This light-touch renovation to a heritage-inspired alpine home gives it a calm, grounded feel.
When you fall in love with a heavenly property but the house has somewhat quirky bones, it can be difficult to decide what to do. Start over with something brand new or work with the existing character? This was the conundrum faced by the owner of this Tāhuna/Queenstown home. Based mostly in Wānaka, he needed a footing on both sides of the Crown Range, and this place with its established trees and close view of Coronet Peak was just the ticket.
Designed with an attractive heritage-era look, the 1990s house lacked cohesion, with a bedroom wing tacked on in an ad hoc manner retrospectively. Despite a north-facing outlook, it was calling out for better access to sunlight and the garden. With single glazing, it was also very cold in winter — not ideal in the deep south.
Fortunately, the homeowner knew just who to call, a team that had designed his Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland and Wānaka homes with great success. Paying respect to the rustic aesthetic, Studio Studio’s Sebastian Negri and Maria Diaz Valentin worked to establish better connections between the living and kitchen spaces, while opening the home to the northern view of the nearby mountain. As Sebastian explains, “With our projects, we look to embrace nature and work with the best features of a house.”
In the family room, where a partial wall with a television blocked the northern sun, this meant creating new sliding doors to access the garden. Now this room enjoys a 270-degree view of the interiors, too. “You can sit there and look at the horizon or at the fireplace.”
To increase energy efficiency, all windows and doors were replaced with triple-glazed joinery. Installing these was a challenge due to the organic nature of schist walls but it was just the start of the designers’ sympathetic approach. They decided to celebrate the home’s imperfections. “It’s about honesty between all the connections,” explains Sebastian. “With nothing to hide the errors, they can be embraced, and we get a sense of age.”
In the kitchen, glossy plaster walls were repaired and repainted with a lime plaster, creating rounded edges and a matte finish, while a section of schist wall was revealed in the family room next door to embrace a hint of history. Plaster walls continue in the communal areas, where skirting boards have been skipped for a simpler look. “The house was super patchy in terms of finishes. For example, the flooring included sections of timber then some schist and some carpet,” says Sebastian.
“It was always a sort of arm wrestle between tidying up and keeping features, or reinstating what was previously there.”
Despite its low ceiling and narrow footprint, the kitchen shines with a sleek new Nordic grey marble island. Built-in timber cabinetry has created more floorspace around its larger footprint, while the impressive original Falcon range was repositioned for better ergonomics.
Connected to the entry foyer and dining room, the double-height lounge showcases the mezzanine office above. Furnishings favour a crafted look, with the hand-tooled solid-oak coffee table a tactile example. Overhead, a hand-wrapped pendant from Barcelona adds drama.
The French oak dining table, made by WRW & Co, was designed by Sebastian. Visible bowtie joints accentuate the human touch in this beautiful piece based on a holiday snap of a table taken by the client in the Basque country. It exemplifies the open collaboration of the process, and the homeowner attests to a deep reverence for Sebastian and Maria’s expertise. “If I’m fifty-fifty on something, I’ll always go for their recommendation,” he says. “While it can be a little more edgy than what I’d normally choose, these features always wind up as my favourites. That’s why you hire professionals: to push your boundaries.”
In the hallway, a secret door reveals a stone staircase leading to a subterranean cellar, complete with wine racks, plastered walls and a black metal spotlight designed by Sebastian. Beyond this door, up a short set of steps, the main bedroom faces the garden, with textured linen walls in grey evoking a moodier look that sets this room apart from the living areas. A curvaceous wooden U Bench by North Island maker Amelia Fagence takes pride of place on one wall.
Bathrooms and the laundry also receive an artful treatment, with glossy handmade Japanese tiles on display in wet areas. In the main bathroom, a metal-framed glazed partition separates the bathtub from the rest of the room, lending a lush sense of luxury. The laundry is lined in a mossy green linen wallpaper, with narrow green and black tiles signalling a departure from the more subdued colour palette of the rest of the house.
With an astute eye for detail and a love of craft, Studio Studio has created an enticingly tactile home with this renovation, enabling the homeowner to sit back and enjoy the tranquillity of those incredible surroundings.
Words Camille Khouri
Photography Biddi Rowley
The post The Tāhuna/Queenstown home that turned its imperfections into a feature appeared first on Homestyle.
