According to Jones, the couple had not intended to enter the competition but were swayed when two Ray White employees spotted the villa and encouraged the pair to give it a go.
"Two ladies from Ray White turned up on our doorstep and asked if we wanted to enter. I got an email a week later and told we were selected as a finalist. We were stoked."
The home was purchased by Jones and Ballantyne in 2018 and the couple quickly gutted almost the entire interior in an effort to modernise the property.
Stacey Jones and Jamie Ballantyne's Whanganui East villa took out the title with 81 per cent of the vote. Photo / Bevan Conley
While retaining the age-old bones of the home, the couple transformed it into a modern "Ponsonby-style villa", maintaining the authentic villa style with all the comforts of modern living.
The hard work paid off, with the couple now taking home $500 cash, a $990 waterblaster courtesy of Stihl Shop and a $300 voucher awarded by Springvale Garden Centre.
Also announced yesterday were the winners of the Ray White Whanganui staff choice award, the Resene's Best Use of Colour category and the Caroline's Boatshed Best Water View accolade.
The Ray White Choice award was given to a Somme Pde property, which also took out the Resene Best Use of Colour award.
The owners take home $500 cash, a Chemwash package worth $800 and a $500 room package from Resene.
The Caroline's Boatshed Best Water View winner was a home on Anzac Pde, owned by Frank Bezemer.
Bezemer received $250, a $200 garden voucher and a $50 Mitre 10 Mega voucher.
Philippa Ivory, general manager of Ray White Whanganui, said the awards were a great opportunity to show what the Whanganui market had to offer.
From left, Whanganui Chronicle's Gene Toyne, winner Stacey Jones, Ray White's Phillipa Ivory, Chemwash's Daniel Munn, Caroline's Boatshed owner Caroline Norton, best river view winner Frank Bezemer, Springvale Garden Centre's Gareth Carter and Stihl Shop's Hayden Green. Photo / Bevan Conley
"Whanganui has such a varied range of housing stock it's wonderful to see it celebrated in this way. Even the finalists showed this, ranging from a 1910 villa and a 1925 Talboys-designed home through to a brand-new build," Ivory said.
"Once the stories ran in the Chronicle, the voting really took off. It has been exciting to watch, especially where the voting was so close, like the water view category. We were surprised not to see any entries with sea views, hopefully we'll see more from those suburbs next year."
