Easy-care living, inner-city setting

Inner-city living, and the convenience that comes with it, is the appeal of life at 46a Gaine St in New Plymouth.

This property carries the original 1930s character bungalow that sat here alone when Hamish and Alana bought it about 10 years ago.

The drawcard then was location.

‘‘We wanted to be in the middle of town,’’ Hamish explains. ‘‘This street is quite quiet, but it’s close to everything; you can walk down to the Coastal Walkway, you can walk into town.’’

The couple also appreciated the character detail in the home. ‘‘The house had been extended and a lot of work done, but noone had changed the character too much, which was good.’’

Hamish points to the celebration of wood throughout the home – the striking grain of the original Oregon timber panels in the interior doors and the rimu trim of architraves and skirting boards.

The house also offered pleasing space – a total of 108sqm, which encompassed three double bedrooms, and an easy flow through wide doorways between kitchen, dining and lounge areas.

When the option later arose to buy the adjoining property, the couple recognised the potential to then create access to the rear of the generous sections and subdivide them to meet the increasing demand for innercity living.

After subdivision, there’s now a new home out in front of the bungalow, and another new home being built behind it on the remaining lower third of the original quarter-acre section.

The slope of the land down from the street is the key to the successful development of this property and the sense of space the home still provides.

The bungalow, now the middle of the three homes, enjoys an elevated outlook over the new lower home to the green backdrop of the Mangaotuku Stream that flows along the bottom boundary.

To allow the redevelopment to happen, though, the bungalow had to be moved 8m away from the street, Hamish explains.

That work means the bungalow has been repiled, replumbed and partially rewired, a new deck has been built across the sunny rear living areas, and a new double garage built just below the house.

The dining and kitchen spaces open out through French doors to the new deck where it’s easy to imagine enjoying a morning coffee or a cool drink in the evening.

The kitchen features bifolding windows over the sink bench to allow its use as a servery for alfresco dining and entertaining.

A freestanding woodburner in the living areas adds plenty of warmth to the whole house during chilly months mid-year, and there’s also a wall-mounted heat pump in the dining area for quick comfort when that’s wanted.

Step down from the deck to a compact side lawn inside a line of established olive trees that add shelter and privacy to this outdoor area. Border gardens feature around the house – just enough for owners with green fingers to exercise those interests without committing weekends to weeding work.

Bayleys consultant Marty Suchy is marketing the property, which he expects will attract plenty of interest on today’s market.

The property should be attractive to all types of buyer, he says, for its proximity to town and foreshore attractions, comfortable living, and the minimal maintenance needed around the home. The double garage off the street is also a bonus for properties in these inner-city settings.