REACH FOR THE SKY
Penthouse suite in the Sentinel Tower is the height of luxury
Sitting at the top of the Sentinel Tower, in Takapuna, is a penthouse whose owners spent several months enticing interior designer Juliette Yarrell to decorate and upgrade.
It was worth the effort. Yarrell has fully refitted the two-level 668 sq m penthouse suite, which is being marketed for sale by Premium Real Estate agents Alison Parker and Corey Knapp.
Initially reluctant to take on the huge project (her first reaction was “Holy smoke, it’s the penthouse”), Yarrell was eventually won over by the spectacular views – as is every visitor to the 29th floor.
“The first impressions are incredible, it really is jawdropping,” Yarrell says. “But when you spend time here, there are so many different moods, it makes the day very interesting. Sunrise over Rangitoto is breath taking, or when you’re above the clouds in the storm, you’re higher than a plane. It’s difficult to beat that.”
Yarrell had 12 weeks to turn the two floors of living rooms and bedrooms into something that felt like home – not corporate, not neutral, but layered and warm. Old furniture was replaced with custom pieces sized to fit the scale of the open plan, in some places double height, living rooms.
The high end kitchen and bathrooms were kept as they were of such good quality, but other rooms were given a purpose to feel like a real family home – albeit high in the sky.
Parker, who lives in the Sentinel herself, considers herself the unofficial ambassador for the property, expects that American or European buyers, here for the America's Cup regatta, to be the prime target market. So Yarrell’s fit-out focused on comfortable and layered interiors that would make people feel at home in New Zealand.
She worked with luxury product designer Hushaberry, who supply many of the country’s top lodges, for the custom rugs, light fixtures and accessories, and designed over-scaled furniture from her specialty manufacturer. The existing onyx feature wall rising two floors beside the steel and glass staircase was a signature of the original design, echoed in the marble tiled wall and striking Italian light fixtures Yarrell added to the entry lobby.
“This deserves a big family, but it’s executive enough you could entertain here,” she says. “It’s authentic, layered, and designed to appeal to women.”
There’s a 10–person couch for the crowds complete with a fireplace and massive TV screen for all those big sporting events on the horizon and even room for a gym. It opens to the rooftop deck with pool and spa pool (there’s also a gym, pool and other shared facilities on the podium floor, four car garaging and storage in the basement).
The apartment furniture is negotiable as an extra.
The existing kitchen island invites a crowd for cooking – it required only stylish new pendant lights and a swag of beautiful bar stools that repeat the blue of the ocean outside. The four bathrooms have luxury tubs and Italian fittings, while the three double bedrooms are fully fitted and kitted.
“But,” says Parker, “that view is the entertainment factor. You watch the weather, the tide, the traffic, the sunrises and sunsets. There’s so much to watch.”