A teched-up designer home has replaced cows and tractors north of Auckland.
A north Auckland designer family home now stands where cattle once grazed
Most would say that this incredible house on the hill in Waitoki is occupied by your typical nuclear family – mum, dad and the two kids. But they’d be forgetting the other woman. Granted, she’s biddable and useful and, to be fair, homeowners Joel and Kathryn Giddy are both fully invested in this unusual relationship. In fact, at the end of a busy day, there’s no one better to have around.
Installing a virtual assistant to operate this 550sqm home was always part of the plan. Hence, Amazon’s Alexa is part of the whānau. “She likes me, not Kat,” jokes Joel. Alexa opens blinds and curtains, turns on lights and heating, and provides general entertainment for friends and visitors. Of which there are many.
That’s no surprise, for this contemporary palace has the room, the volume, the outlook, the style and the play spaces to make it ideal for company. It almost feels like a holiday resort.
Kathryn and Joel, who met as teenagers, are like-minded souls – and energetic.
They have designed and built “six or seven” homes in their childhood stomping ground 40 minutes north of Auckland. Joel is a civil contractor and when Kathryn left school, she completed a real estate certificate. “I have always been fascinated by how houses are planned and how they function for a family.” Then she became pregnant with daughter Kevana, now 11.
By the time their son Reeve, now nine, came along, they’d already built and sold their first property.
They find the process exhilarating rather than stressful and, over
the years, have fallen into a natural division of labour: Joel works on the exterior and Kathryn concentrates her efforts inside.
So when Joel came home one day and said he’d found another piece of land that caught his eye, it was no surprise. The 10ha site had a wonderful rural aspect across a little valley, but it was rundown with lumpy ground. “Cattle had destroyed it,” explains Joel. No worries. Here is a man well equipped to make the earth move. He brought in the machinery to tidy it up and used 10,000 cubic metres of clay to form a building platform.
Meanwhile, Kathryn approached the design of the home in her usual way. “I sketch up a plan of what I would like. It’s handdrawn and not to scale but it plots out the rooms,” she says. Then it was time to hand over to architectural designer Joseph
Long to translate her ideas into something that would work – and gain council approval. The couple believe fully in letting the professionals do what they do best and have built up a team around them that they now call friends. That includes quantity surveyor Brad Dalzell. “Without him we’d be stuffed,” says Joel in his forthright fashion. “He costs everything – down to the bolt for the letterbox.”
Precision planning aside, in the best tradition, it’s the vibe that makes this place feel special. Clad in vertical timber with blade walls in marbled plaster, the architecture’s strong geometry is softened by touches of the tropics. “We were married in Fiji and wanted to capture that spirit in the design,” says Kathryn. It begins at the front gate with an avenue of palms and a sweep of
driveway that lead up to an entrance where water cascades down an oversize pot – a feature that sets a tranquil mood.
Step inside and it’s cool and cathedral-like with high ceilings and, in the kitchen and living zone, acres of glass with a view that takes in the strip of blue that is the pool and the green of open fields.
Kathryn worked alongside interior designer Kirsten Ford to breathe breezy life into this backdrop. “I liked her right off the bat. We sat down for a couple of hours and she really got my buzz,” she says. Together they settled on the palette of deep blues and greys – “I love navy” – and chose the furniture, objects, art and even the cutlery and glassware.
In the kitchen, the stone splashback and a slab on one end of the island bench has striations that keep to this scheme and the cupboards are lacquered in a silvery blue that in a certain light looks navy.
Massive teardrop light bulbs drop down from the lofty ceiling and a breakfast bar is hidden behind doors in tiles that look like weathered wood. It’s not the only bar in the house but the other is rather more on show. Joel’s domain is the cocktail bar where his collection of champagne is ready for the next occasion. “His specialty is Long Island iced tea,” says Kathryn.
In what was initially called the formal lounge, blue sofas are upholstered in a textural brocade, but Joel’s race-car simulator has made its way into one corner. It came in handy during lockdown when he and Reeve, who both compete in the Offroad
‘We were married in Fiji and wanted to capture that spirit in the design’
Racing Association of New Zealand national championships, had time to practise, driving in virtual real-time and competing against the greats. Two shelves in the lounge – one for Joel, one for the young upstart – are lined with trophies. “When Reeve accumulates more than me, I’m going to give it up,” says Joel.
An internal bridge flanked by a water feature marks the transition to the bedroom zone that the kids inhabit while its mirror image on the opposite side of the central living area leads to the master suite.
A black freestanding bath here keeps the mood dramatic and a shower has floor-to-ceiling glass for a view of the Balinese-style garden. “I love my shower,” says Kathryn. “You can be in there looking out at the stars.”