A sustainable, stylish Lake Taupō house is the perfect escape for two families living side by side
This rustic build is home to not one, but two different families.
Home Profile
Meet & Greet:
The Brookers: Holly Jean (PR specialist and co-founder of Makes Sense) and Rico Brooker (construction engineer and business owner), kids Hudson, 11, and Billie, eight, and Sushi the Siamese ragdoll cat.
The Falconers: Marianne (marketing consultant and business owner) and Sean Falconer (owner of Falcon Build), kids Frankie, eight, Cohen, six, and Albie, three, and Coco the kitten.
The Property:
A four-bedroom, two-bathroom 165sqm new-build in Kuratau, Taupō, with separate wings for two families to co-inhabit.
Meet the Brookers (left) and the Falconers.
It’s hard to find a friend who’ll let you borrow a pair of shoes, let alone build a house with you. But that’s exactly what Holly and Rico Brooker and Marianne and Sean Falconer did, going against the grain to create a warm, welcoming bach that allows the families to holiday side by side.
Holly and Marianne met more than 10 years ago through mutual acquaintances. Bonded by a love of politics and business, alongside having daughters of similar ages, the couples soon became firm friends, sharing holidays, wine and laughs together. “We are all different in lots of ways, but we all work so well together, we have similar work ethos and vision, and we have a lot of fun together,” Holly says.
The dads recline on a Trivoli outdoor sofa from Freedom while the mums hang out on a Weltevree bended table and bench seat from Tulips.
Marianne had always dreamt of establishing a large rural retreat with friends, and her builder husband Sean was keen to express his creative side with a chance to build a family bach.
Meanwhile, Holly and Rico were searching for a holiday house at Ohakune that they could use for the ski season but had been unable to find anything that tugged at their heartstrings. The pair humoured Marianne’s novel idea by visiting a two-acre section she was eyeing up at lakeside Kuratau, only to have their doubts blown away by the sweeping farmland scenery.
“It was a bit of a whirlwind romance, really,” Marianne says. “We drove into Kuratau for the first time and just fell in love with the spectacular views. It was just meant to be.”
An hour later the foursome put in an offer, and they bought the land that very day.
Replica Hans Wegner Elbow chairs from Cintesi kit out the Lawson cypress dining table, paired with a bench that Sean built himself. Ceramics from Author Ceramics sit atop the table. In the corner is a freestanding lamp from Kmart, while a custom-made deer antler light shade from Poland, found on Etsy, hangs overhead.
The build
A covenant on the land ruled out the possibility of building two dwellings, and the cost of two kitchens would have been insurmountable. “By building one home, we could halve the costs and have a better-quality finish,” Marianne says.
Holly adds, “We loved the idea of building a community, but also respecting our family’s own space and the need to be an independent unit.” The couple worked with architect friend Travers Reynold to help minimise their footprint while cleverly fitting in everything they needed.
Holly (left) and Marianne enjoy a laugh in the communal kitchen, which is decked out with Hut Stools from Citta.
The owners each had their roles within the build. Builder Sean did a lot of the heavy lifting, and Rico spent many holidays and weekends following him around on the tools, alongside handling the group finances. Interior design lovers Marianne and Holly sourced products to fit out the home, while writing freelance articles about the build in their spare time.
It was a hectic process in more ways than one. Marianne became pregnant with her third child during the build, eventually raising her newborn in a caravan off-site over the summer months.
The second Auckland Covid lockdown further complicated matters, preventing the Brookers from travelling down to assist with the project. It took a year to get the house built and another to get the finishing touches and landscaping completed, with extended family chipping in here and there.
A Caesarstone Topus concrete benchtop gives off a slight pinky hue that pairs beautifully with the copper splashback, while matte black Laminex Melteca cabinetry complements the macrocarpa timber that runs throughout the home.
Kitchen and bathrooms
The kitchen is the heart of the home, bringing both families together. In typical Kiwi bach fashion, it feels charmingly rustic, yet with a luxe touch that speaks to a deep love of interiors.
