2019-05-01 Your Home and Garden

I

t’ onlyweeksfrommovingdayandourMy

New Home homeowners Oliver Driver and Ella

Mizrahi are waking up at night panicking that

their new build isn’t going to be ready in time

for them to move in.

They’ve given notice at their rental and booked the

moving truck, so their deadline is non-negotiable. But

less than a month out, the David Ponting-designed

home in the Auckland suburb of Te Atatu Peninsula

looks more like a bomb site than a building site.

“It just doesn’t look like it’s going to come together,”

says Oliver. “We may be living with the builders.”

A… er months of painstaking work as the team

from JR Hosking Carpenters & Co established the

foundations, laid the underfl oor, raised the walls,

added the roof and clad the exterior, all the interior

fi nishing jobs are happening at once. Tradespeople

are on high rotation, installing wiring and plumbing,

lining, plastering and sanding the walls, painting, tiling,

and laying the fl ooring and carpet. The custom-made

cabinetry from Innovative Kitchens and a brand new

suite of Haier appliances stand ready to be installed.

“It’s fun seeing it all come together like a proper

house,” says Oliver. “We can fi nally see whether our

decisions have worked or not, and it’s such a relief

that they do! We’re lucky that Ella’s really good at

visualising – if I had chosen it would be a disaster.”

The couple had a moment’s stress when the wall

linings went up, and suddenly the rooms felt small

and dark. “But as soon as the walls were painted,

everything felt light and bright.”

Oliver says choosing paint colours was tricky. “The

fi rst time Ella went to the Resene ColorShop she

chose fi ve di” erent kinds of white to be safe, but I

encouraged her to be braver and bolder.”

So they booked a colour consultation with Brooke

Calvert from Resene, who helped them put together

a colour pale• e that stuck with a low-sheen white

(Resene Quarter White Pointer) in the living areas, but

enlivened the bedrooms with pops of colour. “The living

area is white to showcase our art, then you open the

bedroom doors and they’re all di” erent colours,” says

Oliver. Otis’ room is so… yellow with a cactus wallpaper,

E• a’s is tangerine with a dog print wallpaper, and the

main bedroom is a restful sage green (Half Robin Egg

Blue), chosen to tone with a favourite artwork.

Choosing carpet for the bedrooms also had its

challenges. Wooed by its ultra-so… pile, Ella initially fell

for a more expensive carpet than their budget would

allow. However, Anthony Gilmour from Carpet Court

steered her toward the Rhino Portland range, a more

a” ordable option that still looks great, while providing

all the durability they need with a dog and two kids.

Featuring SmartStrand Forever Clean technology, it’s

“It’s fun s ing it

a come together like a

proper house.”