We all have a nostalgic sense of home from our past. For some, it's embodied in a place or a building from our childhood. Perhaps a place we've never even lived, a place on to which we project our dreams of where our future belongs. Dad's home. ANZ, proud sponsor of Three's Grand Designs New Zealand. (THEME MUSIC) Captions by Madison Batten. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017 (LIGHT UPBEAT MUSIC) Kelly Davidson always wanted a big family. At first, her husband, Joe, wasn't too sure about having kids at all, but it's not hard to see how persuasive Kelly can be. Kids! Lunch! (EXCITED CHATTER) Get out of my way. It was her plan. (CHUCKLES) I always wanted six boys, but I'm glad I didn't have six boys. I'm from a fairly big family, and that's what I wanted, and Jay didn't really have any choice. It was that's how it's gonna be. We're gonna have a nice big family. Eh? Yeah. I come from a small family. Yeah. (LAUGHS) We had four. So, we had three girls and one boy. And so I said to Joe that I wanted to have another baby so that I could have a boy for Josh. And Jay said no. And then so we did a deal that I could have another baby if he got a surround sound system and a new TV. And the twin boys came along and wrecked it anyway. (LAUGHS) Yeah. The family lives in Helensville, an old mining town which has seen better days. Here, Kelly and Joe have paid $479,000 for 1.2ha of rolling hillside looking out to the Kaipara harbour. They were in cahoots on the site, but the house ` that's a different story. So, did you have an idea about what kind of home that you would want to create? First thing that sprung to my mind was something that sat with the land, something that you couldn't really see, open to views, expansive views. That was shot down fairly quickly. When Joe told me what he wanted, it was, 'Yeah, no. We're not having that.' So that was a really long conversation. Yeah. It was, uh, two seconds. I've always been open to ideas. (CHUCKLES) It sounds like it. Joe has one part of the house where he got what he wanted in it, and I got the rest of the house how I envisaged it was gonna be. So tell me, what is it that you're gonna build? We're building a homestead villa that's supposed to look like it's been here forever, it's an original Helensville building, as replicated off the home that I knew of when I was a child. We went to Dargaville quite a lot, and I remember seeing it. I had to ring the man up who owns it and ask him, 'Could I please come up and take some photos?' because the architect said she could design it off photos. And he said yes, I could. And he let us walk right through it. So, I could feel it when I went in it. It was like going home. Much of Kelly and joe's five-bedroom homestead is replicated on the villa Kelly fell in love with as a child. An unusual horizontal hallway spans the width of the house, with a lounge, sitting room and master bedroom coming off one side and four kids rooms on the other. As a savvy mother of six, Kelly's added a special mudroom for dirty gear. The dining room begins the so-called Joe section. Here, Kelly has conceded to Joe's modern tastes with an open-plan wing that includes a barn-style kitchen, rustic exposed beams and a large picture frame window. Recycled kauri flooring throughout will tie the couple's opposing styles together and add to the historic feel. Outside, again, it's Kelly's dream that wins out; their home will be clad in traditional weatherboards with bullnose verandas, a grand Victorian facade and a challenging double-hipped roofline. A new home that Kelly hopes will look like it's been here for 100 years. You guys are on a nostalgia trip, aren't you? Yeah. (CHUCKLES) Yup. It is a little bit unusual to dial back the clock and build a 100-year-old villa that still looks like it really feels like it's 100 years old but at the same time is dealing with all of the very much change demands of today's construction industry. So why on Earth would you make that choice? Cos I want a home, and that's a home to me. Kelly and Joe aim to spend $600,000 on their home using savings and a mortgage. What exactly is your timeframe for the project? We wanna be in before Christmas. We've got six months. In the middle of winter? BOTH: Yup. And you're flat-out and super busy at work, both of you. Yup. And then on top of that, you've got six kids. Are they happy about this? Yes. Yes. Yes, they are. (BOTH LAUGH) They have to happy. Yes. If they want dinner. (LAUGHS) Yup. It's important the kids are happy because Jessica and Joshua, Sarah and Emma and twins Ben and Jamie are all going to be part of the build workforce. So Kelly and Joe have already installed a pool and built a two-bedroom barn, where the entire family is living until the new house is built. Night time's the worst ` at night around dinner. I can't wait to move. Um, moving in here is really squishy and, like, annoying. I was fine with what it was until I heard there was four people in one room. (KIDS LAUGH) I think it would be better if it was just us two cos then it would be less louder. That's