Photography: Jess Burges
Long before there was a house, there was just grass and a love of the place. Taupō Bay in the Far North has long held a place in architectural designer Katie Scott’s heart, who bought a slice of land there 12 years ago, before she got together with her partner Joe Wase. As a spot for a holiday home, it made perfect sense.
“I have the best memories of being a teenager many moons ago, surfing Taupō Bay and staying at the local campground,” Katie says.
“I’ve always loved Northland, both my mother and Joe’s parents live in nearby Doubtless Bay and Northland is our happy place.”
Home Profile
Meet & Greet: Katie Scott (architectural designer, Sticks + Stones Design), her partner Joe Wase (Metro Performance Glass branch manager), their daughter Chloe, five, and Frankie the French bulldog.
The Property: A three-bedroom new-build at Taupō Bay, Northland.
The simple life
The Whangārei Heads-based couple weren’t in any rush to build, but simply enjoyed the land by staying on the section in a caravan and building two off-grid cabins. Life was simple, as they took day trips to the nearby beach and enjoyed the peace of rural life.
During this time, Katie and Joe became familiar with the site’s weather patterns and the landscape’s relaxed rhythm, imagining a design to fit. So, it is unsurprising that the house they have since built, now with daughter Chloe, has this same slow-paced ease.
When the time felt right to build, Katie was pregnant with Chloe. This, and Covid, heightened the pressure. Materials were hard to find, costs were skyrocketing and lockdowns meant it was hard to get to the site to be involved in the build. The build began around the time Chloe was born in 2021 and was finished one year later.
At one with nature
Katie designed the one-level home herself, taking the plans as far as she could before hiring architectural designer Hayley Mealings to craft detailed drawings. Lee Branford from Kaipara-based Ashwood Construction took on the build. Nestled into the valley and wrapped in trees, the house quietly blends into its surroundings, working with the landscape, not against it.
Known as “The Green House”, it takes its colour cues from the landscape, with Resene Karaka on the roof, exterior cladding and inside walls.
“We didn’t want any white walls – we wanted to enhance the connection with the outdoors,” Katie says.
“The house almost disappears and nature takes centre stage.”
Wind carries up from the sea, so Katie designed the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home around a central, open-air courtyard. This was a must-have feature for Katie, allowing the indoors and outdoors to be blurred. It would always feel sheltered, either from summer heat or winter storms.
Glass also plays a role in blending the home with its surroundings. Joe, who works in the glazing industry, worked with Katie to bring expansive sheets of Vantage Metro Glass high-performance, low-emissivity glazing into the design.
These sliding fixtures open wide to the courtyard and the valley, so on still days the house opens up completely, while the courtyard is an outdoor room when it’s windy.
The kitchen is anchored by a 5.5-metre island that draws family and friends in. It blends easily with the nearby barbecue, pizza oven and courtyard, creating a place for connection.
“We have had Christmas dinners here where we’ve all sat at the island and pulled stools up. You can still look out past the kitchen and see the green through the glass windows.”
In the details
While the home’s design is a simple framework, there is personality in the finer details. The black kitchen exudes laidback luxury, which is no surprise given the touches of beauty in Katie’s clients’ homes.
“I absolutely love natural stone and always tell my clients there is nothing like it,” Katie says.
“It is high maintenance, which makes it special – like a piece of art. Our island’s surface is Panda White quartzite, with a beautiful green-purple vein in it. This stone top extends to the seating area, where Katie installed a Soktas light, something she was determined to include. Practicality also plays a role. “I was adamant about having a beer fridge in the island,” she says.
“You can sit in the courtyard, lean over and easily grab a beer.”
Katie was sure she didn’t want a large scullery, but what she and Joe do have is a functional separate space with a sink in hard-wearing black granite. The rest of the kitchen is finished in Melteca melamine, quietly complementing the architecture.
“Black kitchens aren’t usually practical, but I really wanted the contrast,” Katie says.
“There’s so much timber that the black just sits there – it’s not in your face.”
The kitchen appliances are integrated and most of the doors are push-open; what handles there are came from Lo & Co for a little bit of luxury. It’s a thoughtful interior, but far from fussy.
Wall tiles in the ensuite and the pocket scullery in the kitchen reveal playful tiles in green tones, in keeping with the home’s overall colour scheme.
Home comforts
The main bedroom is a sanctuary. Originally designed with a flat ceiling, Katie changed this to a raked, elevated form — and it’s now one of her favourite parts of the house. Mornings begin with green views through the glass, with Chloe often climbing into bed to play as the house slowly wakes. It’s calm, generous and deeply restful.
“My second favourite part of the house is sitting beside the living room fireplace.”
Here, built-in seating around the Kemlan Cube wood heater welcomes curling up with a book. The fireplace is surrounded by tiling that mimics brick tiles, its aesthetic texture adding to the sense of cosiness. In the main bathroom, surfboards are stored – a perfect reminder of family days roaming the nearby beach.
Designed for generations
“Green has always been my favourite colour,” Katie says, “but I also wanted the house to feel beachy-bachy. Relaxed, but saying that this is a forever home. Chloe’s placenta is buried under a pōhutukawa here; this house will always be in the family even if we might move, from time to time.”
Katie and Joe’s house still has that free-hearted spirit of those early camping years. The doors open out onto the sun-drenched grass and the sound of cicadas in summer. Chloe runs freely between inside and out. Evenings are spent gathering around the firelight. It still feels like a holiday — just one designed to hold a family for generations.
The laidback, nature-loving connection that Katie adopted from her teenage years here in Taupō Bay resonates in this home and the family is here most weekends. It’s as close to camping as a home could be in that this home has grown from the land, but now the connection is generational.
“We always have a plan for little changes, we’ve got little schemes to do, such as having a ‘man’ garage, but with the rest we’ll take our time.”
Budget: Our aim was to borrow a minimal amount to build this house. We didn’t want it to impact our day-to-day life too much, or add pressure, so we built it as we saved. We did it in steps; we saved for the foundations, then saved up the framing, then the cladding, the roof, and on and on, until we were finished. I don’t know how much in total we spent on the house, but I know it was under $400,000.
Home truths
What areas of your renovation did you save on? Splurge on? The fireplace was a splurge. I wanted a particular look and I wanted it to sit on the bench, so it created a cosy nook to sit in. I learnt a lot about fireplace installation details during this process.
Best lessons learned? Friendships are so important when building your dream home. We had so many amazing friends who were also tradies who would chip in and help us – and we tried to do as much as we could ourselves. Our neighbours, Greg and Rachel, helped us a huge amount. I don’t think I’ll be trying plastering again in a hurry. As much as it’s nice to try and do it yourself, it’s usually a better idea to get somebody who really knows how to do it..
What would you never do again? Backfill a retaining wall with wheelbarrows of rock down a steep bank. We both put our backs out doing that huge retaining wall.
Any renovation or DIY disasters? Dealing with the global pandemic and distressed build community.
What’s one thing you would change about your home if you could? A flying fox would be good.
Most memorable experience you’ve had in your home (good or bad)? We have so many amazing memories already with family and friends, which is exactly why we built this home. I remember the day that we had our final sign off, sitting with the council inspector and running through all the documentation feeling so proud of us for getting through and achieving something we had set out to do.
How to capture a relaxed, holiday feel in a home: Having somewhere you can leave stress outside the front door is the key element to a happy home. I find it very hard to switch off during the week as I love my work and I’m very passionate about it (constantly thinking about design and clients’ projects), so having somewhere I can actually sit and blob is the best thing in the world, although there’s always something to do and the grass is always growing. It is a very low-maintenance garden when the neighbours’ horses can graze on it.
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