Making the Most of a Lifestyle Property
If life is for living, then sisters Ann Inglis and Maria Tyrie are masters of the art of living more than one life. Lifestyle one is in the heart of Merivale, running their successful concept store, Soeur Design.
Lifestyle two is lived side by side on a huge and private lifestyle block in North Canterbury. Lifestyle three is looking forward to producing their own private bin from a freshly planted vineyard on their property.
This will be producing one house red (pinot noir) and one house white (riesling) with a bit of help from the third Tyrie sister, Dawn, who together with her husband, Terry Wilson, owns Wanaka's celebrated Mount Maude vineyard. Finally, lifestyle four is often spent travelling the world sourcing the rare and the beautiful for Soeur Design.
Frankly, they should be in a state of collapse at the end of every week, but instead they fill their beautiful homes, just metres from each other, with friends and family most weekends. Busy weeks and busier weekends are part and parcel of a lifestyle for Inglis and Tyrie.
Their respective homes, filled with glorious works of the sisters' own art and photography, have been designed with considerable flair and an eye for minimising upkeep. These sisters see absolutely no point having a lifestyle property if they are unable to enjoy the accompanying lifestyle.
Their success in doing so comes as no surprise when you consider Inglis and Tyrie have been contributing to some seriously stylish lifestyles of others for almost 20 years now through their business. "Five years ago, we decided to contribute a bit more to ours and came out here," says Inglis.
"It's a perfect retreat, a place to spend with family and friends, and provides us all with some much- needed balance in our lives. We all value family enormously," adds Tyrie, "and the fact that we would be giving our grandchildren a taste of countryside was a factor in why we came out here to live." Their choice of location was settled with typical practical consideration.
It was exactly halfway between Christchurch and Soeur Design's shop in Merivale, and a 40ha olive investment block run by Tyrie's partner, Russell Lucas, and Inglis's husband, Ron. Equally fair was the way they decided who was going to live where on the property. After finding the 4ha block, the two families literally tossed for it.
Hence, when the coin fell, Tyrie and Lucas were dispatched to the left, and the Inglises to the right. Robert Weir, of Paul Foley Design, was responsible for the stunning home now occupied by the Inglises, while Rosemary Beckett, of Beckett and Fisher, project managed for Tyrie and Lucas.
In the interim, the two families flatted together at the back of the property. It is typical of this close family that when the Inglises' pavilion-style home was completed at Christmas, 2001, that everyone was still on speaking terms.
It probably helped enormously that as well as the sisters being close, Ron Inglis and Lucas are old friends from Dunedin's King College. The two homes are as different as they are similar. While both differ in layout, each makes superb use of the sun, private courtyard areas and polished concrete floors.
Both homes unfold seamlessly from the indoor to the outdoor living areas. The Inglis home has a long, low profile, allowing the Inglises their own space at one end, while visiting family are accommodated in style at the other end. "The big central living and dining area is where we all congregate," says Inglis.
Tyrie's and Lucas's home is a two- storey affair, with the master bedroom on the first floor with views to the gardens and paddocks. The first floor was also home to Tyrie's studio where she produced wonderful paintings, often working into the small hours.
Today, however, it has been commandeered by visiting family and overnight guests and is guarded, and occasionally patrolled, by Keith, possibly the largest black-and-white cat in North Canterbury, and certainly the fluffiest. Tyrie doesn't look like being able to reclaim her studio any time soon.
This is very much a lifestyle property developed with a family- oriented lifestyle in mind, and that includes Bailey the chocolate labrador and Murdoch the fox terrier. While each has his own home, Bailey to the right, Murdoch to the left, it is obvious that these dogs consider the property a shared concern where each feels equally at home regardless of whose home that happens to be. Very much, in fact, like their owners.
Lifestyle two is lived side by side on a huge and private lifestyle block in North Canterbury. Lifestyle three is looking forward to producing their own private bin from a freshly planted vineyard on their property.
This will be producing one house red (pinot noir) and one house white (riesling) with a bit of help from the third Tyrie sister, Dawn, who together with her husband, Terry Wilson, owns Wanaka's celebrated Mount Maude vineyard. Finally, lifestyle four is often spent travelling the world sourcing the rare and the beautiful for Soeur Design.
Frankly, they should be in a state of collapse at the end of every week, but instead they fill their beautiful homes, just metres from each other, with friends and family most weekends. Busy weeks and busier weekends are part and parcel of a lifestyle for Inglis and Tyrie.
Their respective homes, filled with glorious works of the sisters' own art and photography, have been designed with considerable flair and an eye for minimising upkeep. These sisters see absolutely no point having a lifestyle property if they are unable to enjoy the accompanying lifestyle.
Their success in doing so comes as no surprise when you consider Inglis and Tyrie have been contributing to some seriously stylish lifestyles of others for almost 20 years now through their business. "Five years ago, we decided to contribute a bit more to ours and came out here," says Inglis.
"It's a perfect retreat, a place to spend with family and friends, and provides us all with some much- needed balance in our lives. We all value family enormously," adds Tyrie, "and the fact that we would be giving our grandchildren a taste of countryside was a factor in why we came out here to live." Their choice of location was settled with typical practical consideration.
It was exactly halfway between Christchurch and Soeur Design's shop in Merivale, and a 40ha olive investment block run by Tyrie's partner, Russell Lucas, and Inglis's husband, Ron. Equally fair was the way they decided who was going to live where on the property. After finding the 4ha block, the two families literally tossed for it.
Hence, when the coin fell, Tyrie and Lucas were dispatched to the left, and the Inglises to the right. Robert Weir, of Paul Foley Design, was responsible for the stunning home now occupied by the Inglises, while Rosemary Beckett, of Beckett and Fisher, project managed for Tyrie and Lucas.
In the interim, the two families flatted together at the back of the property. It is typical of this close family that when the Inglises' pavilion-style home was completed at Christmas, 2001, that everyone was still on speaking terms.
It probably helped enormously that as well as the sisters being close, Ron Inglis and Lucas are old friends from Dunedin's King College. The two homes are as different as they are similar. While both differ in layout, each makes superb use of the sun, private courtyard areas and polished concrete floors.
Both homes unfold seamlessly from the indoor to the outdoor living areas. The Inglis home has a long, low profile, allowing the Inglises their own space at one end, while visiting family are accommodated in style at the other end. "The big central living and dining area is where we all congregate," says Inglis.
Tyrie's and Lucas's home is a two- storey affair, with the master bedroom on the first floor with views to the gardens and paddocks. The first floor was also home to Tyrie's studio where she produced wonderful paintings, often working into the small hours.
Today, however, it has been commandeered by visiting family and overnight guests and is guarded, and occasionally patrolled, by Keith, possibly the largest black-and-white cat in North Canterbury, and certainly the fluffiest. Tyrie doesn't look like being able to reclaim her studio any time soon.
This is very much a lifestyle property developed with a family- oriented lifestyle in mind, and that includes Bailey the chocolate labrador and Murdoch the fox terrier. While each has his own home, Bailey to the right, Murdoch to the left, it is obvious that these dogs consider the property a shared concern where each feels equally at home regardless of whose home that happens to be. Very much, in fact, like their owners.
Labels: ann inglis, jodi oloughlin, maria tyrie, soeur design
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