Restoring a neglected cottage has been an extensive but also rewarding project for Bob Toomey and Annie Spence.
Guest feedback for the cottage they now run as boutique accommodation acknowledges the couple's efforts and attention to detail in restoring and sourcing materials and items of decor for the project --but one particular item of feedback stands out. It comes from a couple who said the romance of the place lead to them becoming engaged.
Bob and Annie bought the 1883 kauri Coghill Cottage two years ago.
"Let's say it was in an aged condition but it had character and we thought it would be a neat project to restore it to its original glory," says Bob.
"We had to structurally go through the house from the bottom to the top and restore it as necessary.
"We have recycled all the floors, we took the floorboards up and re-piled underneath. We took the windows out and had them rebuilt. We re-surfaced the doors and floorboards were laid back down and polished."
Where they could, Bob and Annie kept the existing materials but when timber needed replacing they used the salvaged kauri in other parts of the house. Some of the kauri floor joists they removed were laminated together and used for the benchtops and shelving in the kitchen, with the modern angle of LED lighting under the shelves.
"We even left the original hand-made floor nails, every 150mm, that is part of the history.
"We recycled the parts to keep the heart there."
Image 1 of 7: Restored from bottom to top, this cute villa has won lots of praise from the locals.
The kitchen's splashback has a rust-effect finish on top of the fireproof backing, giving the impression it is metal and rusted.
The cottage has been re-wired, re-plumbed, insulated, ceiling and the roof have been replaced. New decking was re-machined so it has the square edging used in the 1800s.
"We have soft LEDs on the veranda and around the side of the house. It comes on automatically in the evenings and turns off after four hours," says Bob. "I hope the cottage is good for another 130 years."
They also sourced industrial-style lighting, stained glass windows and furniture in keeping with the cottage's romantic theme.
For the garden, they planted Aussie box for front hedging, petunias for colour, and potted lavender on the front veranda.
The car park's paving bricks came from the cottage's original chimney, and lead to a 150-year-old villa door that opens into the courtyard where weather-beaten boards from the cottage have been used as fencing. A clock in the style of the cottage's period was sourced from a church in northern France. "It is not necessarily our history but the detail fits right," says Bob.
Walking in the cottage's front door brings you into the lounge that opens into the dining and kitchen. Between each room are sub walls coming in about one metre on each side.
The master bedroom runs off the lounge, the second bedroom runs off the dining and the bathroom -- finished in a waterproof Moroccan lime plaster product and featuring a claw footed bath-- is next to the kitchen at the end. French doors open from the living space to the courtyard.
Bob says he and Annie are "stoked" with the restoration project.
"The community has given us heaps of praise. People are glad we restored it and now it is a real gem of the area."
But after a back injury last year, Bob and Annie have decided to sell the cottage.
"I am back to walking now but it is one of those life things where you go, okay let's relook at where we are going because I could have ended up in a wheelchair," says Bob. "It wasn't part of our plan to sell it but the accident has made us stop and think what we are looking for."