our bathroom that we built. It's so small. There's nowhere to go here. Kelly also has an office in her bedroom from where she will help Joe project-manage the build and run the family skylight business while Joe continues installing them. All this while they juggle kid schedules and coordinate their inexperienced child labour force. You two in the corner. You go low, you go high, on the other paint other there. Yup. You go low, darling. And that's your paint bucket. Don't get it on the deck part yet. Kelly makes no bones about being strict, but she has a soft side and a romantic dream of how she wants her family to live. It all centres around the home she saw as a child while visiting her grandparents in the Northland town of Dargaville. Wow. It's a very, very charming grand villa. I can see why you fell in love with it. Yeah. I don't see it as grandeur. I just see it as home. That feels like home. The villa, known as Kauri House Lodge, was built in 1910 and is now run as a bed and breakfast. So this really sits quite deeply in your subconscious. Yeah, as if I've lived here myself. But I haven't. It feels like I've come home, but I know it's not my home. That's how it feels, and I don't understand why it feels like that. Maybe I was born here in another life. (LAUGHS) It's beginning to sound like that. Yeah. Maybe I was part of that rich family. I've just come back early. Don't know. What are the things about this that you really want to replicate in your new family home? Um, I wanna get all the shape of it, all its handrails, fretwork, the big porch on the front. The site we've got's different to this, so that was a challenge. We didn't have as much width that this house sits on, so we've had to change the sizes but still try and keep the look. I love the big wide verandas. They're huge, aren't they? They are huge. Come and have a look in here. This is very intriguing. Oh my goodness. This is... quite unusual. Such an incredibly long space ` and sideways. Yeah. I imagine the hallway to go that way from the front door, not that way. Gosh. But you're planning to do this in the new house, right? Yup. We're gonna keep this the way it runs and run all the living off this main hallway. As well as the surprisingly long hallway spanning the width of the house, the interior is an unusual mix of traditional villa meets the unique Art Nouveau style of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. I'm gonna go with what I felt it looked like from the outside and do it like that on the inside. So more the 1900, as opposed to` It feels like it's gone later inside. What is it about this that you really love? The fact that a family's lived here and you can feel it. You know, there's history everywhere, not just in how it's decorated, but you can feel` It's like it's alive. So that sense of lived-in-ness. Yes. Boy, that's not easy to replicate. No. What Kelly's trying to do is so incredibly difficult. It's all about the atmosphere ` you know, listening to the fire crackling, the smell of these lovely old timbers, the creak of the leather. You know, you look at, for example, this fireplace and how warm the edges just from years and years and years of making fire. That's what this house has. And to replicate that is almost impossible. (WHINES) To help build Kelly's dream, husband Joe is pitching in with foreman and family friend Stuart Barrington-Hume and builder Neil Clayton. Easy. We can actually do two more out here before we need to go there. Planning restrictions mean the new home has to be about 20% smaller than the Dargaville original. It's about three and a half sheets. It's about to there. But at 270m2, it's still a generous home for a family of eight, I would have thought. And the hall's here. Yeah. No, the hall's that one. Yeah. On that line. So it's... way not as big as what you'd think. It's huge! I keep wondering whether it is as big as I thought it was gonna be, so I keep wandering around on top of the floor, figuring out where all the rooms are. And I'm not sure if I've got it right, but here's hoping I have. There's a saying ` be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. It's not unusual, once building is underway, for some doubts to set in, but not this early, not with a dream you've nurtured for 40 years. (LIGHT GUITAR MUSIC) In Helensville, Kelly Davidson has set her heart on building an historic homestead for her large family. You need to go back and get all those roses ` not the tall ones, the short ones. The foundations are barely in, but she's already well underway on the gardens. It's really important to have the` Right from the top of the gate, to look down and really feel that this has been here for a long time. So we're gonna have old English gardens with all the correct plants. I've got roses that are three or four years old so that they look more established. All old English roses, all fragranted. Kelly's obsessed with copying the 100-year-old villa she loved as a child, but she's building with modern materials. Today she's waiting on the arrival of pre-nailed walls. I'm hoping the walls