One of the owners of this large Epsom bunglalow was, at first, less than impressed with the suggestion of a wine cellar under the floor. At the time he described the idea as “crazy”, and then he had a rethink and a look at the plan and completely changed his mind.

“This is amazing; it will be real showpiece,” he told Abi Wisnewski of Karlek, who was commissioned to do an entire makeover of the home just before Auckland’s major lockdown in August last year.

As it happens, the beautiful rimu-lined cellar has been so successful, Wisnewski says people go in there, have a couple of drinks and never want to leave. “It is truly mind-boggling. You can’t walk past – you have to go down there, and you’re not going to want to come back up.”

The designer is referring to the large, solid glass door to the cellar that is set flat on the floor near the kitchen – you can see the stairs and cellar below. To enter, you simply push an automatic button and the heavy door lifts up, and down you go, to a whole new world.

It's standard business now for people selling their homes to bring in the stagers, with their immaculate sofas, fashion-forward cushions and duvets arranged just so. But a family selling their character bungalow in Auckland's Mount Eden have gone a step further.

When they decided to sell their four-bedroom house on the sought-after Volcanic Street that they called in the experts for a top-to-toe renovation.

They told OneRoof that although they did some small alterations during the 13 years they’d owned their home, it wasn’t until recently that they made a decision to go all-out with a complete transformation.

They called in Abi Wisnewski of Kärlek (which is Swedish for ‘love’), who specialises in undertaking smart updates to prepare a home for sale.

If you have ever seen Kirstie and Phil’s Love It or List It series, you will know how this story goes.

But there was no “competition” involved with this project, and no reality TV. The owners simply wanted to give their tired Mt Eden bungalow a serious facelift before they put it on the market, and contacted speedy renovation specialist Abi Wisnewski.

What they hadn’t banked on, was loving the end result so much they decided to stay put.