Built for an interior designer, this spacious Katikati home was destined to break rules. Transcending eras and continents, the end product fuses elements from the past with today’s craftsmanship. Inspired by a classic Kiwi schoolhouse and a favourite vineyard, the house comprises three living pods, each with a gable roof. Inside, four bedrooms, two bathrooms and two living areas serve modern life. Band-sawn board-and-batten is painted rather than stained. Practicality called for aluminium joinery, boxed with rough-sawn frames and sills; nail holes deliberately indented to add character. Galvanised spouting continues the traditional theme. The interior showcases the owners’ love of travel and innate sense of colour, texture and styling. Notable features include flat batten ceilings in the family pod, Italian tiled flooring that mimics distressed timber planking, hand-washed French linen drapes, heritage tapware in the powder room, and Soho tiling that replicates old New York brickwork around the gas fire. An innovative approach, executed with aplomb.