Heaven is a house on the hill
My favourite room Living the simple life high on a rural hilltop does not mean giving up on comfort and style.
Scott Lawrie has a secret. He’s kept it close for some time. It’s living simply: just him and his dog Skippy, on top of a hill with a view of Pakiri beach beneath.
‘‘When you make the decision to live like this, it is a good secret to keep because otherwise everyone would do it,’’ he says. ‘‘Although it would probably help lower blood pressure rates in New Zealand.’’
Four years ago, Scott, picked a spot on top of a hill in Pakiri, 85km north of Auckland, and built his dream house.
‘‘I wake up every morning and think I have died and gone to heaven,’’ he says.
Although he lives a simple life, his house is anything but. Designed by architect Paul Clarke (s2a.co.nz), it’s constructed without almost any right angles.
The apex of the house faces directly north, in line with the Hen and Chicken Islands, and Scott chose a site where the views can never be built out. With an outer shell of steel and lined inside with French cedar, it’s a hard-wearing house that reflects the elements.
The main living area epitomises the theatrical nature of Scott’s house; dark black walls, breathtaking views, carefully considered lighting and sculptural elements, such as the angled stainless steel island bench in the kitchen. ‘‘I wanted to make something that outlived me,’’ says Scott.
‘‘Thinking that I have achieved something that people will still look at after I’m gone is really special.’’
Did you have a vision for this space?
Yes – I worked with Paul Clarke for the best part of a year before the ground was even scraped.
We worked well together and knew that we wanted quite a masculine space that also felt quite timeless.
There’s a high contrast between the hardness and angular surfaces and the warmth of the wood and the black walls. It’s bold. But it’s gentle – and really works as a living space to read, entertain and drink wine in!
What was the decorating process for this space?
Surprisingly there’s not a lot of paint, as we wanted the surfaces and textures to authentically speak for themselves; the softness of the oiled cedar, the natural blue steel, the cool concrete. I’m not a huge fan of textiles and fabrics, so these were used sparingly. Although strong, it’s also quite minimal and we wanted to make the external landscape the hero to be honest. That said, my art collection is important to me, so we built that in from day one.
What are the key features of this space?
The fireplace. It’s an original French Gyrofocus wood burner – it rotates and you simply point it where you’d like the heat to focus. It wasn’t cheap though. And cost me a few sleepless nights – but I’m so glad I went with it.
The red painting is by Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori and is called Dibirdibi Country. She’s an Australian Aboriginal landscape painter. It’s a stunning, honest piece of art.
Do you have any advice for other homeowners?
Get yourself the best architect and builder you can afford. When they work well as a team, amazing things happen.
What do you like best about this space?
The fact that it keeps giving you something new to look at – from the lighting throughout the day, to the subtleties of the space, forms and shadows.
It’s quite beautiful and always changing.
How to make your $7 lettuce last longer
It’s not often that fresh veges hit the headlines not once but twice on the same day. This week we learned that, thanks to cyclone and rain damage, the cost of a fresh ‘Iceberg’ lettuce has now risen to $7.99 in some supermarkets (cauliflowers and cabbages are similarly pricey), with bagged salad greens facing a supply shortage as well.
That’s depressing news for many, but makes me feel (smugly) like I’ve won the lottery. As I write this, I have 24 ‘Great Lakes’ crisphead lettuces hearting up in my garden. That’s $168 worth of lettuce (and possibly more, as mine are organic.) Not a bad return on my investment in a $4 packet of seed. Obviously, I store my lettuces in the garden until I’m ready to eat them, but new research from the University of Otago has revealed a few tricks to lengthen the shelf life of vegetables once they’ve been picked.
Got half an avocado in your fridge? Leave the stone in and wrap it in plastic cling film and it will last four times longer than an uncovered cut avocado. Don’t brush the exposed flesh with lemon juice or olive oil; this does more harm than good. Store carrots in airtight containers lined with a paper towel and they’ll last 10 times longer than the wrinkly, soft ones left loose in your vege bins. The most successful method of preserving a head of broccoli is to sprinkle it in water (run it under the tap then shake the excess water off), wrap it in paper towels and then store it in the fridge in a ziplock bag. Bagged salad greens last two days longer if taken out of their bags and stored in an airtight container.
Six methods were trialled for storing whole heads of celery including straight in the fridge unwrapped, wrapped in tinfoil, standing in a container with 2-3cm of water, and placing cut celery in an airtight container lined with a paper towel. The best result came from wrapping the base of the celery head in a paper towel and popping it in a resealable bag in the fridge. Treat cut celery like carrots.
‘Iceberg lettuce’ lasted the longest when placed inside a lettuce crisper (an airtight plastic container which has a tray in the bottom to elevate the lettuce). Instead of keeping well for a week, it kept well for 28 days! And if you’re fretting about a salad shortage this season, sow mesclun mix in seed trays now. Keep the trays indoors until the seeds germinate, then pop them on a sunny deck or under a verandah or tunnelhouse so they can soak up as much warmth as possible for faster growth.
Pack away slow-release fertilisers
There’s no benefit to be gained by sprinkling granular slow-release fertilisers around your plants from now on. In late autumn and winter, plant roots can’t take up nutrients from the cold soil, so all you will succeed in doing is flushing your money away in the rain. Use organic fertilisers such as liquid compost, blood and bone or chook poo diluted in water instead. The best time to apply slow-release fertilisers is midspring, once the soil has warmed up again, and midsummer.
Net mandarin trees against sticky beaks
Easy-peel satsuma mandarins are ripening en masse now, so cover your trees with fine mesh netting to stop opportunistic birds pecking holes in the individual fruit. A single peck is enough to cause the whole fruit to start perishing and pecked fruit won’t keep once picked. When harvesting, always cut with secateurs – don’t pull – so their ‘‘belly button’’ stem stays intact. This helps them last in your fruit bowl much longer.
Take cuttings from frosttender plants
If you have a glasshouse or covered potting area, take cuttings of frost-tender perennials such as coleus, pelargoniums, bedding salvias and begonias before Jack Frost knocks them down.
These plants all root readily (try some in jars of water on a welllit windowsill) and, come spring, you’ll have lots of small, sturdy plants to transplant.
When taking cuttings, remove at least two-thirds of the foliage and dip the cut ends in rooting hormone powder or gel.– Lynda Hallinan