UNEXPECTED GARDEN OASIS

Light, airy and exceptionally spacious, Margaret and her late husband Peter's Karina Road, New Plymouth home, was a lucky find back in 1996. When you've been accustomed to a large country property it can be quite difficult to contemplate a future life in town where you won't feel hemmed in and claustrophobic. This was particularly the case for Peter.

"We'd looked at several houses up here and Peter had said: 'No, I'm not going to live somewhere, where I open the windows and hear Mrs so and so saying how do you take your tea.' I was beginning to think I was going to be stuck in the country for a long time," Margaret said.

But when she laid eyes on the big brick house in Merrilands, she knew she'd found a gem. She'd been staying with her daughter at the time and they'd gone for a drive.
"It was about this time of year, I can remember the agapanthus were in bloom. The house was still new - built around 1992. When you opened it up it had all this space. It had good bones."

She rang Peter and said: "Katherine and I have seen this house. We think you'll probably like it but it's got orange skirting boards and bright blue window seats ... And he said: 'I'm not sure what you're telling me.' And I said: Well, you're quite good with a paintbrush and I'm good on the end of a sewing machine, so there's nothing we can't fix; it just needs tweaking and it's got some garden.

"So he agreed to come up. It was a lovely day and he walked inside and said: 'I like it. I want it."

They moved in permanently in 2001.

The house is approximately 260sqm including the pergola-beamed decking and double garage. Spaces are large, sunny and flowing with wide window expanses and leafy green views over the garden and neighbouring bush. Quiet creamy walls, warm rimu, soft greenish grey textured weave carpets, down lights and a mix of slim-line venetian blinds and full-length drapes feature throughout. There are central vacuuming and alarm systems.

Rimu double doors, leadlight panels to either side, open to a wide entrance hall which flows past a study and down a couple of wide shallow steps, flanked by curved wall columns, into a large contemporary living area. This in turn flows out through ranch sliders to expansive timber decking, great for summer entertaining. It's Margaret's favourite space.

A custom-made bookcase covers a once blank living room wall. "Peter was a voracious reader and buyer of books and when he saw that wall he said: 'I can put a bookcase there.' The guy who did the kitchen actually designed it; we told him what we wanted. I think it makes the room."

There's a gas fire on a black tiled hearth surrounded by a rimu mantel. "The fire was just there on the wall by itself, it looked naked. I decided it needed dressing, so we went to Wellington. We agreed we wanted rimu and black tiles. I carted Peter round endless shops ... Then we came home and saw what we wanted here." It was a similar scenario with the charming mirror above the mantelpiece.

On the far side of the room is a big corner window seat. A similar one features in the lovely spacious master bedroom, dressed with elegant furniture, which also flows out to the decking. A generous walk-in wardrobe and en suite bathroom feature too.

Passages to the left of the entrance hall connect two more double bedrooms, a bathroom with spa bath and shower, separate loo and access to the garage and laundry. To the right, behind the curved wall, are a dining room and a large kitchen with masses of rimu cupboards, big pantry, generous bench space and good quality appliances.

The garden is lush and green. A semi-circular lawn is fringed with colourful plantings. There is boxed hedging, terraced layers and living walls, a potager and citrus trees. Magnolias, camellias, roses, fuchsias, clematis and lots of natives. Many of the plants started life in Margaret's country garden which she used to open for the garden festival.

Please phone Dianne on 0800 434 872 for your personal appointment to view.

Expressions of Interest Over $569,000