A couple with a nose for the extraordinary turn their talents to an unexpected discovery.
Stacey Pyne has a mysterious talent for finding treasure, even when she isn’t looking. It’s this innate ability to stumble across great riches that led to the discovery of her family’s dream home.
Stacey and her husband Jake had just finished a renovation on a Mount Maunganui pad, a project that had been all-consuming. Having invested years into the revamp, it felt like their forever home and seemed the ultimate fit. Stacey says she’d believed they’d stay put for the foreseeable future: “I’d poured my heart and soul into it.” But a random online search was to change her mind.
“If I’m completely honest, I think I had been feeling a little itchy because our project was complete; I was ready to work on styling a new space,” recalls Stacey. “When I came across this house, I knew almost straight away that things were going to change.”
That they did, and very quickly. Within just a few weeks, the Pynes found themselves moving their possessions into a new abode, ready to make it their own. In a refreshing change of pace, the year-old home didn’t require renovating, just an injection of style to give it an edge. “It was so perfect for us in so many ways, it was almost as though it had been designed and built with us in mind,” says Stacey. “I was very excited to move in our bits and pieces and make it our own.”
To be fair, it’d be hard for someone not to fall in love with the Lawson-cypress-clad home designed by architect Will Tatton. Located near the Mount’s surf beach, it has five bedrooms, two bathrooms and a theatre-like TV room with a bar. A staircase framed by a floor-to-ceiling window that highlights the established pohutukawa and puriri outside floats upstairs to the second storey, where the bedrooms seem to sit among the treetops.
Indeed, the home’s tranquil setting provides the ideal environment for relaxing, as well as enjoying time with family and friends. Not that these two are known to rest on their laurels. Stacey and Jake own streetwear label Lower, women’s basics brand Five Each and men’s lifestyle brand On & On. Throw in their handful of Thanks retail stores and online vintage store Dusty, and it’s fair to say they’re as busy as it gets.
“I’m a full-time mum to our children,” says Stacey, “but I also started a little side business a couple of years ago named Dusty, which was an extension of my love for creating beautiful spaces.” It’s proved a great excuse to pursue her passion for op shops, garage sales and treasure hunting, allowing her to pass on many of the retro collectables she digs up.
The couple’s eye for quirky finds is evident throughout the home. Each has their own obsession. For Stacey, its greenery, hearts, animals and pretty pink pieces, whereas Jake has a hankering for the odd bit of taxidermy and anything to do with his favourite sport, fishing. “I’ve had so much fun working in a new space and creating somewhere that I just love to be,” says Stacey, who likes to mix vintage and contemporary pieces. “The house has a gallery-like feel; it makes our things look even better than they did in our previous home.”
The new house is open, bright and spacious, and this time, self-confessed hoarder Stacey says things will be different. “I’m trying to keep things more simple and not so cluttered.
I really filled up our last home, which was fun, but I want to try something different this time around. Although it does seem to be getting busier and busier – once a collector always a collector, right?”
Words Holly Jean Brooker
Photography Alice Veysey
