Just nine kilometres from the heart of Auckland's CBD, this home forms part of a diverse housing complex that aims to embrace the characteristics of the local Point England community. It's a family-friendly and culturally rich neighbourhood where young professionals, first home buyers and social housing all sit side by side in architecturally designed, quality homes.

Perfectly designed for everyday modern living, this three-bedroom home belies its relatively small 130m² footprint. With an open plan ground floor, high ceilings, generous first floor bedrooms, and fully tiled bathroom, ensuite and laundry, the home feels incredibly spacious and light.

Built above and beyond current building code requirements, the home has been afforded a 6 Home Star rating. This rating ensures that the home is healthier and more energy efficient than a similar home just built to code.

Cognisant of sustainable building materials and creation of a healthy home, tiles from The Tile Depot were used extensively. Italian tiles in particular were chosen as Italy has the most stringent environmental tile manufacturing regulations in the world.

Furthermore, tiles in general, are safe and non-toxic, and designed to last a lifetime with very little in the way of maintenance requirements. They also have great thermal mass for passive home heating.

The entire ground floor, bathrooms and laundry were thus tiled with Alter Sbiancato 200 x 1200mm, a wood-effect porcelain that is a fantastic alternative to natural wood flooring. Being porcelain, they will never need sanding or resealing like natural timber. A fantastic durable flooring option in spaces that move between indoors and out, and where the potential impacts of water are a factor.

One of the most striking features in the open plan living space is the tiled kitchen splashback. Tiled with Glam Hedge 500 x 1000mm, a very special tile collection that transforms walls into scenic works of art. Like the wood-effect flooring, it brings a touch of nature into the interiors and introduces green and blue hues that repeat throughout the other tiled areas of the home.

Floor to ceiling tiling in the bathroom, ensuite and laundry, help to maintain a sense of spaciousness throughout the home and continue the commitment to quality, low maintenance surfaces. Colourful feature walls in greens and blues are paired with warm whites and the light wood-effect porcelain floors to create cohesion between all the spaces. Chinese ming-green marble finger tiles are the only deviation from the Italian tile selections and create a stunning natural feature wall in the ensuite.

As this home demonstrates, thoughtful design, commitment to quality finishings and cognisance of sustainable building materials can result in a very special, compact dwelling designed for enjoyable contemporary living. A compact home does not equate to a compromise on lifestyle or quality.