Louise & Steven Auld's Mid Terrace Sanctuary

Surrounded by the waters of the Waitemata Harbour sits one of Auckland’s newest medium density developments on what was once defence force land. Louise and Steven Auld have called Hobsonville Point home for the past four years, starting off their home buyer journey with a townhouse in the then very new development. This is when we first visited the couple, interviewing them on their home and admiring the clever design decisions that went into creating beautiful yet functional rooms, with space restrictions as a design parameter. Ready for a change but staying within the area, they dreamt of having a garden to potter in, slightly more space and an easier to find address for the local couriers delivering Louise’s online shopping.
Hobsonville Point isn’t your regular development with characterless repetition of design. All build plans must go through a review panel to ensure that there’s architectural variety, quality materials are employed, open plan living and connection to the outdoors, and an overall feeling of achieving ‘lightness vs massiveness’ for any build. Stepping into the Auld’s new townhouse, the first thought is, how deceptively spacious the home is. Careful spatial planning by the architect combined with Louise’s lighthanded restrained approach to decorating, combine seamlessly to create the benchmark for what good design looks like for smaller scale living. This home is the ultimate lesson in not judging a book by its cover.

What was your journey to living in your current home?
We were living in our first home, not far down the road built by the same developer. We saw the first lot of these type of houses come up for sale, walking past on the weekends, but thought they would be too far out of our price range. When another lot of them came up, we looked into purchasing and found we could make it work. We sold our home without putting it on the market, and then lived in a tiny rental while waiting for our new house to be built.
How would you best describe your home?
Our house is a terraced home, which is a relatively new way of living in New Zealand. I think people are usually surprised by the amount of space and light you can still have, as well as it being a functional space to live in.
When planning the colours and design choices for your home, how did you want it to feel?
Calm. For me, always calm. That meant where possible, using natural materials, textures that worked well together and a muted colour palette. I wanted to keep our house feeling light and airy, given it is a terraced house and there aren’t windows along the sides of the home, the last thing we wanted to do was to box it in or make it feel gloomy inside.

How did you come to select your carpet?
It was a pretty easy choice. The developers offered us their options, which we didn’t love, and we managed to negotiate the carpet out of the build package and have our own choice of carpet installed by Flooring Xtra. We wanted wool, after living in previous homes with solution dyed nylon and feeling that wasn’t the right choice for us. From there it was just matching the carpet with the other flooring, and choosing something that would be fit for our household, and avoiding styles we thought might fluff too much or be too tricky to clean.
Were there any important considerations for your flooring choice?
Thinking about tracking and wear, as well as the longevity of the product. Being conscious of our choices in relation to the environment was also a big factor.
For those that are embarking on a build, what are your top tips?
Pre wire! We just had a heat pump installed upstairs and it would have been a much easier (and cheaper) task if it had of been done during the building process. Make sure you include enough storage spaces, and if possible, maximise any roof space for attic storage.

What were your non-negotiables?
When you’re buying off plans, it mostly comes down to what variations we could negotiate with the developers, and what was no biggie to change after we moved in. A few that were important to us to sort out during the build process were changes to the kitchen – benchtops, cabinetry, sink and tap. As well as changing the internal doors. Part of this was about ensuring we weren’t creating unnecessary waste, by changing things that had just been installed, for something more our taste. It’s a bit of a balance around what variations were worth pushing for, and some things like creating a study nook by adding a desk into the space upstairs for example, were things we decided were just easier to do after we moved in.
Is there anything left to finish off to complete your home?
Always. But more in the area of décor, like finding the right stools for the kitchen island. Things that we can live without, but would be good to have at some point. For us it’s about finding the right pieces, rather than rushing to fill a spot.
What is your favourite area of your home?
Hard to choose a favourite, but I do really love our ensuite shower, as well as our laundry of all places!
What are your favourite stores to shop from?
Places like Città Design, Paper Plane Store, and overseas brands like Ferm Living and the Finnish Design Shop.