So far, so perfect
This spacious and refined home designed by Lee Johnstone and built by Wayne Murray Builders achieves an inspirational balance between clean, modern lines and timeless, natural elegance.
WORDS Kathy Catton PHOTOGRAPHY Jamie Armstrong and Olivia Sullivan
GLEAMING POOL This sparkling Compass X Trainer 10.2 pool from Compass Pools in Quartz was fully customised with features to suit the site and space available.
While out on a regular road bike ride, the homeowner came across this quiet, secluded subdivision and instantly felt its charm. Two years later, the homeowners are newly moved in and loving their new home.
“It just felt right,” says the homeowner, on describing the initial connection he had to the site. “The open space, established trees, and larger section size, coupled with our kids leaving school, made it feel like it was the right time to build again."
The ball was rolling just prior to the impacts of Covid-19 and before the rising construction prices and difficulties of supply of building materials. In hindsight, it was the perfect time.
FABULOUS FLOORING Nextdore has provided the laminate flooring and additional tiling within this home, to create a seamless look and feel to the home.
The couple’s brief was for a four-bedroom home with ensuites in each bedroom, great indoor-outdoor flow and a pool. “My parents put a pool in at their property, and it really helped to bring the family together,” says the homeowner. “We wanted to create that same sense of invitation.”
There was also a desire for a timeless, elegant home. Thinking they were not going to be building again, they wanted this home to be the best it could be.
FURNISHED IN STYLE The dining table, chairs and sofa were all provided by BoConcept to give a cosy and quality feel throughout the home.
a place to draw the family together
It was an obvious choice to enlist Lee Johnstone as the couple’s architectural designer for this build. Lee has designed over 600 beautiful homes and buildings throughout New Zealand. He describes his design vision as heavily traditional but with the best of modern. “I research quite heavily and incorporate traditional styles into modern designs,” he says.
Recommended by a friend of the homeowners, Lee developed initial ideas on the drawing board by hand and then worked closely with the couple to mature the design.
“Most clients don’t really know what they want until we discuss all aspects in detail,” says Lee. “It’s a case of sitting down and talking through the requirements bit by bit, piece by piece, to form an initial image in my mind. Then I go away and put it all on paper and refine as I sketch out some initial ideas based on the clients’ needs and wants.”
What Lee has designed is a modern masterpiece, with a plaster finish and an abundance of glass to provide all-day sun and outstanding views. Careful attention to detail is apparent everywhere, from the internal staircase with glass balustrade to the hidden gutter details for the level entry tiled patios.
With budget in mind, the cladding was kept simple, with a StoArmour Façade Panel System being the product of choice. Lee states, “As a designer, weathering is a top priority. For the sake of minimal additional cost, this is one of the most robust and long-lasting systems around.”
All went smoothly with the design. “Lee is an excellent communicator,” says the homeowner. “Typically, he would have replied within minutes of sending an email.”
This acknowledgement goes both ways, with Lee saying, “What makes this project special is that the clients love it so much. It was a great build process, and with a great building team, nothing was too much trouble.”
Equally high esteem is given to the builders of this project, Wayne Murray Builders, with the homeowner saying, “We engaged Wayne Murray Builders during the first Covid-19 lockdown. It was a very uncertain time, but we are so glad that we took the plunge and chose to work with Wayne and his team.”
QUITE A STATEMENT These stunning entrance and exterior tiles (as well as the bathroom tiles) were all supplied by Brymac Tiles.
Driven to achieve the best possible outcome for their clients, the team at Wayne Murrary Builders pride themselves on high-quality craftsmanship and close on-site involvement and supervision. Jason Barlow, the project foreman, and Wayne worked together to construct a first-class home and deal with any complexities as they arose.
“Like a lot of architectural builds, there were some exciting challenges along the way,” says Wayne. “In the case of this build, one such challenge was the finding a way to install recessed roller blind pockets into a confined and restricted structure at both ceiling levels.”
