Wellington's many wharves are huge structures that have defined the harbour for over a century. Not so many you'd imagine refashioning to use in a stunning piece of modern architecture, but then, one person's trash is another's treasure. (RELAXING MUSIC) Whatever your grand plans are, we'll help get you home. ANZ ` proud sponsors of Three's Grand Designs New Zealand. Captions by Starsha Samarasinghe. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2018 (RELAXING MUSIC) Patty Coley has a passion for antiques, bordering on hoarding ` Good to see you again. You too. What are you after? Um, looking for a dining table. ...anything with a story or an old-world charm to add to her ever-growing collection. Mm, gorgeous. I've come to realise that maybe it is an obsession. Antiques and old items ` they tell a story. I just love conjuring up in my mind where it's come from, who made it, and if it could talk, what could it tell me? Now Patty's taking her interest one step further. She wants to build a new home out of historic materials that will provide the perfect backdrop for her antiques. I've dreamed for years of building a house where I can bring all my treasures together. I thought, 'Well, this interior of the house cannot really be ultra modern,' so now I want to embark on this journey of finding old recycled timbers, brick, old tapware, and anything that tells a story of New Zealand. After 45 years of marriage, her husband Geoff has become a very patient man. When we got past an antique shop, I'll end up usually sitting outside. In fact, he's oddly proud of his wife's self-confessed obsession. She's just got this amazing talent to find this old stuff. I can see that sitting on a side table. I do wonder where it's gonna end, cos there's only so many places you can put antiques in a house. Which is part of the reason why the Auckland couple want to build a spectacular new beach house in Mangawhai, a couple of hours north of Auckland ` (STIRRING MUSIC) ...a place they can unwind with their three children and grandkids and get away from the rigours of running one of the city's largest party hire companies. Gosh, this is idyllic! Can't get much better than this. How on Earth did you find this? Well, Chris, we've been coming up here near on 20 years now. We started off in the camping ground, and we had a fabulous permanent caravan site there, right on the water. And I always said to Geoff, one day, when we outgrow the caravan because of grandchildren coming along, that I would love to get a section on the water. And I used to kayak over here, like we are now, and very wantingly look at this site. (ROUSING MUSIC) Then, four years ago, the opportunity came up for them to buy the site. The acre-sized plot already has a one-bedroom bach on it. Patty and Geoff will use this when they come up from their home in Auckland to help with the build. This is magic. Wow! I mean, the birdlife must be amazing. Oh, it's wonderful. Right from pukekos to seagulls to larks. What a spot! But I see you've been building already. You've started. Well, physically, five months ago with regards to the slab, yes. Three and a half years ago is when we first started this whole project. From the drawing board? Yeah. So, what is the plan? The plan is to create a family bolthole up here. We wanted our grandchildren, which have been six of them, to be able to come up here, bare feet, hop in the kayaks, swim off the jetty. What's it gonna feel like? Boathouse. A boathouse? Industrial. An industrial boathouse. It's going to be totally black on the outside, so when we're out on the water kayaking, you can't see it. That sounds mad. I mean, here we are in an area which gets loads of glorious sunshine, and you paint it black. (CHUCKLES) Yeah, we didn't want something that stuck out. So, outside is quite modern, minimalistic; inside has a sense of history and will be very eclectic. Tell me a little bit more about the sense of history. Where has that come from? I don't like new products. I want something that has a story. Majority of our living spaces will have recycled brick from the Real Groovy record building in Queen St, and the remainder of them from the Albion Hotel in Gisborne. The trusses that we're using, the timber for those, come off the old Tug Wharf in Wellington. Oh, good heavens! So you're basically doing a reassemblage of all the bits and pieces of the old towns... The old towns, yeah. ...around the country. All coming together right... Right here. Patty and Geoff's three-bedroom home is modelled on a classic Kiwi boatshed. Four interconnecting pavilions hide a complex internal steel structure designed to support nine huge recycled hard wood trusses. Continuing with the industrial theme, Patty's cladding the internal walls with handmade 100-year-old bricks and reclaimed Rimu. Corner windows maximise stunning views of the Mangawhai estuary. In