Rugged In Nature: Discover the Central Otago home of Hugh & Zoe
Nestled in the heart of Wānaka, a region renowned for its rugged landscapes and stunning natural beauty, Hugh and Zoe Bagley have crafted a home that perfectly reflects their lifestyle. Designed with family, functionality, and the surrounding landscape in mind— they created a space that blends earthy tones, raw and natural materials, and thoughtful design elements. In this interview, they share their journey of creating a home that combines their love for nature, craftsmanship, and practicality, offering insights into the process of building a home from the ground up, with a special focus on the materials that make it truly unique.
Credits
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do on the day-to-day?
I grew up on Waiheke Island and Hugh on a sheep and beef station in Middlemarch. We now live in Wānaka where Hugh runs his building company Bagley Construction and I work in the animal health industry, for a veterinary pharmaceutical company. We love living in Wānaka and being surrounded by the mountains and lake. On the weekend we like to spend time at the lake or take our girls Bella and Harriet camping up to the Matukituki Valley and Wānaka surrounds. Hugh is an avid hunter so loves the location for Tahr and Chamois hunting.
What drove you to embark on this new-build journey?
Owning a building company means we often move about. We found this section a few years ago and loved the location and views. We wanted to build a more permanent home for our family so it was important to get the build right. We used Bryce Monk at Threefold Architecture for the design, as he knows our style and what we do and don't like from previous projects. We gave him a very vague brief but trusted him to work his magic with the space and we couldn't be happier with what he came up with.
What was your vision for the house, and where do you draw your inspiration from?
We had played it safe on previous builds using lighter colours like soft greys, light oak flooring and neutral colours. This house design felt more masculine so we decided to be brave and go with darker accents with high raking ceilings. The walls are limestone rendered, the floors are polished concrete and wool carpet and internal and external schist walls. We love the rawness of the materials and wanted to bring the surrounding landscape in though earthy tones and natural materials.
Which features were most important to you when designing your home?
Spaces for us all to enjoy. The space needed to work for our family, so it made sense to do just that. Hugh is a keen hunter so we utilised the high studs to display his trophy heads. The section is relatively small, but we maximised the space through the design. We wanted an office and media room which meant losing a fourth bedroom upstairs, but it provides a beautiful space to work from, with a view of the mountains and Lake Wānaka. We chose Quick-Step Perspective Nature laminate in Waxed Oak Brown for this space, and cleverly installed it on an a diagonal to reflect the cedar ceiling. We love the rich, dark tones that match our cabinetry and the authenticity in design.
What was important to you when choosing your carpet?
Having grown up on sheep and beef station it was a given that we would use a natural material like wool. It makes sense to make use of a resource that is such a fantastic product being both natural and renewable, with great durability. I love the look of the textured loop pile style. We opted for Loom Ertha in Mountainous, which paired perfectly with the other natural materials throughout the house.
What’s your favourite space in your home, and why?
We love the dropdown lounge which is adjacent to the kitchen and dining. It has beautiful views and creates a great space for our family to be together. The large schist fireplace is amazing in the wintertime, together with the cozy wool carpet creates a warm area we can all hang out on the cold Wānaka winter nights.
What areas would you recommend saving on and splurging on when building or renovating?
I think splurging on lighting makes a real difference internally. There are some amazing local designers doing interesting pieces. We used Nightworks Studio for a lot of our feature lighting and think it was worth spending a little more and important to support local. Tapware is also key and a good place to splurge! We have always used wool carpets in our homes and there is a large range of price points suiting all kinds of budgets in the wool range. You can often find beautiful tiles at a good price so you can save here and still get a good look.
What’s next? Any new projects in the pipeline?
We are currently building a home in Wānaka which we will sell. We have continued with a similar theme of using natural products throughout the house. We have chosen Bremworth wool carpet for this new build along with internal cedar and beautiful natural limestone benchtops. It is still in the construction stage but we are excited to see it all come together.
