Grand Designs: New Zealand on ABC – When embarking on a new build, finding a good archaeologist isn’t generally at the top of most people’s to-do lists. But that’s what Michael and Olivia Pavelitch have had to do in their quest to renovate their 1860 stone cottage in the Waitaki Valley for their young family.
Currently living with Michael’s grandparents in the homestead on the family-owned sheep station, Michael and Olivia are keen to preserve as much of the cottage’s history whilst seamlessly connecting it to a new adjoining living space.
The cottage has had many incarnations during the family’s 100-year tenure of the station, originally starting out life as a rabbiters’ cottage. Built as two separate houses, the one-metre-thick walls are revealing a myriad of stories: featuring rabbiters’ names and tallies, not to mention an expertly carved blue horse and a 1972 Playboy.
Michael and Olivia intend on preserving and celebrating as much of this history as possible – including glass viewing windows into the walls and LED lighting in the original roofing.
However, the hard-working farming couple are under no illusion that successfully creating a warm, modern, functional home whilst respecting structures conceived of another era may throw up not only logistical challenges – but emotional ones as well.
Production credit: Hosted by Tom Webster. Based on the format “Grand Designs” devised by Talkback Thames, a FremantleMedia company.
Grand Designs: New Zealand on ABC and ABC iview – Thursday 18 April, 2024 at 8:30pm
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