SUPERIOR QUALITY FINISH The stunning plaster finish to the exterior of the home was provided by Advanced Exterior Plastering Ltd, enhancing the overall finish and presentation of this spectacular home.
In addition, the cantilevered glass stair balustrade also presented complexities. “It was about creating a finish that looked seamless but allowed the balustrade to rise out of the side of the stair, while at the same time be fully accessible, if required,” explains Wayne. “And with the pool, we implemented a design for the perimeter pool tiles that allowed a tile overhang with square edges and crisp lines around the perimeter of the round-edged fibreglass shell pool.”
It’s this attention to detail, impressive rapport and teamwork across all persons associated with this build, and the relationships developed on-site between the builder and the homeowners that is second to none on this project.
“All of the builders and subcontractors were amazing,” says the homeowner. “Jason Barlow set up a Messenger group so we could send through photos of anything we weren’t sure of or ask questions about details of the build. There were never any issues, just challenges to easily overcome.”
“We were fortunate enough to work with clients who trusted us implicitly, allowing us to push a few boundaries to create a home we are all super proud of,” says Wayne.
Wayne Murray Builders have joined a very small group of elite Canterbury builders to have won the prestigious overall winner or ‘Supreme Award Winner in the Master Builders House of the Year Awards’, in this case, not once, but twice.
PERFECT FORM Form Garden Architecture provided landscape plans and 3D imagery, showing all of the stunning landscape and garden design.
COSY OUTDOOR LIVING The striking outdoor fireplace from Simply Heat completes the outdoor room, making it perfect for year round entertaining.
“I’m enormously proud of my team and what we’ve managed to achieve. To also be acknowledged at that level by your industry peers makes it all the more satisfying,” says Wayne.
Both the interior and the exterior of this home exude a sense of understated elegance and modern minimalism: clean lines, light tones and warm textures. Candice from Mooi Design worked with the homeowners to achieve this desired look and feel from the very outset.
“Mooi was able to understand the clients’ vision and help make the selection process easier by directing the client to specific products,” says Candice. “This saves time and money.”
ENJOY MORE SPACE The Louvretec Opening Roof and Vertical Rectangular Louvres means family life easily flows to the outdoors.
Building a new home can be overwhelming as there are so many products available, but using an interior designer helps make the process much more manageable – from tiles, benchtops, flooring, paint colours and furniture etc.
Candice and her team understand that people are busy, saying, “The client selected bathroom tiles with me at one meeting. We met at Brymac Tiles, and I understood the client’s vision, so could make suggestions that I knew would be in line with the look they wanted to achieve.”
With an exemplary and flawless build under their belts, this team of architectural designer, builder, interior designer and homeowner can be immensely satisfied with what they have achieved.
INVOLVED IN THIS PROJECT
BUILDER
Wayne Murray Builders Ltd
0274 350 646
waynemurraybuilders.co.nz
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER
Lee Johnstone Designer
027 478 6571
leejohnstone.nz
INTERIOR DESIGNER
Mooi Design
021 549 412
mooidesign.co.nz
TILES
Brymac Tiles
03 366 8187
brymactiles.co.nz
EXCAVATION
Digout Services Ltd
021 221 2616
digoutservices.co.nz
LOUVRES
Louvretec
03 374 3263
louvretec.co.nz
FLOORING
Nextdore Interiors
03 366 9400
nextdore.co.nz
CUSTOMISED FURNITURE
BoConcept
03 356 1115
boconcept.com
SWIMMING POOL
Compass Pools
03 343 3040
compasspoolschch.co.nz
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
Form Garden Architecture
03 595 1608
form.net.nz
EXTERIOR PLASTERING
Advanced Exterior Plastering Ltd
0275 336 623
exteriorplasterers.co.nz
FIREPLACES
Simply Heat
03 365 3685
simplyheat.co.nz
