Italian style by the river
This architecturally designed home comes with a solid pedigree, discovers Catherine Masters
Ginny and husband Campbell wanted a little bit of Italy on their elevated section with its magic view over the Waikato River.
“We just love that solid, timeless architecture that you get in Europe,” says Ginny, who has Italian heritage. “We didn’t want a generic home where it’s trendy one minute and not the next. We wanted something timeless.”
With that in mind, a lot of thought went into the process of the build, she says, and the home they have lived in for 10 years has ticked all the boxes.
The architecturally designed house has an internal courtyard, a front terrace, concrete floors on both levels, and many Italian touches down to the quality Alessi toilets.
Ginny says the family had lived on a 6ha block but after their children left home she and Campbell were “rattling around”.
They were told about this section by a real estate agent friend who wanted them as neighbours but initially Ginny felt the land was too narrow.
The agent then suggested both they and she buy a section in the middle and resurvey, which they did.
That gave Ginny and Campbell a lot more Waikato River frontage and the next move was to approach architect Rick Lambourne who had designed their beach house in Tairua.
Says Ginny: “We loved what he did, and I had a brief — I’d been ripping ideas out of magazines that I liked for a long time beforehand — and he gave us everything we wanted plus more, but the house did end up at 408sq m, so it’s a very big house.”
The size gave them a super wide hall, a huge master bedroom with en suite, a large open plan living area with a media room off to one side, and much more.
The internal courtyard has views through the living area because the doors are all cavity sliders, which means they disappear, plus the terrace has a covered pergola.
The front courtyard area has a water feature and is professionally landscaped, and the front entrance is floor-to-ceiling glass.
Just inside the house is a “magnificent” crystal chandelier and because the entranceway is wide with plenty of wall space Ginny and Campbell use it as an art gallery.
A wrought iron balustrade built to their design leads up to the second level and Ginny points out the top level is all concrete floor, which is unusual in a house, because they wanted underfloor heating on both levels. The concrete slab at the entranceway has been left “raw” which gives an industrial look, and the walls downstairs are concrete block with a plaster render which has been great, Ginny says.
“It’s a rough texture so it’s very forgiving. We’ve had a lot of grandchildren here over the time we’ve been here and the walls are not knocked around at all — they’re just like new, really.
Ginny has made sure there are plenty of European touches to the house, such as the interior design of the roomy bedrooms.
“For the bedrooms I used beautiful Lizzo fabric which is really expensive and the bedspreads and the cushioning and the curtains all tie in so they come with the property.”
Even the laundry is packed with features — there’s a pull-out ironing board, pull-out baskets, two wine fridges, engineered stone benches and tons of storage. All the lighting throughout the house is Italian.
“They’re not just ordinary down lights, they’re Italian and they’re special. Even the laundry’s got a beautiful light fitting in it — the light fittings are a feature of the house.”
The Bontempi kitchen is Italian, too, and features a Carrara marble slab island bench. Despite 10 years’ use, Ginny says the kitchen is “just like brand new”.
She and Campbell like to sit on the terrace at night with a glass of wine and watch the sunsets across the river, and the house has hosted some great gatherings.
“It’s a fantastic house for entertaining because of the indoor/outdoor flow.”
The big master bedroom has around 12m of floor-to-ceiling wardrobes with pull-down access, and there is a deck with a spa pool.
The house also has a solar panel, double glazing and has provision for a lift. It is only a short walk to the boutique shops and cafes of Cambridge.