Goodbye To Villa Life, Hello To Multi-Generation Living

Geraldine Mangos, grew up looking at her mother’s Australian House and Garden magazines and along with husband, Simon, has renovated a few homes over the years. But it was a move to the UK that opened her eyes. 

Words: Pattie Mason Images: Supplied

“I found my style love in the UK. It’s basically battered French furniture, French country,” she explains. “I liked that everything was pre-loved and that peeling look of the original paint. It inspires me.” 

In fact it inspired her so much that she opened her own shop in the UK, called A French Affaire, where she sold antique French furniture and other home décor items. 

‘As far as furniture goes, I can honestly say that I have only ever bought a couple of sofas and a coffee table new’. And she likes to see things go on to have a new life. The brass bed she and Simon bought when they got married, was sold recently. “To a lovely young couple who had just got engaged. I told them it was a very lucky bed,” says Geraldine. 

This love of the pre-loved is evident in the 1910 Eyrewell villa on 14 acres that Geraldine and Simon are soon to leave. There are old mirrors with so much foxing they hardly reflect, but they are beautiful. There are lamps made partly from old Roman numerals salvaged from an old French village clock. A sturdy wooden coffee table was found at a market in England. “It was covered in mud and took two days of hosing down and scrubbing,” recalls Geraldine. “Nothing looks better than my boys with their feet on it. It’s not precious, scratches and scuffs don’t matter. It’s comfortable, it’s loved”.

When Geraldine and Simon moved into this house in 2014, along with Poppy and Vera, the cavoodle and black cat, it needed a bit of work. The driveway, lined with camellias, magnolias and roses had them in love at first sight. But inside there were missing skirting boards, mismatched paint, some rotting windows and a bathroom in serious need of renovation. 
The couple re-configured a series of rooms, moved doorways, created another bedroom, a laundry and a new bathroom. They installed Listone Giordano French oak floorboards from MetroFloor in Christchurch.  They are made in Italy and their natural warm wood grain gives the perfect backdrop to Geraldine’s French country style. And then, over the years, Geraldine has perfected the space with her unerring eye for gorgeous, rustic style. She did a lot of interior painting herself and favours soft colours – Resene’s 1/2 Black White, Merino and her new- found favourite, White Pointer, ‘a gorgeous neutral with a hint of grey’. 

But now it’s time for a change and with the villa recently sold, the couple, who have just celebrated their 46th wedding anniversary, are moving to Martinborough. The concrete foundations for their new home have recently been poured – and they are going to be sharing it with their second daughter, son-in-law (who is building the house) and three grandsons. So, it’s multi-generational living in a brand new house. 

“It makes a lot of sense. When my daughter first suggested it, I laughed and said ‘But I’m not old enough!”. The house is being built on a 10-acre lifestyle block and with all the family living together, “It will be wonderful to share the responsibilities of animals, gardens and childcare”.  An added bonus for Geraldine is that “Along with my daughter, I get to style another house and create a garden from scratch”.

The couple are excited to be embarking on a new adventure, especially being closer to family and having children around once more. 

And as for the move, itself, Geraldine is taking most of her beloved pieces with her. “I tried Marie Kondo-ing,” she says with a smile. 

| “I look at something and ask ‘Does it give me joy?’ and 99% of the time the answer is a definite yes.  So I am taking it all up with me.”

 Geraldine and her daughter have very similar interior tastes she says. And the added benefit of timeless, classic pieces means they ‘can fit anywhere’.

There are, of course, a few things Geraldine will miss about North Canterbury – her pet sheep Lucky, her Christchurch family and dear friends, and the amazing group of warm-hearted, creative women she works with at The Fabric of Society where she got all the soft furnishings for the villa.