Houzz Tour: Step-By-Step Additions Enhance a Tauranga Gem
An architect and his wife adapted their house and garden to suit their changing needs, over the course of 25 years
Like the cobbler’s children who are never shod, an architect’s (or builder’s) home is often never quite finished. Too many good ideas, too many loves: that’s what Tauranga architectural designer Colin Davis and his wife Vicki have learned as they’ve renovated their 1920s-meets-’60s-meets-’80s house.
Over the years, the couple have renovated their home’s facade with columns and a close-gabled roof, updated the landscape design, reworked their kitchen for improved flow and modified other areas including the laundry and dining room. They bought the property in 1992; Davis now thinks he might finally have finished his last addition to the house. Maybe…
Over the years, the couple have renovated their home’s facade with columns and a close-gabled roof, updated the landscape design, reworked their kitchen for improved flow and modified other areas including the laundry and dining room. They bought the property in 1992; Davis now thinks he might finally have finished his last addition to the house. Maybe…
When the Davises bought the house, the original Arts and Crafts bungalow had had a serious mid-century makeover. They decided to rework the pitched roof that was common to both aesthetics with their own version of the American Cape Cod style.
“All we really did was close in the gable end,” Davis says. “We added plaster columns and a carport off to one side.” But what they also achieved in doing so was to set up a rhythm of gridded shapes that was repeated all through the house and garden.
With the oversized lattice over the front door and the added heft of white beams and columns, Davis made sense of the messed-about proportions of the old house, creating a pleasing symmetry and a welcoming porch for visitors arriving down the front path.
“We basically looked at what was there and enhanced it,” Davis says. “We wanted to tweak it without changing too much so it wasn’t an entirely new house. And without spending a fortune.”
The couple changed their initial concept for the quarter-acre garden, transitioning from an English-style formal plan of clipped hedges to one that lets them create ‘rooms’ with different moods around the house.
The couple changed their initial concept for the quarter-acre garden, transitioning from an English-style formal plan of clipped hedges to one that lets them create ‘rooms’ with different moods around the house.
Davis was struck by the considered proportions of the original 1965 joinery, so worked with that on the sunny side of the house. “It struck me that [the previous owners] had put a lot of thought into the proportions so we went with that,” he says.
The kitchen courtyard was formerly an overgrown collection of unkempt trees and camellia bushes. Only a couple survived the cull, leaving a sunny sheltered spot for morning coffee.
The kitchen courtyard was formerly an overgrown collection of unkempt trees and camellia bushes. Only a couple survived the cull, leaving a sunny sheltered spot for morning coffee.
The view from the front door along the hallway hints at the many lives this house has had. To the left is the living and dining room and the kitchen is off to the right. The bedrooms run off the wing to the rear.
The kitchen had been modified in the late ’80s, when the living and dining room had also been opened up. But traffic flows were odd, so Davis closed in one door to the hallway, using the space to recess the fridge and rearranging the back wall of cabinets to create better movement. An updated island bench and fresh white cabinetry have brought the space into this century.
Davis wanted to bring more light into the room, so he punched in skylights to brighten the space, along with a raft of recessed lights. He put the former laundry, seen here through the doors, to better use, closing in the back door and turning the room into a full scullery, complete with sink and plenty of storage for pantry items.
A slick new colour scheme of white and charcoal, along with modern chairs, new shutters and updated slate floors, has created an inviting casual dining area that makes the most of its sunny position.
At the side of the house, Davis could make out remnants of the lines of the earlier bungalow. But the gloomy deck and overgrown garden did not enhance the outlook from the living room and dining area.
Extending the roofline into a deep porch, and adding more heft with lined and painted soffits, tied the proportions back to those of the front of the house. The new side courtyard looks on to palm trees – hence its name ‘the palm lounge’. With its northwest aspect, it’s a great space for end-of-day drinks or dinner.
The couple also created a tropical recreation area with a Balinese vibe, complete with fire pit and spa pool. The kitchen garden at the back of the house, meanwhile, now has French-style raised potager beds with gravel walks, olive and citrus trees and more seating areas.
The fireplace in the living room was updated, along with carpets and drapery, but the room owes much of its airiness to the 1960s joinery and finishes.
The dining room came about by knocking through a former bedroom. It overlooks the palm courtyard.
The bathroom has been updated many times, but tongue-and-groove panelling is a nod to its 90-year history.
A two-storey wing at the back of the house had been left for the kids, but Davis was never happy with how it functioned. By adding a mere 2.5 metres onto the back of the upstairs room, he created room for a walk-in wardrobe and ensuite for a master bedroom. His latest project was to double the size of the deck, adding shutters to create an outdoor room off the main bedroom.
The couple liken their latest room – off the master bedroom – to a Moroccan courtyard, inspired by the brass lamp they brought back from the exotic locale. A deck had been there before, but was underused. After extending it, Davis lined it with weatherboards and added shutters. More brass fixtures in the master bedroom continue the theme.
Decorated with vintage finds, including a Moroccan table and daybed, the tiled courtyard has become the couple’s favourite retreat. “We have a gas heater in there, so even in the winter we spend most nights out there,” Davis says. “It has such a nice character, it’s become a real retreat.”
And just the relaxing escape the couple needs after 25 years of home improvements.
And just the relaxing escape the couple needs after 25 years of home improvements.
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Who lives here: Colin and Vicki Davis
Location: Tauranga, New Zealand
Size: 1000-square-metre site; 220-square-metre house; 6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms
Year built: 1925, renovations beginning 2004, with the ‘final’ room added in 2015
Architectural designer: Colin Davis, Davista Architecture
Davis, a licensed building practitioner, has spent decades working on residential new builds and renovations for clients (as well as commercial properties), so he had plenty of experience when it came to reshaping his own home over the quarter-century he and his family have lived there. “Every one of the four owners has had a go at it,” Davis says of his home’s past. “It was a bungalow, then had a major alteration in 1965, and we’ve done more… you could say it’s an ongoing project.”
The cedar gates that were added to the front of the property immediately enhanced the entrance to the house without a major rebuild, one of the many tricks he also encourages for clients.