Parnell: Vintage feel

Antique features and modern touches combine to create a highly desirable home in a highly desirable part of town. By VICKI HOLDER.

Lavished with sumptuous, traditional detail, this renovated Parnell villa conceals a host of innovations that make it as up to date and comfortable as any modern home.

For 25 years, it has been home to Elaine Mackey - a well-known interior designer who was one of the first to specialise in refitting traditional homes - and her husband Bill. Elaine picked up her skills when she worked for property developer Colin Manson. Working on many of the lovely old villas around Auckland, Elaine replicated authentic villa style while equipping them with all the latest comforts.

"I did all the planning, designing and colour schemes," she says. "I ran teams of carpenters and painters. I even got out and physically did the landscape gardening myself. There was quite a large involvement, going around the second-hand dealers to purchase the relevant pieces. Even though I'd never lived in an old home before that, I got to like it." So much so, she purchased one herself.

The house the couple selected - convenient to the shops, with two road frontages just along from the Parnell Rose Gardens - was "virtually bull-dozerable" when they bought it. But it soon became the perfect showcase for her clients when she established her own interior design company.

"Over the years we've done everything to it - re-piled, re-roofed, insulated, adding underfloor heating and air conditioning. The attention to detail is very precise," she says.

Elaine explains there was often a lot of research involved to gain an original look. She found many of the old houses were very dark and discovered tricks to make them lighter. For example, she has used antique stained glass features above doorways to borrow light in the hallway, and mirrors are used extensively.

It helped that Elaine and Bill also owned a restaurant renowned for its curious assortment of Victoriana - the old Tony's, which later became The Duke of Marlborough in Mission Bay. When they re-did the restaurant, Elaine says she stole a lot of the goodies. The ornately carved newel post at the bottom of the stairs and the large, colourful stained glass window in the guest powder room became permanent fixtures in her Parnell home.

Elaine has carefully contrived an antique look with antique light fittings and fireplaces retro-fitted with gas. But it is enhanced by many modern features, such as monitored security systems with built-in smoke alarms, central vacuum system, Sky satellite dish wired for television throughout the house, two phone lines and keyless door locks.

The downstairs part of the house is quite large with two double bedrooms in the front. Both have traditional fireplaces and one has a small en suite fitted with a timber and marble vanity. A moody home theatre/library retreat, wired with speakers, features rich red walls and heavy brocade drapes trimmed with fringing. A guest powder room adds a quirky note, designed to emulate the dimensions and look of a railway carriage. Ample linen storage and a wine cellar are treats hidden behind cupboards that line the walls.

The hallway opens up to the rear to an expansive, light-filled living area split between two levels. A few steps up on the upper level, a kauri kitchen was installed just two years ago. It blends with the overall look of the home in a traditional design with panelled cupboards. Drawing the eye along a black granite benchtop, a plate rack distracts from the modern intervention of a wall oven, though even this Ilve number has a vintage look.

Casual dinners can be taken at the breakfast bar and guests are entertained at a formal setting nearby.

Surrounded by a large bay of sash windows, the sitting area fans out for tantalising views into the garden, recently remodelled to maximise enjoyment with an outdoor fireplace and petanque court.

Just 10 years ago, Elaine and Bill added the second storey to give a home office and a master bedroom with a bigger dressing room and en suite.

Wallpapers and fabrics were chosen to give a warm, rich, Victorian ambience. In the master bedroom, the walls and bed recess are patterned with a dramatic black wallpaper scattered with large pink and white roses. The bathroom has a glamorous feel as the clawfoot bath lounges seductively in the middle of the room, surrounded by dark timber to dado level and mirrors from the Duke of Marlborough above.

The embodiment of a bygone era, this classic villa is a chance to relive the romance of the past surrounded by modern luxuries that make life more enjoyable.

Vital Statistics

ADDRESS: 49 Gladstone Rd, Judges Bay, Parnell.

FEATURES: Award-winning villa restored and enlarged by interior designer Elaine Mackey in traditional style; four bedrooms plus sleepout/office; home theatre/library; modern kitchen; three-car garaging with auto doors on two garages; remote indicator in house signals when door open; keyless door entry; gas-fired underfloor heating; air conditioning in master suite; three bathrooms, including two en suites; security system.

SIZE: Land area 556sq m.

AUCTION: 11am, August 25, at Barfoot & Thompson's city rooms.

AGENTS: Andrew McAlpine and Peter West, Barfoot & Thompson. Ph Andrew 523 3362 bus; 021 968 809 mob; Peter 309 5171 bus; 021 939 222 mob.