That '60s house

Meet content creator Danni Duncan and her husband Alex who share the design evolution of their eclectic home on social media

- Text Catherine Steel Photography Sarah Rowlands

Owning your own home offers you stability and investment, but notably, it is a place entirely yours to nest and make your own. When Danni Duncan and her husband, Alex, rented early last year in Sumner, Christchurch, the pull to buy their first home was clear. So were the stars that aligned their way.

With the government's First Home Grant ending in mid-2024, the couple wanted to use this help (with a deposit for a home) before it ended.

After viewing “heaps” of open homes and putting forward offers on two homes, Danni says, this 1960s beauty stood out: “We were drawn to its original wooden floors and how bright it was with all the windows. It had character.”

The home also has original windows and a floor plan that includes three bedrooms, one bathroom, an open-plan living and kitchen area, and a generous-sized backyard.

“We visited the first open home, telling the agent we were just looking as we didn’t expect to be able to afford to buy it?” Danni says. “The agent asked what our offer would be, and because it was an ‘as is where is’ home (whereby a house is sold and purchased in exactly the condition it is presented), we got it, and our offer was accepted. Everything happened quickly from there.”

“With it being a recently renovated ‘as is where is’ home, there was no competition as we already had the prior approval.” They were lucky, Danni says, as although they had viewed other houses, they were nowhere as good as this.

What makes a home