This home in Rolleston, just outside of Christchurch, has taken a traditional lifestyle block and created a spot perfect for family living in 2017
This modern country home in Christchurch is filled with colourful style
Kate McNamara and her husband Mark moved from Sydney to Christchurch in 2009 when Mark was offered a racing commentator’s position. Mark had always wanted a lifestyle block so it was no surprise to Katie when he made an offer on a piece of land in a rural settlement southwest of Christchurch. “Mark loves horses. He’s always wanted an acreage. When he found this site, I knew that he’d go for it,” she says.
The couple initially considered moving an existing house onto their land and found an ideal one in an abandoned, quake-hit suburb. However, their builder quashed that idea with a dose of financial reality, but the exercise was not a complete waste of time. “Our builder advised us that by the time we’d arranged the relocation and reinstatement, we might as well build from scratch. We loved the design and style of the house we’d picked so that became the basis for our new home,” Katie explains.
Katie, a designer and artist, knew exactly the kind of home she wanted. “I grew up in the bush in Australia. Our home was always bright and sunny and opened to the bush surrounds. I wanted that same open, spacious, light feel.”
The generous 267-square-metre home has living rooms at one end, bedrooms at the other and from the open-plan living and dining room, glass doors open to an outdoor play area. Beyond that, two ponies, a yearling and two brood mares graze in paddocks. Four chickens provide lots of eggs and work is about to start on a vege patch. “We are trying to be a little more self-sustaining,” Katie says. “My husband keeps adding to our menagerie.”
Katie chose to carpet the media room and bedrooms but the rest of the home has polished concrete flooring, selected for its thermal qualities and practicality. “Concrete is a great surface for kids and dogs. It’s so easy to clean.” The kitchen was Katie’s labour of love and she worked closely with fabricator Paul Renwick and his designer Jess Curtis to achieve a kitchen that looks stunning and is ideally suited to the family’s needs. Katie is especially proud of the wooden bench extension. “It’s the best thing I have designed in this home,” she says.
Honesty box
Katie, is there anything you would change?
I would have added an extra skylight in the hallway, and I would have liked slightly higher ceilings (it would have been hard to justify that budget-wise, though).
Did you stay within your budget?
In the end we went about 10 percent over budget.
Biggest stress?
Moving in. Our parents came to help us move but the house was not quite finished. We had six adults and a toddler sharing one bathroom, then Dad got a vomiting bug that spread around all of us. It was awful.
Any disasters?
We had some tiling problems to start off with. It was a stressful time, but when it was finally redone by a great team of Argentinian tilers, it took just two days. I cried. After weeks of heartache, they came to our rescue. It was all put right and it was beautiful.
The best bits?
I love the wooden kitchen bench extension, and the rail in the laundry is just perfect for hanging Mark’s shirts on. There is a door from the laundry to the outside, so it works like a mud room.
Steal their style
Kate McNamara and her husband Mark moved from Sydney to Christchurch in 2009 when Mark was offered a racing commentator’s position.
Mark, William, Katie and Bronte, flanked by spaniels Bondi and Kiwi.
Katie chose to carpet the media room and bedrooms but the rest of the home has polished concrete flooring. “Concrete is a great surface for kids and dogs. It’s so easy to clean.”
The sideboard was supposed to be a bathroom vanity but it was the wrong size so it was re-purposed and sent to the lounge, where it looks very much at home.
Bifolds in the living and dining area open to the garden and paddocks beyond. The wooden pendants were bought on the day the builders broke ground but, funnily enough, were the last thing to be installed.
The kitchen was Katie’s labour of love.
Katie is especially proud of the wooden bench extension. “It’s the best thing I have designed in this home,” she says.
Industrial styling is offset by the glossy granite benchtops and warm, chunky wooden extension. Katie loves the colour of the splashback: “It’s fresh and bright but also a calm colour so it won’t ever annoy me.”
“I love to have a clean, white base and then layer on lots of colours”
Soft pastels have been used on furniture and soft furnishings in Bronte’s room, which also boasts the only wallpaper in the house.
Her prettiest clothes look very cute on the open clothes rack.
Night feeds and storytimes have been a pleasure for Katie and her children in the roomy chair and ottoman.
When it came to deciding on the interior styling, Katie was in charge of almost every area.
Taking pride of place over the bed is a framed All Blacks jersey which was a gift to Mark after a speaking engagement. It includes the signatures of the entire team from Richie McCaw and Dan Carter’s final test match at AMI Stadium.
Splashes of colour come from bright artwork, prints and soft furnishings.
The office doubles as a work room for Katie’s clothing business, LaVieKid.
In the main bedroom, colour is king. Katie loves vibrant linen and regularly switches her duvet and cushion covers. The art above the bed consists of eight ply tiles by Australian homeware designers Bonnie and Neil.
The bathrooms were one area that exceeded the budget, but Katie does not regret the decision to fully tile each room and to select tiles, basins and vanity units for their appeal rather than their price tags.
“In the bathrooms there were lots of square edges. I softened that effect with round mirrors, curved bowls and a curved bath”
Katie couldn’t afford to line the ensuite with Italian handmade tiles but used an end-of-line sample from BellaRoc to create a feature behind the twin basins.
The comfy media room features a wall of bird art by a mixture of Australian and New Zealand artists.
Splashes of colour come from bright artwork, prints and soft furnishings. “I love punchy colours and patterns; they are really cheerful.
Katie has created a functional and stylish laundry with polished concrete, ample bench space and storage, and clever use of drying rack.
Words by: Ady Shannon. Photography by: Kate Claridge.
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