It was all about the feel first and the look later, for a renovating Auckland couple.

Refurbishing this mid-century family home had more to do with emotions than aesthetics

You arrive home and walk through the door: how do you want to feel? That was the question for Ian and Emma Lee as they renovated their Belmont, Auckland house right after moving in three years ago. “At the start we were brainstorming, looking at magazines,” says Ian. “We had ideas, but we kept going back to less about how it should look and more about how we wanted it to feel. We started doing this exercise of imagining the different emotions we wanted to evoke in each room.”

Calm, relaxed, soft and comfortable was what they decided on. So they came up with a carefully worded brief: A private retreat with a touch of casual luxury set in a subtropical garden. “We had to make up that term, casual luxury,” says Ian. “It’s luxury, but luxury that you can live in,” says Emma. Then reality set in. How do you actually express the idea of casual luxury with furniture and finishes?

That’s where Napier interior designers Vic Bibby and Dael Brady came in. Says Emma: “I spent quite a lot of time on the internet looking for an interior designer. A lot of the designs were very white, very stark, and at that point we wanted a lot of colour. We had a look at their website and it had so much personality.”

Their instincts were right – colour was the key. “It was a really great brief,” says Dael. “Sometimes it’s very hard to articulate what your style is. Very few people can do that.” >

“As soon as you want an upmarket resort feel you kind of have to go quite soothing with your colour palette,” Dael says. “We made their room a deeper blue so it was a real haven for them and it gave a bit of depth as well. There’s a link to the colour a few times throughout the house.”

The couple says it took two or three months to decide just how colourful they wanted to go. “There were many debates; it was an evolving process,” says Emma. “We didn’t always agree but we’d always seem to come back and be on the same path.”

All the while, Bibby & Brady listened and guided. “They were really smart about colour choices and texture. The colour palette of our interior subtly reflects the greenery of the garden and connects both spaces,” says Emma. “They had really good suggestions, things we never would have thought about. Tiling the front of the kitchen island, that was an amazing idea.”

“Those curtains,” says Ian of the linen drapes in the living room. “I’ve never loved curtains before in my life. I love these curtains. They have a real sculptural quality when the light ripples through them.”

Mood boards from Bibby & Brady helped with the vision. “We had a couple of elements that we really wanted – we knew we wanted wallpaper but we didn’t know what – so they helped us pull it all together,” says Emma.

The bonus for Ian and Emma was that their mid-century house had already been extended and upgraded by the previous owners. “The builder we got in for the pre-purchase building inspection said, ‘I hope you guys get this one, it’s really solid,’” says Ian.

“The extension is quite sympathetic to the old house: they chose wooden doors and wooden windows; we really appreciate that.” >

Q&A

Best advice I ever received: If you don’t want to waste time or money, be clear about what you want before you start, and measure everything three times. (Ian)

Bravest thing we did: Paint the whole master bedroom, including frames and doors, blue – scary but we love it. (Emma)

Best seat in the house: Lying on the outdoor furniture on the deck. You get to take in the house and the garden at the same time. (Emma)

Best thing about the renovation: It was a fun challenge for us to do as a couple, and it was really satisfying seeing the ideas come to life. (Ian)

Ian and Emma Lee

Ian and Emma had been living in Meadowbank, in an old baker’s cottage that they loved. But when Blake, five, and Isla, four, came along, the 70sqm house was too much of a squeeze. The Auckland property market was roaring at the time so they eventually turned to the North Shore. “We’d ruled out everywhere else,” says Emma. They had a look at the nearby beaches, the good schools and the friendly neighbours, and were convinced.

Once they secured this house at a nerve-racking auction, they vowed to do it up straight away. They hadn’t renovated their baker’s cottage until they were about to move out and didn’t want to make the same mistake. “We literally made a pact,” says Ian.

So the existing mushroom-coloured walls were painted and wallpapered, and lighting, furniture, art and greenery were added to inject their own style.

