This new-build in the middle of a Taranaki orchard is a garden of Eden for a family who wanted peace and plenty in the everyday.
A pen-and-ink sketch, where angular, tent-like forms are set against a scribble of trees and a felt-blue sky, engagingly depicts the concept behind this home. It’s a long way from the owners’ original thoughts.
Returning to New Plymouth after years in Canada, Jemma and Ben Souness first came to architectural designer Kyle Ramsay with the idea of a North American ranch-style home, featuring deep overhanging eaves and charming steel-framed windows. “The brief was 20 pages long,” recalls Kyle. “And Jemma, in particular, had a very strong notion of what she wanted.” Fortunately, she was also open to the idea of being challenged. What Kyle calls “open and robust conversations” got them to a place they didn’t anticipate at the start of the journey — the intent of ‘camping’ in the landscape.
Celebrating the site was a salient factor, given this subdivision is in a former orchard where a fruit salad of old-fashioned apple, avocado, orange and feijoa trees still thrives. A stand of covenanted native bush lay on the western boundary of the 2000m2 section. Framing this greenery became integral to crafting the family home with a sense of calm that was top of the wish list.
Clad in a deep-brown steel that suits the semi-rural surrounds and shiplap weatherboards painted Porter’s Paints Old Church White, the exterior language translates to the indoors, too. The floorplan is made up of two pavilions compartmentalised by function and linked by a central circulation gallery. The result is a split-gable design, like a tent halved. One side houses the garage, laundry and rumpus room downstairs, with the children’s rooms above; the other has the communal kitchen and living zone with a parents’ retreat on the second level.
It’s not a big house, per se, but volumes that stretch up into the triangular rooflines make it feel more spacious and give the leafy lushness an access-all-areas pass. “The home really had to sit well within the landscape — not dominate it,” explains Kyle.
The couple, who have four daughters, had built before. “That time, I did bright white-on-white everywhere,” says Jemma. “I loved the look — but not the feel.”
In their forever home, flexible design that accommodated growing children and working from home needed to combine with timeless style. Jemma called in kitchen and interior designer Annika Rowson to guide her to a solution that was relaxing and elegant, yet family friendly. That’s not always an easy combination to achieve, but the serene yet sociable living zone aces it. The kitchen, with chocolate-brown cabinetry and cloud-white benchtops, is a dark-and-light delight and sets the colour palette for the rest of the house. A hob placed on the island means the cook can be distracted by the green, dramatic view of the treescape outside, while keeping a watchful eye on family matters.
The kitchen flows through to a built-in banquette and curvaceous dining table that can easily seat 14. As Jemma explains, this area was one zone where Ben had firm opinions. “He wanted to make ‘social toast’,” she says. By which she means that Ben didn’t want all the gadgets, including the toaster, hidden away in a scullery. “He felt that caused a disconnect when making breakfast or preparing dinner for friends.” Now a drinks-and-coffee station behind bi-fold doors in the kitchen gets everyday use, as does the built-in booth, rendered in microcement, which was another Ben suggestion. “We had seen a lot of those in diners in Canada and I thought, at first, that there’d be a lot of awkward shuffling in and out of the seats,” says Jemma. “But when Annika said we could make it really long and team it with pull-out chairs on the other side, I went with it.”
A couple of steps down, the sunken lounge occupies a double-height space. Creamy neutrals predominate but are kept interesting by textural variation such as soft floaty drapes and tongue and groove on the walls and ceiling. It’s restful here and even more so with the peek of tall trees through clerestories and to the outdoors through Crittall-style joinery that Jemma managed to include, with a little clever collaboration. “Doing these in steel would have been prohibitive, so we worked closely with the local aluminium window manufacturers to come up with an excellent cost-effective solution,” says Kyle.
The patio is a tonally perfect melange of brown and white, based on the cobbled courtyards of Europe, where the pavers meander like a river up to the front entrance and on through into the linking hallway. Jemma loves that when she and Ben are entertaining friends alfresco, there is still a sight line to the rest of the house: “The U-shaped design means we can always see what the girls are up to.”
Ranging in age from a just-started-schooler to a teenager, that’s important. As are spaces to escape. Such as the TV room, tucked in behind the kitchen. Or the ensuite in the adults’ zone where the owners bathe with a backdrop of a magnificent rimu that provides privacy from the neighbours. Or the secret cubby beneath the triangular roof structure meant as extra storage, but so extensive that the couple’s eldest daughter has decided to move her desk in there. Or the window-seat in the main living room which is a possie to stretch out on on a rainy day and watch the drip, drip of the droplets through the forest.
The Sounesses took occupation in March 2022 and they’re still putting the finishing touches to the house. While they have some art, including a Kyla Covic piece in golds and greys that reflects the light, and a Gina Fabish photo for the upstairs level, it’s a work in progress. Jemma wants to get it right and not just fill up the house for the sake of it.
Even after two years in residence, the novelty of their new lifestyle has not worn off. The birdlife (including six pet chickens) and the beauty is ever alluring. As Jemma says, “We came back from a weekend on Waiheke island recently and I just thought, ‘this is home’. It’s still so special.”
Words Claire McCall
Photography Gina Fabish