the kitchen is a massive engineers' drawing table refashioned as a bench. An exterior courtyard provides a generous outdoor living space, leading on to Patty and Geoff's master bedroom, where a free-standing bath is supported by a hand-crafted wooden deck. Behind is a guest bedroom, bathroom, and bunkroom for the grandchildren. The exterior will be clad in black aluminium, creating a contemporary feel to this unique family home, which pulls together an eclectic mix of historic New Zealand. I love this site. It's really, really beautiful, and the thing that I think is so magical about it is the fact that you've got a jetty here and that you're bringing Wellington's wharf... ...to here! (ALL CHUCKLE) It's beautiful! That's what I love about what we're doing. Tell me, what's your budget? Budget ` we're looking at about 1.3. 1.3. When we first started four years ago, we had about 800 in our mind. So, it's already doubled. No, not quite. Not quite, yeah. (CHUCKLES) One of the main reasons the budget has doubled is the industrial look Patty's after is expensive. (MACHINERY WHINES) Recycled materials are more costly than standard off-the-shelf products. It's a specialty area of the building trade run by a handful of impassioned characters. I'm very passionate about it. I get excited, get choked up sometimes. It was Mike, who, four months back, introduced Patty to the idea of using hardwood trusses in the Great Room. She had planned to use ordinary pine recommended by Nick, her project manager, but Mike persuaded them to come down to Tauranga to see the hardwood in the raw. I can tell by the look on your face that you're going, 'What am I doing here?' (ALL CHUCKLE) That's fine, that's fine. This is from a Wellington wharf, which was built in 1896. Deconstructed in 2014, so you can see the condition. I don't think our friendly pine would last the distance as this stuff has. Wow, so, this has actually got a story. Oh, definitely. It just fits in my head brief of what I want for this house. I can see how this textured beautiful hardwood would give Patty that edgy industrial look she wants. But it doesn't come cheap, or without problems, like how to support their colossal weight. We have trusses sitting on cantilevered steel beams, the corner windows, so we may have to change and increase the size of those steel beams. So, that means hell of a lot more engineering from our point of view. It does. Yeah. Equates to dollars. It does, yeah. This is gonna blow the budget. There's gonna be a huge amount of increased costs. Mm. Yeah, definitely. Story of my life. I can tell you now, it's not for the faint-hearted. It's not a game of tiddlywinks, and it's reflected in the costs. I just have to be the realist and... it's the budget. This isn't tens of thousands, this is hundreds of thousands. In some respects, I wish I hadn't had come down now, because now I'm gonna have my heart set on this. I'm 99.99% sure this is sort of what I've been looking for, because I always felt there was a piece of the puzzle for my vision missing. And now I think that maybe I might've found it. Mike's hardwood is gonna cost Patty around $200,000 ` four times as much as using pine, and that's not all. The challenges are huge. They're not just structural, there's also a lot of craftsmanship required. They're very, very heavy. The question for me is, is she just getting carried away by the romance of all of this? Because this is almost the cost of a house. (PENSIVE MUSIC) (SEAGULL CAWS) And sure enough, within weeks of Patty's decision to go ahead with the hardwood, her lead builder Nathan has worrying news for her. Patty, we've got a slight hiccup. We've had some information back from our engineer and architect saying that the hardwood that you wanna use for your trusses ` looking on paper, the timber is not suitable. (SIGHS) God's sake. So, what do we do? We're gonna get the timber scientifically tested and the science will prove that it is totally acceptable. It will be a boxing match. It won't be a tickling competition. (CHUCKLES) But we can do it. Ah, well, they're not gonna beat us. It's ridiculous! This wood has been in the ocean for over 100 years, it's been holding up a blimmin' wharf, and we wanna build trusses out of it, and now we've gotta turn around and get it scientifically tested. (PENSIVE MUSIC) While the engineers and council wait on the scientific report and deliberate on whether the ironbark wood is suitable to make into trusses, no work can happen on the site. Three months go by and the foundations become a playground for spiders. Eventually, a call to the architect reveals the result of the scientific report. Right, yeah. (SIGHS) That's great. Oh, well. Thank you. That is some good news. Good news. (CHUCKLES) OK, oh, well, no doubt we'll be in touch very soon. Yeah, he's got it. He's sent the information to the engineers. He