The owners of this Dunedin house wanted it to include lots of different shapes. PHOTOS: LINDA ROBERTSON
The main bedroom is painted Resene Paprika. The owners say they have always had houses with a lot of colour and find it "uplifting".
One of the owners of the house painted the scene of a boat moving through a storm-tossed sea, in the style of Japanese artist Hokusai. The owner also made the replicas of the lion-dog and the terracotta warrior flanking the bath.
A reading nook fits into a corner at one end of the living area. The yellow shade is Resene Thumbs Up.
The tiled stairway leads from the entry at street level to the living areas on the middle floor.
The floor in the main ensuite is blackwood from the West Coast.
The exterior (top) is clad in rough-sawn Japanese cedar.
A teapot, based on one from the Han dynasty, is among many replicas of ancient Chinese ceramics made by one of the owners.
The owners spend most of their time in the living-dining area, which has
a large picture window overlooking the garden.
An American-style, wing-back chair made by one of the owners.
The garden has only been in for three years but is "growing well".
The home has distinctive front doors.
The stylised birds at the entry were carved from Oamaru stone by one of the owners.
A character-filled new build has all the right angles. Kim Dungey reports.
Ask the owners of this Dunedin home what their best idea was and their answer is simple: "It's nothing like anybody else's house."
From the spooky spider web on the metal gate to the unusual angles inside, the property is packed with personality.
The retired couple have spent more than four years completing the home and landscaping, taking over when the house was a shell and only nearing the finish line in the past two months.
But they still vividly recall the day they discovered the site, essentially a gully covered in vegetation, gravel and bits of tin.
A rickety garage stood at street level and a thicket of blackberries, sycamores and wild cherry trees made reaching the bottom almost impossible.
Others had likely discounted the section as being too difficult to build on, but the majority of it was "rock solid".
"It turns out there's a strip of bluestone that goes from Bell Hill, up through Roslyn to Highgate and we're sitting right on top of it."
The main living area is located on the middle floor. PHOTOS: LINDA ROBERTSON
The 450sq m house is three storeys, with living areas on the middle floor and four bedrooms and four ensuites over the two other levels.
To maximise the site coverage, the steeply-sloping roof _ which also forms the back wall _ is on a 63-degree angle.
The pyramid-like shape sets up some unconventional angles, but the owners have made the most of what could have been wasted space. On the middle level, for example, one end accommodates a cosy reading nook.
The pair say they felt for the builders, who spent 18 months getting the "complicated" house to a closed-in shell and putting up most of the plasterboard.
After that, they took over, installing a temporary "bridge" from the footpath to the front door and tackling the interior.
Initially, they were without heating, internal doors or an internet connection and for three years, their only cooking device was a portable hot plate.
"It's so ridiculous at our time of life to be doing something like that but it's nice to have it finished now."
Moving into such a large home at their age also bucked trends.
The living-dining area is 22m long and the main bedroom is almost 50sq m.
"We decided to upsize, not downsize like most older couples."
While there was no master plan for the interior, instead they tackled one room at a time, the pair knew they wanted to use plenty of colour.
Large ceramic tiles serve as a backsplash in the kitchen.
There's also a bit of an Eastern theme running throughout, with a Hokusai-style mural of Mt Fuji in the main ensuite, old Japanese prints hanging in the living room and a Japanese-style courtyard garden being created on the lower level.
The living-dining area has a large picture window overlooking the garden and a white quartz fireplace that will soon house a double-sided gas fire.
The adjoining kitchen features an oversized island made from flat-sawn Canadian Oregon and two pantries, one for ingredients, the other for their bench top appliances and freezer.
The male owner, who has built and renovated dozens of houses, secret-nailed the blackwood floors so the nail heads were not visible.
His craftsmanship is also evident in the home's furniture, ceramics and sculptures, a bathroom vanity and a beautiful stair rail. He even transformed plain interior doors with rimu surrounds and gold patterned wallpaper.
"He'll tackle most things," his partner says.
Developing the steep garden was a mission, with rocks having to be removed and lots of compost having to be added before any planting could take place.
As with the interior, they didn't have an overall plan, but a woodland section, which features a kowhai, totara and ferns, is a favourite area.
After such a "long journey" it is a relief to be enjoying the completed house, the woman says.
"It's just been endless. I used to have lists and lists of things to do and things to buy.
"And we've gone through seven years of huge monthly bills from Mitre 10, so I'm glad that's over."
Although they're particularly happy with the way the three-storey house "nestles into the site", its biggest success is its individuality.
"You only need to look around to see grey houses with darker grey roofs and bland interiors ..." she says.
"We just wanted something different; something that's us."
