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This new build has a timeless attention to detail

Article by Your Home and Garden

In windswept Mangawhai, two interior designers crafted a contemporary home with timeless attention to detail

meet & greet

Bevan (industrial designer and company director of Walkspace Street Furniture) and Tori Thomas (interior designer and artist at Tori Thomas Creative), Indie Rose, nine, Siena Belle, six, and Hungarian vizsla Pixie and Benji the cat.

the property

A four-bedroom, mid-century modern new build in Mangawhai.

It almost sounds like a punchline to a joke – what do you get when two interior designers design a house? In Bevan and Tori Thomas’ case, the result is a sweeping, magnificent family home that’s all about mid-century modern design and outdoor entertaining. The couple’s influence is felt throughout the house, as if hand-pressed into the very foundations, from the concept and house plan to smaller details, such as the bespoke dining room table created by Bevan, or the leopard print wall painted by Tori. The house is a culmination of their efforts and passions and a love letter to the family life they share together.

The build

Tori and Bevan met and lived in Auckland for 18 years, but with a young family, they longed for a more rural environment to raise their daughters, Indie Rose and Siena Belle. Bevan grew up in Paparoa and the choice of Mangawhai seemed an obvious choice to be connected with whānau and friends in the township.

The pair worked on the house plan and concept themselves with a detailed design, then had it drawn up by a draughtsman from Macfie Architecture. The plot has great views but is exposed to the wind, so it was important that the house took in the vistas while also offering sheltered areas for day-to-day life.

The 15-month build went smoothly and without any surprises, aided by Tori and Bevan’s project manager experience in their respective fields.

In addition, Bevan worked from a home office located on site, enabling him to make any on-the-spot decisions alongside assisting with the build.

Mid-century details

Although the home may be a new build, vintage silhouettes are referenced time and time again throughout the bespoke space, reinforcing the family’s mid-century aesthetic. “I always get a strong sense of nostalgia whenever I see anything designed or influenced by mid-century design,” says Tori.

“I am a huge fan of Frank Lloyd Wright and used him as a reference a lot at design school. When it came to designing the house, I was huge on his idea behind the compression and release of spaces.” Before entering the living room, where one is released into the big open space, visitors must go through the narrow, compressed area of the hallway, creating a temporary sense of tension before catharsis. In tune with the timeless character of the house, the interior design duo also love Palm Springs style, which pops up in unexpected ways through prints and fabric choices.

“I love colour and am happy to introduce it where I can,” Tori says.

Dream kitchen

Tori, who designed the kitchen, says a scullery was the number-one priority on her culinary wishlist.

“I wanted a kitchen that was easy for entertaining and a space I could hide all the kitchen mess,” she says.

The black granite benchtop from Guyco Kitchens works well with the kitchen barstools from Zuca, creating a moody, striking tone to the light that floods in from the large sliding doors. The black tiled splashback from Tile Space was a stroke of genius by adding depth and vitality to the mid-century modern space. “I wanted something that gave texture to the kitchen without making it too much of a feature. The timber and windows are the main feature in this room,” says Tori.

The bedrooms

At first glance, Siena Belle’s bedroom looks to consist of a fabulous swathe of leopard print wallpaper. It’s only upon closer inspection that the feature wall is revealed to be hand painted by Tori. “It took a week and she got vertigo by the end of it,” Bevan says.

Tori laughs, “It was one of those things I started 15 minutes in, and then thought, ‘What have I done?’”
The couple also hand-painted the bedframe, from The Warehouse, before adorning the room with Adairs bedding.

Meanwhile, Indie Rose’s bedroom is a room fit for a princess. A bunkbed from Magic of Wood captures the magic of childhood in the sweet space, with a scallop trim of Resene Scrumptious around the room ties it off in a neat flourish. “Our eldest is very artistic so I would run past what I designed for her, and she would make a few decisions,” says Tori. A parent’s job is never done, however, with the girls now asking for a redesign of both spaces. Luckily, Tori doesn’t begrudge the tough critics – children’s rooms are one of her favourite spaces to design.

In the main bedroom, the couple wanted “a space that we could retreat to get away from the kids and enjoy the view, hence the big picture window.” The styling of the space is in continual flux, as Bevan and Tori can’t get enough of the wonderful offerings from Sage and Clare, Kip & Co, and Bed Threads. “The colours on the bed change constantly, making sure they complement the cedar wall.”

The great outdoors

The Thomas family enjoy entertaining so a priority was enough space and a covered area for shade, which the portico area delivers in spades. “Wind protection has also been considered, however for the most part will come in our planting, which is an ongoing project,” says Bevan. The couple, unsure of what to do with their “blank canvas” garden, ended up engaging a landscape designer to provide a sub-tropical planting plan, intended to survive the brisk elements and provide shelter for those windy days.

While the family waits for the garden to grow around them, they love to “chill out, entertain and swim with the kids,” in the home that seems almost ready made for the summer months. “The girls love the pool,” Bevan says. “We invested in a heat pump for it when we had it put in and it has been worth every cent as the kids will spend most of the day in the pool, when they can, from October through to April.”
Bevan and Tori both love the house, but they admit that they are always dreaming of building another home. For now, they’re more than content to enjoy the views and the pool in the dreamy, humid days of summer.