Luxury meets low-key in this tranquil coastal hideaway. At 750sqm, this is an epic build — not that you’d know it. The timber-clad beach house, sited well back from sand dunes and beside 150-year-old pōhutukawa, is at one with its spectacular Northland location. It has been designed and crafted to provide a sanctuary for its owners, without vying for attention, and it does both with understated style. The star of the main house is the grand room with built-in bar, designer kitchen, and dining and living spaces that ease outdoors on both sides. In fact, wherever you look you’ll see dreamy places in which to relax or entertain — outdoor kitchens, open decks, a heated pool, spa, sauna and putting green.

The main house also has a media room, art studio and more bedrooms, including a main bedroom retreat with a secluded outdoor bathroom extending from the ensuite. One wing has been dubbed ‘the boat shed’, a name that refers to its inspiration, but doesn’t do justice to the two-floor structure. Yes, this is a place for boats as well as cars, bikes and a solar plant, but you’ll also find a tiki bar, living space and two-bedroom guest accommodation with a bathroom, lounge and mezzanine floor with pool table. Given this is the clients’ forever dream home, sustainability and self-sufficiency were a must, hence the solar battery bank, onsite wastewatertreatment system and rainwater harvesting.