could've told me, but, anyway... So now they're working on the calculations to get the trusses underway! So we're getting there! (UPLIFTING MUSIC) The good news means the local building team can finally begin. Fantastic. Couldn't have asked for a better location. Right round the corner from home. (PENSIVE MUSIC) It's the big show. Pretty exciting. A lot happens today. Within two days, Patty and Geoff will be able to see what four years of planning and dreaming looks like, and it's no small achievement. Wow! Look how big it is. I have to pinch myself to say, 'It's actually really happening.' Really exciting. I could stand here all day and watch this ` a momentous day. But there are also momentous challenges ahead. The complexity of working with recycled products like the ironbark trusses would have even the most experienced of builders feeling a tad worried. We've down a lot of exposed trusses and we've down a lot of hardwoods, but not hardwood that's been sitting in the ocean for 70, 80 years, getting harder and harder and harder. (BIRDSONG) In Mangawhai, the wooden framing is up, but there's been another hold-up. The scientific report on the trusses delayed the construction of the steel portals. This vital structural element will hold their colossal weight, so while the site lies idle, I've come to Tauranga to check on the progress of the first truss. So, Patty, what do you reckon? For once, I'm speechless. It's amazing. They're beasts. They are beasts. So, Mike, what have you done? It's amazing. A lot of sweat, a lot of tears, some language. One of the biggest things was getting all the bolts out. They were actually recessed in. There was hardwood plugs over the top, so you couldn't see those, and you had to take them out from the other side. That was... a lot of fun. But of hard yakka. (ALL LAUGH) I love the idea of Patty and Mike taking this remnant from the past and fashioning it into a beautiful new structure that will develop its own history over time. For me, this is pretty emotional, cos I know this wharf well. I've seen three generations of tugs come and go down there. My great love was watching Toia and Kupe charging across Wellington Harbour. In a different part of the yard is another forgotten fragment of the past that Mike's keen to transform into metal plates to hold the trusses together. This might look like a pile of rubbish, but I'll show you what it is ` here we go. (METAL CLANGS) Whoa! (CHUCKLES) That's what's we're gonna make our plates out of. It was tank plate holding cyanide in the mines in Waihi. Not everybody can see the beauty in that; we can, because of the story. You're a tiger punishment, aren't you? I love it. He does. (ALL CHUCKLE) He absolutely does, and we are just so fortunate to have met Mike. Just have total trust in you. And we value your opinion and your creativity, and we could not have done this without you and for you offering to do it. Now I'm gonna cry, cos it's a very emotional trip. I mean, it's our dream, but he's made our dream come true. (POIGNANT MUSIC) The trouble with emotion is it's not always a friend of logic. And while Patty and Mike get excited about the aesthetics, it's architectural designer Frank Stanton's job to work out the daunting prospect of getting the trusses into place on site. And I'm gonna take you through that now. The trusses will be levered into place in two halves, each slotting into a cleat on the rich beam where they will be bolted into place. Then, a kingpin will slide up between them to give the appearance of a single beam. And now you can put the little kingpin up there. That's our final piece that will go in. So, hopefully, it does together like that on site and we don't have any chaos and it all comes collapsing down, but we'll have our hard hats on. (SERENE MUSIC) While the site in Mangawhai waits for steel portals to arrive, Patty and Geoff are back in Auckland working at the party hire company they run with two of their three children. And we've got 500 Grand Bordeaux. Mum started the business about 20 years ago in the garage of our house. We used to come home from school and Mum would be down in the garage until midnight, washing glasses and packing orders for the next day. Dad would always be helping when he got home from work, and we'd kinda help in the holidays and after school. The business has since grown and has spread over three warehouses ` some of which contain Patty's ever-expanding antique collection. Been collecting, really, since we got married, which was back in 1974. We've got another warehouse around the corner here. The mezzanine is absolutely chocka. It's full to the stairs. Got a container out the front of Mum and Dad's house, my grandma's garage. There is stuff everywhere. But keeping on top of Patty's acquisitions and working seven days a week while also managing the build is starting to take its toll, and