Clevedon has long been a rural village, and it is fast becoming one of the places Aucklanders move to when they want to step back from the pace of the city. The home was designed with exactly that in mind.

Clevedon’s rural character and growing appeal shaped the brief. Michael says people are looking to move away from the hustle and bustle into a more rural community. “So we wanted to create some soft, rural features within the home while keeping it modern and on trend.”

Landmark Homes in-house interior design team led the full concept, from the palette and material selections through to the finishes. The result is modern country, in Michael's words, and it holds together beautifully from room to room.

From the road, two white-brick gables give the home a strong, symmetrical presence. Dark vertical weatherboard wraps their sides, while the roof and joinery repeat the same deep tone. The entry and garage sit quietly between the gables, set back beneath the roofline so the frontage reads as one composed whole.

A long horizontal window sits in each brick face, echoing the run of the brick courses and giving the frontage a calm, ordered rhythm.

Vertical opening louvres sit either side of the stackers sliders, letting the home breathe through the day with fresh air moving through without windows being left open.

A timber boardwalk leads between the two forms to the front door, with planting on either side and wall lights framing the entry. It slows the approach, and by the time you reach the door you already know something has been considered here.

Inside, the entry delivers. A curved wall in walnut slats wraps the space, the timber running floor to ceiling in fine vertical battens, with a coffered ceiling following the same soft radius above it and a David Trubridge pendant hanging at the centre. It is a genuine moment, and it sets the tone for everything beyond.

That curve returns throughout the home, in the kitchen joinery, in a bathroom vanity, in the shape of the entry itself.

"It's about those little links within the home," says Michael.

The kitchen sits at the front of the home, facing the street, and the benchtop runs straight into the glazing, no sill, no architrave, just stone meeting glass. The window is tinted, so the outlook comes with privacy built in.

Above the cooktop, a curved-fronted cabinet conceals the extractor, handleless and softly radiused at the corner. The splashback is a white tile laid in a stacked pattern, a quiet echo of the brickwork outside.

The island is finished in leathered quartzite, with warm browns and golds that pick up the timber tones in the joinery. Twin amber-glass pendants add another layer of warmth above the island. Two opening skylights bring daylight into the centre of the plan. Insect screens allow them to remain open on warm evenings, while rain sensors close them when the weather changes. A sliding pantry keeps preparation out of sight, while smart switching allows lights and appliances to be managed from a phone.

The living area opens off the kitchen, and this is where the ceiling does the work. A scissor truss lifts the space into a vault, with slim battens running the length of it, painted out in the same white so the effect is rhythm and shadow. The room feels open and generous, and the eye is drawn up the moment you walk in.

Sliding doors open the living area through the level threshold onto a timber deck that runs the width of the home and steps down to the lawn, so the whole rear of the house opens to the garden. Off the dining end, a second slider opens to a smaller deck, bringing the breeze and afternoon light straight into the room. Underfoot is a COREtec floor with a cork backing, quiet and soft to walk on and water resistant, which makes it a practical choice for a hard-working kitchen and for homes with children and pets in them.

The bedroom wing sits to the rear, away from the street. In the main bedroom, the wall behind the bed has been panelled and set with wallpaper inserts, a soft botanical in pale greys that reads as texture more than pattern. Sliding doors open directly onto the deck. The walk-in robe is fitted with custom joinery, with hanging on both sides, a drawer bank and bench, and an LED strip concealed in the top return.

The remaining bedrooms are generous and calm, with good storage. One looks into a planted recess between the two forms, giving it a green outlook while preserving privacy.

The bathrooms are where the home has the most fun, and the two could not be more different.

The ensuite is the light one. Marble-look tile runs floor to ceiling, with a fluted texture through the shower wall that you notice by touch as much as by eye. A double vanity in soft olive sits beneath a recessed mirrored cabinet providing plenty of additional storage, the fittings are brushed nickel, and a skylight keeps the whole room bright. A wall-hung toilet with a concealed cistern keeps the lines clean.

The main bathroom goes the other way entirely. Black tile floor to ceiling, a black ceiling, and a black freestanding bath. The feature wall is a fluted timber tambour stained down almost to charcoal, with an LED strip washing the length of it so every rib catches the light, and a long lit niche cutting horizontally across it. A skylight drops daylight straight down the flutes, the shower glass is smoked, and warm metallic tapware adds warmth. It is a room you want to linger in

"It's about creating features and talking points within the home," says Michael.