SCHOOL ZONES:
Westlake Boys High and Girls High, Rangitoto High, Murrays Bay Intermediate and Murrays Bay primary .
CONTACT:
Lewis Guy, 021 867 355, Jason Smale, 021 778 776, Zen Property Partners.
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Interior designer Anita Shirley will miss the space and privacy of her home with its bird's eye view out to Tiritiri Matangi Island in the Hauraki Gulf. "You can see the lighthouse and on some days you can see right over to Great Barrier."
There are so many nooks andcrannies and places to sit in this house, inside and out, Anita says -- from the step-down lounge to the decks and the pool. The pool has a cabana with a bar -- there have been some great parties out here, she says.
She and husband Peter were married in Fiji and wanted a tropical, resort feel for their home, so the bar and the palms around the landscaped pool area fit the bill.
"The pool's heated so the kids just love it and obviously in the summer time it's pretty popular."
They bought the house in 1998 because they wanted something with privacy. "I found that a lot of places on the North Shore were like being in a fish bowl, so when we bought this place we just liked the privacy.
"That was the main thing and we also wanted a nice sunny house so it was just perfect."
They renovated just after they bought it and have just finished another renovation.
Attention to detail and workmanship was important, Anita says. Outside is now vertical cedar and inside the blue entertainer's kitchen is now sparkling white and flooded with light from the large skylights.
The laundry by the kitchen is now also a butler's pantry -- "so if you're entertaining you just chuck it all in here and shut the door".
Downstairs has an office which has a koru garden area she made, and she has decorated the walls with framed selections of groovy wallpapers she uses in her business, such as one of reindeer with antlers that change colour in the light.
There are three bedrooms downstairs and two open out to their own deck with sea views, and there is a big, luscious bathroom with dark-grey concrete tiles.
Upstairs is "the parents' area" with a big master bedroom with great sea views. This has its own deck where you can sit with a glass of wine, plus a big walk-in wardrobe, an en suite with double basins and a double shower, and there's a second separate toilet upstairs as well.
There is storage galore, which Anita loves, but says the time has come to move on.
"It's just a sunny, open house and definitely the privacy will be hard to replicate."
The family is not sure where they are going yet, but as an interior designer Anita enjoys the challenge of redecorating so they will be looking for something else to put their mark on.
