Photography: Babiche Martens
Love at first sight is rare, almost mythical. But Rosie and Sam Holt count themselves among the lucky few. They felt that lightning-bolt moment the instant they stepped through the front door of their Titirangi home. “When we first walked into the house, it was the feeling,” Rosie says. “It just felt right. It was the one — we’d found the love of our life.”
Much of the cabinetry is made from recycled rimu. They drew the kitchen’s colour palette from the native bush, from the lichen‑hued tiles to the pōhutukawa‑red steel beam. Industrial designer Tom Lopes created custom lamp shades mixed with black sand as a nod to the West Coast.
Home Profile
Meet & Greet: Rosie (high-performance entrepreneur coach), Sam Holt (apprentice carpenter), and Molly the basenji mix.
The Property: A three-bedroom, 1949 wooden-framed house in Titirangi, Auckland.
In typical fashion, it was the last house viewing of the day. Up a long pot-holed driveway, it was accessible only on foot. Having been on the market for nine months, the house had a lengthy list of quirks due to its previous owners. Ripped-out windows, “flubber” green and Soviet red walls with curtains to match, featured throughout the house.
To Rosie and Sam’s bafflement, this colourful work was all done in the past 10 years, rather than the last 50, to which they’ve inherited an uphill battle reinstating its character features. “We feel like we’re the custodians of the house now. We wanted to restore it to its former glory, because she deserved better,” Rosie says.
The pair met five years ago, after various stints overseas, and realised New Zealand was home. Feeling tethered to Auckland but unable to afford central city prices, they began exploring fringe suburbs. They settled on the western suburb of Titirangi, an area known for its bohemian creatives and pottery wheels.
Despite Titirangi’s famed reputation for sparse, bush-diffused light, sunshine floods the house. Light streams through a sunroom that offers views all the way to Waiheke Island. After living in the house and experiencing every season, they were ready to “build the house around our style and how we live”.
The kitchen
Sam stumbled upon design studio Atelier Jones on Instagram, established by Raimana Jones and Mathilde Polmard. The pair brought an industrial Bauhaus vision that felt sympathetic to the mid-century feel of the house in this space. “It was a really collaborative process,” Rosie says. “Raimana had some wonderful visions on how the kitchen would intuitively work for someone who loves to cook, like having some open spaces where I can attach my pasta maker or a big stainless-steel bench that’s practically indestructible.”
Unfortunately, the Gib shortage slowed down the renovation to an agonising crawl as the pair waited for tradespeople to install a vital wall. The overall process took an entire year, with Rosie crediting a small kitchen in the garden studio as the only reason they didn’t “lose their minds completely”.
But the wait was worth it. The designers carefully planned and executed every inch of the kitchen, from the hand-turned reclaimed rimu drawer knobs to the magnetised spice station nestled in the floating shelf. A large, rust-red steel beam holds up the ceiling, creating a floating bench effect that becomes the centrepiece of the space. “I’ll often stand in the kitchen when I’m cooking or making coffee and feel so incredibly lucky.”
The whole process was so inspiring to Sam that it even spurred a career change, he swapped hats from coding management systems to a building apprenticeship. “He’s now off bright and early every morning to go build other people’s houses and get more inspiration for ours, which is great. He’s always been incredibly handy and so detail-orientated,” Rosie says.
Sunroom and bedrooms
The kitchen flows out to the sunroom, which previous owners converted from a deck that had been closed off in the ’70s. Rosie and Sam plan to open the area back up as a balcony, complete with stairs that lead down to what they’ve affectionately dubbed the “dream deck”. Two bedrooms connect to the sunroom, creating a wonderful flow of light and air from the Titirangi bush to the suites. Here, there’s a push-and-pull between Rosie’s sentimental nature and Sam’s minimalist one; a battle waged over bedside tables and shelves.
For example, the previous ’70s owners were perfume makers who bottled their scents down in the garage, leaving an aromatic legacy that still lingers today. “When Sam was doing some work down in the garden, he found these old perfume bottles. They still have this incredible scent, like a super old-school perfume, really heady. They’re on the shelf here and it’s a nice bit of history,” says Rosie.
Among the couple’s many treasures are Sam’s prized mid-century TradeMe finds, including a walnut bedhead with matching bedside tables. They recovered the wardrobe doors from a Remuera house renovation, adding hand-turned handles to showcase the beautiful veneer grain. Unable to resist, the couple store eight more of these doors in the basement, waiting for the right project to use them on.
Chipping away
There are always projects on the to-do list, which is perfectly suited for Sam’s style of active relaxing. “Sam loves working on the house, I love being in the house,” Rosie laughs, content to put her feet up on the couch with a good book as she watches him tinker. A huge floor-to-ceiling window sits down in the garage, a common theme, as the pair deliberate on how best to install the “absolute monster”. There’s talk of a new bathroom, alongside reinstating a glass panel, although after the year-long kitchen renovation, the couple aren’t rushing to take on another huge project.
Despite the ever-growing list of things to do, there’s deep contentment within the walls of this treetop home. “I don’t think we could leave now after all the time and energy we’ve put into this. We’re so invested in it and feel so at home here; it would take a lot for us to leave,” Rosie says. “My favourite thing is when we get up, make coffee and just sit in the calm, hearing the birds, watching the sunrise.
“The serenity here is just incredible, it’s really grounding. In those little moments, we ignore the leaky sunroom and the unfinished things. In those moments we feel so, so lucky.”
Home truths
What areas of your home did you save on? Splurge on?
The kitchen was a splurge. Far too much was spent, but it was 100 per cent worth it to get the kitchen of our dreams. We saved on decor, so it’s a mix of thrifted and gifted. We have some talented friends and scoured thrift stores for furniture and decor.
Best lessons learned?
Don’t start a renovation when there’s a nationwide Gib shortage. You will be living with Pink Batts and building paper for nine months.
What would you never do again?
Live in a house while it’s being renovated. The number of times we moved, removed and moved furniture again nearly drove us insane.
Any renovation or DIY disasters?
We should have listened to people when they told us it’s nearly impossible to stick to a budget. Know what you are willing to compromise on and what you will not at the start of your project, then attempt to stick to it.
What’s the one thing you would change about your home if you could?
We would build a dream deck. We have an incredible view across the city and building a deck to enjoy this would be a dream.
Most memorable experience you’ve had in your home?
Probably the first day we looked at the house at the open home. We remember walking through the door and, despite the bright red wallpaper, we knew it was our home. It has this incredible warmth. We instinctively knew. Four years on, we still feel grounded and truly content.
What are your top tips for interior lovers out there?
When planning the look and feel of your home, don’t be afraid to include your personality. Build and create in a way that feels instinctive and intuitive to you. Lots of people look at renovations with a resale value lens. Trust yourself and back yourself.