the cracks are beginning to appear. You can sort of see the stresses or lack of contact when there is stuff happening around the build and setbacks and the rest of it. I don't think they've let on as much as probably what they have felt. They tend to keep that stuff away from us. 500 tall tumblers. Yep, those are all there. I'm just really... kind of in awe of Mum. She's a pretty amazing lady. The Mangawhai house has just been such a passion and dream of Mum's forever, and having the business and everything is all contributing to this, like, dream house that's currently underway. And I know Mum's just ` and Dad ` they're just so proud and excited about it and we get to be part of it, so pretty lucky. (SERENE MUSIC) By mid-summer, that long-awaited dream home is finally inching one step closer towards completion. The steel portals have arrived, which means the giant trusses can now be installed. But before they are, Patty and Geoff are paying Mike a visit in Tauranga to decide which one will go where. I said, 'You've got to get down here and we'll lift each one of the nine trusses up, 'and they can view both sides.' As far as the outside courtyard's concerned, the first truss has got to be the one has the most character to it. With each truss 8m across and weighing over a ton, they can't afford to change their mind. I reckon that one should go down by the kitchen bench. The one decision you don't make is what happens in a lady's kitchen and dining lounge. Then we've gotta decide ` those two along the back probably will be five and six. Creating these trusses has been a labour of love for Mike, who wishes he could keep them for himself. I'd like to own them and my good lady would like to own them. (CHUCKLES) I keep buying Lotto tickets. But Mike's going to need more than a Lucky Strike to get these giants out of the yard and crammed into place on site. Having come this far, he can't let Patty down now. Not scared of many things, but I'm scared of Patty. ALL SING: # Happy birthday to you... # In Forest Hill in Auckland, to celebrate Patty's birthday, the family are having a get-together. # Happy birthday to you. # We like think we're a pretty close family. Two out of our three children we see them work-wise, professionally, but we see them as a family as well. We tend to try and not talk about work too much during social times, even though that is very hard with the men in our lives. Which is why Patty and Geoff have chosen a place away from Auckland and work. I mean, this is what this whole new house is about ` providing an area we can all have fun together as a family. We've got kayaks and cricket, swimming at the end of the garden. I want the children to grow up with that sense of freedom and summer. We've always kept very close, and we're a big family, aren't we, when we all get together. I don't know why we're all so close. Perhaps it's cos we're all such lovely people. It's clear to me Patty's driving the ideas behind this build. I'm just wondering how much of a say Geoff's getting in Patty's grand design. Dad just, I don't know, sits quietly and nods his head, I think. You've gotta feed the horse. He's a very patient man, yeah. He just nods and smiles and gets on with it and pays the bills. He really leaves it up to me. I mean, I pass everything by him, of course. Initially, I have to say, yes, he was a bit hesitant, because of the dollars. All those hundreds of thousands of dollars Patty spent on the recycled materials, but there's no going back on that decision now. (WHIMSICAL MUSIC) As light comes up over the water, a new day is dawning on site. A morning everyone's been waiting for, because today is the day of the first truss. This is a big day, isn't it? I mean, you've been waiting ` how many? Three years? Three years. Wow. I know. Makes me go all goosie. A lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes to get this far. Nervous at all? Yeah, I am nervous. (BOTH CHUCKLE) It's been an early start for everyone. Mike left Tauranga at 3AM to avoid carrying the trusses on his truck through the Auckland traffic. Architectural designer Frank has come to have a look too. It's his calculations they're all working to. Well, the lads are certainly gonna have to hold this one. The crane has to swing the truss up against the steel frame so that it can be slotted into the cleat on the ridge beam. The trusses were put together in Tauranga, the steel has come from somewhere completely different, and this is the first time that they're all coming together. The holds have already been drilled, and that could be a problem, because the bolts going through might not align perfectly with these pre-drilled holes, so a lot of pushing and nudging and the odd hammer. But a sledgehammer's tiny compared to these things. They're so heavy! We're just trying to jockey it into position. This is a pivotal moment... until