Tuesday 28 May 2013

A fabulous French style Auckland home

A few weeks ago I saw a fabulous French style home in a local realty paper, immediately I shrieked out to my husband "come and look at this! I was so excited as the interior style was exactly the way I had foreseen my dream home. I have a file on my book shelf, titled "Home Ideas", it's full of ideas I've collected from interior magazines, nearly every image is inspired by all things French or country style and we are now at a stage in our lives of possibly realising this dream. Initially thoughts were a hectare of land where I could have some chickens a lovely large veggie garden and a small paddock. However, living so near the city, but still close to the beach we are not sure we are ready for a complete lifestyle change. We love living a short walk from the Mission Bay beach but it was hard to imagine how I could realise my dream on a small city section, that was until, I saw this amazing home. This house without a doubt has wow factor plus and I am excited that the proud owners Helen and Jason have allowed me to share their home with you today.

The property was designed by Aaron at Paradise Building Developments, who co-incidentally is Helen's brother. Aaron worked with Helen and Jason to design the house to suit their site. The interior of the home was designed by Helen and Jason who worked closely with their builder. The beautiful kitchen, laundry and some of the other detailing such as the window seat upstairs were designed by Aaron's wife's business, The gourmet Kitchen Company, yes it was all in the family and a very talented family they are. This lovely home is  226 square metres with 4 bedrooms, three bathrooms and a double garage, yet surprisingly it sits on only 449 square metres of land.  

I am always saying, "a picture paints a thousand words but in this case you really do have to see it to appreciate this amazing house, the feeling evoked when you walk from the entrance to the living area cannot be felt through an image. Tomorrow afternoon the house will be auctioned and I am very envious of its prospective owners. Details of the property and auction can be found "here". Why am I not bidding you may ask? a stubborn husband that is adamant he wants to remain by the sea. However, I now know I can build my French style dream without the necessity of a large piece of land and I may be stealing more than a few ideas from Helen.

Image above: A lovely stone table sets the tone on the deck off the family room


Above: stunning dark Oak floors bring warmth and character to the vast open plan living area. I love the light suspensions above the island, they reminded me a little of the ones in the post I wrote on the Manhattan apartment.

Above: a fabulous traditional kitchen with an amazing built in dresser, I like the clever way the dark wood island has been designed to have the appearance of a farmhouse table.

Above: The dining area extends towards the family room where there is a cathedral ceiling and beams.

Above: off to the left of the kitchen down a few steps it leads to the laundry, beautifully appointed in the same detail as the kitchen. The door leads to the garage and at the other end out of our view is a complete bathroom and double bedroom.

Above: The family room extends from the dining area and opens out to the front patio. Cathedral ceilings add to the sense of space.

Above: The formal lounge area to the rear of the open plan living is more secluded. With a flame gas fire and board and batten ceilings, this lounge area is comfortable and cosy without being too formal. The doors lead to a lovely tiled rear patio and garden area. I even spotted a raised veggie patch.

Above: The master bedroom is simple but stylish. I noticed it had a fabulous textured paper behind the bed, unfortunately it is difficult to determine in this image.

Above: en suite to the master bedroom, continuing the lovely aged wood theme with his and her basins and beautiful bevelled glass mirrors.

Above: A feminine double bedroom 

Above: upstairs bathroom with lovely little mosaic tiles and again the beautiful bevelled glass mirror

Above: I love the industrial chair at the desk, a mix of styles creates a functional boys room.

I hope you enjoyed a peek into this wonderful home and if by any chance you want to race to the auction tomorrow you will find more details in my link above.  I know my readers must get fed up with me reminding them about my French style bedroom makeover, however, if you are new to my blog you may want to see the post on how I turned a previously bland room with a pair of old shutters, into something special.

If you love French style, you may also like to view two slideshows I've created on various images of architecture, interiors and gardens and tour another beautiful 'new' French style house 'Villanova' PA.....Read more here.



I will be sharing this post with the following blog parties:












12 comments:

  1. This house is really nice. It's not beautiful, and that isn't bad, but it reminds me of what I am doing to my house right now. Our new house is at least 1/2 the size of our last house, and we have a great room. I want it to look nice, not pretty, but not modern. I think I am going in the right direction after looking at these pictures. Thanks for sharing. Blessings Paula Lusk

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    1. Thanks Paula for your comments, I actually visited this home and the photos don't portray the size of the large open plan living area nor the wonderful feeling you get when you walk in the door. Unfortunately I had to use the images provided, there were some rooms that had some very beautiful features that I was not able to show properly.

      The bathrooms were really lovely, I especially loved the master en suite. I am pleased that it has confirmed the direction you are going on your own home :)

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  2. Wow what a great house. I especially love the kitchen and bathroom. I can see why it inspires you.

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    1. The kitchen and bathrooms were gorgeous, such a warm feeling, just the right amount of wood versus other textures.

      Thank you for taking time to comment.

      Lee :)

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  3. Hi Lee, my husband and I are the VERY HAPPY purchasers of this beautiful house. We are indeed privileged to the recipients of Helen and Jason's hard work. Thank you both so much.

    We only saw the property by 'accident' on Saturday and bought on Wednesday - so not us...

    We are so looking forward to enjoying the house.
    Denise.

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    1. Hi, so glad you found my post. Like you I only saw the property on the Sunday but fell in love with it. I also desperately wanted to buy it and battled with my husband but he refused to budge from our suburb and I just didn't have the time to work on him with the auction being Wednesday. I can fully understand your love of this house, I am still going to bed dreaming of it and have decided without a doubt we have to build one very similar.

      I wish you a long and happy life in your new home. If by any chance you decide to sell, please let me know.

      I Would also love to follow up this story once you have settled in so let me know if that's a possibility. You can contact me by email, my email address is on my profile on my blog.

      Lee :)

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  4. Beautiful home and I especially love the kitchen and bath! Thanks for linking to the Open House party.
    xx,
    Sherry

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    1. Thank you for taking time to comment Sherry, yes very lovely home which was more stunning in reality.

      Lee :)

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  5. This house looks so pretty! I am new from southern charm! I would love for you to check out my blog and hopefully follow me back! Nicole

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    1. Thanks Nicole for your comments, I will definitely visit your blog and follow back, thank you for adding yourself as a follower.

      Lee :)

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  6. wow! This house is really beautiful! Every women wish to have such home including wonderful bathroom and classic kitchens for sure.

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  7. well well well! I think this is it. The most beautiful house I can ever imagine in dreams. House in which such amazing bathroom and I love French country kitchens too. And that stone table set and view is just mind blowing!

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Thank you for your time to leave a comment, I ♥ to read your comments and try to reply to them all.