Showhomes > Award Winner, Welcome Bay

Award Winner, Welcome Bay

This Linea® Weatherboard cottage at Welcome Bay, Tauranga was awarded first prize in the 2004 Registered Master Builder House of the Year National Awards $180,000 - $250,000 category.

The original owner of this award-winning home, Interior Designer, Olwen Sorrenson, had a very clear idea of what she wanted, and worked closely with builder, Allan Hartwell, of Chartwell Homes to achieve it.

“Allan was involved right from the start. We looked at two possible sites in the neighborhood, before settling on this one because it was elevated, providing the sun and views that I wanted, with no chance of getting built out,” says Olwen.

Olwen chose Chartwell Homes to build her own home because she was impressed by their knowledge, skills and professionalism.”

“I had a long list of what I wanted, but only a limited budget to achieve it. I was working from home, so I wanted a separate office that could be accessed by clients without them having to walk through the rest of the house. I also wanted good flow from the living areas out through doors to the exterior and to capture the view of the inner harbour and Mount Maunganui.

The kitchen/ dining and living area occupy a compact space that has been carefully thought through to create separate but linked spaces.

“I wanted to angle the kitchen so that you weren't looking right into it from the living area,” says Olwen. “Allan also came up with the idea of angling the hall that takes you from the living area to the bedrooms. This is great because you're not faced with a long straight passageway.

“Most importantly I wanted to create a cottage style that wouldn't date and become a fashion victim.

"I didn't want brick, and I didn't want timber because of the high maintenance issue. I had seen Linea® Weatherboards used and had also been to the TV Showhomes website to check it out, so I knew it would give me the look I wanted. Linea is a really distinctive product that has strong shadow lines that can completely change the look of a home. It's got the X factor.”

Allan says that Linea was easy to use and install and he enjoyed using the traditional building skills required. “There's real skill involved in getting the lines and proportions right when you are working with weatherboard. In this instance the house is stepped down the sloping site on two levels, with Linea used on both, so we needed to think carefully about how the lines would match up to get the flow right.”

That's the sort of care and craftsmanship that obviously helped convince the judges that this home deserved the top prize in its price category.

“The house certainly wasn't built on a lavish budget, but it goes to show what you can achieve even on a limited budget,” says Allan.

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