Wooed by the wow factor

Richter House ; house interior. Photo / Supplied

Having moved house five times in 18 months, Frank Kueppers and Anke Richter were tired of renting. And so the German couple, who came to New Zealand in 2003, began the search for a home.

"We'd emigrated with so much stuff — 20 to 30 boxes of books alone — we needed our own home," says Richter, a writer and foreign correspondent.

Their intention was to buy a family house with four bedrooms in Taylor's Mistake, near the Christchurch suburb of Sumner, but somehow they ended up in a small hillside cottage in Lyttelton.

That was four years ago and since then they've opened the cottage up and extended it, as well as renovating the original railway carriage that came with the house.

"We're always fighting for more space," Richter says.

"There really isn't enough room for us, but it was love at first sight. I'd worked as a Wwoofer [Willing Workers on Organic Farms] around New Zealand and this place reminded us of little organic, hippie places up in Northland, only right in the middle of Lyttelton — it had a wow factor.

"The essence of the house — the old kauri floors, high rimu ceilings, brick fireplace, the tree in front of it, of course the railway carriage — was all fantastic. I love the old fireplace — even though it's not that effective — the look of it, the old brick, it is the centrepiece of the house."

The couple knew they needed more space but couldn't afford to extend and renovate at the same time, so they began by working their way through the cottage, with the kitchen first.

"The original bench was so narrow you couldn't even put a dishwasher under it," says Richter.

"So we added the island and left the old structure of the kitchen, using the existing metal benchtop but putting new cupboard doors on."

Their next project was the railway carriage, which they stripped back and repainted.

Adding a kitchen and bathroom meant the carriage could serve as a self-contained flat for visiting family and friends.

It also gave the couple and their children, Jasper, 12, and Quinn, 7, somewhere to stay when renovations made the cottage unliveable.

Plans have been drawn up to add another storey to the cottage to finally solve the family's need for more space.

"But we don't want to end up with a huge modern block sticking out of the top like a sore thumb," says Richter.

"Lyttelton has so much historic character, that's one of the reasons we moved here — let's keep it that way if we can."

Style Tips

Save and spend: Much of the home's decor is sourced second-hand but the couple will occasionally splurge on a good quality sofa or lamp.
Screen saver: The pull-down TV screen is their cleverest bit of technology. "I don't like televisions to be the centrepiece of the living room."
Changing hues: After a fondness for lots of blue in the early 1990s, Richter says she has moved back to white, black and natural colours again.

Leanne Moore is the editor of Your Home & Garden. See the latest issue for more on this home and other ideas