This 100-year-old Matangi makeover queen’s star is set to rise, and all in a good cause, writes Kate Monahan.
It’s been a huge thing for us, as a family. It’s exciting, and everyone has been great to work with.
It’s just over three weeks out from her debut, and the makeover candidate, it must be said, is looking a bit underdressed.
She’s flaking and peeling in all the wrong places, her sense of style is cluttered, and it’s going to take a serious paint job to make her into a beauty.
On November 9 she will open herself up to public viewing, and there is much work to do.
At the stunning 100-year-old villa in Matangi, builders are smashing up the kitchen and replacing bench tops, while eager workers paste and wallpaper interiors. In other rooms, people are painting walls and sanding floors.
It’s a decorating marvel, and the first time it has happened in the Waikato.
The Balloomin’ Gorgeous House of Design is a fundraising event organised by Michele Connell and the team behind Balloons Over Waikato. Held six months out from the April hot air balloon event, the inaugural fundraiser is to help keep the Hamilton ballooning festival at the forefront of such events in Australasia, and not so reliant on grants and funding.
The historic house is being retouched and reworked, with 11 rooms designed by eight top Waikato designers and homeware retailers.
From Friday, November 9, to Sunday, November 11, the finished home will be open to the public, at $15 a head, to see the latest in interior design trends from the retailers.
With events like The Fine Homes Tour a sellout, it seems the balloon crew are not just blowing hot air with their fundraiser.
“We were looking for something, and we knew people were really interested in this kind of thing,” says Connell. “Personally, I wouldn’t think anything of paying $15 to see something like this to see the latest designs and trends, and to see what our talented locals can do.
“This house showcases what (retailers) can really do with interior design in a real life situation.”
Participating businesses include Freedom Furniture, Furniture Creations, Paula Hassard Interior Design, Homestage Hamilton, Home Sweet Home, Kate Fitzpatrick Home, King %26 Teppett Interior Design, and The French House.
Retailers were given a brief by the homeowner, and had to work in with the style of the house.
When Tempo visits in mid-October, it is all go.
Monica Lindsay, from The French House on River Rd, is painting the dining room walls delicious mustard yellow. “This is a dark room, and we wanted some colour. A neutral wall would be okay for a family room or formal lounge, but not a dining room. You don’t use a dining room every day, so it can take the drama.” She is using beautiful French fabrics and pottery as inspiration, with rich colours leading from the dining room into the kitchen.
In another room, workers from Home Sweet Home have just finished painting one of the boys’ bedrooms with a funky bullseye design on a corkboard floor.
With different designers involved, the homeowner, who wishes to remain anonymous, is a brave woman. “It’s been a huge thing for us, as a family,” she says. “It’s exciting, and everyone has been great to work with, but two of the kids are sleeping in the dining room on squabs. It’s like a big sleepover.”
Down the hallway, her mother is polishing the silver, and using a mop to dust door ledges. Her son is skipping among the paint trays and dropcloths, marvelling at the bullseye in his room.
It’s still early days, and most of the designers have not yet begun transforming their spaces some will be luxurious and lush, others will have a French theme, and others will be green and wild like the jungle.
Michele Connell says she is excited to see how the house turns out, and thinks the public will be amazed at all the different ideas in the house.
The 100-year-old Edwardian house was moved to Matangi from Dannevirke 14 years ago, and once was an old men’s home, so the latest transformation is just another costume change.
With high wooden ceilings, chandeliers, large windows, lots of wooden panels and detailing, and hand-painted leadlight windows, the bones of the home itself, and its history, will be of interest to visitors, and that information will be displayed in the foyer.
Art work will be on display, there will be a silent auction of a Waikato Rugby jersey, and a balloon ride up for grabs. Take cash as there will be no Eftpos on site.
And all the experts from designers to landscapers to outdoor furniture experts will be on hand to answer questions.
Tickets are $15, available from all participating retailers or from Balloons Over Waikato. See www.balloonsoverwaikato.co.nz
Tags:
landscape,
landscaper,
landscapers,
locals,
monahan,
showcase
0
