Family’s state house transformed
It’s hard to believe that Chris and Sarah Keenan’s light-filled, modernist home was once a state house.
The couple purchased the property in Wellington’s Strathmore Park 12 years ago because they loved the perfectly-positioned site.
They spent the next few years painstakingly transforming the dwelling into a show-stopping four-bedroom, two-bathroom family home.
The Keenans describe their renovation project as a labour of love. ‘‘The site was tucked into the bush line, it was situated beautifully for the sun and has great views but the house needed a lot of work,’’ Sarah said. ‘‘We saw it as a project.’’
‘‘We worked within the existing footprint to redefine the state house and enhance those 70s additions,’’ Chris said. ‘‘We tried to retain the state house character, with obviously a bit of a modern twist.’’
Despite their love for the house, the family has decided it’s time to move on. Their next project will possibly be an ‘‘offthe-grid home’’.
‘‘Everybody says, ‘why are you selling your beautiful house?’ But we saw a window and thought we’d give another a go.’’
The Keenans’ interest in ecofriendly designs hasn’t come out nowhere – their home was designed to optimise energy efficiency.
‘‘We’ve tried to make our home has energy efficient as possible,’’ she said. ‘‘We replaced the windows with double-glazing, low-emissivity glass, added energy efficient features – solar and a woodburner with a wet back, which has greatly reduced our power bills.’’
Listing agent Mike Lovell, of Bayleys Wellington, described the home as ‘‘a contemporary response to a classic state house’’ and praised the owners for their ‘‘architecturally guided renovation’’.
Sarah, who is a landscape architect, said the home wouldn’t have turned out as well as it did, if it wasn’t for the insight and skills of architect Ashley Cox and builder Scott Feasey.
‘‘I think the key to the whole exercise was working with architects and having a great builder,’’ she said. ‘‘They understand design and working within what you have.’’
Every design choice the couple and their architects made was carefully thought through.
They even waited two years before commencing any major renovations to ensure they made the most of what the site had to offer.
The house will be sold at auction on November 22.