are right. (CHUCKLES) Had a bit of trouble setting all the machines up to cut the walls, so I'm just hoping they are right. Doesn't look like enough walls. Yeah. It looks a small load. To add to her stress, winter is turning the site into a mud pit. He's gonna` He's on my grass. I'll never fix that! Such are the perils of landscaping a building site. Because of building regulations, Kelly and Joe's version of the Dargaville villa must be built from new materials as well as being smaller and lower than the original. All weekend I kept thinking that I've got the walls wrong, got the room sizes not big enough. So yeah. No one seems to be paying any attention to Kelly's fears about the size of the house. But they're not the ones living with six kids in a two-bedroom barn. Using pre-framed walls means that, within two days, the family will be able to better visualise their future six-bedroom home. Some comfort to Joe as the weather sweeps in again. (THUNDER RUMBLES) The wretched rain. (CHUCKLES) Despite bouts of rain, by afternoon, the house is beginning to take shape. It's ticking all the boxes for me so far, yeah. How's that for a picture frame? The downside of these modern building components is that new materials don't make for a house that feels old, something that is really important to Kelly. Architecture has so many dimensions to it. Space is incredibly important, and the atmosphere that is created by the smells, by the sounds, the materials, the light ` that's the authenticity that I'm looking for. And thinking, is Kelly actually gonna pull that off, or is it gonna feel more like a film set? I've seen this house when I was a child. It's really exciting cos this is my dream. And it's becoming a reality, so. Apart from getting married and having six kids, it's the next exciting thing in my life. So there you go. Despite Kelly's earlier fears, and as often happens when walls go up, the house suddenly starts to feel bigger. Come up here. Come have a look! That's Emma's room, that bit over there. That's Emma's room and the laundry, and that's the kitchen, that window down the end there. It's massive! It is massive, eh? I can't wait. That's your window, Emma ` the one on the end. That's your bedroom. And that's the kitchen. Where's my walls? (CALLS DOG) They're over sitting, ready for your room. It's my first time actually seeing us build. Throughout our whole lives, we've ever only really done renovations of houses, of already built houses, and so I think building was like a whole new aspect for us. I like watching my future. (CHUCKLES) (UPLIFTING MUSIC) Just over a month after starting building, the skeleton of the replica villa is almost fully formed. Many keen hands make light work. Hey, Dad, where are we putting these? In the bathroom. KELLY: Don't drop them. Kids have been great. Every day they're doing something to help out. Today we are making the trusses for the kitchen and dining room over the back. So, they're all internally exposed. And they're quite big, so Joe and Stuart are making them themselves off the plans. I never thought it would have been hard to build. But that bit's hard. (CHUCKLES) Apparently. So Stuart and Joe keep saying. So many steps and rebates and angles and things going on. It's just a case of getting it right. Because Kelly wants the house to feel genuinely historic, she wants any handmade elements, like the seven trusses, to look a bit rough, dented or deliberately distressed, even in Joe's modern barn slice of the house. You try and make things look perfect. And then wifey comes along and says, 'No. I don't want it perfect. 'It needs to look as though it's 100 years old.' It goes against everything you learn. (LIGHT UPBEAT MUSIC) Get that end up. Joe had hoped to use a Hiab truck to lift the 150-kilo trusses, but its arm couldn't reach. So the plan is to hoist them into place using brute strength. Yeah, it is really high. I don't know how we're gonna do the lights. This is the barn look that Joe wanted. We incorporated it in here at the back. So this is the secret. When you walk through, you think you're in an old home, and then when you get into here, then you sorta think you might be in the barn of the old home. And just like an old barn raising, the construction relies on grunt work and watching each other's backs. Let's see if we can roll the bottom out that way. Yeah. Just shoot a nail in the side of it, and you should be able to` It'll pivot itself up. So you've made, like, a big crank handle. You have to put the nail right on the edge here like that. (LAUGHTER) Get ready to run, guys. Joe, be careful. I hope that nail holds. How much sorta weight have you got there, Joe? Me? Yeah. Quite a bit. That's the bugger. (GRUNTS) Take your time. One down, six to go. But you can already feel the scale and volume of this communal great room. That's gonna look amazing out there. Joe's wing will be a beautiful modern living space, but I'm not sure that's what Kelly wants. I do worry about how I try and tie it in so it does work with the rest of the house ` you know, finishing timbers and