People are so kind when you need them to be. One of my old yoga teachers offered me a free Shiatsu massage at her studio when she heard about Dad's illness. I'd been really looking forward to her beautiful house, so I was dead keen to come over and take her up on her therapy!

The house is built on a 770 m2 block in what used to be a pretty poor part of town. Now, everything close to the river sells for quite a bit of money, even if the houses aren't that great. Still it's a decent sized block and her partner had bought it years and years ago. They really wanted an eco build, and achieved quite a lot even though there were limitations when you get a builder to do the work. I love the outside of the house - the right hand side is burnt wood and that's where her studio is. The left hand side is almost a Swedish style cedar wooden entrance porch.

There's a gorgeous mural on the wall that a friend painted, sensitive to the river that is about 500 metres to the west.

Unfortunately I didn't get photos of the inside of the studio - think lovely, calm yoga room! She gave me a footbath in a lovely japanese style wooden bucket and I rested with tea on a large brown corduroy cushion whilst we chatted. The session lasted an hour, and involved a lot of fabric - the belief was the therapist shouldn't touch your skin with theirs to maintain the body's homeostasis. It was quite gentle and she added some acupressure too, blending techniques she'd learnt over the years. It was nice to be treated.

It goes to show how much garden you can have on a small block - they had managed to put veggie beds in, a greenhouse, and some fruit trees, as well as a small shed and a greenhouse.

The kitchen was my kind of kitchen too, overlooking the garden and made of wood and ply. Very simple and eco-style. In fact, all the robes and cabinets, apart from the bathroom, were bespoke made from ply. I am sorry I didn't take a photo of the loungeroom but there was a lovely wood burner there as well, adding to the warm, rural style of the place, even if it was in suburbia.

The bathroom was a real highlight for me - there were actually two bathrooms, an upstairs one of green tiles which was equally divine, and a downstairs one for guests and for those on day retreats, run by a friend of hers.

The walls of the bathroom were black tiles and cement sheets, which look fantastic I think. The bath is a bespoke made Japanese tub which was fairly expensive but something she really wanted. It looks amazing I think and better than a boring white bathtub. It has to be seasoned every six months with oil and beeswax.

The bricks leading upstairs are local bricks which are recycled. Upstairs is a small bedroom they use as an office, the master bedroom, a walk in robe and the second bathroom.

I wish I'd taken more photos but I wasn't really thinking of a HIVE post - more to share with my Dad who was always a wannabe architect. He was a draftsman so knows a LOT about plans and houses.

I absolutely adored this house. It was small, yet spacious, and whilst they'd spent bigger on things they really wanted like the bathtub and polished concrete floors, there were other things that were affordable and humble. I definitely could imagine living there. One day we will have to move from the 5 acres as I can't imagine maintaining it forever, and this is the kind of place I'd love to build, though I don't think I could afford it.

With Love,

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