New Zealand House and Garden
Waterfront holiday home is a full family affair
It was very much family to the fore when Tauranga-based Shelley and Geoff Payne decided to create a holiday home. With one daughter in Tauranga and two in Auckland, Shelley felt the urge to create a midway family gathering place. That only intensified when daughter Katharine and her husband Mike provided a grandson, Miles.
"When our little prince came along we wanted to do more connecting and get to see them more often. I said to Geoff that we needed to find an easily accessible holiday pad everyone would come to," Shelley says.
The quest to find the perfect place involved Shelley bundling up the family dog and pointing the car towards Coromandel – and Geoff deciding he'd best provide his wife with human company. After three such excursions winding their way down through various bays, the Paynes decided Pauanui was the place. Only about 1.5 hours from Tauranga, and less than two from Auckland, it would suit all.
Shelley's holiday home vision was an iconic black creosote bach on the beach. What they've ended up with isn't quite that. "A new house on Pauanui's waterways was never part of the picture. But then it occurred to me that I was being a bit selfish with my dream. A waterways location with a boat on the jetty would serve our family well, as we have boaties, fishermen and divers."
Nobody was arguing with that rationale. This new house didn't come immediately, however. Shelley and Geoff first bought a three-bedroom "beautifully fitted out" house that everyone loved. But it took only one shared Christmas holiday to realise the house was too small – especially when Miles decided the cot was no longer for him.
An available site a short walk away offered the opportunity to build something larger. Shared family time was the impetus behind having a beach home, and family was also significantly involved in creating this one. Finding a building company was no issue as daughter Alexandra and her husband Luke own multi-award-winning firm 90 Degrees Construction – handy not just for the build, but for industry recommendations such as Adam Taylor Architecture.
Katharine has a graphic design background and helped with the interior decisions. Daughter Ashleigh had a go on the excavator when the site was being prepared and helped Geoff box up the retaining wall. Once the house was built, she turned her attention to culinary matters – she's an excellent cook, her mother asserts, so the kitchen had to be wonderful.
"Son-in-law Mike is our lovely, calm, zen boy. He brews the craft beer and the truth of the matter is that he runs around after Miles while the rest of us fluff around," Shelley says.
Geoff is an engineer so was involved in the structural aspects and loved the home's interesting, and therefore challenging, design. For example, their one-level build features a pop-top roof, which allows natural light into internal bathrooms and creates a soaring living space. As Geoff knows, such expansiveness is only achieved with substantial engineering. Specifically, seven tonnes of steel elevated at 4m and spanning 12m.
Architectural designer Adam Taylor's concept for this family retreat was to be low-slung and modernist and to look as if it were floating on its little peninsula – Tairau Harbour is on one side and canals on the other. The house celebrates its spectacular location with floor-to-ceiling glass that frames the water on two sides along with views of the Pauanui hills.
Builder Luke says clean lines and unseen detailing elevate this build. There is no conventional finishing – no scotias or skirting boards, no joins or ridges to mar the pop-top's low-profile parapet, and even the garage door doesn't have a jamb. All downpipes and gutters are internal, so are hidden.
Luke believes the build is an example of how boundaries can be pushed, and the best designs originate when builders, architects and clients engage with each other early on.
Shelley says the house was always going to have plenty of bedrooms. The five bedrooms (including a bunk room for five-year-old Miles) and four bathrooms cater superbly for all the family, as well as Miles' other grandma who is an old school friend of Shelley's. She adds to the holiday family fun.
The living area opens to outdoor living spaces on both sides of the house so the family can chase the sun and enjoy different water views. Sliding shutters enable the harbourside outdoor living area – which includes a spa pool – to be closed off if there's the need to batten down the hatches.
Shelley and Geoff love the snug that was incorporated within the big, modernist, open-plan living space. It's enclosed within three walls of soundproof glass and a fourth wall painted deep blue. One glass wall of the snug looks out to the harbour, one to the spa area, and one to the kitchen.
"You can still see the harbour from the snug, and there's a fireplace and paper-thin TV screen. It's a lovely, intimate space," says Shelley. "Geoff loves the snug, which he thought would be his hideaway place from the family but everyone retreats with him."
When it came to dressing the house, the three daughters encouraged their parents to embrace the contemporary. "Pretty much everything is new in the house. I wasn't allowed to bring any of my 40-year-old clobber with me – although I've snuck in a couple of things," Shelley says with a laugh.
"Katharine manoeuvred Geoff into buying a big dining table to seat us all at Christmas. He capitulated too when it came to the seating in the snug… and all of a sudden I was Modern Milly."
Shelley adds that the art, by Tauranga artists Angela Maritz and Lynne Brown, was her own call. Lynne's work can also be found at Tauranga's Trinity Wharf Hotel, which Geoff and Shelley own.
The couple agree that a project involving so many people could have been a nightmare. On the contrary: "It was a terrific, lovely experience doing this with Luke and Alex," Shelley says.
The extended Payne family are enjoying their second summer here but as Shelley says: "We love it all seasons. In a way we love it a little more when it's not summer, as we have the tiny village to ourselves. In spring we love watching the geese and oystercatchers trotting their babies across the road to the estuary – we see the rhythm of a different life and that is lovely."
Q&A
Most memorable moment during the build: Our grandson operating the compactor on the driveway, just as our [late] son had done on a previous build over 20 years ago. Happy and sad memories.
First thing we do when we arrive: Check out how the citrus and avocado trees are doing.
Where to find great coffee: A takeaway coffee from Cabana, which goes with the best doughnuts for miles from Pauanui Bakery.
Best walk: Pauanui Waterfall, a 10 minute walk from the main highway with a great swimming hole as a bonus.
Geoff Payne
Published online 18 Feb, 2020
Link to article here