It has been over 2 and a half years since my husband, my five cats and I moved over from Australia to Northland, New Zealand, in part to be closer to my parents but mainly because my husband and I craved a project. I had spent months looking at real estate for sale and one day I saw the listing for a Villa. Built in 1910 and situated on one acre there was something about the house that I kept going back to until eventually, I sent my parents along to have a look. Needless to say, their first impression was not favourable because of how much work the Villa needed.
NB: The Villa is an Edwardian/Victorian-style house that was built in New Zealand between 1880 and 1920.
I made the trip from Australia to New Zealand to see it for myself and to also look at other options; however, the first time I walked inside the house I just wanted to give the house a hug. I could see that with love and attention the Villa could be beautiful again, but a little neglect and questionable renovations had worn the house down. My husband and I after much discussion made the decision and purchased the house which in itself was a huge undertaking.
Our grand old 'transitional' Villa has had over 20 owners in 110 years and the first year was spent undoing and fixing a lot of the work the previous owners had done.
We did the following:
- Repainted the main bedroom
- Removed wallpaper in the front bedroom (set to be my art studio)
- Re-plastered the walls of that bedroom
- Painted the studio
- Installed ducted air conditioning
- Installed wall insulation
- Repainted all of the ceilings
- Replaced the brown aluminum windows in 2 bedrooms with new timber double sash windows
- Replaced the old front doors with new timber French doors and
- Started clearing the back yard and building our vegetable garden
Listing it as I have above, it does feel like we achieved a lot and at other times I can get a little overwhelmed thinking about how much there is left to do. But that's normal when dealing with an old house.
In a later blog, I will share some more photos and updates about the renovations and share an in-depth look at my art studio (which is my favourite space).