It was love at first sight for the owner of this Dunedin house. Kim Dungey reports.
You would be hard pressed to find a prettier villa than the one owned by Trish Wells.
Old-fashioned roses cover the trellis, coloured glass bathes the interior in a warm light and there are views of the garden from every room.
"I stumbled across it and just fell in love with it ... ,'' Ms Wells says. "It's such a fairy-tale house.''
The Dunedin woman has only ever bought properties she has had an emotional connection to but the St Clair home appealed for practical reasons, too.
After living in a modern but small home, the feeling of space was a relief - particularly for two of her children who were sharing a room. The double-gabled villa had four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a sunroom off the front lounge and an open-plan living area at the back that had been added by the former owner, St Clair property developer Stephen Chittock.
Taking on such a large property was quite a brave move because she was widowed at 27 and on her own with three children, she explains. But it was "lovely'' to be able to spread out.
While the children have since left home, the house continues to be the centre of family gatherings and the grandchildren have bikes permanently stored in the garage.
Inside, Ms Wells has successfully paired traditional and modern pieces: vintage mirrors reflect the light in the sunroom, a contemporary black-and-white print hangs on a charcoal wall in the living room and a sculptural light by David Trubridge is suspended over a wooden dining table and a collection of mismatched chairs.
Original features include the decorative arch in the hall and a small enclosed area at one end of the veranda, which was probably once a potting room. Two of the bedrooms have window seats; a third has horizontal tongue-and-groove panelling.
Several people have told of visiting the house when it was owned by a piano teacher and waiting in the sunroom to be called into the formal lounge to practise. And the home's association with music continues with Ms Wells' husband, Red Cross humanitarian services co-ordinator Steve King, also a keen musician.
On sunny mornings, the couple enjoy sitting at the breakfast bar in the white kitchen that was installed four years ago.
"The previous kitchen was OK but it was all blue and very '90s,''says Ms Wells, senior lecturer in drama education at the University of Otago's College of Education.
The light and airy colour scheme also extends to the home's other public areas.
"It was a very big decision to go white in the hall and the living area because I was painting over old timber. Steve was unhappy about it. But I don't regret it because it has lightened it up so much.''
"I very nearly didn't buy the house because of the carpet,'' she adds, referring to the patterned Axminster at her feet that had just been laid when she visited in 1996 and which still shows no signs of wear. "It's pretty busy and a bit limiting but it's definitely grown on me ...''
The private garden wrapping around the house was landscaped by the Chittocks and developed further by the current owners, who both enjoy gardening.
