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Inside an Invercargill new-build, furnished with upcycled treasures

Though Brits by birth, this Invercargill couple demonstrated a can-do Kiwi attitude in the DIY-heavy creation of this rural paradise.
The sitting room demonstrates Bronwen Coe’s love of mid-century furniture – pieces restored by her or on her to-do list appear throughout the home. The statement pendant is by David Trubridge and the corrugated iron barn door, which was made by Simon from the woolshed’s old cladding, divides this space from the bedrooms.
Photography: Rachael McKenna

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Meet & greet: Bronwen (owner/operator, ITS Upholstery) and Simon Coe (rector of Southland Boys’ High School), and their sons Rory, 16, Morgan, 14, Bryn, 11, plus Finn the dog, Emmett the cat, and assorted farm animals.

The property: Four-bedroom, two-bathroom new-build in Invercargill.

The family in front of their front door
Bronwen and Simon stand with their three boys outside the front door, which has been painted a sunny yellow colour to contrast with the exterior cladding of larch weatherboards and Sandstone Grey Colorsteel.  

There’s a driftwood artwork in the entrance to Simon and Bronwen Coe’s family home, depicting a little boat bobbing on rough seas. Made by Bronwen herself, it represents their journey from the UK to New Zealand, then down south to Invercargill, and the hard work involved in building their own home.

“It’s a little bit of a raggedy boat, but it’s still here,” says Bronwen. The family are now enjoying calmer waters, in proud possession of a cosy, joyful home that was built, in part, with their own hands.

A entryway with navy blue walls, a fluro orange cabinet and a bright yellow chair
The hall is painted in Resene Shadowy Blue and features Bronwen’s Journey South driftwood art, an old telephone box (used to store keys), and a chair frame that holds scarves until Bronwen has time to reupholster it.

Needed elbow grease

The work was hard indeed, but for Simon, Bronwen and their three boys, it was also a grand adventure. After moving to Invercargill for Simon’s work in 2017, the family bought a four-hectare lifestyle block, bare but for a woolshed, with the intention of building from scratch. Having scrubbed and reclad the shed, they had the bright idea of moving into it while the house was built.

Glass dining room table with a wooden base, in a green and yellow themes dining room
The gallery wall, painted in Resene Half Smalt Blue, features pieces by Bronwen and family members. It includes a family portrait (etching on timber) by Matt Dutton and a watercolour by Christine Groves of Rushall in the UK, a favourite spot of Bronwen’s and the place where Simon proposed. The yellow dining chairs were Bronwen’s first upholstery project, completed with the generous guidance of a local upholsterer when the family lived in Whanganui. The kitchen island is a wool-sorting table that was restored by Bronwen and given a glass top. The bar stools are old-school science lab stools that were restored.

“We moved in there in April 2018, thinking that we would only be there for about six months, and we ended up living there for three years,” says Bronwen.

Sleeping in a caravan, parked within the woolshed, this living arrangement served them well, appealing to the boys’ sense of adventure, while allowing Simon and Bronwen the convenience of being on-site to supervise the build – as well as getting their own hands dirty.

A stainless steel kitchen with shelves full of bottles and jars overhead
Bronwen chose stainless steel commercial kitchen units and benches for this space. “I wanted to have a slightly out-of-the-box kitchen and I thought a stainless steel kitchen would be really functional for the kids because there are no surfaces to be precious about,” she says.

The couple had agreed on a self-build contract with builder Jeremy Skeggs, which enabled them to chip in as their skills allowed. “He would give me a job that an apprentice might do, something that didn’t require skill. So, I ended up digging holes and tying off the reinforcement mesh for the concrete and putting in screws for the iron on the outside of the house – that sort of thing,” says Bronwen.

At the pointy end of the build, Bronwen learned how to tile so she could tackle both the bathrooms, Simon did all the painting and they both put up the ply lining in the workroom, laundry and playroom. “It meant the process took longer, which is why we ended up being in the woolshed for three years. But it was very satisfying.”

A vintage TV set that has been gutted and made into a cat bed
One of Bronwen’s quirkier projects, this cat bed is made out of a vintage TV set, gutted, lined for comfort and elevated on legs salvaged from an old coffee table.

Grow your own

Being on-site also allowed them to work on the block, putting in place all the landscaping building blocks they wanted and getting a head start on achieving their bold goal of a self-sufficient lifestyle. With admirable forethought, they planted a eucalyptus grove for future firewood, an orchard and an extensive vegetable patch.

Next up were animals; chickens, of course, plus a small number of sheep and cattle to round out their menagerie. While Bronwen grew up on a lifestyle block with horses and chickens – the couple gained most of their experience on the job, guided by knowledgeable friends.

mustard couches sat against a light timber wall
Though the family refers to this as the playroom, it’s not just for the kids. Comfy retro furniture makes it a great movie-watching space, the big box of Lego is a permanent fixture and fun for all.