things like that ` cos it's already gonna have a different ceiling. Yeah, I'm a little bit worried about, at the end, if it's got all the right attributes that was why I fell in love with the house in Dargaville. I know I'm getting part of it, but I know I'm not getting all of it. So it's ` is the part of it gonna be enough, or do I want all of it? I was always concerned about Kelly's and Joe's hopes to build over six months ` in winter. Well, they got off to a blazing start. Now, with just three months to meet their deadline, the weather has got the better of them. We're gonna have the roofers here. We're gonna start the roof. We've just had a week of fine weather; everything's dried out quite nicely. And now it's all wet again. Most people aim to get a roof on before winter to avoid this problem. That's just a fact of life, really. You just get on with it. We'll reassess tomorrow, see what it's like. I'm picking it's proving mighty cosy living in the two-bedroom barn. I'm trying to keep up with the washing, and it won't stop raining. I wanna leave. (CHUCKLES) Just get in the car and go somewhere because there's just too much noise, it's too small a space and there's too many of us in this little shed. We've got a delay with the rain at the moment, so the roof's not going on until it stops raining. Without that on, it pushes the schedule back, so the gibbers aren't coming in, and inspections that are pre-booked, and... Yeah, so it does have a flow-on. I want this to be over now. (CHUCKLES) It's like this. It's all gone splat. It's stressing. It's just about the house right now. Like, there's no sports or anything that we could do. You can't get away from it, so it's like, house, house, house, house and house. I just wanna get it over and done with, yeah. Joe's hoping to use the downtime to install window flashings, but it seems rain's causing holdups left, right and centre. OK, but you told me before 10. (CHUCKLES) We're waiting on this flashing system for around the windows. She was meant to be here yesterday afternoon, and it's pretty much holding us up now. It's part of the cavity system around the outside. So we need it here. Without it, the rain is threatening to stop play altogether. She's getting worse. Yeah, I thought it was gonna get better, actually. Beautiful. Sunny north (!) Kelly, meanwhile, is out shopping for imitation historic building details. Nice to see you again. And you. Right. I've got your brochure. Cool. And I've got my plans. Brilliant stuff. That's really nice, that scallop. Yup. This part's really important to make sure that we pull it off and it looks like it's 100-plus years old. All my choices are here. And this along the wall. And as the build progresses, she's starting to stamp her villa with a little of her own family's story. ...two, three, six, and eight. That's got eight hearts. Yeah. There's eight people in my family. Oh, there you go. Yeah. (CHUCKLES) So I want that one. Morning. Back on site, the new window flashing system has finally arrived. Kelly is insisting on the house having authentic sash-style timber windows, though not so authentic that they rattle in the wind. One advantage over tape is we can do this when it's wet. It doesn't have to be dry. Old villas are notoriously draughty, but this flashing system will put an end to that historic ambience. At the end of the day, it's trying to build something a bit old school in today's environment with today's regulation. As simple is that. Hopefully. The next day, there is a break in the weather, and the roofers can get started. Kelly and Joe are racing to keep up with the insulation. This part of the roof is... is not accessible. So we have to get it in before the roof goes in. The red is close to the red that they used to have 100 years ago, so that's why we chose the red. Pioneer. Pioneer. Pioneer red, it is. Kelly has an uncanny connection to the Dargaville home she and Joe are imitating, and the roof colour is further evidence of this. Spooky thing about this is that although I'm replicating Dargaville, which is green and white, I've gone for the red, cream and white, which is more traditional, And then Doug from Dargaville told me that he actually painted that house green and white and it was originally the colours I've chosen, which I didn't know, so. So much for Joe's early plans to blend seamlessly in with the landscape. Joe has got his way, though, on the treatment of the weatherboards. I wanted to pull them up the driveway to dent them all, and Stuart and Joe wouldn't let me. Do you know how much weatherboards are? (MEN LAUGH) I couldn't do it. Individually nailed timber weatherboards are an authentic choice if you're recreating an historic villa, but it seems a painstakingly slow process. We're looking at probably three to four weeks all up. Be a good three weeks. A few bay windows to get around yet. We started on an easy wall. Quite a bit of work to be done. Only four months after starting, the new villa is edging closer to the finish line. Despite the rain delays, Kelly and Joe are still hoping to be finished