Life’s almost too good for a family and their bright, bespoke home deep in the Tauranga suburbs.

This young family’s second new build is so perfectly tuned, they may never leave

Awee rural block with chickens, another dog and some cats to complete the picture – that’s the Bedggood family dream. The only thing holding them back is their home in suburban Tauranga. They just can’t bear to leave it.

Even their home’s location seems to have a hold on them – they used to live right next door.

Mel and Haden’s old home was planned around babies (Cian and Quinn) and a teenager (Michelle) in mind. But the separate wing that was Michelle’s domain became redundant once she flew the coop, says Mel. “Our family dynamics changed. Now we have two young children aged six and three at home and a 20-year-old living in Australia.”

Plus the required outdoor maintenance was swallowing up too much weekend fun time with the lawn mowing and hedge trimming being a two-hour mission. It’s a 20-minute job at this new house, which the family moved in to in the middle of 2018.

The site is smaller (789sqm) but there’s plenty of gambolling space for the children and French bulldog Blue, as the section backs onto a reserve with Lake Taurikura beyond.

Building a second new home within the space of only a few years would be stressful for a couple with young children. Not so the Bedggoods. Planning spaces and how to fill them is a bit of a hobby for them both, says Haden.

“Haden loves a good project,” says Mel. “He is very particular. He likes top of the range, top quality

items and will search high and low for the right things to suit our vision. Finding the right fittings, and attention to detail, are his superpowers.”

Haden found the rustic dining room table, the luxurious Victoria and Albert bath, and the champagne (“not copper, not gold, but somewhere in between”) tapware that’s used throughout. His attention to detail dictated that the grey herringbone feature wall behind the bath was repeated in a white version in the ensuite and again on the kitchen’s marble splashback. And he decreed that the perfect nickel light fittings for the kitchen and living room should be imported from the US.

Interior details are also Mel’s thing, especially when it comes to items like cushions. How easy it is to be smitten with velvet, furs and fringing, she

‘IT’S SO EASY TO RELAX IN. SOMETIMES TOO MUCH AS YOU JUST WANT TO LEAVE ANY CHORES FOR LATER’

enthuses, and how simple to swap out the varied colours and textures to create a different look.

Mel had fun dressing the children’s rooms. Hunting and adventuring is the theme in Cian’s room, with bear, wolf and deer decor dressing the walls and bed. A framed “Be Brave” artwork hangs on the wall of his sister Quinn’s bedroom with its pink touches one door down.

Not surprisingly, Mel and Haden are satisfied with all aspects of their home. The kitchen is the first happy place mentioned.

“Kitchens are meant to be the hub of the home. This kitchen definitely is. It’s über practical and a favourite, beautiful space.” Mel says the large,

farmhouse-style island with its marble top offers a great place to sit and catch the morning sun.

The board-and-batten chimney surround that’s a feature on the exterior of the house is repeated in the cooking zone where it disguises the extractor fan above the double Smeg oven.

Mel and Haden were united in their vision for the main living area and bedroom wing but the media room was the subject of some debate. This room can be shut off by wooden barn doors that meet at right angles in a pillarless corner.

“I am not usually that stubborn,” Mel says. “But once the pillarless corner idea came to me I wouldn’t let it go as I knew it would add so much, including solving the flow niggle I had from the original design. It was a huge expense so there was definitely a lot of debating around it.”

There’s no arguing now, however, that it was a great idea; this room with its moody grey walls is a much-loved, cave-like space.

It’s not the only place in the house to deviate from the predominantly white colour scheme. The spare bedroom (Michelle’s when she’s home) includes a floral wallpaper feature wall in rich hues. The master bedroom has a tongue-and-groove bedhead wall painted in Dulux Browns Bay.

The couple lead busy lives. Haden works within the power industry as a lines supervisor and Mel is the founder of Growth Development, a business focused on unleashing the potential of people at work. Home needs to feel like a haven at the end of a busy day.

“And it does. It’s so easy to relax in. Sometimes too much as you just want to leave any chores for later,” Mel confesses. It’s cosy in winter, while in summer the loggia and expansive deck beckon and the lake view delights.

If the rural living dream is ever realised and house number three eventuates, then many of this home’s features will be replicated, for sure.

THIS PAGE Mel and Haden Bedggood opted to use a darker colour on the island bench; industrial style lights complement the soaring ceiling in the kitchen of their Tauranga home; the main paint colour used is Resene Barely There and the bar stools are from Cintesi.

THESE PAGES (clockwise from left) The Dulux The Remarkables paint colour chosen for the media room gives it a snug feel; Mel is pleased she insisted on the sliding barn doors made by Classical Doors and this pillarless opening. Haden and Mel with Cian and Quinn. Cian lounges and Quinn leans in the media room with its Church of the Good Shepherd artwork.

THESE PAGES The light-filled main living zone; the kitchen feeds into this area, with the media room beyond the barn doors on the left; Haden scored brownie points when he found the second-hand dining table.

THIS PAGE The herringbone tiles are one of Haden’s favourite elements in the home; the Victoria and Albert bath is from Robertson Bathware.

THIS PAGE The outside is one of Haden’s favourite things about the house: “I really love the exterior look; the bagged brick, the black and white contrast and the high pitch.”