COME ON IN
The more the merrier at a Mount Maunganui family home where the holiday vibe lasts all year
The welcome mat is always out at this beachfront family home where every day’s a holiday
It’s sunday morning, and the McSweeneys’ beachfront kitchen is crowded with seven children flipping and devouring hideous-looking pancakes. Mount Maunganui parents Gill and Pete McSweeney are unfazed by the grey batter – someone added black food colouring – or the chattering, hungry horde that wolfs down breakfast before dashing across the road to a park.
This is exactly the life they envisaged inside their family home atop sand dunes, with plenty of noise and action and space for extras alongside their own brood. School and surf club friends and neighbours’ children wheel in and out of the driveway on scooters or skateboards, or run up from the beach to see Ruby, 14, Lily, 12, Ella, 11 and Jack, 10. Accompanying adults frequently wander in and stay for a meal or beer or wine, usually perched on the seaward end of the kitchen island.
“The idea was always to have a real beach house, a place that could handle sand inside, feet on the couch,” Gill says.
“And lots of visitors,” her husband adds. “There are plenty of impromptu gatherings here. We never know who’s going to be here for dinner and that’s the way we like it.”
Pharmacist Pete and teacher Gill are old schoolmates from Matamata, each spending numerous childhood and teenage holidays on Bay of Plenty beaches.
“I always wanted to live at the Mount,” says Pete. “You know those endless summers at the beach that you had when you were young? This place is trying to recapture that, only now it’s our everyday life. Our kids are definitely living the Kiwi dream, in the sea all day in summer, then back down on the beach at night to play spotlight or have a bonfire with other local kids.” >
THIS PAGE The front deck view towards Mount Maunganui; planting has been kept as natural as possible, with wiwi and muehlenbeckia edged with driftwood.
OPPOSITE (clockwise from top left) The outdoor shower is a must – in summer the household’s males won’t shower indoors for days at a time. Pete, Gill and Jack on Gill’s favourite sea-gazing sofa; the coffee table was made years ago, for the couple’s first house, by friend Shannon Moyle; Pete had the rug shipped back from Turkey during his travels in 1992. Sliding doors run along three sides of the outdoor dining room and a retractable screen and overhead heaters help mitigate sea breezes.
Gill was initially horrified at the notion of living on the coast. The couple had spent years meticulously planning then building their ideal abode a couple of blocks away, on the edge of Mount Maunganui Golf Course. They’d had 18 glorious months in the house and expected to stay forever.
At least, Gill did. During a holiday in Rarotonga, Pete turned to his wife and offered her a cocktail. Ignoring her protests – it was 10am – he ordered mojitos and announced, “We need to sell that house.”
The self-described project addict had been toying with the notion of creating a holiday house at Whangamata or Waihi Beach. “But I kept coming back to the fact I love the Mount. And why build a beach house we were going to holiday in three weeks a year when we could live in one right here, for 48 weeks a year?”
With Gill quickly onside, Pete began hunting for the right piece of real estate and eventually found a 1950s bach “with a really bad 1980s renovation and an even worse 1990s addition”. However, the site was ideal; elevated and on his favourite stretch of the coastline. The McSweeneys sold the golf course abode and moved in. >
A year of seaside living put an outdoor shower on the wishlist, as well as covered, wind-proof outdoor living space on the seaward side of the building. Lessons had been learned on the last build, too, so they decided on smaller, more cosy spaces, a television-free main living area and a larger scullery. Tauranga architect Brendon Gordon drew plans for a glass-fronted, fivebedroom cedar replacement.
Once construction began, belongings were lugged down the street to a two-bedroom bach belonging to friends. For the next year, Gill and Pete slept in the converted garage and everyone shared the tiny living space and sole bathroom, with occasional supplementary dashes to the portable toilet on their building site.
By December 2015, the second dream home was ready and Pete swears there will be no moving vans in their future.
“Why would we ever move? There is nowhere better – and Gill’s warned me if I leave here, I’m going on my own.” >
Most days, Gill heads up or around Mauao ( Mount Maunganui), or runs along the beach. As a former competitive swimmer she takes her lifeguard duties seriously in summer and parks herself at the front of the house, flippers alongside, to watch her young charges and their friends from an elevated vantage point.
Pete occasionally swims and spends insomniac nights watching ships out at sea.
“You come home at the end of the day and you just chill out very quickly. It’s the sound of the sea, kind of like you’re on holiday the whole time.” Most mornings, he says, it’s quite hard to go to work.
“We’ve had various toys here,” Pete says with a laugh. “We’ve got the kontiki: I’ve used it once. Got the paddleboard: used it once. Got the kayak: gave it away. Really, what Gill and I love most is to sit out here on beanbags, maybe have a beer, look at the view and see the kids out there, loving it.”