Living life in the pink
The owner’s colour choice was a perfect fit with this home’s Art Deco vintage, writes Penny Lewis
It’s now 10 years since the pink Art Deco house on Tamaki Drive was repainted olive green. Aucklanders were up in arms about the transformation of the private home that had been painted the rosy hue by its longtime former owners. There was something about the cheeriness of the pink house in such a prominent spot that people seemed to love.
The same year the famous pink house became olive green, Ann Fernyhough bought a large Art Deco home in a quieter part of Mission Bay.
She had been looking for a five- bedroom house for herself and her daughters — then aged 16, 14 and 12 — and her 4- year- old son.
The house needed to have a pool and a sea view and be “something with character and in the bays”. Her search didn’t take long.
“This was the first house I looked at and I didn’t look at anything else.”
Ann loved the house and its potential, but she wasn’t enamoured of the exterior paint colour, which was beige. She decided a pale pink was in order and chose Resene Pot Pourri . But as the paint went on, the colour made more of an impact than she anticipated.
“It was more pink than I imagined, but people told me they loved it,” she recalls. “And being Art Deco, the house seemed to suit it.”
Ann thinks her house was built in about 1941. “It was the later end of the Art Deco period. This house has no curves — it’s all squares and rectangles, making it more unusual than normal Art Deco houses.”
Ann has made some sympathetic changes to the house, working with architect Andrew Grant. Ann’s
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partner Mike has also helped the home keep its polish while retaining its integrity.
A granny flat on the ground floor was integrated into the main house and is now a family living room opening on to a deck that steps down to the generously sized lawn.
The kitchen is a contemporary Poliform design from Studio Italia, with a marble island benchtop that blends seamlessly with the home’s vintage. “It’s the best kitchen I have had. It just wipes up beautifully,” says Ann of the space, which includes a Miele oven and a Fisher & Paykel DCS gas hob.
The laundry has been extended and includes copious storage, as well as internal- access to a double garage.
The living room is where Ann spends most of her time in winter, warmed by a gas fireplace.
Original cavity sliding doors allow the space to be separated from the dining room if necessary. Also original are the french doors in the corner of the living room where Ann has her baby grand piano. They lead out to a bougainvillea- covered pergola, which flows on to a terrace and leads down to the pool.
This part of the property is a suntrap and is kept private from the road, thanks to fencing and lush, sub- tropical planting.
The house has three downstairs bedrooms, along with a renovated family bathroom and a powder room.
The stairwell is resplendent with original Art Deco features, including a curved timber balustrade and a tall, angled window. Upstairs is a double bedroom, with wonderful sea views. The master suite has a dressing room, en suite and a sitting area, with original bifold windows that open the room to the fresh air. This is Ann’s favourite part of the house.
Now, with son Sam aged 15, and her daughters flown the coop, Ann and Mike find their home too large.
It’s time for new owners to live in this distinctive pink Mission Bay house.