we get it close. We're a little way off yet. (TENSE MUSIC) Mike's on tenterhooks. All those months of work may now be in vain. My heart's jumping out. (CHUCKLES) So, are these holes going to line up properly? Fingers crossed. Yeah, so what happens if it doesn't work? Well, take it away and... I suppose take it away. (TENSE MUSIC) It's been touch and go now for a couple of hours. But then there's progress. Yeah, nice! She's all good now. We've got one bolt in. That must've been a bit of a relief. Yeah, definitely. Now for the next one. Drop it a little bit. Drop it. That looks really tight, eh? There's clearly a serious problem here because the second half comes down as quickly as it went up. This one ` what happened there? Looks like possibly the hardwood has moved a little bit, maybe swollen. And it's just pinching again on that tab. That's all the issue we're having. So they're just gonna widen it slightly, maybe 2 or 3 mil, and it should slot in. (SAW WHIRRS) There's a lot of improvising, as you go, trying to make it work. And I'm really intrigued. I mean, today is really a trial run, but is every single truss gonna be like this? It could take quite a while to put these up. Drop it a little bit. Drop it. Yep, that's good. Move it freely. Yeah, nice. Four hours later, the truss is finally in place. Ready to go! (ALL CHEER) PATTY: Awesome. Happy. Exactly what I thought it would be, or what I hoped it would be, and it is. I really like Patty's dream of bringing together historic parts of New Zealand under one roof ` a place of stories ` and within that, Patty and Geoff's own story. And in Patty and Geoff's case, the story of their house is about bringing a jetty from Wellington all the way here, and connecting it ` literally ` to their very own jetty. There's something rather special about that. And I'm keen to know more about the origin of jetties and wharves, in particular, Ferry Wharf, where Patty and Geoff's trusses come from. Wellington historian Jock Phillips took me to the city's Maritime Museum to find out. All our people came by sea, all our goods came by sea, so jetties and wharves were absolute lifeblood of the community. All these jetties initially were privately owned, and they weren't very strong, so from the 1860s, the Chamber of Commerce in Wellington said, 'We can't just depend on these rickety private jetties, we've gotta build proper wharves', and they decided to build Queen's Wharf, and then they had to build another wharf for the ferries. And so Ferry Wharf was constructed in 1896. The timber that Ferry Wharf was constructed out of stood the test of time for over 100 years, and that's what's exciting about this grand design. Patty and Geoff are encouraging us to celebrate the beauty of these old handcrafted materials, from which our country was built, even though it cost them a small fortune and a lot of time. It's a mission that's taken the couple the length and breadth of the country, creating a sort of historic jigsaw puzzle. Patty's latest find is some recycled Rimu that comes from Wellington's Whitcoulls store built in 1908. Now, apparently the Whitcoulls building stood for about 94, 95 years. Again, it tells a story, like the trusses in the house. The Rimu will be used to make heavy wooden doors. It does give a little bit of a challenge, using recycled timber, and we're trying to retain that recycled look. It's been band sawed from big chunks of timber, so it can bow, it can move. To put that through the machines, you have to be careful how you straighten it, and each piece is gonna be a different thickness. Being a craftsman, Terrence is carving out a series of mortise and tenon joints ` a traditional method of joining wood that's been used for centuries. There's a lot of work in it. I do it the old fashioned way. I think they're gonna be special doors, and they're building a special house, so I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product in place. I'm wondering how Patty's going to tie all these different elements together. I hope it doesn't end up looking kitsch ` all these relics from the past wrapped up in a big, black modern box. But it's just too early to tell at this stage how the marriage between the old and the new is going to work, especially when the structural elements of the house aren't fully built. We've had a trial run with one truss a couple of weeks ago, and now the rest ` the eight ` are here. Each truss is individual. They all have their own character. There's a bit of mucking around a bit, just to try and make them all get to the right, sort of, plane height for the roof. At the moment, they are predicting about three hours per truss. See if you can slide it up. But already, this looks like it's gonna be a bigger job than anticipated. We need to come down, line it up to these holes here. Guess we didn't realise that this wasn't gonna be that