A grand makeover
The recycled fittings inside this 115-yearold family home that was once a hall make it look new, writes
Astunning interior makeover does not have to cost the earth. Ponsonby, Auckland, couple Jess Britten and Warren Durling are something of selftaught experts in the arena of turning something old into something to marvel at.
The first-time homeowners transformed a 115-year-old fraternity hall, which they bought in 2016, into a cosy fourbedroom home. A big cost saver throughout the five years of ‘‘perpetual renovation’’ was Britten’s commitment to salvaging, upcycling and buying secondhand.
The stylish mother of 2-yearold Stevie, is a freelance PR and marketing consultant and daughter of celebrated motorcycle designer, the late John Britten. She credits her knack for environment and budgetfriendly solutions to her upbringing: ‘‘I grew up in a house that our dad built with a very similar approach to materials. We were taught to think of waste only as waste for the person who no longer needed it, and potentially very valuable.’’
A series of photos documenting the renovation are pinned to the wall from when the couple invited their tradespeople for drinks to celebrate the project’s completion.
Anyone standing in the warm family home would struggle to believe the dilapidated mess in the pictures was the same place.
Two tidy guest rooms flank the front entrance.
Beyond them is a living space that comprises the kitchen, a Mid-century dining setup and two large sofas, coffee table (a slab of recycled marble sitting on some banana boxes – Britten hasn’t found ‘‘quite the right thing’’ for a base), and Stevie’s miniature play kitchen corner.
The real kitchen is more than 20 years old. Britten’s godparents were throwing it away and sold it to her, including the solid wood cabinetry, dishwasher, and stainless steel bench tops, for $2000.
She gave the orange timber a fresh lease on life with some neutral green paint which complements a backsplash made out of leftover bathroom tiles.
One day Britten arrived home to tradies tossing large piles of staircase offcuts into a skip.
‘‘Minimising waste is not a priority for tradespeople, which makes my stomach turn. It’s a beautiful product, and hugely expensive, so we held onto it.’’ Those offcuts became the breakfast bar, which is finished with some sheets of brass that were a restaurant fit out in a former life.
The brass was covered in a thick glue and sat under the stairs for years before Britten found a use for it. She is ‘‘quite smug’’ that it fit so well as Durling would ask her to toss it out every couple of months.
‘‘Whole kitchens often sell for dollar reserves because people rip them out and don’t want to pay for removal and the dump,’’ said Britten.
‘‘A new kitchen could cost forty grand. I couldn’t make that money in the weekends it took to do ours up.’’
The master bathroom has a similar story.
A tile shop told Britten it had a lot of broken up stone in the rubbish that she could take for free. She laid all the pieces out and a tiler glued them down to the floor. They then had them over-grouted and toned back with fine sand.
‘‘So it ends up completely smooth’’.
She only had to buy one or two tiles new.
‘‘We recycled materials where it made sense to do it,’’ she said.
‘‘I think sometimes people get caught up in thinking sustainability has to be 100 per cent or nothing. It’s OK to do your best and do pockets of it here and there.’’
Reclaiming materials is also the best way to get a high-quality result on a budget.
Floating shelves in the guest bedroom study nook are actually timber trusses from the roof structure that Britten and Durling had to completely tear down and rebuild.
The builders stripped the timber back and a joiner put them into the wall.
For what they paid in labour to create the shelves, the couple could have bought a new set, but Britten said that wasn’t even a consideration.
She did initially try to find enough recycled timber for their flooring, but the space proved too large.
For anyone keen on building their own furniture, she would recommend driving around neighbourhoods where old villas are being demolished.
Door-knock the building site and ask to take the timber off their hands.
Despite all the rescued materials in the rebuild of the hall, Britten believes she’s saved the most money scouring the web for her enviable collection of Mid-century furniture.
She can’t name a single piece in the home that has been bought new and in every corner, an upcycling project can be found.
A striking curved sofa in the entrance has been reupholstered by Britten, despite never having upholstered before. The headboard in the master bedroom looks like suede, but it’s just a coat of paint.
The bedside tables are in fact chunks taken out of a tree Britten’s godparents had to pull down, minus the bark.
‘‘I don’t think I have any skills that other people don’t. I’m not a carpenter, I’m not very handy with power tools, but I really enjoy the challenge of trying something new and I’m not afraid to ask a professional to show me how,’’ she said.
‘‘And I like the results I get, so I’m motivated to do more.’’