Returning home
This award-winning home, built by Steve Brown Builders, features the work of interior design company Armstrong Interiors.
WORDS Kathy Young PHOTOGRAPHY Simon Devitt
The roofing was completed by The Architectural Roofing Company in TARC Single Lock Tray in Colorsteel Flaxpod. The interior and exterior TARC Vertical Flatlock cladding is Prefa Aluminium, with the Parapet Caps/Custom Covers to the Louvre Blade completed in the same material.
Swinard Flooring provided the European Prime Grade Oak 190x20mm engineered flooring with a 6mm timber top, a custom stain and a hard wax oil finish.
This new home is all about place, permanence and connection. After the 2011 earthquakes destroyed their original Redcliffs property, the homeowners spent years elsewhere in Ōtautahi Christchurch before being drawn back to build again – this time just a stone’s throw from where they’d lost everything.
Strong, sculptural and seamlessly engineered, this feels like a forever home. It’s deeply rooted in its environment – materially, spatially and emotionally. A multi-levelled home, it’s anchored into a steep hillside and features timber, stone, concrete and metal in its construction.
Look a little deeper and you see this 350sqm home demonstrates an extraordinary feat of detailed coordination and exceptional craft. Every corner has been uniquely designed, every wall serves a purpose and every aspect has exquisiteness at its core.
+MAP Architects established the design of the residence – conceiving both the exterior and interior design style, including kitchen design, bathrooms and joinery throughout. Interior designer Angelique Armstrong of Armstrong Interiors brought the surfaces, finishes and furnishings together. Her role was to create a considered material and colour palette that would meet the homeowners’ needs, and in particular, display their art collection in a way that would honour the works.
Working within the architectural vision already established, Angelique approached the project with a mindset of listening rather than imposing. This approach was perfect, considering the couple had already been through the trauma of losing their original property to the earthquakes and wanted every element of their return home to feel exactly right.
The material palette Angelique developed is restrained yet rich. A theme of timber and black runs throughout the three-bedroom home, providing structure and warmth without competing with the art. For the flooring a neutral porcelain tile was chosen, that functions as a gallery-like backdrop.
“We deliberately went for sophistication in the materials, and this extends to other hard surfaces as well,” says Angelique. “We wanted to create a refined, contemporary home, defined by clean lines and a minimalist aesthetic. The overall feel is sophisticated and understated, with a raw yet natural material palette that delivers a high-end finish. The home embraces a modern architectural language – clean, minimal and highly resolved – balanced with raw textures and natural materials to create a sophisticated, understated luxury.”
With this simplicity in materials choice, there are also moments of drama. The main ensuite features a solid Timaru bluestone with a leathered finish. “It provides textural interest alongside the beautiful steel vanities and large Neolith panels of the shower,” says Angelique. The same Timaru bluestone has been used elsewhere in the home, including large slabs at the base of the staircase.
In the kitchen, Angelique worked with a Neolith ceramic from Spain for the benchtop. This works across the rooms and between the indoor and outdoor spaces that define the building’s relationship with its hillside site. The main bedroom has a darker colour palette that creates what Angelique calls a “refined and luxurious” atmosphere. Against the dramatic copper brown bathroom fittings, she introduced a linen-based wallpaper and soft linen curtain fabrics, with their natural fibres providing a soft balance to the harder surfaces elsewhere. The bedroom furniture is all bespoke, including a velvet luxury bedhead with integrated LED lighting.
The downstairs area functions largely as a private gallery and so the placement of each piece, in collaboration with the homeowners, needed careful consideration. Angelique’s perceptive eye led her to matching pieces to create visual dialogues between the works. This curatorial process created the layers of meaning and memories that ties the homeowners to this place, in this town.
Angelique is delighted with the finished home, especially given most of her work involves renovations. “The couple were great to work with and together with the architect and builder we’ve created a striking architectural home.”
Ducted heating features throughout this home, supplied and installed by HPAC, creating a versatile and energy-efficient home environment.
The bamboo silk rug in blue is from CRONZ and enhances the luxurious feel to the living area.
While Angelique provided consultation on the furnishing, fabrics, fitting and finishes, builder Steve Brown from Steve Brown Builders was involved from the preliminary meetings, offering guidance on both the practicality and monetary aspects of the build. The homeowners wanted joinery that looked like artwork in and of itself, and so achieving this required what Steve describes as probably the hardest, most complex job he’s ever worked on.
“It was the high level of boutique finishings that was the main challenge, but also the success, of this build,” he says. “The project demanded lots of structural steel within the joinery itself. With the two coming together with such precision, it really showcases our craft as builders.”
The site itself also presented complications. Access was up a narrow lane only suitable for small vehicles. Length and weight restrictions on the lane forced the team to handle much of the products and materials in small quantities. Inside, the floating staircase required a 20mm thick steel plate to be installed (forming the spine of the stairs). “We installed this at the concreting stage of the build, so we had to wrap it in plastic to keep it waterproof while we carried on with the framing and roofing.” T
he project’s recognition, including the Regional Supreme Award at the 2025 Master Builder House of the Year awards, along with Regional Interior Design Award, Regional Gold and the National Interior Design Award, validates what the team has achieved: a home where every surface has been deeply considered, every finish calibrated to create rooms that honour permanence, all while celebrating the pleasures of daily life.
Involved in this project
INTERIOR DESIGN & SOFT FURNISHINGS
Armstrong Interiors
03 356 2636
armstronginteriors.co.nz
BUILDER
Steve Brown Builders Ltd
03 384 4699
stevebrownbuilders.co.nz
ARCHITECT & INTERIOR DESIGN
+MAP Architects
03 962 6530
maparchitects.co.nz
WOODEN FLOORING
Swinard Flooring
03 329 9669
swinard.co.nz
ROOFING & CLADDING
The Architectural Roofing Company
03 335 0462
tarc.co.nz
RUG (LIVING ROOM)
CRONZ
03 347 3592
cronz.co.nz
DUCTED HEATING
HPAC
03 348 3057
hpac.co.nz
