Heritage Villa Restoration - Longlands, Hastings
Longlands is home to one of the oldest villas in Hastings, and when the owners first called us, all they wanted was a refresh coat. Once we got up close we could see there was a genuine heritage home under there, worth doing properly. So rather than paint over a tired old finish and lock all its problems in, we offered to take the cottage section right back to its roots and restore it. They were keen, and the result is one of the jobs we're proudest of.
Stripping the weatherboards back to bare timber
For years the weatherboards had been a faded yellow, and underneath the old paint the timber was worn and full of gouges from decades of Hawke's Bay weather. A quick coat over the top would only have sealed all of that in for a few more years. So we stripped the cottage section right back to bare timber using our paint shaver, a specialist grinder with built-in dust extraction that lifts old paint off cleanly without filling the site with dust. On an old villa like this one, it's the difference between hiding the history and actually dealing with it.
Restoring the villa in fresh white
With the boards back to bare timber, we sanded the lot, primed it, then worked a surfacer filler into the deep gouges so the old weatherboards came up smooth and sound again before re-priming and laying down the topcoats in a fresh white. The original sash windows were still in good nick, so we left those as they were. The result speaks for itself: a classic Hastings villa brought back to life, dark trim against clean white, with the verandah and all its detailing standing out the way it was meant to. It's the most rewarding kind of job we do: turning something so old and haggard into something beautiful again.
Got an older home or villa that needs more than a quick coat? We'd love to take a look.
