Six years ago, Gavin and Kim Stanbra moved up in the world without leaving their street.
The day they shifted, they loaded their belongings into the furniture removal truck and despatched it four doors up the right-of-way to the last house in the cul-de-sac.
That shift of a mere 100m or so up to their second home in this street has given them an entirely different outlook on life, compared to their two years in their much smaller, renovated home down the way.
“We moved here purely for the position,” says Gavin, who runs a bread distribution business. “The views are really great because we are right at the top of the street and this is a two-storey house too which is even better. It’s the views that sell this house.”
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It outlooks over many spectacular spots in the area, says Kersna Sullivan of Remax Real Estate, Warkworth. “It’s the privacy and the summit location that stand out here. You look out to Kawau Island but to the right you look out across Mahurangi to the Sky Tower.”
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For Gavin and Kim, who is a school secretary, theirs is a convivial life well lived above and beyond Snells Beach. They can entertain here out on their large sheltered back deck and their neighbours aren’t likely to even know. Or they may take in the morning sun on their front pergola deck and still never see any neighbours unless any of them happen to be walking down to their letterboxes.
Built in 2006, this Cedar-clad house was angled to maximise the site by architect Chris Beswick. The living area is upstairs, as is the master bedroom and the office. Gavin and Kim looked at turning the office into a fourth bedroom but the office concept worked best for them.
Downstairs one of the two children’s bedrooms opens out to a deck. The bathroom and the separate laundry between those bedrooms have worked well for the family that numbers three, now that the eldest has gone flatting.
Gavin has invested a good deal of maintenance into this property including the recent re-staining of the cladding for protection.
He also stained the matching 2.4m x 2.4m shed that he built for purely practical reasons. “I hate clutter in the garage,” says this car enthusiast, adding that the double-plus garage accommodates any combination of cars and trailers or beach toys.
When Gavin extended the back deck 1.2 metres, he had extra piles put in for their new easy-access spa pool. Here large ranch slider doors stack back to open this entire area to the open plan kitchen and dining area.
Restaurant-style outdoor roller blinds are the icing on the cake for this family because everyone can use this space comfortably all year round. Gavin’s favourite macrocarpa table and bench seat complete the outlook to the lawn and bush through seamless glass balustrades.
At the front of the house, French doors open up to connect the front and back timber decks. Within the living areas, the solid timber floors are finished with a high gloss. “Someone put a lot of work into that,” he says.
Their carpeted lounge with its big picture window also has a bespoke lounge suite that opens out to a double bed and it’s the best indication of the grand scale of that room. “That couch is a real feature of the room,” says Gavin.
This couple is undecided exactly where they’ll move to from here, but they’re happy for opportunity to coming knocking their way. “We’re moving just for a change,” says Gavin.
Find out more about 29 Brampton Road, Snells Beach
