Transforming a traditional Christchurch home into a family-friendly oasis
By all accounts, when this grand, six-bedroom home came onto the market in 2021, many potential buyers took one look and baulked. With its bold blue, green and yellow walls, a lounge sunken not by mid-century style but by the Ōtautahi/Christchurch earthquake, and a vast footprint, the project’s scope was just too daunting for most people. But Isabelle and Tim Weston are not most people. “We just saw potential,” shrugs Isabelle. “We knew straight away we could do something special here.”
OPPOSITE The dining room’s mirrored wall and floating cabinet were inherited, but were sharpened up with fresh paint and handles. Before renovating, the space was closed off to the kitchen, so connecting walls were opened for a more practical flow. The Cara dining table and chairs are from Coco Republic, the bowl and candle holder from BoConcept, the Koru rug from Freedom Furniture, and the linen lantern is from Home Lab Store.
It helped that the couple had a first-rate back catalogue of renovations, most recently the revival of Isabelle’s childhood home: The Britten Stables. You may have caught the project on Grand Designs or Instagram (@izzywest.co), where Isabelle generously led followers through their painstaking post-earthquake fix. Transforming it into their family home and business (boutique accommodation and venue), they were finally coming out the other side when Covid hit, and bookings waned.
TOP The previous owners commissioned the Hannah Kidd giraffe sculpture. Atop its nose, a monkey reaches for a metal banana that dangles from the ceiling. The marble floor is original. ABOVE Isabelle and Tim stand with Adaline (left) and Raphaela in front of their constantly evolving garden.
“Suddenly, we had to work much harder for far less gain. We had to rethink things,” explains Isabelle. “We asked ourselves, ‘Do we want to spend time with our kids when they’re young, or do we want to own this house?’” It was no contest. They sold The Stables, bought this home and a new project began. “The former owners loved this place and had put all their personality into it; it needed a new family to do the same,” she says. What that boiled down to for the Westons was a three-pronged plan.
TOP The kitchen’s curved banquette is child friendly with a leather seat, an outdoor-grade bouclé back and storage below. This space used to be occupied by a secondary staircase that led up to the bedrooms, but the renovation removed it in favour of natural light and better indoor/outdoor flow. ABOVE The kitchen joinery hides a secret door through to the family lounge. “Other than the kitchen, that’s the space we use the most,” says Tim.
Stage one involved modernising the 1990s dwelling with fresh paint, finishes and bathrooms. “I didn’t feel like I had to take away a lot; it was just about toning things down and changing the colours to match our personality,” says Isabelle. In the foyer, the original marble floor, wall panelling, tall doors and glossy finish remain, complemented by a fresh, pared-back palette. “When we bought it, the blue paintwork was intense — and it was everywhere,” says Tim. “We had to use three coats of Dulux Super Hide just to get it back to neutral.” The entrance walls are now finished with matte stone paint; its subtle texture plays up as sunlight and shadows stream through the space.
ABOVE Isabelle engaged Finesse Joinery on the fitout of the kitchen, opting for soft grey cupboards with Lo & Co’s Sphere Pull polished brass handles. The benchtop is from The Granite Benchtop Company and is made from two unique book-matched pieces, aligned so the grain matches up. The installers even painted the grout between the pieces to match the grain, making it appear as one enormous stone slab.
The bathrooms, with blue carpet and cramped showers, required a more intensive intervention. Stripping back the existing, the couple homed in on a palette of marble, brass accents, neutral tiles and textured glass. It’s a modern, light aesthetic, but it fits the architecture, melding into the structure in a way that feels comfortable and familiar. “A home has its own personality and if you try to change that, it looks ridiculous,” explains Isabelle. “My taste skews towards raw, natural materials, so I used those principles of texture and warm tones, but with a more polished finish.”
TOP There’s an ongoing debate about whether to paint the entire balustrade black. Meanwhile, colour comes by way of art. On the first floor, the girls’ portraits by EM Jenkins hang alongside a piece by local artist Emma Velde. Downstairs, left to right, are works by Barbara Boekelman, Peter O’Hagan, Emma Velde and a family hand-me-down, artist unknown. ABOVE MIDDLE Isabelle’s late father, John Britten, designed the sweet wooden table and chair set. ABOVE The billiard table in the bar area belonged to Isabelle’s grandfather. “We use this room all the time in winter when we’re entertaining,” says Tim.
By pinning down that aesthetic early on, the couple had clear parameters to work with in the second stage — that wonky lounge damaged in the earthquake. The space was all kinds of awkward. Lime green, with a low ceiling and unlevel floor, it served as a clumsy link between the house and pool.
