The before and after images of Olympic rower Eric Murray’s year-long DIY transformation of a grand old villa in Cambridge
Over the last few months we have shared content of Eric Murray and his partner Thea Lyle’s journey as they tackled the ultimate DIY challenge of bringing a 1912 villa into the 21st century, while still retaining its original charm.
From levelling the floors and replacing the roof, to reconfiguring the interior rooms to create the best layout, and many many hours of hard work, they’ve achieved exactly what they set out to do – breathe new life into the old villa and create a character-filled home for themselves.
We take a look back on what the villa originally looked like, and how it is looking now:
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Left: The original kitchen in the dark, south-facing side of the house.
Right: The kitchen was moved to lighter, brighter northern side of the house with a suite of new Haier appliances, tiled splashback from Tile Space and paint from Resene.
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Left: The living room space before.
Right: The new open-plan living area that opens to the back garden and northern sun.
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Left: The dining bar space before.
Right: New dining bar in the open-living space.
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Left: The bathroom during the renovation.
Right: The ensuite that didn’t exist in the original villa, created using the free Design Space digital rendering service from Tile Space.
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Left: The original tiny bathroom.
Right: The main bathroom uses larger Tundra White InOut tiles from Tile Space to make this internal room feel bigger.
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Left: The main bedroom space before.
Right: The main bedroom was moved from the south-east corner to the east-facing rear of the house, creating a secret sanctuary off the living room. Colour scheme using Resene paint creates a restful atmosphere.
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Left: Original second bedroom.
Right: The second bedroom was dark before but now looks brighter with a fresh Resene Zylone Sheen in Resene Milk White.
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Left: The hallway before.
Right: Laundry cupboard off the renovated hallway with new Haier front-loader washing machine and heat pump dryer.
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Top: The original exterior.
Bottom: Eric and Thea replaced the roof, rebuilt the rotten return veranda and added lacework trim to up the elegance ante. The exterior was also treated to a new coat of paint from Resene.
Photography by: Babiche Martens.
Special thanks to
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