Dream becomes reality
Combining eco-principles with edgy, high-end interior design is a challenge, but it was well met by Rae Gill when she renovated her Kerikeri home.
Rae was on a mission to complete her move to the Far North to establish a sustainable lifestyle and had looked at virtually every suitable house on the market.
The converted packing shed in the no-exit road close to the village wasn’t on the market, but the agent knew the owners of the property had seen something else they liked, so she co-ordinated with both parties and Rae had her house.
“I could see immediately that it had potential,” she says. “I loved the size of the rooms and the proportions, and the fact that it wasn’t the usual type of house you find in Kerikeri.”
However, the big, board and batten house needed renovating to suit Rae’s style and her environmental principles. Once the packing shed for a local orchard, it was converted and extended with a living and dining room in the 80s and a master bedroom, en suite and office in the 90s.
Rae designed a big, open kitchen, dining and living area on the entrance level using the traditional work triangle principle as her model, and working around the existing 900mm DeLonghi range, which she loved. “I’ll never have another 600mm range,” she says. A large storage cupboard to one side was quickly reinvented as a scullery, which is used for specific activities — juicing, coffee-making and dishwashing. Plentiful white, modern cabinetry dovetails with a rustic island unit lit by industrial-style metal light-fittings.
There’s a separate sitting room down one level reached via a short floating staircase. Rae gave it a makeover with a beautifully marbled, limewashed concrete floor and access to the wrap-around verandah and garden through timber french doors. An adjoining office provides space for two desks and also looks out across the garden
On the top level is the master suite with vaulted, blonded timber ceilings and a white-painted floor, and downstairs there are a further three bedrooms, one of which has been set up as a kids’ study or sitting space with a funky blackboard feature wall.
Rae attributes the serene feel of the house to her commitment to creating “a good energy vibe”. With a very busy whale-swim business that regularly takes her to Tonga, Tahiti and Sri Lanka, a nurturing home base is important. She has made healthy decisions throughout the entire renovation around all the materials used, from paints to timbers to furnishings.
The same principles have been applied to the outside, with the large gardens kept spray-free and organic. Extensive plantings provide a cool green backdrop to the house, which Rae painted from dull grey to a striking black, showing off the rimu joinery.
Covered decks stretch around three sides of the house, with the front deck extending out into the garden. It accommodates the spa and the space is ideal for summer entertaining.
It’s a pleasant amble from the house in its quiet, no-exit street to Kerikeri village, so a good coffee in one of the town’s 20-odd cafes is only about seven minutes’ walk away. Both the primary and high schools are on the way,
“Having this much space, inside and outside, so close to town is a real bonus,” Rae says. “And my gardens are very giving, with the orchard producing quality stone fruits, avocado and guava.”
She’s loved transforming this house into a sophisticated, sustainable space, and is proud of the result.
“Every picture I had in my head of how it was going to look has happened.”