The original window frames in the house at 45 Lincoln St made it through the demolition, but much of the glass wasn’t so lucky.

And while the builders kept the old front door, the house frontage underwent a striking change with the windows on either side of the house replaced by two sets of French doors. The doors look beautiful and accentuate the height of the ceilings in the front rooms with the aim of letting as much sunlight in as possible.

Still, it’s a tough task choosing between what to keep and what to banish to the rubbish skip when you are renovating a house.

Inside the Ponsonby villa they have replaced the bedroom doors with ones that better reflect the home’s 110-year-old heritage, but sadly the vintage light fittings had to be replaced because they had been tampered with over the years.

It was an easier decision to update the skirting boards as there were five different styles throughout the house. And the old cute but kitschy kitchen had to go to make way for the state of the art poured concrete replacement which is the centrepiece of the new open plan living area.

While balancing heritage and contemporary elements is often a fine line, there are essential additions an old house needs to add value and make it more desirable.

These days one of the key concerns for people when they are looking through a house, particularly among younger buyers, is whether it’s healthy and warm.

And that’s one of the main aims of the HRV Pure Invironment Project - to demonstrate how to create a healthy and liveable home with the addition of HRV’s most advanced ventilation, heating and cooling products, and the company’s innovative whole home water filtration system.

When you’re renovating, focussing on basics such as heating, ventilation and insulation, as well as storage is essential. It might be the boring stuff, but it ultimately makes a big difference when attracting interested buyers.

In the Ponsonby house, designer Zayne Francis and the crew from New Dimension Construction are adding storage wherever possible including new wardrobes in the bedrooms. A handy tip though, is to make sure you’re not locking in any dampness within these newly created nooks and crannies because you don’t want mouldy shoes and winter coats hiding in the back of your wardrobe.

On the flipside, prime spaces such as the kitchen, bathrooms and living areas are what people look at first so they need to have the wow factor. All these areas in the HRV house have been completely redone because it’s no use working with dated appliances and fixtures when you want to attract a top-tier buyer.

And besides, when you’re doing up a house it’s all about creating a unique and inspirational space – which is what the Lincoln St house will be once it is finished.

Once the project has been completed the property will be sold by The Property Market at an on-site auction on May 18.

To follow the renovation and view the house go to hrvhouse.co.nz, which redirects to a special Trade Me page and dedicated You Tube channel and check back on ArchitectureNow for ongoing updates.