Villa Vignette
Text — Jessica-Belle Greer Photography — Sam Hartnett
Megan Edwards connects old with new, indoors with outdoors, in a heritage home.
In a street lined with heritage homes in Herne Bay, Megan Edwards has sympathetically renovated a 1900s villa, creating a sophisticated series of living spaces that extend to the garden.
The owner asked Edwards to bring light into her existing living spaces, so that they were both comfortable and elegant. “We wanted to create a sense of luxury with interconnected indoor and outdoor spaces that took advantage of the light and the garden in the way that the original house hadn’t,” says Edwards. While the rooms at the front of the home – main bedroom, music room and office – remain relatively unchanged, the back of the home has been reworked. The kitchen has been moved from a corner on the north side of the room to the south side, while a new living space is nestled back into the rear of the space, behind a new freestanding fire and cabinetry screen which displays the owner’s ceramics and art. The new location allows views back out to the garden and across to the kitchen. The entrance to the renovated living area now sits inside an original arch in the hallway. “These three moves made the space seem bigger, more interesting and comforting,” says Edwards. Full-height sliders, meanwhile, flood the area with light and provide direct access to a new covered deck with Louvretec roof, from where steps lead to the garden. “The beautiful thing about the project was the gentle progression towards the light and openness of the garden, from the interior through the outdoor space and past the planter and wide steps to the open yard.” There’s a sense of ease and craft in the interior. Bringing light into the living spaces highlights the original kauri floorboards and new Fijian kauri cabinetry; the dark marble of the restored fireplace in the living area is offset by the splashback in the kitchen. “There’s a sense of craft in what we’ve done so that the changes are not stark, bland, modern additions, but are nuanced and connected to the spaces,” says Edwards. A problem area for the home was an unusual monopitch lean-to next to the kitchen and a kitsch rear verandah, which led to a bedroom through a bathroom. In response, Edwards widened the space to allow a hall connecting each room. What was an awkward add-on at the back of the house is now a well-integrated feature, the bedroom’s large corner window brings the garden into full focus. “They weren’t major changes,” says Edwards. “But they had a major impact.”