within their six-month deadline. To be fully closed in with the windows, which is all part of having the joinery on, they're having the weatherboards going up. Realistically, I think we're looking at a good four weeks or so. (CHUCKLES) (CHUCKLES) No, he's quicker than that. Yeah. (LAUGHS) We're in before Christmas. Yup. Eh, Stuart? Well, you can camp. (BOTH LAUGH) Kelly's still striving for authenticity, and her vision doesn't stop at construction. She's been quietly collecting a hoard in her sister's garage. This is all the antiques that I've collected since we started the project to go in the house. I got this old telephone that's going into the entrance foyer. And it actually rings. So I've made the electrician wire it up so that it will ring. And I've got my precious bath. It's a claw-foot bath. It's actually from England. That's to go on the coal range. It's an old coal range kettle. And I got... an old... coal bucket to go beside the fire in the lounge. This antique stuff is what will bring the history to the house because the house doesn't actually have any. So although we're trying to make it look really old, the only thing that's gonna have history is this type of furniture, so, yeah, it's really important. I want it as historic as I can get it, yup ` inside and out. But then, can mixing old furniture with a new home add up to instant history? I'm not convinced it will be enough to recreate Kelly's audacious childhood dream. Spring is starting to emerge in Helensville, where the structure of Kelly's dream villa is now complete. Wow. Gosh, things have changed. The layout with the hallway running the entire width of the home is similar to the Dargaville villa. But I'm keen to see how it merges with Joe's modern barn wing. It's a classic villa, isn't it? Lots of rooms. But then you come out into this beautiful space with these wonderful trusses. I love the ceiling. Yeah, it was kind of a compromise on the whole villa thing. It's a part of the house which is completely different to the rest of the villa. KELLY: Yeah, it feels huge. It is enormous. It didn't feel that big when it was just concrete, but then when the walls went up and then that went up, now it feels huge. My feeling is it's also a little bit like a woolshed, you know. Yeah. Victorians did have spaces like this. Where are all the sheep? They're at school at the moment. (LAUGHS) This is the only part where Joe's been allowed to interfere with Kelly's villa design. And although she's keeping a tight reign, he's found his own way of getting around it. There was only supposed to be two skylights, and all of a sudden, there ended up being six. Joe and Stuart make decisions without me knowing and hoping that I'm gonna like them. They got away with changing the skylights, and they're changing the stairs that are in here as well, which they show me after they've done it and then give me all the reasons why they're right and I'm wrong. I've gotta put my hairnet on (!) With this historical recreation, the devil is in the ornate detail Kelly loves, so she's not taking her eyes off sneaky Joe today. This is my favourite part about the house ` is all the glass, all the coloured pretty glass. Covenants on the site mean Kelly and Joe can only build with new products, so recycled joinery was not even an option. Instead, they've had these windows made to mimic the style of the Dargaville ones. They've all got traditional weights and ropes and everything all inside them, so they'll work they would have 100 years ago. Yeah, don't break my window, Joe. New old windows are not cheap. Joe and Kelly have budgeted $120,000 for their Victorian-style joinery ` almost a third of their entire build costs. These make it feel like it's a villa, like it's really starting to take shape. And everything that I've got planned, colours and lights and all that sort of stuff, all hinders around these. These were picked first before everything else was picked. It's funny for me, as an architect making modern buildings, how different it is seeing the effort these guys are going to with all of the joinery so that it's very authentic. They're totally committed to that, you know ` the scale, the flavour, the atmosphere of the place. Got to admire them for that. That looks amazing. That looks how it's supposed to look. (GENTLE MUSIC) It's a bit weird to get emotional over a window. It's just a window, but... yeah. I just feel like I've come home. This feels like home, so yeah. Mm. This home may be about Kelly's memories of another house from another place, but her family is instilling it with their own history. Each one of them is helping craft and shape it. There's two zips, eh? Bro, this don't fit. (LAUGHS) We look like forensics, eh? Right, grab your knives. Knives? All right. Today the two oldest children, Josh and Jess, are learning the art of insulation. You cut the pink bit. Well, it's gonna be cut anyway. Not like that, though. It's like marshmallows in a microwave. Right. Josh. What? Here's your template. She's cutting. I can't get down. No, you'll be cutting, mate. That's your