General News
10 February, 2025
Deb brushes away those Edwardian home blues
By RUBY HYLAND WHEN Deb Nevins purchased first purchased a historic home in Inglewood, she called it a renovator’s nightmare. Now after three years of hard work she’s ready to open the doors to the public as short-term accommodation. The back of...
By RUBY HYLAND
WHEN Deb Nevins purchased first purchased a historic home in Inglewood, she called it a renovator’s nightmare.
Now after three years of hard work she’s ready to open the doors to the public as short-term accommodation.
The back of the Brooke Street house had extensive white ant damage while the rest of the house was rundown with age.
“It looks like a completely different house to what it was before,” Deb said, “it was very blue when I brought it, all the walls and everything was blue which didn’t suit so I went with an Edwardian style to keep with the Inglewood heritage.”
Her renovations have included adding an ensuite to the main bedroom, extending the house to fit a new kitchen as well as having the house restumped.
The most important part of this project for Deb has been ensuring the character of the house remained, she focused on “restoring rather than repairing”.
Deb’s idea behind renovating the house is to provide a place to stay within Inglewood especially for those attending sports tournaments or tourism events rather than leaving them to find accommodation outside the town or needing to travel back and forth.
The renovations and redecorations have upheld the Edwardian style the heritage house had, with vintage furniture pieces and gold features in each room.
However, the house has been fitted with a modern kitchen as well as several split systems to provide guests with modern comforts while they enjoy the historic house.
While originally Deb had no set timeline for when she wanted to finish restoring the house, she didn’t expect it to take three years, yet for her it was a labour of love.
“People kept telling me to stick to one room at a time but if I wasn’t sure what to do with one room, I moved onto the next which would often give me fresh ideas and perspectives for other rooms.” Deb said.
“I didn’t plan to do this much renovating, but I kept thinking of new ideas for the house, so I just kept going.”
During one of the bedroom renovations Deb discovered an old brick chimney that had been hidden behind a wall. She was able to pull the wall down to displace the piece of history and decorated the room to match her find.
Now that the renovations are complete Deb can’t wait to open the house up to those wanting to stay in a piece of history in Inglewood.