This elegantly renovated Napier villa will inspire you to mix old with new

Article by Your Home and Garden

Magpie finds, timeless cane and classic furniture have been mixed with graphic art to create an interior full of interest and meaning at this Napier villa

Meet and Greet

Hannah Feltham, 45 (designer; runs Good Space home organising and styling), and Grace, 8, plus Peggy the Staffy

Hannah’s Top tips

Paint your walls white and hang a picture over any imperfections. “If there’s a problem, just cover it.”
Have a lot of greenery inside. “I love having big leaves in my house.”
Use baskets for storage. “All of Grace’s toys are in baskets, so they look good but they’re all away.”
Put out everything you love and things with meaning, not just stuff bought new from a shop.
Trade Me is still great for original finds.

Honesty Box

What areas of the renovation did you save on? Doing a modest reno on the bathroom and DIY-ing most of the painting. I’m not the best painter but it still looks fine.

Splurges? Central heating was definitely a splurge; and ripping up the carpet and doing the wooden floors because they did need gaps filled.

Best lesson learned? You don’t actually need curtains; it’s quite nice living without them. Once we got central heating, I’ve never missed them.

Gallery | 10 Photos
See more of this home here

What would you never do again? Live in a big house. A big house does have all those charms but it’s a lot of work; something always needs doing. It’s great when you’ve got a big family but I really enjoy living smaller now we’ve moved.

Any disasters? Letting a painter choose to paint one of the living rooms Resene Bianca instead of the usual Half Bianca. Sometimes with tradespeople, you can use their ideas because they’re experienced, but if you know what you’re doing, just go with what you think.

Most memorable experience in the house? When Grace had her friends round and they were all in the pool. Summer in Hawke’s Bay with kids in the pool is a happy memory. You don’t have to leave the house to do an activity because it’s kind of all there.

Budget

How much have you spent on your home? $35,000 for the initial five-month renovation, and a further $30,000 for the ducted central heating a year later.

See more of this charming home below

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One of three living rooms, the adults’ lounge (or “eff-off lounge” as Hannah calls it, because it’s where guests are taken when it’s time to go home) opens onto a patio and the garden where her dad once played as a boy. The leather sofa is from Thonet, the linen one from Madisons and the coffee table is from Blue Moon Collection.

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The rattan chairs in the third lounge came from Trade Me.

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The plywood sideboard came from Homebase Collections and the black stool from Askew.

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The picture shelf in the playroom has been put to good use, displaying a fun range of artwork plus a cute gorilla from Simon James.

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In the adults’ lounge, the bamboo bar cart was found in a Salvation Army store and the deer was a gift.

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The kitchen’s bar stools are also secondhand.

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You can still pick up some great finds secondhand, says Hannah – like this cane chair from the Salvation Army store. The basket and white bedlinen are from Madisons.