Rise and see shine
There are views of sea and sky from almost every room in this clifftop home, writes Robyn Welsh
Sarah and Bob Philipson moved here 27 years ago expecting lazy mornings and spending the rest of their day rebalancing their retirement work/life ledger. But what happened here turned everything upside down. So in love with the moody hues of the sea and the sky that embraced every bedroom and living room in the house, they found themselves seduced into a retirement vibe more memorable than they could ever have imagined. Sarah became an early riser, starting her day anywhere from 4.30am to 5.30am.
“Before then, I’d probably have turned over and gone back to sleep,” she says. “There was a lot to get up for here and it was just so beautiful to see the colours and the sunrise over the sea.”
A keen artist and retired primary school teacher, Sarah appreciated that soft wake-up call the most. But Bob, who was still working a sales/engineering company director, happily indulged the moment as they enjoyed coffee and breakfast in bed together.
“We just loved pulling back the curtains on beautiful sunrise after beautiful sunrise and watching the moon rising on the horizon, turning smaller and casting a silver path over the sea,” she says. “In the twilight, islands would turn mauve and violet and that was a lovely time too because you’d get this beautiful stillness and colour.”
The boomerang shape to this 1970s/80s house delivered private, sheltered views into the heart of the house on both levels.
“In fact I discovered all but one room (the guest bathroom by the front door) faced the view,” she says.
Everywhere else they were spoiled for choice. Sarah turned the upstairs bedroom into her art studio. She completed her university double major in Italian and English literature studying at her desk in the lounge annex and sometimes spreading out her papers on the bay window seat.
“Depending on the mood of the weather, I would see this most wonderful panorama. Sometimes I’d just leave my books, stand up and take a break go out on to the terrace and take in the view. It was never just wonderful every day; it was always phenomenal.”
When Sarah and Bob moved here, Stanmore Bay was far more rural, without footpaths or traffic lights. Their approach to personalising their clifftop home has been simply to update whatever needed replacing. They installed a new log-burner in the lounge, took out the spa tub during renovations to the downstairs bathroom that added new timber cabinetry and replaced old deck railings with new seamless, glass balustrades.
Beneath their characterful timber ceilings and exposed beams, Bob chose rimu for the new benchtops and cabinetry in their updated kitchen.
“We made sure the kitchen kept its share of the view,” says Sarah.
From the front gate with the slice of the sea view to their private decks, they’ve loved the sense of being able to walk straight out to sea.
“I always wanted this type of vista gained from height above the cliff and distance back from the edge.”
They kept the bush intact, installing only a fence and gate for the safety of their young grandchildren.
Of the flock of seagulls who adopted this family and the moreporks who’d call to each other across the valley, Sarah says, “you have a real sense of being in a private world here”.
The Philipsons are now downsizing and moving nearer the city and closer to family.