The Anti Minimalists
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A beautiful character villa with warm, sunny rooms; no condensation on the windows and fitted with all the modern conveniences. The only hitch is that this Rangiora character villa is a replica but that brings some great benefits.
Words: Pattie Pegler Photography: Dorothy McLennan
Drive through the gates of Dorothy and Clive Washington’s home and you’re greeted by a line of cherry blossom trees; several outbuildings and a church bell mounted on its own bespoke wooden bell-tower. It’s a hint of what is to come in this eclectic setting.
When the couple first looked at this 2-storey, Clarkville house, it echoed Dorothy’s childhood in Lincoln. “I grew up in a house just like this,” she recalls, “I walked through the door here and I thought ‘Yes, I could live here’”.
That was more than 25 years ago, since then they have made it their own. There have been big projects - a substantial extension across both storeys turned the 4-bedroom home into a 5-bedroom space with a large, upstairs office area. More recently they closed in the front verandah creating a cosy seating area and they have revamped their kitchen.
“I love this kitchen,” says Dorothy, “It is full of hidden storage and everything is so well planned.” So does she cook up a storm in here? “Actually I don’t like cooking at all,” she laughs.
Beyond the kitchen rooms lead onto rooms – this house is vast. There’s a separate dining room; a formal lounge “mostly used for watching rugby,” says Dorothy; an informal seating area next to the large kitchen. And an imposing wooden staircase leads to the upper level, where an apex ceiling soars upwards and a modern yet rustic chandelier hangs over the scene.
Dorothy might not like cooking but she loves entertaining and the house has seen all sorts of gatherings. From birthdays to weddings and even a version of the old TV show, This Is Your Life where she gathered friends and colleagues from Clive’s life and surprised him with a party on a significant birthday.
And if people get carried away the house is large enough to accommodate overnight visitors in their own upstairs space – the Kennedy Suite Dorothy calls it. “Because Kennedy was a bit of a naughty president…so I say it’s a bit of a naughty suite,” she says.
But it’s the extras that reflect the Washingtons’ lives …
From family photographs to paintings; ornaments and odd items. An old Chinese chequers board sits atop a bar stool - it belonged to Dorothy’s father and she now uses it to play against Clive over a cup of tea in the mornings – “I’m fiercely competitive”, she laughs. A large black and white photograph of the tree-lined drive into Fairlie commands the room – one of Clive’s finds. In front of it two tall slim, black and white ornamental nuns compliment the monochrome shades.
Clive founded a successful business many years ago and it has seen him spend much time travelling overseas. So it’s Dorothy that has been more focused on the house. She draws inspiration from television programmes and house and garden magazines she says, flicking through them in the small hours when sleep might elude her. But it is Clive who often works on the projects she comes up with – like the carefully created wooden ceiling in the former verandah area.
The couple also fit in all sorts of activities from cheering on Coast to Coast participants on their specially constructed float to cooking up soup for Ronald McDonald House. They travel; they entertain; they support charities – they embrace life and it shows in their home.
Outside the house it feels like the Washingtons, who don’t do things by halves, have created their own little town.
Two of the sheds have fully-painted 1950s style shop hoardings “Clint’s Garage” and “Doff’s General Store” they say – their nicknames Dorothy explains. They are full of all manner of things - their children’s sporting memorabilia to stacks of chairs. Outside there’s a mini golf green; a greenhouse; a retro phone box.
When Clive said there was no space for Dorothy to use in their existing sheds she took matters into her own hands and bought an old bus. He returned from a business trip to find it installed in the garden. Now it resembles a costume shop with crammed racks of cocktail dresses and bridal gowns and drawers marked Abba and Topp Twins.
A few steps away another outbuilding opens the door on a bygone world and is set up as two-room cottage with a living area and bedroom. There’s an antique typewriter; old luggage and in the corner a life-sized doll in period dress stares out.
“It’s not very minimalist,” says Dorothy with a grin. She’s right it’s not. None of it is. But in a time when we’re all obsessing about clutter like Kondo and embracing the whites and brights of the Scandi look – there is something refreshingly different about this home.