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This Point Chevalier villa was treated to a centenary makeover

Article by Your Home and Garden

Advised to bowl this old Auckland house, its new owners opted for a transformation of epic proportions

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Meet & greet: Xenia (stay-at-home mum) and Cameron Marcroft (mortgage broker), Maddy, 11, Rupert, nine, Billy, two, and Stormy the retrodoodle.

The property: Comprehensively renovated five-bedroom character home near Auckland’s Point Chevalier Beach.

The interiors: Calming whites and wooden interiors, paired with neutral furniture and understated yet colourful accents (shop the look here).

For 10 years, Xenia Marcroft walked past a big weatherboard house a stone’s throw from Point Chevalier Beach in Auckland’s inner west. She liked the size of the two-storey home, the full north-facing section with a pool and the property’s proximity to the sea. She thought she’d like to own it one day.

Then, in 2020, the 340sqm house came up for sale. “It sat on the market for three or four months, which is long for Pt Chev,” says Xenia. The layout didn’t suit her family, but it had a big footprint, so she saw the potential.

She and husband Cameron, who had two children at the time, bought the house, moved in and got to grips with the challenge. “It’d had a lot of bitsy renovations over the years, but we wanted to do this one right, from top to bottom,” Xenia says. “This was our third reno so I was up for the challenge.”

She says the couple ignored advice to bowl the house because of its character, charm and connection to the established suburb. “I knew that street appeal had to be kept. This [house] is 100 years old. We have given it a centenary makeover and done it properly.”

The project was long but ultimately rewarding, says Cameron. “Unfortunately, like many renovations, we went over budget from what we first imagined, but happily we stretched it out to give us the end result.”

The barnacle-encrusted vessel by the Living Flame fireplace was sourced by Jade Hurst and imported from Bali. The lady sculpture was dug up in the garden during the renovation.

Surprises in store

Xenia and Cameron knew the project would be a mammoth one. For a start, they had to completely overhaul the floor plan for their young family, effectively turning the layout upside down. The kitchen and living spaces were upstairs, “so you couldn’t see the pool, which meant the kids didn’t use it organically”, says Xenia. “They were young, so we’d literally have to pack a backpack to walk down the stairs to go swimming. We decided to open-plan it [downstairs] and make it more family-friendly with flow to the backyard and pool. It’s like anything – if you can see it, you use it. It made me realise how important the flow of a home is. A well-designed house can change the way you live.”

But there were a few surprises in store. The couple thought the project would take about six months but factors, including lockdown, doubled the timeframe. It didn’t help that the interior included concrete where they didn’t expect it – in the structure between floors, for instance.

The sofa is from King Living and the marble on the repurposed coffee table was found on Trade Me. The solid glass table is a limited edition Jensen piece from A&C Homestore. The kitchen and living spaces were originally upstairs, the Marcrofts decided to make the house more family-friendly with flow to the backyard and pool.

And, says Xenia, “I got pregnant during the reno with our third child, so our architect had to quickly add another bedroom.”

Initially the family rented locally while their house was stripped down. Then they decided to make the most of their situation and moved to Wānaka for nine months, learned to ski and left the project in the hands of their trusted builder Scott Todd of Your Build and architect Kirsty Addison of Mitchell Addison. “I literally gave Scott and Kirsty the keys and said call me when it’s done,” says Xenia, who’d been managing the project. “I trusted them both 100 percent.”

She says the team worked seamlessly, problem solving, conferencing and discussing options within the budget but without compromising on style.

The rest is history

The house, now with five bedrooms, three living rooms, an office and a triple garage, is spacious, light-filled and flows easily from indoors to out. It’s a far cry from the 1920s single-storey cottage that started life at the back of the section, then was later moved to the front and eventually lifted. It had once been the long-term home of one family and when Cameron attended a funeral he was surprised to hear his home featuring prominently in treasured memories.

Rupert’s room has an astronaut from Design Store and a map from Bed Bath & Beyond; Maddy’s room features linen and a bedside wooden table both from A&C Homestore.

The Marcrofts found another link to the property’s storied past – part of a statue. “I love the lady sculpture we dug up in the garden,” says Xenia. “She has pride of place. This house has history and has been watching the journey.”

It continues to be a repository of family treasures. Case in point: On the walls, you’ll find pieces of art by Xenia, her mother Sally Spittle and her sisters Athena Passione and Lucy Spittle.

The main bedroom features linen and lamps from A&C Homestore.