“We’re ‘doers’ – we’re happy to have a go. We were lucky to get great advice from people, then we just got on with it,” says Bronwen. “It’s constant hard work, gardening, looking after animals. But the rewards are awesome: you get to provide food for your family, be out in the countryside, and spend time with animals. It’s lovely.”

Of course, it’s not all work and no play. A small paddock has been sectioned off for blowing off steam, with football goals in winter, a mown cricket pitch in summer, and even a couple of golf holes for Simon.

light timber walls with a patterned tile staircase
Steps lead down to the second of the two interconnected buildings. This one is characterised by plywood walls throughout, which Bronwen and Simon lined themselves. On the walls are a vintage New Zealand map, showing annual rainfall, and an artwork, made from driftwood and acrylics, by Bronwen.

Green light

Now completed, the house is a picture of rural comfort, a cosy shelter from Invercargill’s chilly winters, and a just reward for all the family’s hard work. Coming from the comparatively balmy climate of the North Island, Bronwen had briefed architectural designer Phil Orr of ArchDraught with their top priorities: light and warmth.

A wooden desk with ceramic and metal deer heads hanging on the cream coloured wall above it
The family jokingly refer to this corner of the sitting room as ”the trophy wall”, it features a metal deer head by Round 2 Arts, a felted deer head by Sandra Gage of The Felted Room and a metal snapper by Miles Gordon. The sewing machine is a decommissioned industrial leather sewing machine – though technically functional, Bronwen bought it for its beauty.

Phil specialises in eco builds, which aligned with the couple’s values and hopes for the home. Inspired by the existing woolshed, the house was designed as two steel-clad and interconnected structures.

“It’s designed to look like a group of farm buildings. So, with the woolshed as well, together they look a bit like old farm sheds that have been converted,” says Bronwen.

Blue and green tiles in the bathroom, with a large round mirror over the vanity
Bronwen learnt how to tile to tackle the bathrooms herself. The floors look like timber, but they’re actually wood-look tiles.

With both warmth and energy efficiency in mind, the house is oriented to the north, with full-length windows that welcome the maximum amount of sunlight, the heat of which is captured by concrete floors and sealed in by extra-thick and double-insulated walls.

“Our only source of heat is a wood burner, which effectively heats the whole house (we have a heat transfer system to the bedrooms) with that alone.”

The home owner cutting fabric on a work bench
The home features a dedicated workroom for Bronwen’s upholstery business. “One of the most important things for me is that upholstery is more than just recovering. It is about what’s underneath, making sure the structure is looked after. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work before you put on the finishing cover,” she says.

Being on a lifestyle block means septic tanks, so the couple opted for something environmentally innovative here too. Instead of a regular septic tank, the house is hooked up to a Biolytix system. It uses worms to process wastewater from the house, turning it into fertiliser they can use to feed their orchard trees.

The main bedroom has dark green walls and a floral bed headboard
This bedroom is a restful retreat in Resene Smoky Green, with a standout bedhead (made by Bronwen, of course) in Warwick Zanzibar Gold fabric.

Recycle, repurpose, reuse

Sustainability is a leitmotif throughout Bronwen and Simon’s home, and one doesn’t have to look far to find evidence that they walk the eco talk. “I don’t tend to go for off-the-shelf stuff,” says Bronwen, who has filled her home with lovingly repurposed objects: a wool-sorting table made into a kitchen island; iron off the old woolshed turned into a sliding door; a VW bonnet into a bedhead; a digger bucket into a firepit.

a kid's bedroom with as blue knitted quilt on the bed and a wall covered in framed art overhead
All of the boys’ beds feature custom-made bedspreads. “There’s a very clever lady in Hawke’s Bay who would take baby blankets and pair them with vintage blankets and do crochet or knitted embellishments to make them into useful bedspreads,” says Bronwen. Morgan’s bedhead is made from a door from their former house.

The effect is playful, quirky and pleasing to the eye – and completely on brand for Bronwen who, as a professional upholsterer, rescues furniture for a living and celebrates the form, function and history of every piece she restores.

“I love the stories behind pieces of furniture. They often have family stories around them, which are part of the furniture’s history. So, when I strip down a chair, I like to put in a little swatch of the old fabric and a card with the date and what I did. It keeps the history of the chair within it,” she says.

A kid's bedroom with an orange and purple knitted quilt on the bed, and a patchwork couch beside it
Eldest son Rory’s room features an old VW car bonnet, repurposed as a bedhead. Above the sofa hangs a selection of art, including the marlin fish word art by Bronwen and Boat rule by Rory himself. 

