What are your three favourite things in your home and why are they special to you?
Pip: One of the things I like the most about this house is our bedroom and we get the most beautiful view in the morning, the sun comes in and we can lie in bed, raise the blinds and be looking out to sea, out to Kapiti and it’s still first thing in the morning or whenever, it’s just the most beautiful way to wake up.
Mark: Some of my favourite things, that room is a beauty! The entrance, as you come in and you're confronted by this extraordinary, spectacular scene, it’s a knockout and we never tire of it. The other one that is part of the house is the back deck, adjacent to the bedroom out there, and we use that almost every day.
Pip: We have our coffee out there!
Mark: It’s the most delightful little area, it’s worked out very well, it’s windfree and sunny.
What’s your top tip for people wanting to build their own Grand Design?
Mark: My advice would be that you are very clear on whether you want to do it or not, and whether you’ve got the right site or not and you have enough money to do it, right? and then just commit to it! Don’t go back and start renegotiating on whether you can move in on the site or a different place! Own it and love it and execute it with great passion.
Your build is complete now, what’s next? Do you have any new projects lined up?
Mark: I've enjoyed the process so much and the demands of it and the challenge and the outcome, that i’d be more than comfortable doing another one.