SCHOOL ZONES:
Epsom Normal Primary, Auckland Normal Intermediate, Auckland Grammar, Epsom Girls’ grammar.
CONTACT:
Neil Bailey, Unlimited Potential, 021 556 828 or 631 5571.
AUCTION:
December 9 at 11am.
There are people who renovate houses, and then there's Abi Wisnewski. Abi doesn't so much make over a house, as completely transform every centimetre.
A keen interest in design, architecture and restoration has led to her renovating eight houses. Each has been a labour of love, but the most recent was an all-consuming passion.
"When I say goodbye to this house, it is going to be like leaving one of my children," she says.
The traditional villa she bought in Mt Eden this year had been in the same family for 40 years and hadn't been touched in that time. "I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and I got it done in 18 weeks," she says. "It was a massive undertaking."
Abi had to be creative and practical in her double roles as designer and project manager of a team of builders and tradespeople.
The house was moved 2m to the side so there was room to build a double garage. It was repiled, insulated and extended from 160sq m to 305sq m.
The front of the house was kept intact, beautiful character features, like kauri doors and sash windows, kept and restored. In the extension at the rear, these features were replicated as authentically as possible.
"My brief to my architect was to make it look as if everything had always been there," says Abi, who feels a huge responsibility to preserve New Zealand's heritage villas for future generations. "But I also make sure that everything is done properly, so it will be here for the next 100 years."
Image 1 of 8: Old lady will look grand for the next 100 years with restored kauri doors, sash windows and all the comforts of the 21st century. Photos / Ted Baghurst
Abi, who used to live in the UK and Sweden, imported many of the fixtures and fittings from overseas. The bath and the bathroom tapware came from Britain, the stone benchtops in the kitchen from Belgium and magnetic wallpaper in the children's bedrooms from Sweden.
Her meticulous attention to detail extends as far as framing the meter box in the garage in the same architraving that is used in the house. "The devil is in the details," she says.
Although she was careful to preserve the period features of the house, it also has all the comforts of the 21st century, including gas central heating and underfloor heating in the bathrooms.
Her vision has resulted in a home that is grand and luxurious. The main level now houses three bedrooms, including a master suite and en suite that looks like it's come out of a five-star hotel. The formal lounge has a striking handcrafted fireplace, a second lounge a feature window that used to grace a Remuera mansion, and there's a spacious dining area/kitchen with a commercial-sized oven, large central island and a scullery. Bifold doors open out to a 4m deep deck.
The new downstairs area contains another bathroom, a huge laundry, access to the garage and a courtyard with a washing line tucked out of view, plus two further bedrooms that have doors to the garden.
The garden also has been overhauled. It now has a swimming pool, a lawn that includes a long strip of grass that would make a perfect cricket pitch, a vege patch and flower beds planted with white hydrangeas, peonies and roses. A decrepit garage was knocked down, but two brick walls remain and have been braced, creating a character feature.
Abi, her husband, Sol Kahn, and their sons, Sylvain, 4, and Alexander, 2, enjoy everything the house has to offer. But Abi is itching to tackle her next renovation.
