modhouse Blog Series: No 4 - The Last Word
Ever grateful to have the final word on our modhouse blog series, it certainly won’t be sugar coated. You’re my favourite audience, so let me entertain you with the truth bombs that make up a husband and wife team embarking on a build (oh, and a new business… and a relocation… and farewelling our children). While leaving the bulk of it out, I will share the major obstacles, the highs, the tests on our marriage, a few regrets, and what the future holds.
Biggest Challenges
I’ll jump straight into the thorniest bits of the building process. How did we stay sane, not divorce or become chain-smoking alcoholics? Admittedly, we learnt survival tricks from a stressful reno project in 2007 (just prior to the GFC and a story for another day).
Anyway, being married to another creative is complex. We’re a pair of Leo’s, so we both like to run the show. My beloved John is a black and white chap, there is no in-between. He has two settings… ON or OFF. When he is awake he’s quick, sharp and straight to the point. John only switches OFF when asleep, never in-between. I had better say at this point, I love him dearly, there’s never a dull moment in our life together and I like that.
I love a challenge, change is exciting and I’m happiest when busy. But hand on heart, modhouse has been our biggest challenge together.
I’m hoping you might have read the modhouse blog prior to this one? If so, you’ll know that we began our building project in Hawkes Bay while still residing in Auckland. Taking turns with John to commute and meet with the builder and suppliers, threw me out of my depth a number of times. Nutting out an architectural Vs engineered drawing of a joist, god looking back I’m pretty certain some of my answers were rough. Thankfully the builder had many offline chats with John to iron out the curly questions.
As many of you know, there’s plenty of struggles when project-managing your own build and budget is a biggie. Building a home is one thing, but because this was John’s enormous dream in the making, it added a layer of anxiety.
Building a prototype prefabricated home that would double-up as a showcase for our business was daunting, but exciting too. John had done his numbers, but for us to sell the concept of modhouse, it was vital to build one first. No surprises, the “numbers” were more than anticipated.
To massage those numbers a little, we did as much as we could with our bare hands. Good for the books, but what about marriage? Oh god no! Let’s just say an oversized concrete sander and a vacuum were the cause of marital chaos. Plus move-in day was a week away – stress levels were heightened.
The machine was ours for 12 hours only and we had an entire ground floor to grind. Because the grinder had a vacuum that collected all the dust (huh), I went ahead and wiped every spare inch of the house prior to starting up the machine. John operated the grinder and I dutifully followed with the vacuum. Picture a completely exhausted couple and the wrong vacuum hose… yes, concrete dust ERRYWHERE, loud profanities among the carnage. Mark the builder casually retorted on Monday morn, “the correct hose for the vacuum is out the back.” Quite liked to have known that beforehand. I refer to that argument as #desertstormgate… it was a shocker. Can’t look back and laugh just yet, but I know we will.
Sorry, that was detailed but felt cathartic to air it. Getting back to the challenges of modhouse, the two that stand out are (1) editing our belongings, and (2) keeping things simple with my interior plan of attack. The editing was a major because storage in a modhouse is limited. Fortunately, I’m not a hoarder or keeper of things unless well-loved or purposeful.
Our family belongings were carefully culled (just quietly, the Lego and Barbie sets are in the rear shed for future grandchildren).
Best Rewards
The dream had landed… Ten years of plotting, scheming and taking a wildly scary plunge, made the finish line so rewarding.
This project was tricky, it was steeped in our hopes and desire for success. We’re creative, fussy, and this was new territory. Yet our builder embraced it with gusto. We actually miss having him around, and I tell him that whenever I see him.
Since completion, we have received a number of recognitions, most notably the Landmarks Award for ‘significant contribution of the promotion of the District's image, identity, sense of place and civic pride’.
We have been featured in Homestyle, Issue 92, Prefab NZ, and were part of the NZIA Festival of Architecture tour.
Recently, we became a finalist in the NZ Wood Resene Timber Design Awards 2020.
We first swung the doors open to our modhouse in October, and were completely overwhelmed with the turnout. This open home made us realise that people were genuinely interested in what we had created, and were keen to understand its unique prefabricated concept.
The learnings from this project continues to blow my mind, and I’m super keen to build again.
My Style
The theme for this project could be research and restraint. Generally speaking, my style is not overly defined - it’s evolving on the daily. But this project took weeks of plotting and a healthy dose of control on the interior design front. How would I best complement the refined design? A few sleepless nights over this.
There’s a lot of timber in our modhouse - plywood, pine, cedar, American oak and saligna. How was I going to furnish this house without competing with the setting? Good lord this is my gig, but I had bouts of anxiety about people’s expectations of what I could create… my name was on the line.
After moving to Hawkes Bay in May 2019 and spending more time finishing the house, I eased into the scene and realised my worries were unnecessary. All the timber detailing was in fact the interior hero. The light filled spaces were beautiful, so I just needed to keep things functional and minimal.
My wish-list of new furniture has remained just that, a lofty wish-list. But I remind myself, one step at a time. I still long for wallpaper on the oversized Triboard panels, but right now I’m content with the fresh whiteness of it all.
This home is all about simple and functional living, with a strong focus on natural materials. But I am far from finished with you modhouse.
I Wish I Had…
It’s not a deal breaker, but I do wish we had put underfloor heating in the concrete. Although the architect strategically placed the windows and doors to work perfectly with the roof overhang, so the sun heats during the day and the warmth is released into the evening, clever.
While we did build this as a show home, we also designed it specifically for us. Our design included a large open expanse of a double height void upstairs. To see across to the other bedroom and admire the beautiful ceiling detail, meant keeping it free of walls. With our children both at University in the South Island, we figured we’d keep the space completely open. Ruby and Theo would adjust, and they were only to going to visit for short periods. We’ve had some fun conversations with friends who have been to stay, let’s just say, the light is beautiful and the open space is a delight, but acoustically it’s far from ideal.
Our kids are both home for the summer holidays, sleeping in the same room with no walls. I’m kind of wishing we had put more walls up, and they delight in reminding us daily. But we’ve had a curtain made which is easily hooked up at night. At least now they don’t have to look at us across the void.
With our show home complete, John is now drawing details of a single level modhouse for a few that are interested.
We’d love someone to embrace the concept and build soon. I know the same energy and excitement will go into modhouse #2.
Meanwhile, I still have dreams of a modhouse at the beach.
The High Five
A few of my favourite things:
1. The paper pendant lights from Wah Lee at $16 each. The lights I really wanted were $4000 each at ECC. But these fit in perfectly, and what’s not to love about that price.
2. The front door handle which incidentally is a larger version of the kitchen handles, love, love!
3. The Book Shelves, designed and made by another local creative Hayden @thegenisis.nz. Our book collection had been in boxes or hidden away in a cupboard, now they sit loud and proud in our TV room.
4. The Pyro Classic fireplace. Compact, incredibly effective and dreamy white. Best money we spent.
5. The downstairs doors. All openings on the ground floor are doors, seriously large doors. The northeast completely opens and the doors sit stacked against the cedar. It feels like we’re outside, it’s truly special.
We’re as proud as punch of our modhouse. Next time you’re in the Bay, come and visit.