Photographer: Paul McCredie
This hideaway near Queenstown sits above the water and surrounded by a newly planted native bush, it is a private, sheltered home where its owners enjoy the beauty of the natural surroundings.
The house was built on the same site as an old cottage. Clad in black cedar, the house appears recessive and sits quietly within its location. For a new home in Queenstown, it is of a modest scale that lacks unnecessary opulence. The kitchen, in the center of the home on the lower floor, is compact and user-friendly. On either side stretches the living space with picture windows out to the lake, and the library, which accesses a bathroom and master bedroom and overlooks a courtyard and mountainous landscape beyond.
The public areas of the house are lined in oiled cedar, complete with swirling grains and gradations of colour. Conversely, the bedrooms and the homeowner’s creative studio upstairs are lined in birch ply, which gives them a lighter, softer feel. In the studio, a window over the stairwell folds back, allowing an aural connection with the kitchen below and also framing the view through another window opposite of the glittering lake and swaying trees.
For the winter months, the oak floors on the lower floor are heated and a fireplace provides extra warmth and comfort in the living space. With a reserve and beach on their doorstep and situated within an enclave of new growth and established trees, this home makes a happy homecoming for these well-traveled homeowners.