Designed for hard knocks
Designer’s brief was for ‘beachy’ place where grandchildren could run free, writes Donna McIntyre
Having built more than 500 houses as a builder and franchise owner of a building company, Tony Houston had clear ideas of what he wanted for this beach house at Omaha. “When you build houses for people you see what works and what doesn’t.” He and his wife Robyn had always wanted a place at Omaha. “We like that this section backs on to Mangatawhiri Rd. We didn’t want to make a big feature of the back of the house and it has a simplicity when you see it from the road,” he says, referring to the vertical cedar and aluminiumfinned exterior.
He and Robyn bought the section in February 2015, started building in August 2016 and finished in December the same year.
“Mark Dowling, who worked for me, designed it. We wanted something simple because we have five grandchildren.
“We wanted something that was really beachy and that all the family could use because little kids tend to knock things around a little bit.
“If you go on holiday, the last thing you want to be doing is saying ‘you can’t do this’ and ‘you can’t do that’. We wanted something that really flowed into a holiday mode.
“And it takes only about two or three minutes to walk to the beach from here. We are in a cul-de-sac so the grandchildren can walk along the footpath and the walkway to the beach without crossing any roads.
“When we come to Omaha, we really relax. We are starting to play golf, and we have a boat with one of our friends. We can relax, watch TV, have a little afternoon sleep. It’s quiet up here.”
In keeping with the relaxed format of their holiday home, when it came to the landscaping, they chose not to have any lawn, instead planting native grasses, shrubs and palms.
But they certainly didn’t scrimp on the quality of the build materials.
“The quality of everything is high. The laminated timber floor is waterproof, top of the range. We wanted something that, if you had sandy or wet feet, you could come in and it wasn’t the end of the world.”
The home is built of vertical cedar with a design centring on the terrace with its suspended fireplace.
“This creates another room, an outdoor eating area. And it also has a Louvretec roof system, so you can open it up so the sun can shine on it or close it if it is wet or if it is too hot.”
The master bedroom opens to the deck. The other bedrooms are further back on the west side. The living area has a large family kitchen, dining and TV area with fireplace. There is also TV and media room by the entrance.
Tony and Robyn have kept to a neutral decor theme, and their designer kitchen has Caesarstone benchtop, mainly Fisher & Paykel appliances plus a deluxe Schweigen range hood.
For heating there are the fireplaces inside and out, two heat pumps, and under floor heating in the bathroom.