The families worked with Sean’s sister, Sommer Cook from NT Joinery, to design the kitchen, as well as the wardrobes. A Caesarstone Topus Concrete benchtop adds tone and texture to the space and is one of Marianne’s favourite features in the house. “It’s warm and feminine, with a pinky hue, but feels down to earth.” The copper splashback is another winning element, ageing beautifully against the Laminex Melteca matte black cabinetry.
A George & Willy hanging drying rack is cleverly utilised.
In the bathrooms, each family’s personality and style becomes more distinctive. For Holly and Rico’s bathroom, they chose the Medley tile range from Tile Space – enlarged terrazzo Italian tiles that remind Holly of ’80s pop.
Holly paired grey-black tiles with white mosaic finger tiles and walls in pale pink Resene Soothe, alongside black accents in the mirror, towel rail and shower frame.
The Brookers chose Medley tiles from Tilespace, a Made of Tomorrow shelf, Abi Interiors tapware and Adairs striped towels.
“It’s a bit yin and yang in the Brooker bathroom – feminine and masculine,” Holly says. “I didn’t overthink my bathroom design. I’ve written for interiors magazines for 15 years and I didn’t want to get caught up overthinking and trying to get it all matchy-matchy and perfect. I just went with my gut and wanted to have a little bit of fun.”
Sean and Marianne’s bathroom features the same tiling, but in an earthy green, owing to Marianne’s fondness for Japandi style and neutral tones.
The Falconers’ vanity is Laminex Melteca in Smoked Birchply, with a macrocarpa surround made by Sean and a mirror from Kmart.
A sustainable heart
During the fateful 30 minutes they spent standing on the empty plot, dreaming of the future, the foursome decided they wanted a house made from macrocarpa, even for the internal framing and structural elements. It had been an ambition for a while, especially as Holly’s dad owned a leading macrocarpa timber mill, MacDirect.
The exterior colour palette – muted greens and greys – was chosen to complement the warm honey hues of the macrocarpa. The house has double glazing throughout to reduce heating costs, and the walls are thicker than standard, with extra Pink Batts, made from recycled glass, for added insulation. Other eco touches, such as wool carpets, attics, natural oils and low-VOC Laminex, reinforce sustainability principles. In fact, the house is so well built that in winter they often light the fire for ambience, not warmth.
A Keys shelving unit from Freedom houses bits and pieces picked out by the interiors-loving families, while a cowhide from Lapco adds warmth to the Bremworth wool carpet from Flooring Xtra.
With the help of architectural designer Jared McLeod, much consideration was given to design and usability. “The separate wings are incredible – we don’t hear each other’s kids wake in the night,” Marianne says.
The media room functions as a daytime playroom for kids and an evening hideaway for parents, while the drying room serves as a laundry and mud room to help contain the mess and maintain order. “I love all the little details, like the wooden loft ladders, the steel circular wood stack in the living room, the secret timber door to the drying room, and how all of these details together make it feel like a cosy mountain cabin,” says Sean.
Marianne handcrafted the wreath using greenery she foraged in the nearby Kaimanawa mountain range. It hangs above Cintesi armchairs, padded out with Citta cushions.
Sun and snow
Although the house was built for snow sports season, it’s turned into a year-round paradise. There are forest trails and fly-fishing rivers, and there’s even a go-kart track set up on the front lawn. Many lazy afternoons are spent by the lake, evolving into dinner with friends on the deck while the kids play in the trees nearby.
“The space is epic,” Marianne says, “and we just love getting away from the hustle of life to a slower pace where the kids just sprawl across the land and are immersed in nature. Time at the crib is the epitome of slow living.”
In Marianne and Sean’s bedroom, the Euro cushion covers are from Bed Threads, paired with a round cushion from Farmers. A Citta cabin towel is cleverly repurposed as a throw for the end of the bed. A light shade from Mr Ralph finishes off the room.
