Home of the Month: An interior designer’s own Red Beach family home has a dash of edginess.
Family friendly doesn’t have to mean plain – as this multi-talented designer home north of Auckland attests
THESE PAGES Greenery backdrops this Red Beach home built by interior designer Kirsten Ford and her insurance broker husband Andrew; Kirsten took advice from Toni Roberts of Kitchen Architecture who suggested the clerestory windows to frame the treetops above the overhead cabinetry; the cabinets are finished in a metallic lacquer and the benchtop is macaubas granite.
If you weren’t local, you’d probably never know about the 8km path that loops around Ōrewa estuary, a stone’s throw from the highway. Just moments from the hum of hurtling cars, there’s a treefringed trail that skirts the water’s edge – and a home with a prime view and a chunk of tranquillity. Kirsten and Andrew Ford built their first house, a Tuscan-influenced villa, 15 years ago in rural Wainui. But as their three children (Zach, now 15, Levi, 13, and Trinity, 10) started to grow, so did the frequency of trips into town. “The boys especially were involved in every sport imaginable,” recalls Kirsten. It was time to move closer to the action.
A stroll along the Te Ara Tahuna Estuary cycleway took an unexpected turn when they saw a private for sale sign. A tumbledown bach with a dirt floor occupied the land. “We loved its location amidst
THIS PAGE A David Shaw chair covered in a Westbury boucle features in the TV room: “I fell in love with it and had to have it; it’s an occupational hazard,” says Kirsten; it’s teamed with drapes in a petrol-blue Textilia fabric and walls in paint painstakingly custom mixed by Resene; the Chinese cabinet has been in the family for years. OPPOSITE (clockwise from top left) Farmhouse-grade oak flooring runs from the stairwell to the patio. Margaret Petchell’s portrait of a tūī (the family calls him Norton) features in the living room. Trinity plays with Roxy, the very spoiled schnoodle; the cushions in a Romo Black Edition fabric from Seneca repeat the chevron pattern seen elsewhere. A Crown Lynn swan alongside a taxidermy duckling that “polarises my friends,” says Kirsten.
such incredible greenery in built-up suburbia,” says Kirsten. A few months later, she sat on the grass looking over the tidal flats with an architect from Landmark Homes as they sketched out a floor plan. Kirsten, an interior designer, had a picture in her mind’s eye which is not much altered today.
From the outside, the two-storey house with its crisp contrast of white brick against black joinery looks smart and solid. It’s only once you descend the entry stairs to the open-plan living zone that the real wizardry begins. For this home, built just five years ago, strikes the perfect balance between characterful and contemporary. “I guess my heart was still in Europe when we designed it,” says Kirsten.
There is a sense of Parisian grandeur in the distressed white oak floors. Black aluminium windows that mimic steel evoke the industrial palette in old English factories or New York warehouses. And the kitchen, with a magnificent slab of granite on the island that “we haven’t yet managed to stain with red wine”, has an Italian flavour.
Kirsten worked with kitchen designer Toni Roberts to hand-pick the finishes. “I am a very bossy client.” Metallic lacquer cabinetry, stainless steel counters
THESE PAGES A replica Lindsey Adelman Branching Bubble chandelier hangs from the ceiling – Kirsten hunted for ages for a pendant that would make a statement but not obstruct the view of the trees; pot plants, including a Philodendron xanadu, echo the foliage outside: “I love its lush 70s look”; cafe chairs from Cintesi around the dining table are also used outdoors to seat extra guests while the moss-green GlobeWest velvet ones add subtle colour.