TOP While the primary bedroom’s pink walls and blue carpet were toned back, the original curved wall remains. Now painted in Dulux Tōrere (the other walls are Dulux Cardrona Half), it’s finished with a bespoke bedhead by Wink, linen from M.M linen and bedside tables from Freedom Furniture. ABOVE MIDDLE In a savvy, cost-saving move, the Westons retained the layout of the ensuite but gave it a facelift. Blue carpet was replaced with a natural tiled floor, and a brass-trimmed reeded glass door opens into a double shower glamorised with brushed-brass Buddy fittings from Plumbline. ABOVE The girls’ bathroom floor used to be adorned with alphabet-print vinyl. Employing a more enduring palette, it now has an elegant, polished finish, with fluted, marble-topped vanities, Trade Depot marble basins, brushed-brass Buddy tapware from Plumbline and brass-trimmed mirrors — plus the necessary step stools to enable little hands to reach the taps.
“We went to W2 Architecture asking for something simple, and what they came back with blew us away,” says Tim. “They listened and then over-delivered.” Replacing the offending lounge with a sprawling outdoor design, the architects also extended and reorientated the kitchen so that the spaces flowed together in a cohesive, family-focused experience.
TOP The girls chose their own bedroom paint colours, and Raphaela went for Dulux Oriental Bay blue. The tone has been softened by sponging Porter’s Paints French Wash in Pumice over the top to give it a muted texture. Having switched rooms a while back, Adaline now occupies the blue room where Society6’s ‘Cool to be Kind’ poster hangs on one wall and glow-in-the-dark stars scatter across the ceiling. ABOVE MIDDLE Raphaela flicks through a book on the end of her bed, in her room painted Dulux Rabbit Island given the same French Wash treatment. A pair of Emma Velde paintings complement the lavender hue, as do the M.M Linen duvet and pillowcases on the Ecosa bed. ABOVE Originally a staircase to the lower level, this passage is now a craft space, with three stations set up on Mocka’s scalloped Maisie desks. “We were going to make it into storage, but I loved the idea of a dedicated space for creating,” says Isabelle. A datum line in Dulux Fantail wraps the room, where upcycled chairs were re-covered by Moto Trim using leftover leather from the kitchen banquette. A carpet runner from the Persian Rug Gallery adds colour, along with artworks including those by Adaline and Raphaela.
From the kitchen, you now spill straight out to a sheltered courtyard, complete with built-in barbecue, fireplace, sauna, outdoor bath, conservatory, extended patio and refinished indoor pool. Protected by a towering transparent roof and louvred ceiling, the design flawlessly blurs the boundary between inside and out. The architects also made good use of the lounge’s sole remaining wall by puncturing it with a glamorous arched window and tacking on a built-in seat.
TOPBeautifully tiled by Roma Tiling, the outdoor bath nestles in an arched alcove between the pool and sauna. “I love curved lines; they draw more closely to the lines found in nature,” says Isabelle, who ordered fluted marble tiles directly from the manufacturer in China and then had them laid to soften the bath’s many rounded corners. The tapware is Oli 316 with Linea handles. ABOVE The conservatory features Early Settler seating, M.M Linen tan cushions and BoConcept green cushions, table and rug. Louvred walls give the whānau control over the elements.
Softening the hardscaping with garden beds and using wall and roof louvres for shelter, the space is split into zones — to gather and to escape. “I wanted it to feel like you’re in a resort, at home,” says Isabelle. Safe to say she met the brief.
TOP “I grow cut flowers as a hobby. We had 500 tulips earlier this year, but now it’s roses, cosmos and dahlias,” says Isabelle. ABOVE Adaline (seated) and Raphaela swim in the refinished pool. Originally connected to the house by a low-ceilinged, lime-green lounge, it now flows to the covered outdoor area.
Rolling down into the garden, fragrant roses, cosmos and dahlias circle the lawn and buxus-bordered beds. Established trees create a privacy screen from the 16-odd neighbouring houses, while the vegetable plot is tucked around the back.
ABOVE The dining room feeds out to a terrace and artificial lawn, installed by Lifestyle Lawns. Seating from the Malmo outdoor range from Coco Republic groups around a Matakana 1200 outdoor wood fire and cooking centre. Its hearth is finished in sandy, Italian-made Genoa bricks sourced from The Brickery — a versatile profile also used on the built-in bar and the kitchen fireplace.
“After we sold The Stables, I wanted to step back and do something I was interested in, so I studied floristry online. I’ve taken those principles and put them into my own garden,” says Isabelle. The final stage of the project will see her showcase those skills as they replant the driveway for a more impactful entrance.
ABOVE The high-pitched transparent roof over the spa area brings natural light, volume and shelter to the new outdoor space. With a lot of hard materials in the design, built-in garden beds planted with Kentia palms, punga and a mix of other hardy indoor plants offer natural respite.
There’s a casualness to Isabelle and Tim’s home that puts everyone at ease: a warmth that’s remarkably difficult to achieve with a building of such size. It’s beautiful yet robust, with child-friendly considerations subtly woven through the design. Like the curved banquette with its outdoor-grade (aka washable) bouclé cushion and concealed storage. Or the secret door in the kitchen joinery that connects to the family lounge. Ultimately, moving here was about the girls — and the design wraps around whānau life. The house has already faced the ultimate test, hosting 47 children for Raphaela’s fifth birthday. “There was a fairy, face painting, bouncy castle and all of their friends’ families,” says Tim. “The place held up great. It’s meant to be enjoyed.”