Wow Factor and Location
From the footpath, 122 Hine St is a charming little single-bay villa in New Plymouth, immaculately presented behind a soft screen of foliage.
It’s all that – and much, much more. Quite seriously, a prospective buyer needs to step through the front door to appreciate just what owner Hayley has created here. She has taken a time-worn little house and totally transformed it, without losing its soul.
It’s almost impossible to imagine quite how much of a transformation has taken place here, except for the slideshow of images Hayley has playing on the TV screen during my visit. The pictures rotate their way through the late-2010 project, starting with the flaking-paint exterior and the garish red of an interior room, and then stepping through the efforts of shaping the substantial new rear extension and the thorough renovation of the original villa.
The condition of the original home was so daunting that one of Hayley’s twin sons told her bluntly, “Mum, we are not moving into that **** hole!”
Builder Frank Silvester also expressed concern when he first saw the villa Hayley wanted him to revitalise. “He said ‘I should have come with you when you looked at it … you’ve made a huge mistake’,” Hayley recalls.
But Hayley’s not short on confidence and commitment. She could see past the imperfection, telling them all she had a vision for what could be done with the villa. “I’d always wanted a villa … so I bought one.”
The location on Hine St, close to both the city and Coastal Walkway, was a prime attraction. “I’ve always loved Hine St,” Hayley explains. “We had been living on Glen Almond St and I wanted to stay in the area. I looked at three villas on Hine St and this was probably the worst, but it was perfect for what I wanted to do.”
To her son’s relief, they did not live in the house during the renovation work. “We couldn’t live through it,” Hayley admits.
The house that emerged from the months of building and renovation was well worth the wait – a fresh take on the traditional singlebay villa, celebrating all the character features of rich timber floors, wide moulded architraves, sash windows, and high timbered ceilings.
Most of those features have been continued into the new rear extension, which more than doubles the modest dimensions of the original villa. A new open-plan living area was built off the back of the villa and two bedrooms, a second living area, another bathroom and a laundry were created beneath. This home now offers about 330sqm of quality, comfortable living.
It’s a lot to take in on a first visit.
You start with the gate opening through the green welcome of hedge and trees to a buxus-and-rose-bordered path that leads straight to the classic verandah and front door. Step inside the door, and you find an appealing combination of dark-stained timber floorboards, walls finished in Resene’s subtle Periglacial Blue, and timber ceilings freshly dressed in white.
Two bedrooms flank the front of the hallway – the one at right a spacious teenager’s room at present with the extra appeal of its bay-window feature, and the master bedroom at left with French doors that open out to the shelter of the front verandah. The glazed panels in the French doors are frosted for privacy.
An ensuite off the master bedroom features a sash window with more privacy frosting, twin pedestal handbasins against a wall covered with geometric mosaic tiles, and a frameless glass shower. It’s an appealing combination of contemporary convenience,
chic style and character.
On the opposite side of the hallway, there’s the family bathroom, with another glass shower, a restored freestanding clawfoot bath, shelves built into a wall for handy towel storage, and a skylight above for ventilation and light. The skylight has a rain sensor that will trigger automatic closure when the weather changes for the worse.
That’s pretty much the footprint of the original villa – repurposed with front lounge become bedroom and bathrooms created where none existed previously. A short flight of steps at the end of the hallway rises up to the new extension space that embraces kitchen, dining and lounge.
Hayley says she would have liked one level through here, but had to lift the new living areas up to get the extra bedrooms and lounge to fit beneath. The steps make a pleasing transition, however, and she says she now enjoys that definition between old and new.
Not that the difference is dramatic; it’s not exactly seamless, either, as the open-plan look up here is a contrast to the separate spaces of the original home. The character touches link the levels - moulded architraves, partly panelled exterior French doors, the continuity of the suspended light fittings, and the same de´cor choices of pale paint and dark-polished timber floors.
The floors up here are solid new American oak, stained dark chocolate to get a look close to the aged native timbers below.
The white kitchen that fills the length of the left-hand wall is a deliberate design feature to sit easily into the open space without defining it. Hayley says she didn’t want to feel as if she was living in a kitchen; so it’s there, but in its place. A stone-topped, free-standing, recycled-timber workbench on castors can be pushed away to reduce the effect even further.
There’s character in this kitchen, too – seen in the custom-crafted, full-width moulded timber drawer handles, influenced by the detail of the moulded trim around the panels of the front door. They work beautifully.
Stainless-steel-topped benches sit either side of the black Falcon gas-electric cooker with an integrated extractor fan located unobtrusively in the cabinets above. Open shelving from there to the end of the kitchen allows display of special items.
A cast-iron-faced open fireplace in the lounge area looks comfortable with the era of the home, and there’s a wall cupboard alongside that Hayley suggests would make handy storage for firewood.
Both kitchen and dining spaces have French doors that open out to a wide deck and the sunny benefits of facing north.
Below, of course, is the extra bedroom and living accommodation – reached via a staircase off a small side hallway near the top of the stairs. There’s a guest toilet and a large storage cupboard in this hallway, which finishes with the door that opens into the tandem garage along the side of the house.
Downstairs, there’s a compact version of the kitchen above with the same custom drawer handles. Continuity is cool.
The living room, bathroom and two bedrooms down here have more touches of character to complement the villa above, with another set of French doors opening out to the sheltered and easy-care lawn and gardens outside.
Landscape designer Mike Mansvelt added the finishing touches to life here with his plans for the plantings, which include tractorseat plants and magnolia trees along the north boundary and specimen trees above palms along the eastern fenceline.
Remax Team Realty consultant Lynne Johnson affirms the need for prospective buyers to step inside the door. ‘‘It’s instantly eye-catching, but so very deceptive from a drive-by. It’s the best of both worlds with all the charisma of yesteryear, but also every modern convenience and comfort required today . . . and it simply has to be seen.’’