You could call Shelley Trueman and her husband, Tony Nagel, early adopters.
The Grey Lynn couple have lived in the suburb long enough to have witnessed its resurgence in the mid-1990s. That's before prices for simple villas began catapulting to well over the $1 million mark.
Shelley and Tony moved into Grey Lynn 20 years ago after returning to New Zealand from overseas.
They bought this early 1900s villa in 1996, shortly before Olympia, the first of their two children, was born.
The solid bones and north-facing orientation of the two-level home appealed. It also has a self-contained area downstairs, which the couple rented out for a few years to help cover costs.
Having Ponsonby Rd at the top of the street was a bonus, although Shelley jokes that when they moved in, they thought they might be near "the wrong end" of what these days is arguably Auckland's hippest retail strip.
"Now it is definitely 'the end' of Ponsonby Road to go to," says Shelley who has watched as more and more cafes, bars, art galleries and shops have popped up close to where they live.
Shelley and Tony inherited a tired 1970s kitchen when they moved in, but, overall, it was in good enough condition to live in before they renovated.
Previous owners had converted the original dugout basement into an internal-access double garage, small lounge and bedroom, bathroom, laundry and kitchenette.
Upstairs, two rooms had been made into one large lounge, which has an exposed brick double fireplace in the middle - two of three open fireplaces in the house that are in working order.
Their main renovation involved putting in a Morgan Cronin-designed kitchen and creating an adjoining family and dining room by pushing out the back of the house.
They added a wide, partly covered deck, which runs right along the back of the house and has stairs down to the landscaped garden and to a bricked courtyard which also opens off the lower level of the house. The deck catches the best of the sun, has pleasant views out over the rooftops of Grey Lynn and Ponsonby and is an excellent outdoor eating area. You can also look out to this restful space through the Whitney windows of a small sunroom that adjoins the main upstairs lounge.
Retractable blinds beneath the angled glass roof of the upstairs sunroom can be opened and shut.
Over the years the house has been reroofed, rewired, well insulated and repainted.
"All the boring but necessary things you do," says Shelley. Far from boring is the beautiful new family bathroom, which was put in two years ago. It features elegant mosaic wall tiles and a marble vanity top.
Like most classic villas, the main level of the house, entered from the street, features a central hallway. The master bedroom, which has separate his-and-hers wardrobes, is off to the left with the living room and sunroom next to it.
Two more bedrooms, the bathroom and the kitchen are to the right off the hallway.
Shelley says as the children get older the family is looking to downsize.
