A HOME BUILT INTO THE BUSH

Tucked into one of the last undeveloped sections in Laingholm, Yolandie and Don's home sits deep in the Waitakere Ranges, surrounded by established native bush. It's a steep site, one the real estate agent warned them about before they'd even seen it. But the moment they arrived, they knew they'd found something rare.

"We felt like we had found a hidden gem," says Yolandie. "Being surrounded by established bush gave it a really calm, grounded feeling. Our first reaction was that it felt like a retreat, somewhere you could step away from everything, but still be close to the city."

Design that’s rooted in nature

That sense of belonging to the land, rather than sitting on top of it, became the driving force behind the design. Working with architects Sarah and Paul from Archwin Design Limited, the couple shaped the home around the site's contours, preserving as much of the existing vegetation as possible and framing specific outlooks through the bush. It wasn't a straightforward process. "We had to go back to the drawing board seven times," says Yolandie, "but our architects were awesome." Council and the site itself pushed the design through repeated changes, particularly around positioning and access, and each round left the home better for it.

Windows as living paintings

With that much bush on the doorstep, the brief for the windows and doors was clear: maximise the connection to the outdoors, bring in the bush and ocean views and natural light, and still deliver the shelter and thermal performance a site like this demands. "It was about balancing openness with practicality," Yolandie explains. "It turned out that most of our windows became living paintings, and we are ecstatic with the outcome."

Fairview Albany, under franchise owner Johan, supplied and fitted the joinery throughout, including six Fairview stack door systems that let the couple fully open up the living areas and bedrooms on fine days. "The standout was the system's quality, robustness, and ease of use," says Yolandie. "It gave us confidence that we could achieve large openings without compromising performance."

Thermal performance, maximum clarity

The joinery throughout the home is Fairview's TL40 Thermally Broken Suite, glazed with Low-E double glazing, chosen for the thermal insulation Don wanted from the outset. Beyond performance, the goal was to manage light, glare and warmth from the filtered bush light without dulling the outlook, so most of the home runs clear glass, with tinting reserved for the bathrooms where extra privacy was wanted. Johan also specified a higher-grade finish for the frames, Fairview's Aeonox Scratch-Resistant Powder Coat Technology in Grey Friars, meeting Don's brief for minimum maintenance and long-term durability.

A late addition becomes the favourite

Ask Yolandie and Don to pick a favourite, and they won't land on just one. The staircase windows are a constant draw, but it's the large window at the end of the hall downstairs that means the most, a late addition made after building consent, when Don realised the hallway would be too dark and worked with the engineer and architect to make the opening happen anyway. "It frames the bush beautifully," says Yolandie. "It's our favourite living art piece." 

Upstairs, Yolandie's home office sits almost inside the canopy of a mature tōtara, close enough that waxeyes and rosellas pass within two metres of the glass. "Very hard to work under these idyllic circumstances," she laughs.

Exceptional collaboration

Don and Johan had already been business colleagues for three years when the project came together, and it marked one of the first major projects Johan took on after taking over the Fairview Albany franchise. "What stood out was their willingness to collaborate and their understanding of what we were trying to achieve," says Yolandie. "It felt like a genuine partnership rather than just a supplier relationship."

With Don's own company, Quip Group Limited, as main contractor, the build relied on close coordination between contractor and fabricator from start to finish, and for Yolandie, it's this partnership that stands out most looking back on the project. "Projects like this really highlight how important it is to have the right team involved," she says. "The collaboration between Quip Group and Fairview Albany has been exceptional. When everyone is aligned, you end up with a much better result, both in the process and the finished home."

For a couple who set out to build a forever home in the bush, the windows turned out to be one of its defining features. "Our windows are definitely one of the top features of our beautiful forever dream home."