Where treasures find a home

There’s evidence of tender, loving care in every corner of this St Heliers, Auckland, home – from the animal statuettes standing proudly on a field of gold cabinets to the mix of original and newly added leadlight windows, framed one and the same by the black shingle exterior. How else could Nigel and Diane Davidson have pulled off an extensive renovation that is so in keeping with their 1930s home that it looks like its original inhabitants have lived there all along?

Diane, a Dunedin girl, was driving through the area when she first spied the house 15 years ago. It stopped her in her tracks. “I love a house that’s got a heart or a tradition to it. I just felt that when I saw