Art & Soul

Newbold by name, Newbold by nature – this creative couple designed and built a personality-packed weekend retreat just out of Auckland.

- Tina Stephen

Making your dreams come true starts with a good dose of common sense and a sprinkling of creativity, both of which Kylee and Mark Newbold have in spades. This creative couple dreamed of weekends spent at their very own bach, but assumed it was a distant life goal. Then a simple day trip to the Mangawhai Heads, just over an hour’s drive from their home in Auckland, changed all that.

“We were trying to find a section within a two-hour radius of our home,” remembers Kylee. “Neither Mark nor I had been to Mangawhai Heads before, but we had seen a few sections on Trade Me so thought we would go and have a look.”

After a casual drive around the area, the couple were overwhelmed by its stunning coastline. They dove in for a swim, and returned to the beach without a doubt that this was the place they had been searching for. A quick scout around the area followed, and within a week they had purchased their section.

Wasting no time at all, the Newbolds hatched a plan for a small bolthole on their plot, keeping future expansion in the backs of their minds. The couple designed a modest 36-square-metre building, its square footprint encompassing open-plan living and kitchen, one bedroom, one bathroom and an L-shaped deck.

“As we wanted to build something straight away, we had a strict budget of $100,000,” says Kylee. “This meant we had to stay within a small footprint and think carefully about the layout to maximise both function and aesthetic.”