task. Sure, mate. I think it's great for the kids to be involved cos, uh... You know, with Josh, he whinges and moans about had to do the concreting and this, that and everything else, but now, without him knowing, he knows how to mix concrete. And kids whinge anyway when they have to work, so. It gives them good life skills. Kelly's passion for the historic villa and the way she's involving the whole family in this build reminds me of my own family upbringing. I brought these along cos I thought that you guys might enjoy this. Oh. This is the house that everybody pretty much grew up in. My mum grew up in this. Wow, God. Wow. I reckon we could build that. (LAUGHTER) Hey, that's mint as. I like that. Can we take a copy of that? Yeah. I guess the thing that was so funny for me ` hearing your stories, and particularly what you wanted to do, Kelly, and thinking, 'Oh boy. I know that.' (LAUGHS) Pretty well every single holiday, whether it was a long weekend or whatever, I was drawing and then making, in the end, a lot of details, like finials and, you know, chimneys, and I was fascinated by all of that. We ended up restoring quite a few houses. That's what I did growing up. Yeah? Yeah. That's how I know, you know, all the things I know ` is we were always doing up houses. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Since I was really little, so. Oh wow. Yeah, well, our parents were the same. Yeah. Spending so much of my childhood helping out with renovations is what kick-started my love of architecture. I'm wondering if that will be the case for Kelly and Joe's kids. I don't really.... like doing this sort of stuff. Not very easy most of the time cos no one else helps. Uh, no. Don't lie. I honestly don't think that's true. I do. Yeah, OK. Perhaps Jess is more likely to continue the legacy. I think it's really cool how we do insulation because it's` I don't know, I guess it just makes it more of a... It makes it more about us. Like, this is our home. And how we all help and how we all, you know, pitch in to do everything, it just makes it more of a homely environment, I think. Yeah. The whole family is beginning to get a sense of the enormous space that they'll soon be able to spread into. Yeah, I can't wait to move in here. It's gonna be awesome. This is my room. No. My room. I'm the king of the jungle. My room. KELLY (STERNLY): Oh, Benjamin. Kelly's long-held dream to imitate the old villa in Dargaville is now within reach. It's coming in on budget and on track for their Christmas deadline. Today Kelly's putting some finishing touches on what's meant to be Joe's wing of the house. We got the fireplace guys here today, and they're putting in the coal range in the kitchen. It's beautiful. My mum used to cook on a coal range. So, we've got a really big high-level toilet with the cistern that goes up high. And so I was rattling through the boxes, and I found the pull chain that you pull the toilet to flush it, which I think is so amazing. I've got little plugs. Look. You don't even get them any more. You know, they attach to the... so the kids can't lose the plug. So I got them as well. I've got all the` all the shower stuff. Joe wanted a really big rain head, but they didn't have them back in those days. Yeah! (UPBEAT MUSIC) Kelly is rallying the family for one last push to replicate the structural corbels that support the bullnose verandas. Where are those twins? Sit down here and get a bit of paper. You're gonna sand the things like we did the other night. Sit down. Sand all the rough edges. It's brilliant having a labour force cos you get jobs done heaps quicker. Jimmy, get the edges, mate. They moan, but then they go and do it, so. But I think kids moan anyway, so. Kelly's done all she can to create an old family home from new materials. I just hope it fulfils her 40-year dream. I just can't wait to live in it now. Now it really does start` It is looking like a house, so yeah. I just can't wait to get in. After six months of working like Trojans, Kelly, Joe and their six kids have moved into their recreation of the old Dargaville villa Kelly loves. Most important for Kelly was to replicate the feel of the Dargaville villa. Its atmosphere, the smells, the sense of history. Those are elusive things that are almost impossible to build from scratch. I wonder how she's fared. Oh my goodness. The outside is the real McCoy. Impressive. Hello! JOE: Gidday, Chris. Wow. Congratulations. Thank you. This is unbelievable. Just coming round the corner, the way that it is sitting in the landscape, it just feels like it belongs here. That's good. That's what it's supposed to` It's supposed to be like it's been here forever. To pull this off in under six months, you must feel so proud. Yeah. I'm glad it was done in six months. What's it like inside? Come and have a look. I can't wait. (CHUCKLES) Welcome. Wow. This is very gracious. Ah. And then through here is this extraordinary hallway at 90 degrees to your entrance. Yup. Just like the old villa in Dargaville. It's kinda different, though, isn't it? Yeah, we couldn't go as long