“Lots of textures were key,” says Dael. “They wanted a real wow factor in their bathroom, and the kids’ room has wallpaper in there just to give a sense of fun. They didn’t have a large area for entertaining so we had to use the space we had quite cleverly.”

“We often entertain, we’re quite social,” says Emma. “And this space makes it so easy to do that. We both love food and cooking so the kitchen is a dream for us.”

Says Ian: “For whatever reason there will always be a group of people that congregate in the kitchen no matter where you ask them to go, but it’s so useful that the kitchen is right next to the dining table.” Guests milling around the kitchen and dining area often perch on the back of the 3m-long sofa chosen by Bibby & Brady. “Choosing furniture of the right scale is tricky. They were spot on,” says Ian.

“The difference between a house and home is what you put into it, the choices you make that transform it into something more intimate and personal. That’s kind of conceptual but that’s the difference,” he says. “It’s such a peaceful retreat. It makes you feel a world away from it all and that’s all we ever wanted.”

THIS PAGE The kitchen in Ian and Emma Lee’s Belmont, Auckland home is the social hub; Ian and Emma love the layout and added a few cosmetic touches including the tiles on the splashback and island, both from Middle Earth Tiles; they both love to cook: Emma has learned Malaysian cooking from Ian’s mother, and he’s into Italian; Emma chose the artwork in Bali and brought it home as a rolled up canvas on the plane, as well as a feather necklace (seen over the fireplace opposite) and a ukulele: “It was a challenge,” she says. OPPOSITE The living room extension was added to the original house by the previous owners; Ian is a fan of the new linen curtains for the way they filter the light; he’s also keen on the greenery: “I’d like to have more plants but I can’t figure out where to put them, other than hanging them from the ceiling.”

THIS PAGE The couple bought the Slim Aarons acrylic photograph in the US, and were surprised how heavy and fragile it was to carry over; the retro cabinet was Emma’s Nana’s whom she was very close to; the wooden bird is from Homebase Collections. OPPOSITE (clockwise from top ) Designers Bibby & Brady helped the couple with the large scale of the dining table and Soren Liv sofa: “I’ve always wanted a long table so you can have friends and family around it,” says Ian; the living room had a small rectangle of carpet inlaid into the floor, which made the room feel smaller – as it would be expensive and difficult to replace it with floorboards, the solution was a large, thick rug over the top, custom-made by The Ivy House; the lighting is by Douglas & Bec. Ian and Emma Lee with Blake and Isla. A peek into the moody blue master bedroom; Bibby & Brady chose the living room chairs from Maytime so they could be easily moved outside when entertaining; the cushion is custom-made; the coffee table is from Soren Liv.

THIS PAGE The light fitting in the master bedroom is from Annabelle’s, and the drawers are from Citta; the couple first saw the photographic print years ago in a cafe, and tracked it down to hang here – it’s Egypt SandstormWhite Desert by Chris Sisarich; the walls are Resene ‘Spinnaker’. OPPOSITE (clockwise from top left) Bibby & Brady chose to go bold in the tiny powder room with one of their favourite Cole & Son wallpapers, Khulu Vases. Isla on her side of the shared bedroom; she says pink is her favourite colour but Mårdgömma wallpaper from Boråstapeter makes sure the colour isn’t overwhelming; the print is from Society6. On Blake’s side, the wallpaper, also from Boråstapeter, is called Hoppmosse; their parents like the wallpaper: “I wasn’t quite sure how you could combine a girl’s room and a boy’s room all in one and have it a bit girly and a bit playful but Bibby & Brady pulled it off,” says Emma; the light is from Madder & Rouge and the print is also from Society6.

THIS PAGE Blake at the front door; eventually the Lees would like to change the front of the house, adding a verandah and perhaps converting the single garage underneath into an extra room.OPPOSITE (from top) A friend of Blake’s lives next door and likes to pop over through a hole in the hedge; the Lees enjoy the family-friendly area: “We’re very lucky,” says Emma. The couple love the feeling of arriving home; the vintage rug was found on Trade Me and the light is original to the house; Emma had family photos made into a collage by IXXI.