easy. I'm not one to say 'I told you so', but Mike did warn Patty using recycled products isn't for the faint-hearted. We're in donkey deep now and we've got a long way to go. But we accept that. Try and get down a wee bit. A little bit more! Oh my God. I don't want to watch. (PENSIVE MUSIC) It's been a dismal winter. The whole country's been battered by storms. But despite the bad weather, the house is now almost closed in, with the roof and the exterior cladding going on in the rain. Extreme wet this winter. Apparently double the amount of rainfall that it was last year. It's been trying conditions, especially for the roofers. We've probably lost about, maybe, 10 days. It makes things a lot slower for us, and we've gotta be a lot more careful, so it does take more time, but, as you know, it's all part of the New Zealand climate. Inside, Patty's making up for lost time by painting 280m3 of sarking. This is for the ceilings right throughout the house. So, I am white-washing it in a light grey, because it'll bring lightness to the place and it'll be a good contrast to the trusses. The trusses which now look majestic in the Great Room. We're gonna be functional by Christmas, is the plan. Functional. (DRILL WHIRRS) The roof nearly done. Special moment. Special moment. So now we're nearly weather-tight. (PENSIVE MUSIC) While progress inches forward due to the bad weather, Geoff's keeping the business afloat in Auckland. He's also been tasked with finding some of the key items for the Great Room, which have been stored away for safe keeping. There is stuff in here that's been here for a couple of years that has been earmarked for Mangawhai. This is a lampshade that has come from the South Island, and it's made out of barbed wire and there is a place in Mangawhai for this. I'll be pretty happy, actually, when we empty this out cos I need the space. (CHUCKLES) We've got the big island bench. Patty found it in Blenheim. It's come out of an engineering shop, got a big hole in it from where they had a drill press or something mounted on it, but it's all part of the look that we're gonna have. It's rustic ` put it that way. Thank you, guys. Good luck at the other end, Matt. (CHUCKLES) (PENSIVE MUSIC) The house has been closed in now for over two months. But a lot of the real work is still to come, and this is the part I'm excited to see executed. It's the heart of Patty's vision. Internally, every room is to be clad in recycled materials from reclaimed timber, to 100-year-old handmade bricks. These require expert craftsmen with an eye for detail. It's slow work that can't be hurried, like the wooden deck Nathan's creating for Patty's freestanding bath ` the centrepiece of her bedroom. Basically, your bath comes` rounds off just there. Very cool. I'm really enjoying working with this timber. We usually get to work with a lot more modern timbers that have been machined perfectly. This is way more rustic, so, yeah, I'm loving it. (MACHINERY WHIRRS) Outside, Dan's cutting the old bricks salvaged from Auckland's Real Groovy store. These will line the back wall of the kitchen in the Great Room. Patty's then adding a further effect by bagging the bricks with concrete, which when brushed off, will create a distressed look. So, that's raw, and to me, that looks too uniform. It just gives it that bit more industrial edge. I would defy anyone to say that this isn't an old wall. This is just the perfect look. And because it's perfectly imperfect! But that's perfect for me. Patty's imperfect wall has caused dissent among the tradies, many of whom think that it's criminal to cover up such beautiful historic bricks. But Patty's not one to be swayed by opinion. From the start, she's been clear about her vision. This room has so much of New Zealand in it, and that's what I'm so excited and feel really buzzy about. I can look everywhere in here and think, 'Wow, here are these trusses dating back to 1894.' I look at this Rimu. It comes from the Te Puna Hall, just out of Tauranga, and this dates back to the early 1920s. We're just so proud to think that we've got this history of New Zealand sitting here in this brand new house. I've always been intrigued to see how Patty's going to marry this minimalistic modern black exterior with her eclectic historic interior. It could feel forced and contrived, or it could really work and be a true expression of her artistic talent. So much thought has gone into every detail, including where to find things like authentic lighting. Oh, I'm interested in these ones. Our lighting's been quite difficult, because where do you find vintage lighting? Well, I found it here. I love these lights. I can see a use for them in the kitchen above my big steel kitchen bench. What's the story behind them? We salvaged them out of a factory. They come from East Germany. They are explosion-proof. (CHUCKLES) That's good for