A rundown cottage, which was discovered online, has been renovated into a spacious home after a lot of hard graft and help from family
Meet & greet
Thom (airline pilot) and Elysia Shanks (stay-at-home mum), and James, eight, Josh, four, and Isaac, 16 months.
A tiny workman’s cottage built in the 1800s and in original condition, isn’t usually the typical purchase for a first home buyer. But for Thom and Elysia Shanks, it was the pull of the heartstrings that led them to buy a 64sqm historic Auckland home, which came complete with an outdoor shed housing the toilet and laundry.
In 2013, Thom stumbled across the rundown cottage on Trade Me on its last day of open homes. “I wasn’t that keen on the busy street but I walked through the back gate and thought ‘wow’. It was huge, it felt like a field with a historic volcanic stone wall at the back and loads of fruit trees. I tend to make decisions quickly and just felt that it was a place I could see my future kids running around in. I was all in,” he says.
The couple was getting married in a few months and felt a little stretched for funds, but the full site in Onehunga was an opportunity too good to miss.
“A good financial decision would have been to knock it down and put a bunch of apartments on it,” admits Thom. “But I love history, I love old native timbers and knowing people have lived in this house for 120-plus years just felt good. I wanted our family to be part of that history”.
The vision
Living in the home without making any changes for the first couple of years gave Thom and Elysia time to establish what they wanted to achieve for their home. But it took a bit of negotiating to land on what they both wanted to do. “One of the challenges for us was how to combine the history with a modern home,” says Elysia.
Thom’s vision was to extend the residence in keeping with its original style. “I visualised floor-to-ceiling timber bookshelves, a home full of history and character.” Elysia, however, had her Pinterest board loaded with the opposite; she wanted a Scandi minimalist style.
“I said I wasn’t keen on living in a white hospital ward. She came back and said, ‘I’m not going to live in an old, dark museum’.” Refining the final design took time to ensure they were both happy with the result.
“I wanted to do the renovation right and had sketched many plans of what we could build,” says Thom. “Our family friend is an architect and generously had a look at my ideas and sketched up her suggestions for us. It was quite different from what we had thought of, but it worked for Elysia and I. But it was estimated to cost double what we were originally planning to spend.”
Careful cost cutting
While the original house would retain its box style, the lean-to – a lovely ’60s addition – would be removed, with an additional 100sqm of floor space added to the rear. The original heritage features would be retained, and all the benefits of modern living incorporated.
A draughtsman in the South Island drew up the final designs, and with a few clever tweaks to the plan and some great discounts through a family member who works at a hardware store, they managed to keep costs down.
Getting stuck in
By February 2016, the plans and consents were confirmed and the couple was ready to start. Thom’s mum kindly offered to let them move in with her for a few months during the renovation, but the “few” escalated to six months. The day they moved out, Elysia’s builder dad Donald, who lives in Rotorua, arrived and with Thom’s help, knocked off the back of the house.
The couple are quick to acknowledge the support from their parents. “Thom’s dad, Alistair, lent his engineering expertise and we couldn’t have done it without my dad who came up for 12 weeks to build the extension,” says Elysia. Thom was the project manager and hammer hand for the build, on top of flying for his work, and using his annual leave.
Six months later, they moved back home. But as most renovation stories go, there were many more jobs to complete in their spare time. Thom spent the next year completing the build for code of compliance, including long nights spent painting, both inside and out, as well as doing the finishing work and landscaping.
“I’m terrible at practical skills,” Thom admits. “I sucked up all the learning I could from Elysia’s dad to help keep costs down and get on the tools myself. Elysia is really practical, she won the carpentry award at school.”
But it wasn’t all done on the cheap. The couple splashed out on solid timber joinery throughout the home and American oak timber flooring in the extension. This has been an excellent investment, with three boys it handles the wear and tear of a young family well.
“We were very conscious of balancing old with new when we chose features like the brass tapware, the fireplace surrounds, antique-style cabinetry handles and architraves,” says Elysia.
The outcome
The lovingly restored villa has everything they wanted in a family home. At the front, a long hallway leads to each of the four bedrooms, with the open-plan kitchen, dining and lounge in the new part of the home at the rear. A fireplace with a historic-looking mantle creates ambience and warmth in the lounge. Large bifold doors open to a decked outdoor entertaining area, followed by that huge lawn.
It’s been a long haul. “I didn’t love living here until a few years ago. I like order and it was really hard living here in its original condition for two-and-a-half years. And then we started having kids and were renovating with mess and little people running around,” says Elysia.
“Now, it’s home. We love that the living space revolves around the kitchen – a space that’s always filled with family and friends. I can stand in the kitchen and keep an eye on the kids riding around on the deck or playing in the backyard. We’re so grateful to have been able to create this home on a budget thanks to support from our parents and their can-do attitudes.”
And for Thom, it’s been worth all the hard work. “Doing a reno is like running an ultra-marathon. You push through, it’s exhausting at the time, but you look back and you don’t regret it. We appreciate what we have created and that it hasn’t cost us a fortune.”
Words by: Holly Jean Brooker. Photography by: Kate Battersby.
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