KEY POINTS:
A spontaneous decision to check out an open home changed the lives of Lisa Bates and Douglas Hawkins. They hadn't planned to move but they felt an instant attraction to the unusual and glamorous old house in Auckland's leafy Epsom. "It was such a fated purchase," says Bates.
"We visited after my father's partner urged us to take a look and we just fell completely in love with it. It seemed to really suit our family."
Over the course of successive open homes, the couple made friends with the owner who even passed on to them the precious poppy seeds she planted in the front garden each year. "We felt a definite connection to the house from the outset," says Bates.
Now the couple adore living there with their three young children, Sabina, Dominic and Octavia, and cherish the wonderful gardens planted by the former owner.
The house was designed in the 1940s to echo the hillside villas of Alhambra in Spain. Its original architect and owner was a remittance man - someone paid by their wealthy family to live overseas on the proviso they would not come back - and in his many years of living alone he neglected the beautiful home and grounds.
In the 1970s the house and the grounds were restored with native trees as well as exotic flowering trees and shrubs a feature. Now, more than 30 years later, Bates and Hawkins are continuing the good work. They have tried to stay true to the home's architecture, making few structural changes and replacing modern fittings that weren't in keeping.
The thing that jarred most was that the home didn't have an entrance befitting its grandeur. In the late 1960s the house was reoriented to the east and a second driveway added, making the original front door useless. "When you opened the front door you'd see a loo," says Bates, who is the development manager for Q Theatre, due to be built at the back of the Town Hall on Queen Street, Auckland. "That just wasn't working and we thought a house with such beauty needed a real entrance." So they removed a wall and what had been the dining room became a new entry foyer to create a natural flow into the home.
The couple also set about restoring the home's woodwork, including the wooden staircase, which they spent a week sanding and stripping, revealing a different wood on each step. The result is a rainbow effect of rimu, tawa and kauri, providing a wonderful display of the native timbers of New Zealand.
The staircase has leadlights offering glimpses of the garden and the huge tubs of orchids planted in the trees. French doors were added to lead out to another part of the garden filled with rhododendrons and camellias. The kitchen was enlarged so it could also take a dining table and this has made the space brighter and more usable for children.
Over the years, the couple has collected more character features, such as door handles, lights, architraves and wooden joinery.
In with the old
Shining glory: When you buy or renovate an older home with original chandeliers, drop lights or character light shades, don't cast them aside for new fittings. Consider getting them re-brassed or refurbished by a company specialising in restoration.
Go with the grain: Resist the current trend of painting wood on joinery, floors, stairs, banisters and architraves. These architectural features should be preserved where possible unless they are beyond help. Painting out wood is a quick way of creating more light in a space but restoring the timber's natural beauty yourself or with the help of professionals will give your home character.
* Leanne Moore is the editor of Your Home & Garden. For more on this home, see the issue on sale now, or visit www.yourhomeandgarden.co.nz.
