ART OF THE UPGRADE
Mission impossible? No but this renovation was as challenging as it gets,
When it comes to genuine CBD living you won’t find many properties as well-located as this renovated, three-level townhouse in Freemans Bay, Auckland. At 190sq m, it’s pretty spacious.
Wayne and Lynne Watts have owned the house for 24 years, and because they were spending more time at their Mangawhai home, decided to put it on the market. “We said it was a do-up, but nobody seemed to want that sort of challenge,” says Wayne. “We’d always known its potential, so we thought we might as well bite the bullet and do the work ourselves. Now we’re so pleased that we did, because it looks amazing.”
At ground level is an entrance lobby and access to the double garage. There’s a bedroom and new bathroom down here. A patio will have you forgetting you’re minutes from the motorway. “There’s no traffic noise at peak times because the vehicles all crawl so slowly,” says Wayne.
The middle level is where all the living takes place, with a large skylight flooding the whole floor with sunshine.
The new kitchen has top-notch bells and whistles, including a wine fridge, with ample living and dining space spanning out around it. There’s an enormous central island and the splashback, with its geometric black tiles, is especially impressive. As in the lower level and on the stairs, there’s smart flooring throughout, in a shade of grey/brown ash.
Wayne and Lynne enjoy the expansive deck that lies beyond the generous dining space.
Lynne’s interior designer niece chose and brought all the materials for the renovation together. “We were so lucky to have her, because she knew exactly how to make the project turn out as well as it has and we were fortunate in having really good builders, too,” says Wayne.
The third floor is where you’ll find the master bedroom and another brand new bathroom. There’s also a terrace where Wayne and Lynn had a spa pool for many years. “We used to hop in at nights and follow the progress of the Sky Tower as it was being built,” says Lynne. “When there were fireworks we had a grandstand view.”
As in the rest of the house, the colours, materials and textures on the third floor are inspired by nature and won’t date in a hurry.
Lynne is philosophical about doing such a large amount of work, then moving on. “I’m not sorry because we actually really enjoyed it,” she says.