the pressure cooker. (LAUGHS) Yeah, it gives a good look. And a story. That's what I'm after. I'm very excited. I've seen this lighting, and I think it's going to work. (WHIMSICAL MUSIC) It's just six weeks till Christmas, when Patty and Geoff are hoping to host the family. But they're a fair way off yet, and with so many finickity jobs still to do. Part of my vision, I wanted this beautiful big metal rusty door. So, I set about getting some quotes and, woe is me, $18,000 was the cheapest quote that I got. So I bought a off-the-shelf ` which is unlike me ` front door, and now what I'm putting on here is black iron paint. The next step, I'm going to be putting a solution on it ` some gel form. It will naturally rust the door. While Patty's performing alchemy on her door, Geoff's also magically turning new metal caps for the trusses into old ones by a process of fire and oil. I'll just leave them in here for three or four minutes. The oil is impregnating into the metal. Geoff's got 1300 of these to do. Patty's certainly got her husband doing her bidding. One has to wonder what he makes of it all. I think he's got over my madness. I'm sure he does think I'm mad. We've been married for over 40 years, and this is Patty to a T. Yeah, no, I love it. I love it. I love her too. (POIGNANT MUSIC) Gidday, guys. Oh, hi, Chris. On the tools! On the tools. What's happening over here? Well, Chris, this is our front door, and I've rusted it. So, yeah. Wow. It was an aluminium door that` Aluminium?! Aluminium. Well, you know, it's looking pretty good, but I'm just thinking, you're beating everything up and you buy something new... ...and make it old. And then it gets the Patty and Geoff treatment. Yes, absolutely. Yep, like everything else. So, what else has had the Patty and Geoff treatment? Well, come inside and I'll show you. I'd like you to meet Dan. Gidday. How are you, Chris? Nice to meet you, Dan. You too. What are you up to? So, we're just pointing over the existing mortar, trying to get a bit of a texture to is, I suppose. Like, a distressed... Would you call it distressed? Yeah. It's definitely looking distressed. I've got quite a bit to go. So I could do with a bit of a hand. And you're looking at me? Mm. (CHUCKLES) It's easy! You're just scooping it off your trowel,... filling in all these little bits. Go for it. Not supposed to do that, so that's a good start. But, Patty, you were expecting it to be super rough, weren't you? Yes. It's interesting, isn't it, because the thing that's so lovely about bricks like this is because they were handmade and hand-fired, they've got so much character. They have. And the bagging, in a way, just adds to that. I'm very happy with it. Been a real honour to able to help mess up your house, Patty. Thanks, Chris. (CHUCKLES) (LAUGHS) Hey, rough is good. Despite all the self-inflicted mess, Patty and Geoff are still hoping to have Christmas here. With just three weeks till their deadline, I think that's a stretch. But when it comes to Patty, she's not one to take on for an answer. (PENSIVE MUSIC) It's been six months now since I last visited Patty and Geoff's home in Mangawhai, and I'm really intrigued to see whether or not this incredible collection of extraordinary things that Patty's managed to find from across the whole country come together as an authentic integrated whole, or is it going to feel more like a theme park? Whoa. Looking very sharp. (WHIMSICAL MUSIC) The black modern pavilions melt seamlessly into one another, subtly finished with an industrial trim and chunky wrap-around recycled decks. I think I could be in for a nice surprise. Gidday. Hey, Chris. Nice to see ya. Welcome back. How are you, Chris? Hi, Patty. Gosh, you guys have been busy. This looks gorgeous. Well, I can't wait to get in here. Yeah, come on in. Come in. Ooh. Oh, gosh! Wow. What a space! It's magnificent. The Great Room. The Great Room. Boy, it certainly is. Gosh, the trusses have come out well, haven't they? Amazing. Yeah. The size of the room and the scale can actually take them. Thank goodness. Thank goodness. Yeah. I mean, I did have doubts. I mean, it was a whole wharf, Patty. Yes, true. (CHUCKLES) This room is a masterpiece of design. The heavy wooden trusses appear to float over the corner-less windows, giving a sense of both permanence and fluidity as you're drawn from the dark, cosy interior out to the light, spacious views of the estuary beyond. I think these trusses were the most time-consuming out of anything. Right from even having to have the hardwood tested for strength. Patty and Geoff's determination to push through the obstacles and their drive to ensure the authenticity of every element, is what's created a coherent style throughout. The recycled Rimu and 100-year-old bricks perfectly complement one another, giving this place a warm, comfortable, lived-in feel. You know, you