as Dargaville is. We had to bring it in cos the house pad wasn't big enough. And we also had to lower the ceiling because we had a restriction in the height. It's lower, and it's a lot, lot lighter. That's because of Joe's little secret. Oh my goodness. Oh boy. What a scale of a space! It's the hub of the house. And the scale of your big trusses ` they're vast. Yeah, nah, they come up just nice. And incredibly light, airy, piles of space. I think you could probably lose six kids in here. Yup. That's what it's for. (CHUCKLES) I love all these antiques that you've been getting together, Kelly. I mean, there are so many gems. Some of them have been in friends' houses. Garages. Garages. Collected over years. The table and the chairs are my favourite antique, but the second favourite is the chairs at the back. Oh, these are lovely! Mmm. Oh, they even smell old. Yeah. The smell makes you feel at home, I think ` more like the Dargaville house. You're really in the Dargaville corner here. If I come and sit here, I am. And then this. You know, you'd never have a window like this in a classic old villa. No. That's my side. Oh, really? That's Joe's side. Oh, there's a his and a hers. How about that? Wow. What a view. It kinda makes sense that we put it facing the way it's facing. You can see up the Kaipara. So you go from farmland to the sea. Thunderstorms are a lot of fun here. Yeah. I bet. Wow. This home has many of the ornate features of a Victorian villa. But unlike an original, it's bathed in sunlight. And while light is what most of us want in our homes, what Kelly wants is a more antiquated ambience. This room's in the position of the billiard room in Dargaville. Wow. It's quite a bit smaller, isn't it? Yup, it is. This room's the room in the house that feels close to the feeling of Dargaville cos it's moody and it's darker. It just feels cosy and warm. Those darker rooms are really the ones that are more atmospheric. And it does, it feels more homely, especially with the fire on. You just snuggle into it. The Dargaville villa was a dark, richly textured relic of bygone days, while this feels like a luminous fresh home with a dominant modern hub. It's a lovely ode to the original, but I'm not fully convinced it's an authentic recreation. Still, the family has put so much effort into their imitation villa I'm sure they'll be happy to call it home. You did it. On time. Was it on budget? Under budget. Seriously? Seriously. How much by? About 24,000 under. 574,000. Ooh. Yeah. (CHUCKLES) Tell me, what were the things that you are really, really happy with? Um, I'm happy with the whole lot. Just little areas that I'd adjust slightly. I'm really proud of the house, and I do think it is really beautiful, but the... I am disappointed that the` just the small finer details, but it's only a personal thing. It's just I feel like I've let myself down. Boy, that's a surprise. I thought you were really happy with the way it was going. I am really happy. There's just some little things that I hoped to create that I couldn't. What do you mean? I couldn't have the ceilings the right height, and I couldn't have, you know, old kauri floors at all. You weren't allowed to use those materials? No, there's covenants on this land, so everything has to be brand-new. I already knew a couple of months into the build, and I thought, 'Would that make a difference?' I didn't think it would, but... yeah, it did. Is this the first time you've heard this? No, no. A daily basis, pretty much. (CHUCKLES) What are you gonna do, then? (CHUCKLES) Um, we're gonna do it again. No way. Yup. Are you mad? No. We're gonna sell this. We think we've found the right piece of land. Probably looking at land with a different vision. Well, for us to do that, we actually have to buy quite a big block and subdivide the main block off to get the piece of land to do this all over again. So it doesn't have restrictions. So that means full height ceilings. Yup. Timber. Yup. (CHUCKLES) Are you speechless? I am. I'm sitting here thinking, this is the pursuit of a mad dream. here you are in this magnificent house that you've built that has enough bedrooms for all six of your kids. Yeah, well, that's the other thing. You gotta sit back and wonder whether we're being a bit hard on ourselves. Or is it that you've just fallen in love with the journey? Maybe. Yup. (CHUCKLES) Kelly wants a home with history, yet, throughout the build, she, Joe and the kids have instilled this place with memories. And if they'd stayed, they would continue to do so. But Kelly's heart is set on a home that comes with someone else's history, an intangible quality I fear she may not be able to replicate. What's driving Kelly is something a bit like the nostalgia you might feel for a first love. She may never build a home that makes her feel like the way she did in her youth, but what's romantic is that she's so committed to trying. And it's also romantic that her other loves, Joe and their children, are helping her get there. Captions by Madison Batten. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017