At home with the sea

Everything about Chris and Jenny Smith’s family life has encompassed the rhythm of the sea.

As a young couple they spent eight years sailing around the world. When they returned in 1985, they put down their anchor at the bottom of this garden at 11 Awatahi Place, Greenhithe with their firstborn, a toddler, in tow.

They bought the land in December 1981 during one of their flying visits home from their Saudi Arabian workplace.

“There’s a sense of spirituality about being part of the weather and the ocean and you become part of that when you’re in it, around it and on it,” says Jenny. “We wanted a property that replicated that feeling, that closeness of the water and this property was just that.”

On a friend’s recommendation, they engaged emerging architect Clive Cullen to design them a low-maintenance, long-term family home with a harmonious land-to-sea connection.

From afar, Clive translated their vision of separate spaces for growing children into this home from which almost every room has a view of the sea.

The home has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and two garages.

Chris, a civil engineer, and Jenny’s father built the house that was the first in their street.

Jenny, a teacher and a trained landscape designer, developed the sub-tropical gardens that include a fountain and a water lily pond.

From its cliff-top location, this Canadian cedar-clad home sits lightly on the gently contoured landscape.

Premium’s Chris Barker says, “It has an elevated and favoured north-west aspect for afternoon sun, and restful water views on both sides through native trees. Common to most coastal property, the zoning is ‘residential single house zone’.”

This home’s integration with its surroundings begins with the transition from exposed aggregate paving outside to the same material with a polished finish in the entrance.

From there, it unfolds up through mezzanine levels from a ground floor living area up through open plan living areas and children’s bedrooms to the master bedroom on the top floor. Timber defines the stand-out longevity of this house, alongside demolition bricks and Jenny’s selected accent colours chosen from the hues of her vibrant, textural garden.

Solid rimu floors have recently been refurbished with a more modern satin sheen, the joinery is redwood on the outside and rimu on the inside. The ceiling beams are douglas fir.

Much has changed in Greenhithe, the popular leafy, waterside North Shore suburb that was a sparsely populated outpost when this couple drove down their gravel cul-de-sac street for the first time.

Some things have never changed here, which is hardly surprising, given Chris’ childhood sailing overseas with his father, well-known artist educator Peter Smith and the noteworthy competitive sailing exploits of his brothers Grant, Tony and Matthew.

Chris and Jenny have never been without a boat of some sort moored at the bottom of their garden, whether it was their two children’s first yachts or Chris’ own coast-to-coast kayaks. Forty years on, they’re looking to build a new, smaller home but with the same affinity to the sea that has defined their wider family life.

The house will be sold at auction on April 25.