- Christchurch couple Isabelle and Tim Weston are selling their renovated six-bedroom home in Merivale.
- They bought 93 Carlton Mill Road for $3.4m in 2021 and renovated it extensively.
- The home features award-winning outdoor areas and a surprise whiskey lounge, with no price indication given.
Christchurch couple Isabelle and Tim Weston won over TV audiences and prestige property buyers when they appeared on Grand Designs New Zealand eight years ago.
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Their overhaul of Britten Stables – the home of Isabelle’s late father, motorcycle pioneer John Britten – was jaw-dropping. Now they have a new "do-up" on the market, a six-bedroom architectural statement that’s tipped to sell for a top price.
The Westons bought 93 Carlton Mill Road, in Merivale, for $3.4 million in 2021, the same year they sold Britten Stables for close to $8m.
Isabelle told OneRoof that the couple were in a financial hole immediately after Covid and were looking for a new place to call home. The pandemic restrictions had stymied the couple’s events and accommodation business, and they needed to pay off the substantial debt incurred from their renovation of Britten Stables.
Another big project wasn’t on the cards, but as soon as Isabelle walked into 93 Carlton Mill Road, known locally as Millstream, she knew they had to have it. The six-bedroom, four-bathroom home had been damaged in the Christchurch earthquakes and was being sold “as is, where is”, but compared to Britten Stables, the renovation and repair work seemed doable.
Isabelle and Tim Weston with their daughters. Photo / Hazel Redmond
The couple loved the existing archways so much that they added more to the award-winning space. Photo / Hazel Redmond
The kitchen area was completely changed to make it the hub of the home. Photo / Supplied
“When we saw the property, although it was probably quite daunting to most [people], we saw a lot of opportunity. We had been living in the Stables, so this just felt normal and natural.”
Tim said the house was stuck in the 1990s. “It had electric blue walls and bright blue carpet and hadn’t been touched since it was originally built for the owners."
The couple carried out the work in several stages, starting with the painting and replacing the bathrooms. The second stage involved removing a chunk of the home that housed one of the lounges because it was where most of the damage had occurred. This allowed them to reconfigure the kitchen and living area and build a new conservatory with a glass roof similar to the one used in Britten Stables.
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Subsequent stages included landscaping the area. The final stage – concreting the long driveway leading to the private grounds – was only completed at the end of last year.
The couple said they absolutely loved the final result, which combines the latest design trends and colours with 90s touches, including the large sweeping staircase, tiled floor, and the towering Hannah Kidd giraffe statue.
Tim admitted that the large foyer was a “bit excessive” but had been the perfect space for many birthday parties and events.
“We’ve had lots of fun things in there – lots of kids’ birthday parties and discos,” Isabelle added, noting it was also the perfect space for rollerblading.
The 80sqm foyer had been the perfect space for hosting parties and even rollerblading. Photo / Supplied
The gym, whiskey lounge and office hidden away on the third floor were an unexpected surprise. Photo / Supplied
The three curved archways outside were a big influence on the finished design, with the Westons adding three more and using the same shape for a feature window in the covered swimming pool area and the marble outdoor shower.
The couple were reluctant to say just how big their renovation budget had been, but admitted it was more than the $2.5m they had spent to renovate Britten Stables.
“We love to renovate because it’s an opportunity to build on something that already has character, and I feel like when people come to this house, it’s now new – it’s a cohesion of different time periods that gives it depth,” Isabelle told OneRoof.
“This property had a really good existing footprint, and it was really laid out except for that connection to the outdoors. What we really did was put in a lot more glass and open it all up to the outside, as well as do a whole renovation.”
The couple initially renovated Millstream as their forever home, but the family’s interests have since changed, and they are now craving a lifestyle property with a large garden and where they can have a pony.
The couple featured on Grand Designs in 2018 with their mammoth renovation of Isabelle’s family home, Britten Stables. Photo / Supplied
“I feel like whoever buys this house will be extremely happy because we did it with the intention of staying here a long time. We like to do things well and are quite fussy, so I feel like whoever ends up living here will love it,” Isabelle said.
Bayleys listing agent Adam Heazlewood said Millstream was one of the city’s “finest homes” and ticked all the boxes. It featured award-winning outdoor areas and a surprise whiskey lounge.
He said the home’s third storey was a treat. “No one expects it. They all think they are going to a two-level home and then all of a sudden there’s this third level.”
Heazlewood declined to give a price indication, but said it would be at the uppermost end of the Christchurch market.
Several property records have been broken in Christchurch in the last six months. A riverside mansion on Saint Barnabas Lane, in Fendalton, became the most expensive property to sell in the city after fetching $9.55m in November last year, while its auction record was smashed last month when a property on Glandovey Road, also in Fendalton, sold under the hammer for $8.3m.
- 93 Carlton Mill Road, in Merivale, Christchurch, is for sale by negotiation