Inside running

At the planning stages, Xenia gathered the project team together to ensure an economical, streamlined process. “Old houses can be a money pit – all the money goes on remedial work you can’t see, then there is nothing left for the fun fluffy stuff you do see.”

The team included designer Kirsty Mitchell, who works with Kirsty Addison at Mitchell Addison. “The best advice the Kirstys gave me was to ‘go timeless’,” says Xenia, “then furnish it with trends that can be replaced over time.”

Xenia made a Pinterest board of the things she liked – a calm white and wood interior with Scandinavian and Japanese influences (shop the Scandinavian design look here). She wanted it to be homely, not precious and not too white – but she could add colour in with cushions and the like to follow trends every few years.

The oak Keiji Ashizawa dining table and three of the chairs are from Good Form; the Wilson rope seat dining chairs at the end are from A&C Homestore. The triptych behind the dining table is by Athena Passione, one of Xenia’s sisters.

Her friend Jade Hurst (of Good_Space and a judge on the House Rules NZ TV show) helped her with the final styling when she ran out of steam and had decision fatigue. It was Jade who sourced the distinctive white planter encrusted with barnacles in the main living space.

With three living rooms, there is plenty of room for the children and their friends. “We all have our zones to retreat to when we want time out or have friends over, and we don’t get in each other’s way. I only have to keep the adults’ lounge tidy for unexpected guests.”

The family loves the upstairs “pyjama lounge”, a room they can flop in, often in their PJs. “You can shut the shutters and binge-watch movies. We often fight over that room. The boys love playing PlayStation in it after swimming, so it’s a nice chill-out zone.”

Xenia wanted an easy-to-clean kitchen designed to hide any mess. “We did a hidden walk-in pantry that looks like a cupboard. We have all the small appliances in there. The kids make their lunch in there, and then we can shut it off.”

The house has four bathrooms, “but we only did up two as the existing two were done up in 2005, and luckily, easy to blend in with our other two bathrooms”.

Xenia says architect Kirsty understood the importance of practicalities such as the laundry chute “and never compromised on that or pulled it out, even though it would have been easier not to do it at times”. Mitchell Addison was also the brains behind the under-stairs storage with shelving and hooks for each child’s stuff.

The flow must go on

For indoor-outdoor entertaining, or just everyday summer life, Xenia and Cameron only need to fling open the downstairs glass doors that connect to a covered deck overlooking the pool and lawn. “The rain-sensor louvres are essential in Auckland – they shut with a sprinkle of rain. I often sit out there with a rug and my morning coffee and a wee meditation or daily ritual affirmation.”

The outdoor fire heats and cooks. “It’s designed to feed hungry kids sausages. They get so hungry swimming,” says Xenia. “The neighbourhood children all come and swim here, which we love.”

With a 696sqm section, there is still plenty of room for the kids to play. “We wanted a tropical feel around the pool, too, so it feels like we are on holiday at home. Luckily we had lots of existing nīkau.”

The Living Flame Chef cook-on fireplace transforms from a grill to a fireplace. The chairs are from A&C Homestore and lounge suite from Design Concepts.

Is it a long-term home? “It’s future-proofed for teenagers. Our elder two kids are eyeing up the garage to put a pool table in and teenage rec room, so that’s cool.”

So is the location. “It’s one block from the beach so we can walk across the street in our togs, or take our plates down to the beach with foil on top to have dinner watching the sunset,” Xenia says. “Pt Chev has the best sunsets.”

That’s not the only thing the Marcrofts enjoy about their neighbourhood. Cameron says, “I love Pt Chev, it’s got an awesome relaxed family vibe with an amazing community spirit.”

Home Truths

What did you save on?
Shopping around for flooring and handles.

Lessons learned?
Integrated fires and fridges inside and out, Hot Spring spa, outdoor louvres and the Jensen glass side table in the lounge. It matches the bottles we found in the dirt when renovating, so I had to have it. It’s a mix of old and new and a link to the history of the home.

Best advice?
Make it a timeless build. If you sell it years later, you don’t have to do the kitchen etc again. Follow trends with soft furnishings or lampshades. Make sure your builder and architect get on, and use tradies your builder knows and trusts. Get the builder and architect together from the start, and discuss materials and labour. Architectural detailing is beautiful, but often labour intensive so choose the areas where it’s important.

Text: Fiona Barber

Photography: Helen Bankers

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This Point Chevalier villa was treated to a centenary makeover