Herne Bay: Dry Your Eyes

39 Hamilton Road, Herne Bay.

The scale of the do-up on this property reduced one family member to tears, but all came good in the end.

Approaching the grand villa at No. 39 it's hard to believe that Bev Sandoy's mother cried tears of despair when Bev and husband Svein bought the house.

"We both had a nice little home each and we decided to sell them and pool our money to buy the sort of house we wanted," explains Bev.

" Of course we couldn't afford to buy one that was done up."

And that's where Bev's mum's tears come in. When the couple bought No. 39 in 1990 it had been used as a boarding house containing 50 beds. The upstairs return verandah had been boarded up and sectioned off into kitchens and bathrooms.

"But we could feel the potential," says Bev.

Luckily, when they moved in it was inorganic collection time.

"We had 50 beds and about six toilets and all sorts of junk piled all the way up Hamilton road," says Bev.

Svein, who is a boatbuilder by trade, set about restoring the century-old home to its original grandeur, and Bev got stuck into creating a garden befitting what they hoped would one day be a gracious home.

"There wasn't a tree on the property, just privet," says Svein. "I cut it all out.

"The house has good bones and even though it had been mucked around a bit, it still had a lot of its original features and there wasn't any major damage done to it."

It took them eight years of slog to restore the kauri villa and they've done nearly all the work themselves - apart from plumbing and wiring.

"All our money went into the house," says Bev. "We even got married in the backyard here."

"Because we couldn't afford a wedding anywhere else," Svein laughs.

Bev adds, "And our wedding presents were things like electrical wire, plants, and a microwave."

As the couple worked, even Bev's mum came on board. "After a while she could see what the place would be like," says Bev.

It also helps that Bev owns a soft furnishings business and with her design eye she has applied the finishing touches that give the house a timeless elegance.

Stepping inside, the imposing entrance hall takes you past an office on your left, the informal living room on your right and out past the formal living room to the kitchen/dining room at the rear. The kitchen, which features cabinetry made from recycled kauri ceiling boards, opens out to a deck that runs right along the rear of the house and overlooks the private back lawn.

Up the wide staircase are five bedrooms, two of which have French doors opening out on to the return verandah. From here there are views to the Waitakeres on one side and the Waitemata on the other.

Bev and Svein had originally intended doing up the house and selling it but as Bev explains, "I fell in love with it and couldn't part with it."

Now they're having to do that as they shift to Remuera to be closer to the schools attended by their two boys, Remy, aged 13, and Reuben, 10. They'll rent for a while before buying into the area. But this time it won't be another tear-inducing do-up.

Vital Statistics

BEDROOMS: 5

BATHROOMS: 2

GARAGE: 2

SIZE: Land 1355sq m, house 316sq m.

PRICE INDICATOR: Expressions of Interest around $3 million.

INSPECT: Sat/Sun 1-1.45pm.

CONTACT: Gilly Mirkin, Remax Platinum, ph 376 2777 bus, or
021 980 631.

FEATURES: Double-storey villa sympathetically renovated to suit modern family living. The home sits on a huge section and has three separate living spaces, six fireplaces, central heating and internal-access double garage.