Renovating when you have young children is usually a challenge, but not so for Scott and Nicole Keddie, who say they enjoyed being involved in a major overhall of their 1920s Mt Eden transitional villa.
The secret was having trusted help from friend Douglas Kaill, a draftsman and builder whose design and build company helped the couple to cost the renovation of their home.
"We had a really good team working on the job. Their craftsmanship was excellent, so we actually enjoyed the process," says Nicole.
The couple had been living in a townhouse near Eden Park for seven years, but wanted to buy somewhere with a bigger section when they were expecting their second child Oliver, now 5.
Scott says this Marsden Ave house was in serious need of attention when they looked through it in late 2011.
"It was so draughty you could see the curtains moving. The house was 90 square metres. It had three small bedrooms and the back garden was full of old privet.
"But Nicole and I both saw the potential for extending it to make the most of the sun and create a really great flow out to the garden."
After moving into the house with their daughter Helena, who is now 7, they spent the next 18 months weighing up all sorts of renovation options.
Those ideas included carrying through the original roof line when the back of the house was pushed out so the extension, which has almost doubled the size of the house, would not look like an "add-on".
This open plan area includes the kitchen, dining room and living space. It has high, pitched ceilings and picture windows above sliding glass doors that let in ample sun.
The Keddies lived in the house for nearly two years before beginning their extensive eight-month renovation, which has included landscaping and new front fencing. The house did not need repiling.
But when the floor layout was modified to create four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a laundry, the house was relined, insulated, rewired, reroofed and repainted.
Windows and doors are double glazed for warmth and soundproofing, the extension has laminated timber floors, the bedrooms and hallway are carpeted and both bathrooms have floor-to-ceiling wall tiles and underfloor heating.
Traditional villa features such as battened ceilings and ceiling roses have also been reinstated in some rooms.
The existing single garage, which can be accessed from the house, has been relined and recarpeted so it can double as a playroom.
One of the main attractions of buying in the area was to be close to Maungawhau School, which is about six minutes walk away.
