Flooring Xtra | Fiona Goddard's Sympathetic Villa Restoration

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In the home of Fiona and Josh Goddard, along with their daughter Billie, newborn son Ruben and kitties Bobbi & Bear.

This sympathetic villa renovation brings together a shop fitter’s professional nous and a creatives personal flair, to create a dream family home. Our homeowners’ story is a lesson in what can be achieved with a relentless work ethic; pouring every spare minute into improving their first home. There’s a lovely sense of ease and craft to the interior, which sets a high benchmark as far as villa renovations go.

With a philosophy of ‘do it once, do it right’, Fiona and Josh Goddard have been working meticulously on restoring their 1910’s Birkenhead villa. Since purchasing the first home in 2018, the pair have tackled one room at a time, breaking the renovation down into manageable mini projects. Late last year, this timeline was expedited and a deadline to complete a few more rooms was set, due to the impending arrival of their son Ruben.

Taking a room-by-room approach has allowed the young family to continue living in the home whilst the works are happening, without too much disruption. The work itself, has admirably been for the most part, at the hand of carpenter Josh. Working together, Fiona has played the part of project manager, leading the design vision, organising and sourcing materials and products, ready for execution by husband Josh. Between running his shop-fit out business and playing dad to daughter Billie, Josh has also found time to work on renovating the home, which has meant countless late nights and weekends on the tools. Having full ownership of the project, quality control is assured by the perfectionist, as well as the satisfaction of creating his families dream home.

Josh and Fiona’s vision for the four-bedroom, two-bathroom home was to embrace the heritage features whilst bringing through modern touches, as well as brightening the rooms to make them more enjoyable to occupy. Restoring the ornate ornamental ceilings, rebuilding rope-sash windows and detailing the original fireplaces, were only some of the of time and skill heavy jobs that were required to be completed before any of the design aspects Fiona had been working on, could be started.

It can be tricky reflecting your own personality and blending two styles together in a period property. The changes the Fiona and Josh have made are not stop start, bland, or overly modern additions, but are nuanced and connected to the period of the home. Design decisions such as restoring the 100+ year old heart matai timber floors, honour the original home, whilst layering wool rugs on top of the restored matai, brings it into the present. Opting for lighter toned rugs in whites and gentle taupe in the master bedroom and lounge, brightens up the spaces, stopping the warm tones of the timber flooring from being overpowering.

Fiona chose wool carpet for the bedrooms for its temperature and acoustic insulation properties and for peace of mind that the product specified into the home is soft on the planet. Interestingly, Fiona has selected different wool carpet designs for each bedroom, adding another layer of visual interest to the home. Because the bedrooms are off the hard floored hallway, the different carpets don’t join anywhere, allowing this creative choice to work. Although the design of the textured carpets is different, the chosen colours of the two styles are kept earthy and complementary to one another, which is key to achieving harmony and flow between rooms and the rest of the home.

While the rooms at the front of the home have been updated, the back of the home is yet to be reworked. This is the next big step for the Goddard’s on their renovation journey with the kitchen, dining, family bathroom and laundry left to tackle. We’re excited to see the couples plans unfold and the direction they take, either making the existing spaces work better or opening up the back of the house and extending, blending old with new. For now, the family is letting the renovation dust settle, embracing a slower pace of life with their latest edition.