The history of Bronwen and Simon’s home is similarly preserved for whoever might come after them. “Right at the end of the build, we put together a memory box of the process and put it in the fabric of the house, so if anyone ever knocks it down or does renovations, they’ll find it. That was a special thing to do with the kids because it was a big chunk of their lives as well,” says Bronwen.

A bathroom with fish wallpaper
The Cole & Son Acquario wallpaper was a splurge by Bronwen, which is also a nod to Simon who is a keen fisherman and studied marine biology.

Bronwen’s tips for an eco-conscious home

1. Using natural resources as a source of heat. The house was designed to make the most of light and heat from the sun. We have large north-facing windows with a polished concrete floor in the main living areas.

In the summer, the sun is higher in the sky and the sunlight only hits the front 50cm of the floor, in the winter it is lower in the sky and reaches almost to the back wall. This means the concrete is heated by the sun in the winter and retains heat because of the 100mm polystyrene insulation in it.

An image of the exterior of the home
The unexpected star of the show on the patio is an old digger bucket. Picked up from a scrap metal yard, it works beautifully as a firepit, with its patina of rust making look like quite the designer piece.

The insulation in the house means it keeps an even temperature in summer and winter. A wood burner (supplied by wood we grow) is the only source of heating. A Moisture Master heat transfer system distributes the heat throughout the house. We have had lots of people comment that they assumed the concrete has underfloor heating built in as it feels warm underfoot.

Wash sinks in the laundry with wooden walls
A masterclass in ingenuity, the laundry features a vintage concrete tub (restored and resealed by Bronwen). The copper taps were made by their plumber (Todd Plumbing Limited in Invercargill). An old wooden ladder has been repurposed as a towel rail, and a plywood bench made by Simon using offcuts from the wall lining.

2. “Recycle, repurpose, reuse” is something we live by. As an upholsterer, I love well-made furniture. Vintage and retro furniture has “good bones” in that the frame is usually made from solid wood. So by reupholstering it can be given a new life and reduce landfill waste.

Trinkets on a bench top

I like to think outside the box when it comes to furnishings, which is why our home is such a unique and eclectic blend. Our kitchen bench is an old wool sorting table, we have a sideboard made from an old industrial sewing machine and table, our key box is an old telephone, we have a barn sliding door that is made from iron taken off our woolshed when it was reclad, our outside fire is an old digger bucket, the list could go on and on.

Bottles of alcohol lined along a windowsill

3. We have a Biolytix septic system, installed by Laser Plumbing in Invercargill.

From biolytix.com: “The Biolytix Biopod is a unique and patented method of treating waste that mimics nature to provide passive, reliable treatment of household wastewater. Award-winning, eco-friendly, worm sewage treatment suitable for standard homes.”

The home owner walking with her chickens following behind her
“I was struggling with where to put trees and structure plants. We went to The Plant Store and they did an awesome plan for the structure, which meant that the basics of the garden were there.”

4. Growing your own food. We are lucky to have the space for a vegetable garden and orchard. Growing your food is so rewarding. It also teaches your kids the advantages of eating seasonally and where food comes from.

You don’t need to have a big garden to grow your own food. When we were students at university, we grew vegetables in grow bags on a small patio garden in London.

Bushes outside
Creating a productive garden was always high on the list of priorities for the couple who put a lot of work into their veggie patch and orchard. Planning the pretty stuff – flower beds and trees – was harder, says Bronwen, who sought advice from experts.

It is worth starting the landscaping plan at the same time as the build if possible. By living on site, we were able to spend time setting up the land to be productive at the same time as building. Once we moved in, we were able to sit back and reap the benefits of established fruit trees and a productive vegetable garden.


Shop this Invercargill new-build style

A black and white art print of a New Zealand map

1. See You There Art Print

$49.00 at Shop Your Home and Garden

This black-and-white art print brings a comforting and homely feel to your walls, while still adding a touch of geometric beauty.

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Green fabric dining chair

2. Selena Dining Chair

$139.00 (usually $349.00) at Freedom

The stunning olive upholstery of this dining chair makes it the perfect addition to an elegant dining setting.

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A textured glass block on a wooden mount

3. Weave Bloc Lamp

$169.00 at Shop Your Home and Garden

This beautiful glass block reflects and radiates coloured light around the room in the most elegant way. Place this block on your dining room table, kitchen island or any other surface and set it alight with either a neon pink, cosmic green, amber glow, romantic red or serene blue to level up the space with ease.

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An array of small Lego pot plants

4. Tiny Plants Lego Set

$109.99 at Lego

Piece these small Lego pot plants together to DIY your next home decor. These look so fun lined along a windowsill or scattered around your vanity.

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