Why Victoria bought this ‘spooky’ pub sight unseen
When Victoria Ginn first saw her future home, she was 2000 kilometres away.
Ginn, a fine art photographer from New Zealand, was living in Fiji when a listing for an abandoned pub in Normanby, a small town on New Zealand’s North Island, caught her eye.
The old tavern was in a state of disrepair. Cream and blue paint was peeling from the weatherboard walls, and a lonely ‘For sale’ sign was on the door.
For Ginn, it was love at first sight.
She bought the pub sight unseen, with the intention of transforming it into a home.
Two years later, after selling her house in Fiji, Ginn saw the pub for the first time.
It was the middle of the night and she had been unable to find a hotel room. To make things worse, there was no power in the pub.
“I lay in the dark on a damp mattress in the smell of neglect, it was spooky,” she told New Zealand publication, The Post.
Over the next five years, Ginn got to work turning the derelict building into an exuberant, maximalist celebration of colour.
She painted the exterior a pale sky blue, with a deeper cobalt trim around the windows and doors.
The interior is an explosion of shades and textures. Cerise and butter-yellow walls jostle alongside velvet curtains and antique upholstery.
“I’m a creative person and I like to bring colour and light and happiness into places, so I’ve done that,” Ginn told OneRoof.
Many of the artworks on the walls are her late mother’s, while Ginn’s own distinctive portraits are also on display.
After many years living in the converted pub, Ginn has decided to sell the property.
It is on the market for offers over $NZ750,000 ($661,300), according to OneRoof.
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