Style Insider: Every inch of this small city property has been used.

A cleverly crafted Auckland home and garden has everything this couple needs

There’s not a corner in this house that’s not used,” says Kim Hill, sitting in the cosy living room of her Grey Lynn townhouse. “And really how much space do you actually need?” asks partner Jonathan Bowen. Not all that much as it turns out, if it’s as well thought-out as this home and its garden, which packs a pool, spa and fireplace into a pocket-handkerchief space.

They’ve even squeezed in two offices, with Kim running DoubleAgent, her boutique advertising agency, upstairs in a plantfilled room overlooking the pool, and Jonathan installed in a space over the garage set up for his aircraft sales business.

Their work-from-home set-up means “we’re not climbing over each other,” says Kim. “We pretty much see each other in the morning, take the dog for a walk and the next time we catch up is in the evening.”

When they do reconvene, it’s likely to be in their resort-like garden beside the pool – a feature that first drew Jonathan to the home 16 years ago. “I’d just come from a villa and I didn’t want another one – they’re draughty and I was over that villa layout. I walked into this and it just looked great.” One look down the steps to the sunken lounge and out to the pool and he was hooked. So is Kim, who met Jonathan shortly after he’d bought the house.

While the original layout works perfectly, there’s not much that hasn’t been revamped, after a three-month reclad turned into a year-long renovation. As building work revealed problem after problem, the couple moved out while cladding, roof, decks and joinery were renewed. “There’s not a single remaining door or window,” says Jonathan.

They don’t regret the hassle and expense though, as the home is now beautifully quiet and snug. When it’s stormy, you’d never know it, says Jonathan, then “you open the door and it’s howling”.

‘How much space do you actually need?’

Kim describes their style as “earthy and eclectic”, incorporating mementoes from Turkey, Greece, Africa, India, Bali and South America, many of which are displayed on the living room shelving Jonathan and Kim designed.

For Kim, who has many years of advertising agency art directing behind her, anything too matchy-matchy is out. “Even with bed linen I’ll mix things up, instead of having sets of things... any earthy colour works here.”

Their one design fail was a brown carpet that didn’t wear well and was replaced a few years later with black. “If you put brown down on the floor you’re really limited with what you can do with curtains and bed linen. Black is great. There’s a bit of vacuuming involved but it goes with everything and suits the house better,” says Kim.

Outside, they’ve made the most of every centimetre. As well as the pool there’s an industrial-looking cast concrete spa and fireplace, both built by Jonathan, with the help of a friend. He’d already experimented with building a concrete spa at a previous property. “With my first one, the concrete was so heavy it got a bit out of shape. It was meant to be square but it wasn’t… it was a bit organic looking,” he says with a grin.

This time he nailed it, modelling the angle of the seat on an extremely comfy old couch.

‘All the planting is tropical, and will look good all year round’

“It is absolutely perfect,” says Kim. “In winter we have a spa just about every single night.”

Mark Read of Natural Habitats created the leafy backdrop, aiming for a cost-effective approach. The old fence was painted in Resene Emperor, an earthy colour with a hint of purple that looks good with dark green foliage and contrasts with the corten steel used to cover cracked old planter boxes, avoiding the expense of replacing them.

“All the planting is tropical, and will look good all year round,” says Mark, who chose plants that don’t take up a lot of room and would grow tall enough to provide some privacy without blocking the light – including cane palms, ginger, heliconia, chamaedorea and dracaena.

The fireplace is a magnet for guests but plans to cook on it were abandoned after its fierce heat meant the cook was in danger of combusting. “We tried wrapping tinfoil around our legs to protect ourselves from the heat and even then we had to cook in turns. We just got roasted. We cooked on it a couple of times and that was it,” says Kim.

That aside, the fireplace was a happy place for the couple during lockdown – Jonathan had the foresight to get in a decent load of firewood. “We spent a lot of time out there. On a really still night, it’s absolutely awesome,” says Kim.

THIS PAGE (clockwise from far left) Kim Hill and Jonathan Bowen’s Auckland home is filled with mementoes of overseas travel like this Turkish green vase; the portrait is by Kim. The dining table is from Republic Home and the light shade was bought in Melbourne. Kim and Jonathan designed the shelving, the coffee table is from Republic Home and the Source Mondial rug has all the colours the couple love; the BoConcept sofa has recently been re-covered as it’s the perfect shape for the room. The small kitchen tiles were found in a friend’s garage and were a “massive jigsaw” to install. OPPOSITE (from left) The couple with French bulldog Batgirl beside the spa pool Jonathan built. Old planter boxes were refreshed with corten steel cladding.

THIS PAGE The pillar in the outdoor area came from an old wharf and works well with the weathered look of the concrete and corten steel; plants around the pool include parlour palms, Cordyline stricta ‘Showoff’ and Australia umbrella trees. OPPOSITE (from left) An Artichoke pendant light by Louis Poulsen from ECC hangs over the entrance and the hallway that leads to the bedrooms and Kim’s office. The wall behind Kim and Jonathan’s bed has been painted a deep charcoal to work with the colours of the ensuite; the artwork above the bed is an original Indian miniature from Udaipur, painted on silk.