Bringing style to Nile

Words: Amy Russ | Photos: Brett Ballard and Dave Turpin

Stylist Ana Stevenson and her husband Johnny Stevenson have a passion for Nelson’s historic villas and their most recent purchase on the corner of Nile Street and Trafalgar Square is their seventh. Ana says she loves the challenge of owning a piece of history and elevating its charactorial features. “A large part of the appeal here are the Cathedral gardens. They are our closest neighbour and our borrowed landscape, a garden on our doorstep without having to do all the work a garden requires.”

Ana and Johnny share the house with son Lennox when he is home from boarding school while their adult children float in and out. Ever present are Pablo, a miniature bulldog, and two cats, Mezzanotte and Austin the Ragdoll.

Having known the house through its previous incarnations, Ana had a clear vision for the changes she wanted to make. In collaboration with Bolitho Building and Bays Joinery she has created an opulent renovation that doubles as a family home and a working show home.

Ana describes the four front rooms as perfect villa spaces, grand rooms with 3.3 metre stud height. The rear however, where most of the family living takes place, was originally like a rabbit warren with dark, poky areas. “I knew immediately we needed to accentuate the space up and enhance the light to make it a bright, functioning family space,” she explains.

The builders took the back part of the house down to its framing, raised the height of the ceilings to over three metres, and added skylights and windows. The owners can now appreciate the cascading pools of light throughout the day and the soothing garden ambience the cathedral grounds provide. High European-style arches have been installed in the hallway, linking the front section to the rear and the coffee machine placed where you can see it as you enter to encourage a warm, welcome feel.

The original fireplaces and historical features have been retained and Ana has procured vintage fixtures and fittings from around the world to add to the feeling of luxury.

The kitchen and main living space has been completely transformed. Ana wanted a kitchen that didn't look like a kitchen and blended into the living space. Everything is behind pocket doors except the granite bench top which has a retractable tap and sink beneath. The result is a perfect entertaining space and high-functioning kitchen that the executive chefs that Ana brings in for special events will appreciate.

A favourite part of the home for Ana is the master suite. “It was a place of refuge during the ten-month long renovation,” she says. It has a kitchenette and the bathroom features a beautiful old, repurposed Italian sideboard and the shower has a miniature inset tiled arch that echoes those in the hallway.

“I designed the opulent dressing room with a place for everything. That and the kitchen will be a showroom, by appointment, as 'Bays Joinery Inner City Design Studio' for clients wanting bespoke, high-end results,” she explains.

The bathroom, kitchen and entrance to the living area feature exquisite Italian tiles which presented a challenge for the tiler because each one is handmade and the sizes differ. Ana went to great pains to find the perfect shades of putty in charcoal.

The deck that extends from the kitchen and living area is a beautifully private space that has been modelled around existing stands of bamboo and banana. Complete with an outdoor bath, sympathetically lit with warm lighting at night, Ana says it is a perfect place to relax and admire her work from a different perspective.

Special features from Ana’s collection of treasures have found their way into the house including a doorknocker for the front door. It is a woman’s hand complete with ring, cast in brass which Ana found at a vintage market in Venice and dragged it around through many moves until she found the right home for it.

The renovation has created a serene home, framed by the greenery of the surrounding area. “Furniture procurement, considered placement and styling is essential to achieve a beautiful result and Bolitho Building and Bays Joinery collaborated with me successfully to achieve the outcome I wanted,” says Ana.

The house’s Heritage C listing made the project extremely challenging. “The last thing I wanted to do was take away the character of the house but the process was laborious and frustrating,” she says. “We feel that we have done a service to Nelson heritage houses with a large, carefully curated, renovation.”