FEATURE HOME
39 VALLEY RD, MT EDEN
Some people mark their life’s milestones by birthdays or anniversaries. But Englishman Richard Claridge remembers his big life change as the year that Liverpool won the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, and the European Champion Clubs’ Cup trophy. Oh, and he and wife Lucinda Sherborne bought their odd — but sweet — bungalow in Mount Eden. Their boys Oscar and Freddy were then 7 and 3, and the house, despite its funny old driveway and disconnect from the backyard, was fine for boys and skateboards, walking distance to the primary school, handy to the village and Eden Park.
Lucinda and Richard knew they would renovate the house, the third that they’d done, but took their time finding an architect and settling on what they’d like. Both enjoy the process and have firm views on what they like, so working with Graeme Campbell was a meeting of the minds.
They spent more than a year refining the design, a year living somewhere else and finally, in 2011 they moved into their new place.
“We kept the ‘cute little building, with cubes added’,” says Lucinda. “We were careful to retain as much as we could, or at least their bungalow look. So even where we replaced windows with double-glazing, they look like they’ve always been here.”
Campbell’s plam was not the usual box-on-the-backof-old-house renovation, as he rearranged much of the front of the house too. The old side entrance porch was absorbed back into the house to make a bigger bathroom and second bedroom, replaced by a striking entrance way and carport at the front of the property.
The ceiling-height modern door and wall of frosted glass immediately hint at the transformation within, as does the clever front landscaping by Trish Bartleet of raw concrete pavers, mondo grass and palms. Campbell kept the proportions of the original hallway and rooms, including the tall ceilings, but cleaned them up by removing architraves, adding modern skirting in oldproportions, as well as tall doors.
The effect is crisp, airy and inviting, but still a nod to bungalow style, a perfect foil to the family’s mid-century furniture and striking art collection. Old fireplaces were removed, replaced with cool industrial-look radiators and underfloor heating.
The front of the house includes the master bedroom, with a wall of folding back windows from the former sunroom collecting the afternoon sun.
Lucinda and Richard worked with old friend, interior designer Kathleen Haimes of Uno Design for the palette of soft linen curtains, rich carpets and smart finishes. The walk-through wardrobe and master en-suite are Lucinda’s joy, with every inch of storage carefully detailed. There are two more bedrooms and a generous Size: Land 506sq m, house 244sq m (approx). Price guide: Around $2.5 million. Auction: Wednesday 6 July, 12 noon on site. Inspect: Sat/Sun noon12.30pm. Schools: Mt Eden primary, Kowhai intermediate, double grammar. Contact: Colleen Strachan, Unlimited Potential, 021 283 6194. On the web: uprealestate.co.nz/ UPM11406 family bathroom (complete with wet-room shower as well as the tub) on this floor. The bedroom nearest the kitchen and family room has shutters to open into the two level space, and is currently a handy office for the family.
The old sitting room and kitchen is now a sunny media room, catching glimpses of the new box that transformed the property.
It had always frustrated the couple that the house was a level above the garden, meaning an outside trek to the basement laundry and no indoor-outdoor flow. Campbell’s two-storey concrete and glass addition is half a floor down from the old house (stair treads are