The jury is still out on whether Julie McDade’s reworked rural home is a renovation or a major rebuild.
In the beginning, it was a 1950s weatherboard bungalow in the green hills of Scotsman Valley, between Morrinsville and Hamilton, perfectly positioned for views of Mt Te Aroha and the Kaimai Range.
If you look carefully at the house you can still see its old bones but it has been extended and refreshed, and re-clad in stained cedar – all the while retaining its mellow charm.
“I fell in love with this place,” says Julie. “I can still sense the old house. If you bowl a place, the spirit is gone.”
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She says that at one point of the “renovation”, her builder, Mark Wallbank of MW Builders, told her: “This is not a renovation; you’ve only kept one original wall.”
He was referring to the wall of the mudroom at the entrance to the house. Julie confirms that her builder was correct: it is the only wall that wasn’t moved or altered in some way.
She held fast to her vision of blending old and new and is proud that many materials were able to be preserved and reused, including the mataī flooring, rimu weatherboards, light switches and doors. She says that recycling as much as she could from the original house was her boldest decision.
“It takes longer, and the builders sometimes want to kill you, but you retain so much of the original character and the materials – rimu sidings and mataī flooring for example – were so beautiful and still perfectly functional.”
In the garden, she similarly retained mature trees such as oaks, beech, a palm, camellia, loquat and kauri, and old clumps of ‘Erlicheer’ daffodils and naked ladies (belladonna lilies) in the paddocks. They are all part of the property’s history.
Julie is originally from the town of Athens, in the US state of Georgia. She trained as a veterinarian, moved to New Zealand in 2005 with a container-load of things she couldn’t bear to part with, and for the past 10 years she has been the business development manager for Waikato-based Greenlea Premier Meats.
Set on a 1ha block, the house was the original dwelling for the adjoining sheep and beef farm which is now owned by Julie’s former husband, Alec Jorgensen, who worked on the early stages of the renovation project with her. They bought the house in 2007, made some minor changes and began the major portion of the work in about 2014.
“In the beginning, there was no insulation, no double-glazing, no heat pump, we just froze,” says Julie. “When you got up in the morning, you could see your breath.”
It has fully transitioned to a beautifully cosy home for her, 12-year-old son Ben, much-loved rescue dogs Dixie and Ziggy, and horses Texas and Tucker who keep an eye on things over the garden fence.
Hamilton architect Peter Chibnall drew the plans for the renovation/rebuild and Julie says there were no revisions due to the highly detailed brief she had supplied. “I spent so much time on it.”
The key was to open up several small rooms to create a generous living room that incorporates the kitchen and dining table. A massive steel beam was installed in the ceiling in lieu of the load-bearing walls that were removed.
The main seating area opens onto a north-facing deck fringed by a grand old walnut tree and a pin oak. In summer Julie says it’s like living in a tree house. In winter, the trees shed their leaves to let the sun filter through.
The rustic fireplace and hearth were built from fieldstones found on the farm, laboriously unearthed and ferried home in an old Toyota Rav that groaned under the weight.
A wing was developed for Ben’s bedroom, a guest bedroom and bathroom. Ben also enjoys his “man cave”, a comfy room with an extra television, created in the attic space once reached by a ladder but now with its own set of stairs. Salvaged rimu weatherboards were remilled and laid as flooring in this room.
Julie’s bedroom, bathroom and study are in another extension, accessed from a step-down corridor off the living room. Her bedroom looks east across rolling green farmland and opens to a sheltered deck that catches the morning sun.
Her furnishings include old favourites such as a hutch dresser, desk and prints she brought from Georgia, and her southern US roots are evident in the white plantation-style window shutters used extensively throughout the house.
A double-hung Dutch door also references southern architecture; it opens from the commodious kitchen to an outdoor dining deck and adjacent swimming pool. A self-contained cottage, handy in the front yard, is a peaceful retreat for visitors.
Julie shopped local for new items at favourite stores in nearby Cambridge, Morrinsville, Hamilton and Tīrau. Many of her artworks feature images of animals, in some shape or form, reflecting her background as a veterinarian.
An image of a taxidermy rabbit holding a gun is a quirky symbol of her love-hate relationship with the countless rabbit families that have dug a labyrinth of burrows on her property. “There are generations of them here.”
And in human terms, several generations of people have enjoyed Julie’s old charmer on the hill, reinvented for the 21st century but with its spirit still very much intact.
Q&A with Julie McDade
Favourite time of the year: Definitely summer. We can have all the bifold doors and windows open and the pool is our favourite spot. The house and outdoors seem to meld into one big room.
I wish I’d known that: Dog toenails on soft wood floors do not mix!
Renovation low point: It took a lot longer than we thought it would, but in fairness to the builders nothing was square so everything was a mission.
And high point: Because we moved out for the renovation, it was quite fun to visit at the end of each day and see what the builders had accomplished. Each milestone, like the roof going on or the windows going in, was a celebration.
Best budget find: The bedroom curtains. A friend had recently renovated her house and they were surplus to requirements. She has amazing taste and everything is always done to a high standard. Gorgeous fabric and well made.
Favourite local design store: The Sunday Society at the old Matangi Dairy Factory.
Best coffee spot: Punnet Eatery in Tamahere.
At the weekends you’ll find me: In Cambridge, or pottering around the garden, or faffing around with my horses (who think they own the place).
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