from a media background.

And he revels in the quiet. “When we lived in Mt Eden I always had classical music on in the background just to take out that hum of the city, but up here I very rarely play music because to me the lack of motor traffic sounds amazing. I can just hear native birds, which I love.”

Grant and Jane know they owe a lot to those original far-sighted owners, particularly Joyce, who fought plans for a housing development on adjoining land. When she died aged 98 a couple of years ago, she was buried in the St James Church graveyard next door. “We can actually see where Joyce is buried from our house. They pointed her in our direction,” says Grant.

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THIS PAGE Jane Ussher and Grant Gallagher have had the marbletopped French hall table for 30 years; it now sits in the downstairs living room of their Kerikeri home; the sculptures are from different eras of Grant’s work and the artwork is by Gordon Crook; when the couple bought the lamp the store owner told them it was a Memphis style prototype made in Italy. OPPOSITE Jane Ussher in the upstairs living room window seat, which was rebuilt and re-upholstered; the sculptures are Grant’s and the turquoise vase was discovered in an Auckland antiques shop.

THESE PAGES Every light fitting in the house was replaced, and the couple leaned towards midcentury pieces like this George Nelson Bubble lamp, although “we didn’t want it to end up being a museum for mid-century,” says Jane; much of the furniture in the house has followed the couple through three houses, including the Noguchi coffee table, which they’ve had for 35 years, and the Eames-inspired side tables that Grant had made; the artwork was painted for the couple by John Reynolds in 1985.

THIS PAGE The cabinets in the original rimu kitchen were not deep enough for modern appliances, so working with a local joiner, Grant added 10cm to the back before topping them with a giant stainless steel benchtop; Grant often works at the Eames dining table; the pendant light was imported from Denmark and the guitar on the kitchen wall is by Paul Radford. OPPOSITE The New Zealand design classic Garth Chester Curvesse chair works with the wood tones of the upstairs living room.

THIS PAGE The cedar slat screen is new and separates the bedroom from the office area; the blue and white porcelain vase was discovered in a Wellington antiques shop 35 years ago. OPPOSITE (clockwise from top left) The rimu panelling has been restored; the artwork is by Dick Frizzell. Jane and Grant were drawn to the original copper fireplace with its mesh screen; Grant calls this his “villain’s chair” and it’s a perfect spot for reading. Rimu ceilings run through the upstairs area, including the bedrooms. One of Grant’s newer, more rugged works, which is really intended to be hung outside.

THIS PAGE The multi-paned window was a significant addition; Grant made a model of it from white paper, adding pictures of the garden to see how it would look; Samba, a 7kg Maine Coon, sleeps on Grant’s feet at night. OPPOSITE (clockwise from top left) Grant had to buy Dick Frizzell’s Two Vases as it depicts vases his parents owned; the sculpture is by Max Parkes. During a photo shoot in the Wairarapa, Jane was so besotted by the 1960s green vinyl chairs she traded some photographs for them. Jane’s office seen through the new cedar screen. A frangipani in a planter box by the front door.

THIS PAGE Grant’s version of an African fetish sculpture to ward off evil spirits; instead of nails and rope he used old spoons and forks. OPPOSITE Grant in his garage workshop and studio; although sculpture took a back seat while he was deep in the renovation, he’s still creating, most recently using rusty metal and reclaimed timber found on the property for a series based on the concept “you’re only as pretty as you feel”.

THIS PAGE (from top) The little balcony looks out on a sea of green with St James Anglican Church in the background – between that and The Stone Store just down the road, the couple have become intrigued by local history; stories are told of Māori warriors bathing in the pond and creek that runs through this 1ha property. Many of the trees were planted more than 50 years ago; Grant says the Mason family were very generous in giving them original owner Joyce’s planting notes: “Each time she killed a possom she’d plant a tree on top of it.” OPPOSITE The sculpture was in the couple’s previous home and Grant knew it would look perfect in the entrance here with the frangipani.