The Framework in This New Zealand Home Is—Wait for It— Upside-Down
Shoko Wanger
Updated
Most homeowners would consider a heap of dirt on the front lawn a nuisance. But Henri Sayes and Nicole Stock—then in the early stages of constructing their first home in Auckland—recognized it as art in the making. Faced with a pile of debris leftover from the excavation phase of the building process, the pair opted to avoid lofty removal costs by getting creative. “We decided to use it to create a sculptural berm,” says Henri, an architect. “We even made a plaster model of exactly how we wanted it. The digger driver made it a work of art, but, amusingly, there was so much rubble in the dirt that we had to bring in even more dirt to make a clean and safe top layer. It wasn’t the clever cost-saver we’d envisioned, but it did create an amazing place to lie in the summer.”
Years later, the couple, now parents, are currently at work on a new home to accommodate their changing needs—but one would be hard-pressed to imagine a better source of inspiration than their inaugural project. Triangular trusses, the kind that typically point up to frame a pitched roof, hover upside-down overhead. And richly colored accents—a canary door, a bedroom ceiling the shade of a watermelon—reveal themselves at every turn.
It’s a home built of exceptionally unique details, but most of it came at a down-to-earth cost. “We were able to create an interesting house on a budget by having a very clear idea of what was important and what could slide,” Henri says. “Expensive, bespoke detailing was kept to an absolute minimum—almost every detail in this house is a basic acceptable solution from our building code. There are no bells and whistles, but this isn’t a house about bells and whistles.”
Instead, Henri and Nicole prioritized details that ushered in light and maximized space. And while they allowed themselves the occasional splurge (larger windows, for instance, or custom cabinetry in the kitchen), the couple’s focus remained squarely on creating a home that lent itself to the sort of life they dreamed of living at that particular moment in time.
“Our idea was that if we could create something that was beautiful and functional and a joy to be in, there would always be value in that,” Henri says. Read on for tips and takeaways on building a standout home on a budget.
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