VAULTING AMBITION

Couple makes the most of arts-andcrafts house, writes Catherine Smith

If you are after a beautifully designed renovation, with every planned detail down to the wrought iron stair bannisters and garden topiary, you’d do well to follow designer Paula McIntosh and her husband Ross as they’ve worked their way first through Remuera and now Herne Bay.

Certainly the family who bought 83 Marine Parade seven years ago from Paula and Ross found there was nothing to do — except move in the furniture, light the outdoor fire and sit admiring sunsets over Cox’s Bay and the upper Waitemata.

Unlimited Potential agent Patrick McCarthy says that this is a timeless example of Herne Bay living — northern slopes, magnificent renovation, and panoramic views.

The key to the success of the renovation, begun nearly a decade ago, is that Paula and Ross made the most of the 1910 two-storey, arts-and-crafts-style house.

They added a double garage with internal access, a side entrance to preserve the pretty corner-bay front room, opened up the floor plan, and increased connection to the garden.

But it was out the back that made the house: an expansive room with a vaulted ceiling opens the living, dining room and kitchen to the backyard.

The beamed ceilings play off details of the original house, the clerestory windows in the pitch repeating the pattern of the old (but with huge bi-fold doors that open the dining room to the paved terrace with outdoor fireplace).

The couple played with splitting levels — this big room is below the main house, leaving space for a mezzanine room above. Below is a scullery off the kitchen and a media room (there’s also space for wine, a laundry, further bathroom and storage).

The couple’s sophisticated palette combines honed travertine stone floors — heated for winter comfort — marble, oak and stainless steel in the kitchen and scullery, lavish draperies and striking modern-meets-traditional light fixtures.

There’s a bedroom on the entry floor, and three more upstairs, including a lavish master suite.

The owner says that the front entrance parlour has become the ‘grown-ups’ room, lined with books, and a retreat from the entertaining spaces.

The scullery has come into its own for catered parties; the kids have commandeered the media room in winter and the pool and terraces in summer.

“It’s been an entertainers’ delight,” says the owner. “Fantastic sun and sunsets — a great family place.”