PAST & PRESENT
“It was very original but it wasn’t charming at all. It was a ’70s house, but not a cool ’70s house.”
KAREN PRICHARD
Good bones. It’s the carrot that lures would-be renovators, motivating them to pour all their passion, time and money into uncovering the beauty beneath the beast. But what if there are no good bones to be revealed? With little to redeem this 1970s house at first glance, New Plymouth couple Karen and Blair Prichard were wooed, not by x-ray vision, but by the imaginative vision of close friend and “genius” Michael Mansvelt. “He said, ‘If you don’t buy it, I’m going to. And this is what I’m going to do to it’,” says Karen. Michael then explained how he could renovate this aged ugly duckling into a retro-inspired swan, enhancing the home with some of the ’70s-style architectural gems – from a glass-panelled entryway to lush tropical landscaping – that it had missed out on the first time around.
