Description:

This House Alteration is an exciting and extensive renovation of an older home situated in a Character Area along the busy water front in Sumner, Christchurch.
The Project is all about maximising – light, angles, functional space, flow and colour. The project was a labour of love for the Interior Designer Client who we worked closely with to provide a backdrop of crisp clean white lines & form to play alongside her flair for colour & pattern.
The original House was stripped back to its core and reinvigorated with the interior addition of huge skylights, clever and quirky inbuilt joinery, reconfigured bathroom spaces and new linings & finishes. Externally the original angled House form is enhanced with the addition of a front covered balcony with full height glazing, a finned pergola walkway marking entry and a ribbon sculptural staircase to the rear.

The existing 211m2 home was built in the 1990s on a long narrow site (562m2). House includes four bedrooms with the main bedroom and living areas on the upper level offering outstanding views to the local surf break and connection to the street. The site includes a small front garden with larger private outdoor space to the rear. The house is east facing to the front with westerly sun to the rear.
Whilst the spatial arrangements of the original house did work okay – the house was tired, leaking and dark. It also lacked a decent spatial connection to the street with an exposed outdoor deck to the front. The House was purchased in 2017 with a complete overhaul in mind.

The house is long and thin and the new skylights bring ample light and surrounding views into each space - so bringing in a considered colour palette of forest green, sage, japanese blue, and rusted oranges helps connect with the surrounding environment. White fittings for bathrooms, kitchens, door hardware and flooring trims were crucial as we did not want chrome. It’s a response to keeping a clean design aesthetic that is fresh and very considered.
Building in a lot of furniture also mirrored the home's unusual shape and maximised storage and space usage. Lighting was also something that we knew would elevate design. It was imperative to make clean design choices that encourage space and height as needed.

In a way the house has undergone a complete house “makeover”. The house was stripped back to its bare bones and emerged a younger, funkier, bolder and fun Beach Barn self.

This takes confidence as a designer and vision. Innovation and confidence go hand in hand.
We followed the already interesting asymmetric shape of the original 1990s house and opened it up with huge over-sized skylights from the ridge to low coves, allowing the house to flood with light and change the overall experience. The back drop of white allowed the interior form of sharp angled ceilings with carved out window voids to flood light over fun sculptural joinery elements where colour is added with confidence.