Contemporary Connections

While solid and well situated, this home bore all the dated features of its decade, including a glazed conservatory to the rear and a closed-in layout that lacked connection with the outdoors. While they could have moved on and started again, the beloved leafy location and established garden tipped the scales in the direction of a renovation for the homeowners, a semi-retired couple of avid gardeners.

Structurally, the renovation makes use of an existing hip roof over the garage, which is extended into a contemporary gable form and echoed by a second gable to the right housing a new open-plan, modern living space. This social zone is connected on two sides to courtyard gardens, with privacy created through a new brick streetside wall that harks back to the home’s original brickwork. A new master suite then opens onto a courtyard space, while a guest suite connects to the rear garden via a box window seat.

In terms of the exterior, the tired look of the red brick has been given over to a palette of pale grey and soft timber, with pale toned Abodo wood cladding joining the clean lines of Espan 470 Gull Grey roofing, which wraps the two gables. From the street, this new roof is a key feature, leading the eye down towards the home’s front entrance and contrasting beautifully with the garden greenery and terracotta toned wall. On the left, the garage door is rendered invisible by the silvered timber, which merges aesthetically with the soft tones of the Gull Grey COLORSTEEL®.

Gull Grey is at home in beach environments. It sits at the lighter and breezier end of the grey spectrum and resembles the colour of wet white sand and even bleached driftwood. It works well with all the other colours of the coastline including blues, deeper greys, certain reds and even some earth tones. Gull Grey is flexible and adaptable. It is close enough to a rich cream to be suitable as a neutral form of cladding.

Winner of a Regional Award for Alterations and Additions at the 2024 Resene Architectural Design Awards, this is a truly transformative renovation that presents clean lines and a refined, contemporary palette to the street, while the cosy, sleek interiors celebrate and connect to the verdant garden outside. With a raft of low maintenance, lasting materials, including the fresh new COLORSTEEL® roof, the home is now also durable and easy to care for as they enter their retirement years.