Charming villa was a surprise buy

PHOTO: FLORENCE CHARVIN/YOUR HOME AND GARDEN, BAUER MEDIA

This mum-of-one with an eye for eclectic design never planned to live in her grandparents’ old Napier villa, but fate had other ideas

Meet and Greet

Hannah Feltham, 45 (designer; runs Good Space home organising and styling), and Grace, 8, plus Peggy the Staffy

Hannah Feltham never intended to buy the house her father grew up in – she didn’t even like villas – but after an open-home visit “just out of curiosity” in 2015, she decided that night to buy the century-old Napier property that had once belonged to her grandparents.

“It went on the market so Dad said, ‘Let’s just wander around and look at the old family home,'” says Hannah. “I didn’t actually love it – I prefer 1970s houses – but I liked that there was that family connection and the big tree and the pool. It’s also quite hard to find a house on Hospital Hill in a sunny spot.”