The couples try to do weekends together about three times a year, and every school holiday each family gets a week to themselves, with a crossover in the middle weekend. Come summer, the families have two or three weeks together, with mutual friends pitching tents in the backyard. The worst thing about sharing a holiday house is how quickly the dishes stack up, but thankfully Rico is a dab hand at unpacking the dishwasher.
It’s taken a lot of work and long conversations to get to this point, but now the families can reap the results. “I’ve always been aware of the idea that you have 18 summers with your kids, and wanting to make the most of these holidays, so the idea of having a regular place to build memories together is pretty cool,” Rico says.
All that’s left to do is to have Coco the kitten meet Sushi the cat, and hope the two can get along as well as their families do.
Foxtrot Home linen bedding is topped with an Adairs floral comforter. An Ikea bamboo pendant hangs overhead, with floating shelves and cushions from Citta.
Top tips for interior lovers
- Establish a colour palette to work with so there’s consistency throughout the house. This applies to paint, soft furnishings, tapware and artwork.
- Invest in quality pieces you love, and buy less stuff.
- Luxe linen bedding transforms a bedroom.
- Choose for design and practicality. If you have young kids, cream chairs are a disaster and won’t be worth the stress, so go for a darker tone. It’s great not to be too precious.
“Time at the crib is the epitome of slow living,” says Marianne
Holly’s Home Truths:
What areas of your home did you save on? Splurge on?
We invested in beautiful wardrobes from Laminex, made by NT Joinery and saved money by installing them ourselves (a very difficult, time-consuming jigsaw puzzle). We also decided to splurge on underfloor heating in the bathrooms and wool carpet, while saving on building costs by keeping our bedrooms small. Finally, we were able to save by doing all the landscaping ourselves but took care to purchase mature grasses and trees. So much mulching.
Best lessons learned?
If you have a vision or a pipe dream, don’t overthink it, just do it. We often reflect that if we hadn’t bought the land the day we spotted it and had this hare-brained idea to build a house together, we might have gone away and thought of all the reasons we shouldn’t build a house together, why we couldn’t afford it, and how hard it would be. Sometimes those spontaneous big life decisions actually work out to be amazing. And if they don’t, call it life experience. Life is short, right?
Any sacrifices along the way?
Both of our families sacrificed renovating our own homes to build this holiday house, which has been hard at times – for example, we didn’t have a hot tap in our bathroom for a year as we couldn’t afford to replace it due to building costs – but investing in our family holidays has been incredible for our family connection. The sacrifice is worth it.
What would you never do again?
Build a house with friends while both living in another city and starting a build during a pandemic. It’s been intense but so worth it – we all have no regrets.
Sean designed the firewood circle stacker, which has become the centrepiece of the living room.
Any renovation or DIY disasters?
No, thankfully. Sean is a great builder and very precise and planned, so nothing went badly.
What’s one thing you would change?
We wanted to build the house in a straight, linear design, but the land covenant wouldn’t allow this, so we had to design the house a little differently than planned.
Most memorable experience you’ve had in your home?
We have had a lot of laughs and good times building this house together, especially as we spent many weekends and holidays with both families getting stuck in. A very fond tradition we have formed is our New Year’s celebrations. We have a big, combined crew of 50 friends who come and pitch a tent for a week, and it is the best time. We have an outdoor kitchen, hot shower and flush toilet, so it works really well. The kids absolutely love it. We have a flying fox, tramp, go-karts, a great climbing tree and two acres to run around in, so they are entertained while we adults get to hang out.
What was your budget for the build?
We had a lower budget of around $600,000 for the build, but we went over. We called ourselves the “up-speccers” the entire build, as we didn’t want to compromise on quality or style for anything, so the budget got a little stretched.
Text: Caroline Moratti Photography: Alice Veysey
Read this next: Coming home: A family injects style and warmth into a small coastal rental
See more of this Lake Taupo house below
EXPERT PROJECTS
Create the home of your dreams with Shop Your Home and Garden
SHOP NOW
