Waiheke Island florist goes from villa to new build, bringing New York

This story is from the team at NZ House & Garden magazine.

Vicki Roycroft loves flowers, but admits she's not much of a gardener. She likes to renovate and relocate houses, but isn't that fussed with achieving a pristine finish.

So it's hardly surprising that when she and husband Mark traded their beloved villa in the heart of Auckland's Waiheke Island to build a barn in semi-rural Woodside Bay, she had three non-negotiables: a low-maintenance fit out, no weekend painting and enough land to sow a self-seeding meadow.

"Life is short," she says of her refreshing laissez-faire attitude. "The last thing I want to be doing with my weekends is sanding walls or mowing lawns." Instead, she prefers to relax by the pool on her sunny deck, Aperol spritz in hand, gazing out across untamed grass dotted with Queen Anne's lace to the azure sea beyond.

Which brings us to the dilemma she faced of designing new, when her heart still craved old. "We fell in love with those sea views," she says of their initial drive to relocate to Woodside Bay. "We were excited about building for the first time but what scared us was that the finished result wouldn't have enough character."

So, they chose a simple, corrugated steel, shed-like construction inspired by open-plan lofts they had seen in New York. Then, they added beautiful aged french doors, and "aluminium windows fashioned on Crittall-style versions from factories in England and the US".

Marrying rustic with modern and favouring a comfortably lived-in "undone" aesthetic is the same approach Vicki applies to the bespoke floral arrangements she creates in the floral workroom of The Wildflower School which sits next to the main house. It also informs many of her decor decisions.

To that end, the barn's dramatic black exterior is off-set with ornate iron gates that are streaked with rust. Internal antique doors remain weathered to add charm and grit. "Because we still love the patina of heritage villas, we decided the old doors and rusty gates would give us the best of both worlds."

Fortunately, this is a world Vicki and Mark know intimately so they had at least a house-worth of antiques and collectibles left over from previous projects. Anything extra, they sourced from trusted suppliers.

"I knew the job would cost more than I thought so I stockpiled," explains Vicki of her foresight to buy particular beautiful things at the start of the building process. "I knew that if we hadn't, when we got to the end Mark would say ‘we can't afford those gates’ and I didn't want to miss out on lovely things because the septic system cost more than we thought or something equally boring."

The shed came first, followed by the studio and then the pool. "The Wildflower workroom doubles as a guest house and is a lovely place to paint watercolours," says Vicki of the sociable hang-out area tucked beside the house with views towards Maraetai. It's also where their two adult children stay when they come to visit, and the part of the project of which she is most proud.

Coming in second is the decision to line the entire house with fibre cement board to create a concrete look. It was also the only delay, so stressful it reduced Vicki to tears. "It took so long to individually screw on each sheet that it didn't turn out to be the cost-saving option we thought it would be."

Luckily, Vicki thinks the effect "looks like linen, with the screws like stitching in fabric," and it saved time in the end, requiring no plastering or painting.

Vicki veers towards a neutral palette, favouring subtle colours and earthy tones. Apart from laying blush-pink Italian porcelain tiles in the bathroom, her interiors feature white walls, wooden floors and kilim rugs. "Even in my floral arrangements, I gravitate towards mustards, dirty greens and would never do primary colours. I’m just not into bold. I prefer tonal."

The home radiates a soothing, cohesive harmony that, because of its openness, often leaves Vicki feeling like she is staying in a gorgeous boutique resort. "Every day, I wake up and look at that beautiful view, those lofty ceilings and I feel so grateful," she says.

So, has living in a new house spoiled her for future do-ups? "Not quite," laughs Vicki. "I’ll never get over that love for old villas, so we’ve bought one up in Rawene, in the Hokianga." The couple plan to live between the two homes and occasionally rent out Woodside Bay as holiday accommodation. The irony is not lost on her that after building new, she's now back to scraping and painting on weekends.

"We never do our houses up till they’re absolutely perfect because we don't like them like that," she says, admitting they’ve never quite finished any of their renovations. "We like our homes to feel real and not too contemporary or generic. We actually like the shabby bits."

Q&A with Vicki Roycroft

My decorating style is: An eclectic mix of New York loft meets semi industrial, with a bit of French shabby chic. It's a mishmash but hopefully we’ve made that work!

Best money we spent: We could only afford a tiny concrete plunge pool made from a septic tank mould. We decided to spend money on getting it fully tiled in our favourite Italian Bisazza glass mosaic tiles –money well spent to make a very basic pool into a little jewel.

The thing I want to change next around the house: I would love to transform the front garden into a Piet Oudolf-inspired meadow but since gardening is not really our forte, I think this might be a bit beyond us. I will probably just buy some bulk wildflower seeds and scatter and hope.

This weekend I will be: Collecting a carload of blooms from our local flower farm, Nourish Gardens, and then filling all the vases in The Wildflower School workroom in preparation for a new crop of students arriving to start our course in botanical styling.

Flowers I couldn't live without: I love old-fashioned garden roses in a vase for their scent and opulent full-blown beauty. My current favourite plant in the garden is gaura, also called the whirling butterfly plant. I love the way it wafts so beautifully in the breeze.

Favourite outdoor spot: Lying on the green Hay sun loungers by our little pool and gazing out over the bay.