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Meet and greet: Paul Thompson (IT), Natasha Bell (dentist) and golden retriever Rosie (“organic vacuum cleaner”).
The property: Renovated New Plymouth character villa built in 1905.


As the saying goes, there’s only one way to eat an elephant. Faced with restoring the faded glory of their New Plymouth villa, Paul Thompson and Natasha Bell took a ‘one bite at a time’ approach, slowly chipping away at what seemed an insurmountable project.
In five years – a surprisingly short time for a real-world DIY endeavour – their persistent efforts have raised this grande dame from her deathbed to be queen of the street.

Rose-tinted reno
The faded beauty was spotted online when the pair were working and studying in Australia, then six months later, when they were ready to put down roots back in New Zealand, it was still on the market. Serendipity or no one else with the guts for the challenge? Natasha jokes that it was just waiting for a buyer crazy enough to take it on, for behind the still-adorable facade lay a patchwork of decayed materials, dated features, half-finished renovations in the form of the previous owner replacing some of the scrim with Gib, and precious few salvageable original features.

Daunted but undeterred by the condition of the home, the couple bought on the strength of a gut feeling and an optimistic outlook. “We went to the open home. It was a beautiful sunny day and there was just a good feeling about it,” says Natasha. “I’ve always liked villas – my parents owned a few that they’d done up over the years. I just fell in love with this one, even though it needed a lot of work.”
Many a starry-eyed young homeowner has bought a run-down house with visions of what it could be, but while Paul and Natasha fell in love with the home’s potential, their optimism was not the blind variety.

Though now a dentist, Natasha once studied architecture and was able to sketch out the home’s new layout. Skilled family members lent a hand, including Natasha’s dad, who is not only a compulsive renovator but also has a treasure chest shed full of reclaimed materials.
The couple’s final secret weapon was a can-do attitude, which gave them the confidence to tackle everything from terracing the garden to recladding the facade.

Rookies to reno pros
That willingness to roll up their sleeves and give it a red-hot go enabled amateur renovators Paul and Natasha to completely transform the house over five years of weekend DIY projects.
“We had to repile it, sand all the floors, finish the Gibbing, replace all the architraves skirting boards and cornices, and restore the ceilings. We changed a few walls around and put in a new kitchen and bathroom. And Paul replaced the roof as well, so it was pretty much a whole new house,” says Natasha.

While they had a bit of help from family and friends – and a lot of guidance from YouTube – the couple did an incredible amount of work themselves. They only called in the professionals for the biggest or most fiddly jobs.
“We had a builder help with the new car parking and the steps at the front. A tiler also did the main bathroom tiles. I think other than that, we’ve done everything ourselves,” says Natasha.

Respect for the old
Not much remains of the original house, with little beyond the floorboards (now sanded and refinished) being salvageable. Being light on original features made those that remained even more precious. “The old fireplace surrounds and the little arch in the hallway are original and they’re features we felt were really important to keep.”

Where parts of the old house couldn’t be saved, the couple made great efforts to stay true to its period features, using the half-rotted remains of original architraves and fretwork to find new pieces to match. They raided Natasha’s dad’s shed for parts.
She remembers visiting an old villa in Mt Eden 20 years ago with him, to rescue a window that she has now installed in her own house. The French doors in the hallway were likewise a shed find.

A book, Villa by Patrick Reynolds, Jeremy Salmond and Jeremy Hansen, was a frequent reference. “It’s kind of our bible,” says Natasha. She used it to help restore detailing and for ideas on tweaking the home to suit modern life.
All period homes can be a little like living in a time capsule, but this villa connected Natasha and Paul to the past in more ways than one.

When replacing the rusted-out firebox in the main bedroom, the couple discovered a literal time capsule. “When we pulled it out, we found all these old photos from the late 1800s. We think they are probably old occupants of the house. We put a call out on the local Facebook page, trying to find out who they were,” says Natasha. This led to them meeting the children of the old owners, as well as the grandson of the man who built the house in 1905.

Embracing the new
While they loved the age and detail of the old villa, they also needed to make the home more compatible with modern living and adjust its composition to appreciate the light and view.
“Villas were traditionally designed to face the street and they had a typical layout – they didn’t consider the sun at all,” Natasha explains. Previously a rabbit warren of small rooms and cupboards, the couple knocked through 11 walls to streamline the space. They demolished the ancient laundry (complete with copper tub and fire underneath) to convert the rear lean-to into a living room.

This delicate balance of new versus old also comes through in the decor. While respectful of the home’s past, they didn’t want it to be a museum piece. Aluminium ranch sliders and simplified architraves mark the back of the house as the centre of contemporary living. This part of the home also houses a brand-new kitchen and space-smart laundry, both designed with clean lines and a coastal-fresh flavour. Introducing an element of the mid-century style they love has also worked to give the home a cross-era twist, one that stamps the newly revived home as their own.
Though they make it sound easy in the retelling, this DIY effort has been monumental and not always plain sailing. “It was a lot of work and sometimes tested our relationship. Sometimes we’d go and find our own project to work on for the day,” says Natasha. “But it’s been very rewarding, and now when we sit back and relax in it, we feel quite proud.”


Natasha’s tips for reviving a period home
- Sticking to a palette with two or three colours and materials helps to unite the interior scheme.
- Choosing fixtures and furniture from a range of time periods means the house doesn’t feel like a museum. Keep colours and materials within your scheme and they should fit together.
- Keep as many original decorative features as possible. We love the hallway arch, old mantelpieces and sash windows.
- Don’t be in a rush to fill a room with furniture and art. Hunt around for something that will be just right.
- In the long run, spending a bit more on well-made furniture where possible, will be worth it. So much MDF and chipboard furniture ends up in the dump after a few years. As Paul says, “Buy once, cry once.”
Shop Natasha and Paul’s renovated New Plymouth villa style

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