PRIVATE OASIS
Creative types have enjoyed using their imagination here, discovers Catherine Smith
Writer and former health professional Renai Dawson admits she doesn’t do conventional — wacky is more her style. Her house, down a long right-of-way off Onewa Rd, has been home to many imaginative people since she bought it in 1972.
“There have been writers and fashion designers and creative people — some big parties, the wackiest parties in the world,” she says.
Renai, who is writing a novel, says she has wonderful neighbours in what is a peaceful and serene area.
“I take my grandson walking through Le Roys [bush reserve]. We name all the birds and the trees; you wouldn’t believe you can be in the city in 10 minutes.”
Renai had a toddler and was pregnant with her daughter when she bought the house, which started out as a concrete dwelling in the 1940s.
Over the years it’s served several purposes: a four-bedroom home for her family; a semiindependent base for her elderly mother; a clinic for Renai’s health business.
Now, with the expertise of architect Graham Pitts, it’s a two-bedroom home for Renai and a twobedroom rental flat.
But aspects of its modest provenance remain, such as the concrete stucco feature wall on the landing, the backdrop for her antiques and collections.
Renai’s home has living and master bedroom upstairs, with views of the city framed by huge old trees and guest bedroom and bathroom downstairs.
The split-level entry lobby hints at the extensive use of crafted timber beams and Canadian fir sarking on the upstairs cathedral ceilings, starting with a hefty arts and crafts front door, shiplap walls and terracotta tile floors.
Renai has blocked off the door that joins the two apartments but for many years it was open, connecting through a generous circulation area to the old house. In the past that has done duty as a kids’ area, as the two bedrooms and two bathrooms open off it. The front of the original house has a gracious old pre-war-style sunroom as well as the open plan kitchen, living and dining rooms. Pitts echoed the chunky concrete pillars and balustrades
of the original house in the car port posts and wrapped the lower floor of the new apartment with a modern interpretation of concrete stucco.
Upstairs in Renai’s living room, the airy gabled ceilings come into their own. Pitts pushed out dormer windows to create generous day beds on the northern side, and capture city views on the southern side.
Her master bedroom includes a loft, accessed by a ladder, a favourite with the grandchildren. It also has its own deck. There’s a walk-in closet and a bathroom with views of carefully cultivated bamboo. The house is remarkably private from neighbours, with a garden that includes both paved areas and gentle koru pebbles wending through the lawn.
But Renai’s decided to finally build on a property she has up at Hatfield’s Beach. “I don’t need to be in the city any more. I just love the thought of tossing on a pareo and living on the beach,” she says.