PHOTO: VICTORIA BIRKINSHAW Amanda Holland is a Wellington interior stylist and owner of homewares store Small Acorns and Squirrel cafe. She lives in a villa in Mt Victoria with husband Mike Brunel, a sales consultant; daughters Milly, 20, and Eva, 16; and Maude, a 7-month old Cavoodle.
AMANDA: I’m from Hawke’s Bay and Mike is a Mainlander, but we met in Napier and bought our first home there. Mike’s job brought us to Wellington 29 years ago and we bought a place around the corner from this one. I love Mt Vic because it’s so close to everything. Back then, I was working as a pharmacist and my old boss lived in this street. I would visit her and think “I want to live here too”, never thinking I’d be able to.
We’d just completed a major renovation on our other house when Mike saw this place was for sale. It was in a pretty bad shape. No-one had lived here for two years and it was a mishmash of numerous renovations. All the 1900s character had been stripped out and it was stuck in an 80s nightmare of coloured and stencilled walls, swagged curtains and faux columns.
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