Parthaney is the name of a French fortified village. The house is an eHaus designed with German technology. The combination of the two gives you a eco farmhouse set in the lovely landscape of Brunswick, Whanganui overlooking a gully and north towards Mt Ruapehu and a glimpse of Mt Taranaki to the west, on a clear day. The concept of an eHaus is to have living spaces to the north, no windows on the south (if you are in the southern hemisphere) and minimum to the east and west, hence the lovely long narrow windows to allow light in. Temperature is kept at approximately 21 degrees all year around throughout the entire house, and this is achieved by removing stale air and and replacing it with warmed fresh air. Solar panels on the roof help keep power bills to a minimum and solar gain throughout the day because of the north facing aspect enhances that.
My brief was again to keep interiors light so that lights are not used in the house during the day, again warm and inviting. For the exterior it had to blend with the landscape. I chose this rich dark colour for the exterior south facing wall and roof because the landscape is blocked with macrocarpa trees, it fits comfortably. The other three walls needed to be light and textural and colour contrast works well.
This house is a Living Show Home with the performance monitored for a busy family of 5 people. To personalize areas I ‘blocked’ colour in parts of the house. This was mainly upstairs on the landing so the young men of the household felt their rooms were personalized without taking the colour into their rooms – that was added in accessorizing. The splash back colour in the kitchen is one sheet of glass over the window so the view still enhances the space but it is easy to clean.
Special features used (along with the block colours), were the surprise element in the downstairs ‘powder room’ with a stunning wallpaper behind the toilet and partially over the ceiling, the ‘bunny tail’ clear feature in the entrance door, polished concrete floor downstairs, the ply tread on the staircase and the wallpaper in the main bedroom. This is a house for living, every space is utilized and lived in with spaces flowing comfortably from one room to another. The main bedroom and downstairs rooms were softened by a linen voile in neutral tones a lovely touch to filter the light at certain times of the day.
Bringing the outside in – left over paint was used on the gates. A nice splash of colour in a rich green landscape!
