Beyond the Reclad: A Full Renovation in Kohimarama

A reclad is often thought of as purely protective work, strip back the old, restore weathertightness, move on. At this John Rymer Place property in Kohimarama, we saw an opportunity to go further. While the scaffolding was already up and the building was open, replacing the entire roof made sense, not as a repair, but as an investment in long-term security and peace of mind for the owners, one less thing to think about for decades to come.

Once you're inside a home at that level, seeing its bones exposed, it becomes clear where the real opportunity sits. As an architectural builder with an in-house team of architects, we worked closely with our architects from that point on to reimagine the home properly, so the project grew from a reclad into a full internal and landscape transformation.

The original kitchen layout didn't make the most of the site's natural light, a common oversight in older Kohimarama homes designed before passive solar orientation became a priority. Working alongside our architects, we redesigned the layout entirely, reorienting the workspace to draw in the sun through the day, transforming what was once a functional room into the genuine heart of the home.

Function followed form just as carefully. Every element of the new layout was considered for how the space would actually be used, not just how it would photograph, generous bench space, considered storage, and a flow that makes cooking and entertaining feel effortless rather than cramped.

Luxury, done properly, is felt before it's noticed. Natural stone benchtops bring a quiet weight and texture to the kitchen that no engineered surface can replicate, each slab carrying its own character. High-end appliances were selected not for brand recognition alone, but for how seamlessly they integrate into the considered design language of the space.

Underfoot, natural wool carpet runs throughout the home, a material chosen as much for how it feels as how it looks, soft, warm, and genuinely luxurious in a way synthetic fibres simply can't match.

The bathrooms were reworked with the same attention to detail, level entry showers finished in Italian stone tile, removing the visual and physical barrier of a traditional shower step and replacing it with something that reads as a continuous, considered surface. It's a small architectural decision with an outsized impact, the kind of detail that separates a genuinely well-designed bathroom from a merely renovated one.

The transformation didn't stop at the building envelope. A full landscape upgrade tied the renovated home back into its Kohimarama site, extending the same design thinking that shaped the interior out into the grounds, so the finished property reads as one considered whole, rather than a renovated house sitting inside an untouched garden.

This is the real story of this reclad, a build that began with a practical need, restoring weathertightness, and became an opportunity to genuinely elevate a home, inside and out, with our builder and architects working as one team throughout. It's a reminder that a reclad in Auckland, approached with the right vision by the right builder, doesn't have to be purely defensive work. Done well, it can be the beginning of something considerably more ambitious. If you're facing a reclad and want it to be more than a repair, get in touch with our team at Bare Construction and Bare Architecture to talk through what's possible for your home.