PAYING HOMAGE
Design couple immediately spotted the potential in cedar home, writes SANDRA GOODWIN
This property charmed Kent and Tracey Hemingway into unexpectedly putting down roots for 16 years.
Kent owns design furniture stores Homage and Tracy is a graphic designer, and they immediately appreciated how they could enhance this 1980s cedar home when they saw it tucked down a driveway off Orakei Road.
Kent says: “Originally we thought we’d be staying here for a two-year ‘do up and flick on’ project, but it ended up being so fantastic living here that we’ve stayed on 16 years.”
The couple had been poised to start renovations elsewhere when their builder realised his initial estimate needed revising upwards. So they spent the weekend investigating what their looming investment in renovating would buy elsewhere.
Kent says: “We’d initially wrote off this place because it had an Orakei Road address, but then we came down and saw how peaceful it was set down this driveway and we were hooked on it. We’d bought and sold within five days.”
On possession day they had painters lined up to smarten the brown exterior with a black and white colour scheme complemented by copper spouting.
Kent says: “I don’t think there’s an inch of this property inside or out which we haven’t touched.”
They’ve overhauled the interior, created double garaging, re-landscaped and reroofed.
The double Grammar-zoned location is five minutes by scooter from Kent’s Newmarket store and handy for the whole family including daughters Lauren, 17, Cushla, 15, and family dog Olive.
The hubbub of Orakei Road disappears with their elegantly treed driveway. The internalaccess double garage with offstreet parking out front has a rear roller door accessing parking for a trailer or small boat.
Tracey and Kent upgraded the lino flooring downstairs , with oak parquet floors. Painting dark chunkily beamed interior ceilings white was transformative.
Kent says: “We’re northfacing, the light just floods inside and the place has a kind of Cape Cod feeling.”
A lounge with fireplace flows through into the dining room which opens to outdoor entertaining in a landscaped courtyard with an outdoor fireplace, made private by pleached trees. Level lawn starts nearby.
Kent says it’s a great home to entertain in, sometimes starting with drinks sitting around the island in the entertainers’ kitchen. The kitchen-family room’s cathedral-like white beamed ceilings soar above.
A powder room and laundry room complete the downstairs of this home with gas central heating.
Previous owners commented the layout was a parental dream as anyone leaving the upper level’s three bedrooms has to pass by the master suite, equipped with an en suite, walk-in-wardrobe and Orakei Basin views.
The third bedroom along the upper hallway with family bathroom has ladder stairs to a loft-like room which has alternated between being Tracey’s office and the girls’ hang-out zone.
Part of their impetus for finally selling is to get triple garaging so Kent doesn’t have to store a beloved classic car offsite. Ray White Remuera agent Steen Nielsen says: “123 Orakei Road is much more than the stunning presentation and immaculate maintenance. It's a home full of soul and a special feel you have to view to appreciate.” Auction: November 6 Contact: Steen Nielsen Ray White, 0275 578 336