instantly think it's always been here. Mm. I mean, that's what it looks like. The kitchen has a wonderful presence, and I love your table. That is from the Eastbourne Wharf, which you would relate to. When did you steal that? Oh, a few months ago. (BOTH CHUCKLE) Yes, so that's Eastbourne. There's a lot of Wellington in this house as well. Between the Great Room and the master bedroom is a partially covered courtyard for outdoor dining. Come on out, Chris. Another favourite spot. Wow! I love the way that the beams in here ` the trusses ` just carry right the way through, just feels so natural that you've got that here, and then you turn... Turn and see this. Boom! Yep, yep. What a fabulous, fabulous room. The stunning views over the estuary continue into the master bedroom, where the stand-out feature for me is the bath perched on its very own wooden deck. Yeah, we're pleased with that staggered look of the timber too. I know people have come in and said, 'You're gonna trim that all up, aren't you?' And we go, 'No, no.' 'No, that's all part of it.' That's the way it's gonna stay, yeah. The other thing that is really intriguing to me about the way that you've laid out the house is there's so many different ways of moving around it. Where does this take you to? This is our en-suite through here, a small hallway. A walk in 'robe. It's Patty's eye for detail and love of craftsmanship that stands out everywhere. The exposed Victorian tapware is a touch I just love ` not to mention the crazy wall of mirrors. In my travels, I would go into a vintage shop or antique shop, and that was a particular mission that I had ` to find bevel edge vintage mirrors. 15 years of collecting is probably up on that wall. (CHUCKLES) Rounding off this unusual home is another quirky bathroom and a bunkroom for the grandkids. It's come together in a really well balanced way, and I love it, so... Aw, that's good to hear. Thank you. I have to say congratulations. I think you've done a wonderful job. Thank you. What, for you, were some of the things that really excite you or that you thought you just loved to bits? I would say, for me, it's the recycled materials. Just looking at the story and history behind them ` that's what I love. And of course the Mike factor came into it, and of course he's a mad recycler and a sourcer of products, and he could see our vision, couldn't he? Yeah, oh, absolutely. Was there ever a moment for either of you or perhaps both of you where you kinda thought, 'Ooh, does this really all go together as a cohesive whole?' For me, yes. I think we're right at the pointy end now with 'no more'. Do you think that's true, Geoff? Yeah, I definitely do, yeah. (CHUCKLES) I definitely do. So, how did the budget go? Up there ` high as those trusses. Is that all? Yeah. (ALL LAUGH) I thought it was through the roof and beyond. We started off at 1.3. We're probably 130, 140. Over the 1.3? Yep. We've got no regrets. You're telling me that it's still less than 1.5? Yes. (LAUGHS) Yep! Have you learnt anything about each other through all of this? Patty, what have you learnt about Geoff? Probably his patience. (CHUCKLES) So, what about you, Geoff? What did you learn about Patty? I think her ability to see the end result ` I think she's done a fantastic job. But she always does, so... (CHUCKLES) (WHIMSICAL MUSIC) It's not often we see a passion for the past play out so well in a modern context ` something really worth celebrating. So, to mark the occasion, Mike and I have a little surprise for Patty and Geoff. OK. Shall I grab that side? Yeah, man. There we go. Look at this! Oh my God! Let's have a look. Isn't that fabulous? Oh! It's the Ferry Wharf. Absolutely. It's that! Yep. HIGH-PITCHED: 'Oh, it's the Ferry Wharf!' (ALL LAUGH) You know, there's so much history in this` It brings tears to me. That's amazing. We went to the archive in Wellington and the fabulous people at the archives dug out a whole pile of stuff for us, which we then selected three of, and then Mike has specially gone to the effort of making these amazing frames. These` This is incredible. So, there you go. Can I give you a hug? Don't cry. (ALL CHUCKLE) Thank you. Thanks, Chris. Thank you. Thank you for being so thoughtful. Honestly, that is just amazing. Thank you, Chris. Aw! You're very welcome. How special is that? Patty and Geoff have invested huge amounts of money into their new home, which they could've built for a lot less, but I think it's been worth it, because Patty's single-minded big-hearted vision of collecting rustic elements from right across the country is what makes this house so beguiling. But what blows me away even more is Geoff's total dedication and utter love for his wonderfully eccentric wife and the mad adventures that she takes the whole family on. Captions by Starsha Samarasinghe www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2018