How a couple with vision tackled a run-down house on a steep, overgrown site and transformed it into a charming stylish home
Meet & greet:
Tomislav Ciganek (builder), Allanah Harrington (cardiac sonographer) and Harvey the cat.
When Allanah Harrington and Tom Ciganek laid eyes on the 1940s three-bedroom art deco house on a steep bush section in Dunedin, they knew it was the one for them. Sure, it had holes in the floor, rot in corners of the rooms, part of the roof was leaking and the section was so overgrown they couldn’t see the house from the road, but the character of the place shone through. “We’d been scouring Trade Me every day for a house for about six months,” Tom recalls. “We really wanted a project we could make a home and when we saw this one, we knew. It had character, views and all-day sun. The potential was obvious to us.”
Renovation sensation
It wasn’t a project for the faint-hearted, but with Tom’s extensive experience in construction, roofing, painting and glazing, and Allanah’s ability to get stuck in, they knew they could turn the dilapidated home into something they’d be proud to call home. Allanah and Tom saved thousands on labour bills by doing everything themselves…
