- Eve Webley and her husband transformed a run-down Timaru home, selling it for $620,000.
- The two-bedroom villa, renovated with upcycled materials, attracted buyers in their mid to late 50s.
- The home sold for $30,000 over RV, with the couple moving to a new tiny home.
From “absolute dump” to French-country chic, the upcycling queen of Timaru has found a new owner for her century-old home.
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The run-down party house that Eve Webley and her husband, Ian “Wobbs”, transformed with passion and creativity has sold for $620,000.
Eve, who once ran a popular upcycling shop, used everything from op shop finds to salvaged items from Timaru’s Crows Nest recycle shop to bring her standout villa to life.
Harcourts listing agent Tracey Shaw said the two-bedroom property on Rathmore Street, in Timaru’s West End, attracted a lot of interest, especially from older-than-expected buyers.
The property was transformed into a chic retreat thanks to the upcycling skills of owners Eve and Ian Webley. Photo / Supplied
Webley says the kitchen is her favourite place in the home. Photo / Supplied
“One thing that did surprise me about that property, with it being an early turn of the century weatherboard home, was the age demographic of the buyers coming through. They were all mid to late 50s. Yet they were essentially buying a high-maintenance property.”
Shaw said her vendors were very happy and looking forward to moving into their new tiny home at the beach.
“[Eve] has sold almost all the house, including everything in it. She’s kept a few bits and pieces for me. Very generous lady, very kind.”
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Eve also left some cherished pieces for the buyer. “Interestingly, the buyer and the seller had similar tastes with some of the furnishings,” Shaw said. “The buyer went, ‘Hey, I’ve got that at home’.”
Shaw said the home sold for $30,000 over the RV of $590,000. “Like all vendors, they would have liked a little bit more, but in current times, it was a fair offer.”
She added that some properties were selling for more than RV in Timaru and some below. “Some are on the market below RV, some have sold $30,000 above. It’s all over the shop,” she said.
“I have one with an RV of $450,000, and I have it under contract at $635,000. It was worth $635,000. It was never worth the RV.
Many of the items found in the home have been saved from the local “dump”. Photo / Supplied
The train carriage in the garden adds a cute touch. Photo / Supplied
“But that gets down to vendor expectations. We have seen people coming in with fair offers. And the vendor goes, ‘No, I’m not going to take that’. So it’s taking a bit longer to educate them. That is the market we’re in.”
Eve Webley told OneRoof last month that the Rathmore Street villa was “quite a dump when we bought it”.
The self-taught furniture restorer and her husband paid just under $280,000 for the property in 2015 and spent several years bringing it back to life.
The couple brought their love of interior design and French flair to every room, dressing the property with salvaged gems and unique furnishings.
They even bought an old train carriage “from out the back of Geraldine” for use in the garden.
Eve told OneRoof: “I’m just a girl who grew up in Timaru, worked in an architect’s office, then went to Australia and really lived as a beach girl on the beach. I did a bit of modelling in the old days, and I worked in the tourist industry.”
The property used to be a run-down party house but is now one of Timaru’s finest. Photo / Supplied
Her creativity went into overdrive after she and Ian bought the Rathmore Street property. She told OneRoof she started upcycling everything she could get her hands on to the extent that she launched a shop, Old and Pretty Things, with her friend, Maree, to sell many of the recovered treasures.
“We’d re-cover chairs and couches, paint furniture, fix things and put them together. My husband would find old bits of iron or stuff, and we’d make seats out of them,” she said.
While the furniture and many of the interior features at the home look like they have been imported from Europe, the reality is that it mostly came from Timaru op shops, garage sales, and The Crows Nest recycling shop at Redruth Transfer Station.
“I’ve brought things home – rickety and rackety and ugly – but I’ve seen what they could look like. My husband says I can make honey out of dog s***. Terrible saying, but he said, ‘You’ve got vision’. And I have got vision.”
Eve said many of her upcycled finds end up in high-end homes in Timaru and across the South Island. “I’ve done a lot for people who are actually quite wealthy, but they love it. We had a lot of Brethren come in, and they were buying left, right and centre. Sometimes we’d go to their houses and give them ideas.”
Eve said the couple were selling up to move to the beach. “We’re building a tiny home. It’s quite exciting. When you’ve never had anything new in your life, not even a car, and you’ve worked hard and been a loyal Kiwi and done the right things, it’s nice.”
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